Page 26 of Glitter

Amazing Amelia:

What gives??

I stared at my phone without responding. She made a good point. Whydidn’tI want to go out tonight? It was Pride Month. Every weekend during Pride, I would go out at least once during each weekend. I hadn’t gone out last night because I’d been over at Henry’s, which normally meant I’d be going out tonight.

But I didn’t want to.

I cupped my palms around my phone and held it against my chest, nibbling my bottom lip as I thought about what I actually wanted to do tonight.

It didn’t take me long to figure it out.

Ignoring Amy, figuring she’d forgive me by the time we saw each other tomorrow, I sent out a different message.

How’s the glitter bomb going?

Almost immediately, I saw the dancing dots appear to show Henry had seen my message and was responding. My heart fluttered a little in giddiness, then stalled when the dots disappeared.

“What?” I frowned at my screen. “No. No! You’re supposed to respond. Why aren’t you responding?” I shook my phone like that would somehow make him respond to me quicker. Didn’t he know I was waiting on him?

The sound of my phone ringing with an incoming video call jolted me enough to yelp and nearly lob the blasted device at the shared wall with my neighbor.

Only when I saw it was Henry that was calling did I fumble with the phone. Somehow all my fingers had turned into thumbs and now couldn’t hold the thing steady enough to swipe to answer the call.

I finally answered on the fourth ring, only to see the phone was now upside down.

Fuck. My. Life.

I closed my eyes and inwardly cursed at myself for being such a complete dumbass before slowly rotating the phone so I’d appear right side up on Henry’s screen. “Hi Henry. Sorry. Nearly dropped the phone.”

There was a long enough pause to make me lift one eyelid, then the other, and I saw Henry was grinning cheekily at me. “Hey, angel. I’ve missed you.”

A smile quickly spread over my face. He missed me! Sure, it’d only been a few hours, but he missed me! “I’ve missed you, too,” I whispered, wishing yet again that I was back at his place.

“What are you up to?” I could see him settle on his sofa, Sir Cattus quickly climbing onto his lap.

“Boring shit.” I angled the camera to my ironing board. “Want to keep me company while I finish up?”

“Of course.” A tiny frown appeared on his forehead. “I’m not bothering you, am I?”

“Oh, God no.” I sat the phone on the TV cabinet and moved the ironing board in front of it so I could see him while I ironed. “Tell me about your day? Did you get the glitter bomb finished?”

“Almost. A few more tweaks tomorrow and it’ll be done. It should be ready for its first outing on Monday.”

“That’s great news!” I beamed at him, so proud of what he’d accomplished. I still couldn’t believe he’d gone to so much trouble just to help me out. “Do you have any plans for tonight?”

He shook his head and looked off to the side of the screen. “I was probably just going to watch a movie or something. Nothing special.”

The iron glided over my shirt as I carefully pressed around the buttons. “Oh yeah? What movie?”

“Not sure yet. Maybe an action comedy from a few years ago with that actor that was outed earlier today? I feel like I should support him, because it sounds like he’s been getting a ton of hate on social media.”

My ears perked up, but I kept ironing. “An actor was outed? Who?”

“Ruben Steele?” Henry scratched his temple in thought. “I’m pretty sure that’s who it was. Hang on, let me check.” His eyes narrowed and flew across the screen as he no doubt searched for the information online while I was still on the call with him. “Yeah. Ruben Steele.”

My iron hissed at me, and I startled when I realized I hadn’t moved it in a while. Thankfully, my shirt wasn’t burned, but it was a close call. I sat the iron on its end and stood at my ironing board, stunned. “Ruben Steele? Hollywood A-lister, Ruben Steele? Star of two recent Oscar nominated films and Hollywood sweetheart, Ruben—”

Henry laughed. “Yes,thatRuben Steele.” The humor dropped from his face, though, when he continued, “Poor guy. Apparently, one of his exes filmed them having sex and sold the footage to the highest bidder. I can’t imagine what he’s going through right now.”

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