Page 68 of Bazooka
“What would you like for lunch, Baz?”
“No need,” I protested, clearing my throat. “It’s fine. Really. I’m not that hungry lately. Stomach acting up… or something.”
When did I turn into a mumbling idiot?
“Um,” Luz said, with his gaze on my lips. “Will you call me?”
I took a step back because it seemed as if he expected a kiss goodbye or something, and it wasn’t happening.
“Yeah, erm… sure… we’ll… erm… be in touch.”
Then I fled. I almost tripped over my own two feet in the hall and skipped stairs two at a time on my way down. Only when I got to my car could I breathe normally again. Was I panicking because I kissed a dude? Partly. But kissing Luz? It was a disaster in the making. What the hell was I thinking last night?
After that, I went to work and had a long, fucking day. A messy day. Jordan punched Adam, which was unheard of. I didn’t know why, and frankly, I didn’t want to know. Chief Bibb threatened to fire them both, and now they were both sulking, each behind his desk. John Smith dropped by only to… chat? That was kind of strange because he wasn’t a chatty guy. The real reason for his arrival, I suspected, had a black eye and was sitting at the desk in the corner of the room. Speaking of, Maddox was playing a five-finger fillet with a Bowie knife. When my gaze fell on him, he looked up and nodded. “Whassup?”
It was the first thing he’d ever said to anyone. And why the fuck did it have to be me?
Then I got a text.
Pest:Hey.
Shit.Should I text back or not?Then again, I should probably act normally.
Me:Hey.
Pest:How are you?
Luz sounded surprisingly cordial. Too cordial?
Me:I’m fine. Is everything okay?
Pest:Yeah, I’m making lunch.
Okay, that sounded normal. Maybe it was all in my head.
I could see the dots appearing and disappearing.
Pest:When you said never again, did you mean until my next birthday?
At first, I didn’t know what he meant until I remembered the words I’d said to him last night.
Because this will never happen again.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit. What should I say to that? What?
Me:LOL. Don’t make me laugh. I know you know it didn’t mean anything.
The damn dots kept appearing and disappearing for an entire minute before I got a text.
Pest:I miss you.
Yeah, I needed to act on this. I had to do something that would undo my latest fuckup called, “I kissed a hot guy with a crush on me; it felt weird, but I kept doing it anyway because I’m an idiot”.
“Hey, Levi,” Patricia said, passing by me. “What a crazy day, huh?”
“Mhm,” I hummed, staring at my phone.
Then I got an idea. It was a potentially disastrous idea, but I didn’t know what else to do. I was stirring a hornet’s nest with this idea, but I didn’t see another option.
