“Nooooo,” he moaned. “Ignore it. That. Me.”
“Will do, chief. What’s your passcode?”
“One… Four…?”
“I thought you were a numbers guy? Don’t worry, I’ve got this.” She shoved the screen into his face, which was apparently enough to unlock it because she began tapping away.
“You’re still in Hoppers Crossing, right?”
Toby nodded, his cheek squeaking across the linoleum. His hangover was setting in at a rapid rate,which wasn’t helpful because he had so much shit to do: Take Mopsy to the vet. Sell his parents’ house. Talk to Scott about a new job. So many fucking things.
Last night had been such a relief. He'd forgotten everything he had to do for the first time since his parents left for the Philippines. Getting drunk with Noah and Scott while the DaSilva girls danced nearby, he’d felt like part of the crew. The Silver Daughters family. But it was an illusion. He was just some guy with a blistering hangover, and while Noah and Scott were in committed relationships with the twins, he was still just panting after Tabby like a puppy dog. No, Tabby petted and played with puppy dogs. A rabid dumpster possum.
“Your Uber account is blocked,” Tabby announced.
“Eh?”
“You booked three cars and didn’t show up for any, so your account is el finito, bambino.”
The surge of sickening guilt was enough to get Toby to push his palms to the ground and stand. He was stiff as a board, his head spinning like a circus wheel.
Tabby blinked at him. Her aquamarine hair perfectly matched her round, cartoon eyes, and her full lips were painted scarlet even at this godawful hour. He’d spent his teens wanking to GIFs of hot anime girls, and even he couldn’t have dreamed up someone so pretty.
“You okay, Tobes?”
He struggled to focus on something that wasn’t her mouth. All he could think about was that red colour rubbing off all over his cock while she?—
“Dude.” Tabby grabbed his arm. “You’re gonna go timber, aren’t you?”
“Iunnnooowmaaybeeeeh?”
Tabby glanced around the studio. “Fuck it, Tobes. I got you. C’mere.” She put her arm around his waist and steered him toward the studio’s front door.
Wondering if she was about to push him behind some bins and leave him there, Toby decided he didn’t care. The sun was rising over Silver Daughters Ink Tattoo Studio, orange as a peel, and he closed his eyes and let Tabby guide him.
“What a night,” she said from somewhere near his middle. “Were you around when Nix and Noah started banging it out in his tattoo room?”
Toby struggled to focus. He had vague memories of him and Sam and Scott standing at the back of the studio, giggling about something. “Ah, I think so?”
“Surprised Noah could get one happening, he was so wasted. But then he and Nix are trying for that baby. I suppose you gotta take any opportunity.”
“Oh yeah,” Toby mumbled.
He knew he should be saying more, trying to make her laugh, but he couldn’t. He was too fucked up and felt way too needy. If he asked her about the music festival she was putting together, he’d end up saying,‘Tabby, you look like Rei fromNeon Genesis Evangelionwith better tits, and I’m a huge fucking nerd, and I pull off to your Insta photos once a day. More if we’re hanging out. And I know everyone you hook up with is, like, Spider-Man or a millionaire fake DJ from Azerbaijan, but please fall in love with me. Please see me as a valid sexual choice for no reason?’
Tabby’s hand tightened around his waist. “We’ve reached the stairs, ole buddy, ole pal. You’re gonna have to open those baby blues.”
Toby obliged, blearily taking in the back entrance to the DaSilva house, which sat directly behind the studio. “We’re going to yours?”
“Yeah, mate. That okay?”
“Sure…” he said, dread rising in his throat. He’d been inside the DaSilva’s’place before, but it was still rare enough to be terrifying. What if he threw up in their hallway? “Will your sisters mind?”
“Nah, they’re still in bed. Besides, they won’t see you.”
She meant they wouldn’t see him until they woke up in an hour or so and found him lying on their couch in his crusty party clothes. But whatever. Toby lurched up the stairs behind Tabby and when she unlocked the front door, the puppies he had rescued from his parents rushed around him like water. There was Scott and Sam’s dog, Morgan, Noah and Nicole’s pup, Lilah, and the other four whom Tabby had successfully talked her sisters into keeping. The half-cocker spaniels and half-rottweilers were huge now, with beautiful diamond-shaped heads and glossy black and gold fur.
As they jumped excitedly around him, his nausea mounted, and he bent his knees the minimum amount required to brush their soft heads with his fingertips. “Hey, doggos. Miss you guys. Mama misses you too.”
