Page 42 of Isn't It Obvious?
“Hey!” Leo calls when Ravi’s only halfway out of the car, still thanking the driver.
“Hey, Leo,” he says, walking toward him. “Are you doing okay?” Leo looks a little the worse for wear, to be honest. His shirt is crumpled, and his hair is messy in a way that suggests he’s been running his hand through it, his eyes bloodshot.
“Yeah, I just—” and then he stumbles forward. Ravi grabs his arm to steady him, and Leo doubles over and vomits.
Ravi doesn’t jump out of the way in time—or rather, there’s no real path he could take that would allow him to both support Leo and stay clean—and a good amount of vomit ends up streaking down the front of Ravi’s pant leg.Fucking hell.
“Oh my God, Leo? Are you okay?”
Ravi whips his head toward the sound.“Yael?”
“Ravi,” she says, not in disbelief the way he had, but more resigned. Like,Of course.
“Hi, Ms. Koenig,” Leo says, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
Christ, it smells really bad. Ravi’s never been good with vomit. Mia picked up a stomach bug from day care a couple of months ago, and even though Ravi didn’t catch it, there was definitely some sympathetic heaving. “SafeRide, too?” he guesses, doing his best to breathe through his mouth. “Which kid called you?”
“This one,” Yael says, looking at Leo.
“You didn’t pick up,” Leo says to Ravi. “So I called Ms. Koenig. But then you called back.”
Ravi nods, closing his eyes briefly, trying not to regret the club and saying yes to Sherine about being added to the SafeRide list and moving to Portland and his entire life, really. “Okay, well. Ms. Koenig can take you home, then.”
Ravi starts to release him; Leo looks more confident on his feet now, but he has Ravi’s arm in a vise grip. “Please don’t leave,” Leo says.
Yael looks at Ravi… sympathetically, maybe. That’s new. She’s wearing what look like house shoes (baby pink, fluffy enough to resemble live rabbits), and her index finger is hooked through a carabiner with a baffling number of keys.“I took an Uber here,” he says. “I’d have to call another car, but Ms. Koenig could get you home immediately.”
“Can you both take me?” Leo says, making very drunk puppy-dog eyes.
“Ravi can help get you to the car, okay?” Yael says, and Ravi looks at her gratefully. She catches his eye and gives one curt nod.
Leo relents and lumbers after Yael with his arm slung around Ravi’s shoulders. She goes slowly and keeps looking back at them, as if checking for signs of impending disaster. The disaster has already struck, Ravi thinks, because his left leg is starting to feel damp. He tries not to gag. They arrive at Yael’s car, a small, bright-orange hatchback, and Ravi tries to get Leo into the front passenger seat, but as soon as he lets go, tears well in Leo’s eyes.
“Please ride with me,” Leo begs.
“There’s only one seat up here,” Ravi says. “You’re in good hands.”
“I’ll ride in the back! I’ll ride in the back if you ride with me,” Leo says, and, ah, how is Ravi going to argue with that?
He looks to Yael, who is raking her teeth over her bottom lip. Their eyes meet, and she nods again. “Okay,” Ravi says. “I’ll ride with you. Let’s get you buckled.”
While Ravi pours Leo into the back seat, Yael starts digging through the trunk. Leo gets his seat belt fastened after his seventh attempt and tilts his head back against the headrest, closing his eyes.
The sound of the trunk closing makes Leo’s eyes fly open again, and Yael thrusts a reusable grocery bag at him, which he accepts, a blush staining his cheeks. She gives his shoulder a light pat, then stands and chucks another bag over the car at Ravi, which he barely catches.
“What’s this?”
“A pack of antibacterial wipes and the only pants I have in my trunk,” she answers.
He unrolls them—they’re a sort of dizzying tie-dyed pattern, but they look soft and, more importantly, clean.
Yael must take his perusal for protest, because she folds her arms across her chest. “It looked like Leo got you pretty good. I’m sure they’re short on you and you’ll have to tighten the drawstring, but it’s that or marinating in a sixteen-year-old’s vomit. I’ve been there, so I figured I’d give you the option,” she says.
Ravi blinks, unsure which part to respond to first. “I thought I was barely taller than you” is what he decides to go with. Maybedecidesis a stretch.
“And I thought you were tall enough to make the difference,” she replies easily.
“Thank you,” he says, and Yael looks so startled that a cold front of guilt passes through Ravi.
