“Veryvery?”
“Veryvery.Why?”
“Dude!Buzz us up!” Joany shouted through thespeaker.
He hit mute and waited for Archie’s explanation.
“Okay, Joany is here because Joany is an equal mixture ofprotective and nosy,” Archie started to explain.
“I’ve been getting that,” Jagger replied.
“And your family is coming, and I’m sure she just wants tomake certain it’s cool, but also, she likes Dutch, she likes you for me, andshe probably wants in on thesitchto either take mypulse or take my back.That said, after she gets over being protective andnosy, she’s friendly and she thinks of me as family.So I should have predictedshe’d horn in on this because I’ve never had a boy’s parents over for dinnerand she knows this is big.”
Never had a boy’s parents over for dinner.
Nice.
He grinned at her, she did an eye roll, and he moved themalong, saying, “Right.”
Not on speaker, but from outside, they heard, “Dude!Buzz.Us.UP!”
“And Lafayette is super cool,” Archie went on.
Okay then…?
“So…I don’t get it,” he said.“Why did you ask if my parentsare judgy if he’s cool and Joany is…Joany?”
“Because La-La is also La-La.Some days, he’s in skirts andmakeup.Other days, he’s in leather.He just goes with his flow and you neverknow what that flow is.If he came to work in a tinfoil hat, I wouldn’t blink.”
This was something else to dig about her.
Her posse ran the gamut and that said seriously cool thingsabout the woman who was Archie.
“So, essentially, anything,” he remarked.
“Yes, but I’ve no doubt he’s only with Joany right now so hecan drag Joany out before she invites herself to dinner.But like I said, hecould be wearing a tinfoil hat while he does it.”
“My parents won’t care.”
And that was what she got back from him and Chaos, becausethey not only let people be who they were, they got in the life so they couldbe free to be whoever the fuck they wanted to be themselves.
“Duuuuuuuude!”
That came from outside.
“Sure?”she asked.
“Your parents are here!Buzz us up!”
Again, from outside.
“Too late now,” he said.
“Go back to the front!” Archie shouted in thedirection of the window.
“La-La’s there!The parents are parking out back.Buzz!La-La will open!” Joany shouted back.
Jagger hit the button to let them in and asked Archie, “Dothey have the interior code?”
