“What is it?” he asks, his voice heavy with the same fatigue that’s slowly overtaking me.
“You never told me your name.”
There’s an agonizingly long pause as my words hang in the air between us.
“I’m not following.” He doesn’t sound mad, just confused and a bit wary.
Hopefully he keeps that energy when he hears the rest of my confession. “You never told me your name,” I repeat. “But I know your name.”
“How?”
“We go to school together.”
He makes a surprised sound that’s almost a cross between a gasp and a grunt. “We do?” he asks before I can muster the courage to tell him my name.
“Yeah.” I swallow hard. “I’m Damon Cosgrove. Helix is my stage name.”
There’s another long pause, and I brace for him to start yelling or maybe deck me.
“Like the same guy who’s a founding member of the Keepers?” His neutral tone is reassuring but also terrifying.
“Yeah,” I scrape out.
“That’s…”
“Are you pissed?” I ask before I can stop myself.
I hate how small my voice is, how weak and pathetic I sound.
“No,” he says distractedly.
I resist the urge to ask him if he’s sure. “Are you going to hit me?”
“Why would I hit you?” He sounds genuinely surprised by my question.
“Because you didn’t know it was me when we went into the smash room, but I knew it was you.”
“Pretty sure one of the reasons I went in there isbecauseI didn’t know who Helix is,” he says, and I can practically hear his smirk.
“But now that you do?”
“I mean, I didn’t have hooking up with a rival frat member at an exclusive rave on my list of things that would happen when I went there, but whatever. It’s not the craziest thing I’ve done, and it’s not like us knowing each other really changes anything.” He pauses for a beat. “Does anyone else know about your secret identity?”
“No.”
“Huh,” he says, his tone thoughtful.
“Are you straight?” I ask, my words coming out in a rush.
“Yeah. But like I said, hooking up with a famous DJ who just happens to be a dude isn’t the craziest thing I’ve done.” He pauses for a few beats. “Are you straight?”
I let out a laugh as relief courses through me. He really isn’t pissed about what happened. “No. Never done anything about it before we…but I’ve known I’m into guys for years.”
“Does anyone else know?”
“No.”
“I won’t tell anyone,” he promises. “Not about what happened, or about your alter ego.”
