Page 40 of Disco Witches of Fire Island

“Hey,” Cleigh said, in one of those great raspy voices of a girl who drank a lot of beer. “Elena’s told me a lot about you. She’s a big fan.” She narrowed her eyes. “I think I’ve seen you before, right?”

“You know how it is,” Joe said, hoping she didn’t remember. “Small island.” He leaned on one of the wooden columns as he felt a slight swoony buzz from the Jägermeister.

“You okay?” Elena asked, scrunching her eyebrows as her golden-brown eyes seemed to dig into Joe’s brain. Did everyone on this island worry about him?

“Yeah. I’m cool,” Joe said. “I was gonna go out dancing, but I’m not sure I’m feeling it.”

“Come sit with me for a few minutes.” Elena patted the edge of the boardwalk. “Cleigh was just taking a water taxi back to Sayville.”

“I’ll catch you tomorrow at the …” Cleigh suspiciously stumbled on what she was going to say. “You know,that thingwe’re going to.”

“Right,” Elena said with a smirk. “See you tomorrow atthe thing.” Then they hugged in a way that was both awkward but also seemed to hold a secret meaning. Joe wondered if Cleigh had already said something to Elena about that day she had seen him, and maybe why she and Fergal had laughed at him. Or maybe it was just the embrace of two straight female comrades stranded amid the hordes of homosexual men.

“What are you doing out so late?” he asked, plopping down next to her.

“Couldn’t sleep. That’s why Cleigh came out to meet me. My mind was spinning.”

“Join the club. What was it spinning about?”

She looked over her shoulder back toward the harbor. “Well, that’s kind of the crazy part. It was spinning about Cleigh.”

Oops,Joe thought. Maybe it wasn’t only Fergal he had misjudged. “You mean you like her? And she likes you …that way?”

“Maybe. I just think she’s really cute and smart and looks like Kristy McNichol. And, well, I think, under different circumstances, there would be potential for something to happen between us. But I’m just not in a place for that sort of thing.”

“I didn’t even know you were gay.”

“I’m not. I mean, I worked in fashion, so I’ve dabbled, but this is different. I really, really like this girl. But I just ended a seriously destructive relationship back in the city with this guy I used to party with, and I’m not supposed to even consider dating anyone right now or make any big changes in my life.” She grunted in frustration. “And turning into a lesbian sounds pretty big, right?” She sighed and then, all of a sudden, closed her eyes and tilted her head like she was entering a trance. It went on for at least forty seconds, which concerned Joe.

“Is something wrong?” Joe asked.

“No,” she whispered, her eyes still closed. “It’s just the music. Hear that bass?” Joe could hear the distantthump thump thump. “It was the sound of my heartbreak back in the old days.”

“Old days? You’re still in your twenties, right?”

“I meant before I got sober.”

Joe recalled having offered her a beer the day the bar opened, and her reaction. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I shouldn’t have offered you that beer—”

“Don’t worry about it.” She laughed. “You were being nice. I should have just said something. I guess I’m still new to it … though it feels like a lifetime ago at the moment. It’s why Dory brought me out here, so I could get away from the mess I made back in Manhattan.”

“I guess we all have some kind of mess in our past.” Joe suddenly groaned, holding his stomach.

“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” Elena reached over and felt Joe’s forehead.

“My stomach’s a little wobbly. I did some Jäger shots.” Then, without thinking, he said, “Unless Lenny put something in the Bolognese he cooked for me tonight.”

“You might be right,” she said darkly—or that’s how Joe heard it. “Those boys are always offing some young bartender with poison pasta.”

Joe’s eyes widened and he lowered his voice. “Elena? Have you heard something?”

She looked at him puzzled. “What are you talking about?”

“Shh.” Joe looked around at the blue and gray silhouettes of men roaming the shadows. Any of them might have been Lenny or Howie or one of their devotees. He scooched closer to Elena. His Jäger buzz was giving him courage. “Look, I heard some really crazy stuff about Howie, Lenny, and Max. Your grandmother and Saint D’Norman too.”

Elena looked at Joe suspiciously. “What did you hear?”

Joe took a deep breath. “I heard that all of them are involved in this secret club—they go to discos and dress up in wild outfits and act like they can cast spells on people and … and maybe, at least once, they’ve burned a dance club down. I know that sounds nuts, but—”

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