My howl of laughter echoes off the walls. I don’t know if I’m just delirious from dehydration, but there’s something almost poetic about the way he said it. Soon, I’m laughing so hard tears fall down my face, and I clutch my stomach. “I’m gonna get sick again,” I scream through the laughter.
“Not on the bed! It’ll smell for weeks,” he yells back, and that sends me into another laughing fit.
“Oh, my God, I really needed that.” I pause for a moment, then giggle again at the absurdity of it all. “You should have seen it. I had to do this dramatic pause, turn to my father and say, “I love you, Dad,” and that’s when I started choking!”
“Wait, you started choking at the exact moment when you were supposed to say you love him?”
“Yes!”
Now, Torren’s cackling. Laughing so hard, it makes my head, still lying on his stomach, bounce up and down. “Holy shit, you know the election’s going down the shitter when your own son can’t stand you,” he adds with a laugh.
“Oh, and itisgoing down the shitter. He’s gonna lose, and I’m gonna love every minute of it.”
Torren rubs my head again and adds, “We should throw an election night party to celebrate his loss.”
“Yes, please!” But then my good mood dampens. “But I’ll have to be there, unfortunately. I doubt he’d let me live if I miss election night.”
And just like that, I’m gloomy again. I could kick myself for quittingMaggie’swhen I did. If I had the money, I’d move out tomorrow.
As if reading my mind, Torren asks, “Well, you wouldn’t have to be there if you moved out, right?”
I sigh, turning to my side to face him, drawing little pictures on his chest with my finger. “I won’t have the money to move out before the election. It’s only a few weeks away.”
Torren looks at me for a long moment.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
Torren
I want to say it so bad. I want to say the words, “Fuck him! Just move in with me.”
The words are so close I can almost hear them.
But I swallow them.
He looks glum again, and it’s fucking killing me. I want to tell him everything I’m feeling. The words are there. I keep trying to push them out, but they won’t leave my throat.
And then, without thinking at all, I exclaim, “Hey! Mybrother is throwing a Halloween party. Wanna come with me?”
Wait. What?
Why would Ieverask him to go to that party? If I were jealous of someone dancing with him atBush,then how the hell will I behave at a fucking orgy?
But Felix’s eyes light up. “Yes! Oh my gosh, yes, I want to go! Where is it?”
Oh God.“Um…well, it’s at—” He waits on bated breath, and I finally say it. “TheKitty Cat Club.”
I wait for Felix to turn green and puke again, but, instead, he waggles his brows and says, “Oh, so it’s one ofthoseparties.”
“Is that okay with you?” I ask.
His lips curl into a little smirk before he replies, “Very okay.”
I’m not sure how okay I am with it, to be honest. If anyone so much as lays a finger on Felix…
“What’s the theme?” Felix asks, bouncing in a kneeling position on the bed like an excited puppy. “Kinky?”
“It’s theKitty Cat Club,so it’s definitely going to be kinky, but Tobias often chooses a more specific theme, like a movie or band. I’ll check with him on what this year’s theme is.”
