“Don’t ever tell Tiago I listed Delilah before him.”
Alexei smiled into the snow. And took a step.
It was slight, but he thought Ben was sounding steadier.
He also no longer needed prompting.
“My dad. And my cousins. I have twelve of them, so you probably don’t need to know all their names.”
“We have time, Ben,” Alexei said, concentrating on his trekking poles. “How about this: one step for every cousin.”
Ben complied immediately.
“Beatriz.” Step. “Adriano…”
Alexei felt breathless by the end of the list, and he hadn’t even been talking.
And the roll of Ben’s tongue on some of those names, different from his regular accent, had been intriguing to Alexei’s gut. He didn’t even know what the accent was, felt too stunned to ask.
“Fuck, I have a lot of cousins. Are we at the end yet?”
Alexei glanced to his left. They were about halfway.
“No. But that was good. That was great. Keep going.”
“My friends. Julie. Khalil. Laynie Rose.”
They took a few steps in silence. Alexei wanted to prompt him again, keep the conversation and their progress going, but he was starting to feel his own blood pressure rise, the shaky exhaustion in his legs climbing to consciousness in his brain.
And then, thank God, Ben kept talking.
“And I am going to crush a Big Mac.” He laughed. “How gross. I never thoughtthatwould be what I crave. Factory farms win, I guess.”
“I want Taco Bell,” Alexei blurted.
“Yes, holy shit, TacoBell,” Ben enthused. “I want a Crunchwrap Supreme. And a Cheesy fucking Gordita Crunch.”
Alexei smiled.
“Tell me what other gross things you want, Lex.” Step. “Does anyone ever call you Lex?”
Alexei almost stumbled. Which wasn’t helpful for his blood pressure. If he had helped Ben across this entire ridge only to be the one who actually tumbled into the abyss, he would be extremely displeased with God.
“No,” he answered. No, no one had ever called him Lex. Alexei had never had a nickname in his life.
“Is it okay if I call you that?”
Lex.
The single syllable lit up pleasure centers in Alexei’s brain he hadn’t even known existed.
“Yes.”
Step.
And then, to distract himself, because they were so close to getting off this ridge, he added, “I want those tiny tacos from Jack in the Box.”
Good God. Why were tacos apparently the only thing Alexei could think about right now? Jack in the Box was objectively disgusting. He was losing his mind.
