Page 86 of Head Over Feels
“Yeah, hi.Isaw you come in.”Hedarted his gaze at me butFelixdidn’t introduce me. “Um,Iknow we, um, the guys and me, we were pretty mean with the glitter bombs and stuff.”Herubbed the back of his neck.
Felixput his hand up. “Pleasedon’t worry about it,Tyler.Iwas in the wrong first.Ishouldn’t have used our date to give my sister story ideas, and whenIdid,Ishould’ve made sure the show was more careful about changing the characters up.I’mso sorry about that.”
Tylersmiled, looking relieved. “Thanks.We, that is, the rest of the guys and me, we feel real bad about you almost getting bombed.Trent...”Heshrugged.
“Iappreciate that.”Felixshuddered. “Idon’t understand why he’d do it, much less why he’d killDon.”
Tylerrubbed his upper arms. “Yeah, it’s scary.DonaldThorpewasn’t even on theDiscordserver.Noneof us can figure out how they could’ve met or whatTrent’smotive might’ve been, you know?Ican’t imagine him doing it.”
“Ifeel the same.”Felix’slips trembled.Ilaid my hand on the table, palm up, and he gave me a sad little smile when he grabbed it.Iwanted to hug him.
Tylerrocked back and forth on his feet. “Wouldyou be interested in meeting up for drinks with all the guys sometime?Wecould all kind of clear the air?”Hegestured between himself andFelix.Hedarted another glance in my direction but didn’t say anything.
“Wow, that would be really nice.Idid try to reach out through the app, but nobody responded.”
Tylerlooked sheepish. “Yeah, we talked about it when we got your messages, and we all decided to ghost you.Sorryabout that.”Hehesitated. “CouldIget your phone number so we can set something up?Youlive inBentOak, right?That’spretty central for everybody so we can do it there.”
FelixputTyler’scontact info into his phone and sent him a text.Thenhe put his phone away and said, “Bythe way, this is my boyfriendMalcolm.”Hegestured to me andIgrunted a greeting. “Isit okay ifIbring him?”
“Sure, sure.Themore the merrier.I’m, um, glad you found somebody.”Helaughed nervously. “I’mseeing someone too.”Hehiked his thumb over his shoulder toward the host stand, where a tall man with floppy black hair was watching us with a small frown. “Hisname’sKaito, and we’ve been going out for a month now.”
Felixbeamed atTyler. “That’sgreat!Ihope you bring him when we meet up.”
Tylersmiled shyly and said, “Iwill.I’llbe in touch later this week.”Hequickly made his escape.
Felixturned back to me and said, “Well, that’ll be interesting.”Hesnorted. “Ifit happens.I’mnot holding my breath.”
“Whatwas his deal?”Iasked.
“What, you mean why didn’tIwant to go out with him again?”Inodded.Hesaid, “He’sa nice guy, but all he talked about were cryptids.”
Igrunted. “LikeBigfoot?”
Felixsighed. “Bigfoot,Nessie, skunk apes,Mothman, everything.”Thenhe shook his head and spread his hands out. “Look,Iwas a jerk for giving everybody’s info toMarcie.Iown that.AndIeffectively made fun of them for what they were interested in.Butif you’re going to meet them,Iwant to make sure you know that almost all of them were good guys.IfI’dhad anything in common with them,Imight’ve tried to stay in touch as friends.”
“Okay.ButIhave to ask.Almostall of them were good guys?”
Hemade a face. “Oneguy kept asking me about whatIwanted in a partner and then it was obvious he was trying to pretendIwas describinghim.Like, he wasn’t confident enough to be himself?”Heshook his head. “Andhe was a jerk to the server and he tried to pressure me to sleep with him.”
Isqueezed his hand. “I’msorry you had to deal with that.”
Bothof us were full so we decided against dessert.I’dhave to thankFosterfor mentioning the restaurant to me.Tyleraside, my plan for romancingFelixwas on track.
“It’sa little late to do much else tonight, but we can stop for a drink or something if you’d like,”ItoldFelixas we walked out into the humid night air.
Felixshook his head. “I’min the mood to just head home.”Heelbowed me surreptitiously.Fuck, yeah.
Ihanded over my ticket to a different but equally young-looking valet.Iexplained the kill switch and he gave me a thumbs up before trotting out into the dimly lit parking lot.
“How’syour leg feeling?”Felixasked.
Ifurrowed my brow.Iwasn’t limping more than usual. “It’snot too bad.Why?”
“Well...”Hegave a quick look over his shoulder at the remaining valets, but they were busy chatting. “Ibought some massage oil.”Hewiggled his eyebrows.
Oh, hell yes. “Isee.”Istroked my beard thoughtfully. “Iguess we could try that out later.”
Mystomach dropped when the valet who’d gone after theBuickcame running up to us. “It’sdead,” he panted. “Ifound the switch like you said, but the car won’t start with it in either position.”
