Page 66 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

I feel the breeze of him leaving me.

Then the rest of the bar explodes.

Noise comes back

like someone unmuted the world.

Andrew swings. Glass shatters.

A bartender jumps over the bar.

Giants-blue smears as bodies surge.

Then it all goes black when Andrew pulls me into his chest. He locks one arm around my back, the other holding my head, hiding my face in his crewneck as he whisks me away.

I can’t smell him.

All I smell is blood.

He’s moving fast.

Bar blurs past.

Door flies open.

And then⁠—

Freezing cold.

December burn.

My lungs seize.

Andrew props me against the brick, palm hitting the wall next to my head with a sound that echoes.

“Perché cazzo l’hai fatto per me?

“Why the fuck did you do that?!”

He’s yelling, frantic, shaking,

but when his hands come back on me,

they’re gentle,

wiping my face,

brushing my hair back.

“Why’d you take that for me, huh?

“What the fuck were you thinkin’?”

I can’t answer.

I can’t look at him.

I’m still floating.