Page 138 of I Can't Even Think Straight

---

I don’t get to hang out with my brother

as much since he got a boyfriend.”

Wide-eyed inspiration

illuminates Obi’s face.

“Maybe we could

go on a double date with them?

Maybe you could

come watch our band practice?

Maybe you could

write us some song lyrics?”

Obi speaks so brightly it dazzles me.

I feel guilty.

My feelings don’t match his.

“Maybe,” I say, taking in all this

information, and all these possibilities.

Obi rubs the jade pendant between

his thumb and index finger once again.

His body beside mine now

feels like a surrender compared to earlier,

when he gripped me possessively.

I touch the evil eye bracelet

around my left wrist,

from Mum.

“Let’s go to my bedroom.” Obi smiles

with a flash of his fangs,

as Vass would call them.

I feel like Red Riding Hood,

but instead of Granny’s house in the woods,

I’ve willingly gone to the den

of the Big Bad Wolf.

---