Page 34 of Light in the Dark
"Fine. What about Dina Calloway?"
"Holden scares the shit out of me. And didn't Dina come out recently or something?"
"As bi, yeah. But I have it on good authority that she'd still be D-T-F if you said the word."
"Again, Holden Calloway. Don’t you remember the story Tommy Rooney told about picking her up for prom?"
"No."
"He brought Dina back an hour late and Holden shot him in the ass with rock salt from his sawed off twelve-gauge.”
"You're a grown man. Tommy Rooney was seventeen and a doofus."
"Tommy Rooney is still a doofus."
"Exactly," Nyx says. "Okay, what about Kelly Krapowski?"
"Now you're just being cruel."
He laughs. "Fine. We won't go there. But wewilltalk about Maria Hernandez."
I sigh. "That one, yeah. I self-destructed on that one. I wasn't ready. She wanted the whole deal, Nyx. She was talking about wedding dates and picking kid names on the fourth date."
"Listen, Fee, all joking aside, my point is that you owe it to yourself to fuckin' move on. Maybe this girl with the bus is it, maybe she's not. I dunno. Neither do you, neither does she—not yet. And you won’t unless you give her a shot without going out of your way to fuck things up on purpose."
"I think if I could get there with anyone, it'd be her," I murmur.
"Love that for you, bro. So just don't fuck it up."
I snort bitterly. "Easier said than done, Nyxie."
"What isn't?" he says. "A'ight. For real, I gotta go."
"See you later. I'll bring the bus over later."
"Cool. Be good, buddy."
"Mebe good? You're the Three Rivers wild child."
He laughs. "I've outgrown my party animal ways, I'll have you know."
"Cole had to drive you home from The Cellar last weekend."
"A blip." He barks a laugh. "Why is it so fucking hard to hang up on you? Jesus. Fuck off, loser."
Click—silence.
Cody Nyx, ladies and gentlemen—my best friend.
I hear the sliding door and turn to see Ember shuffling out onto the deck, rubbing her eyes.
"Hey you," I say, extending a hand to her.
She takes it and lets me pull her to me, settling on my lap as if we've done it a million times. She leans her ear on my chest and just breathes for a while. "Thank you, Felix," she whispers.
"I'm just glad I was able to be there for you," I say.
She swallows hard. "It just…it hit me out of nowhere." She looks at me, her silver eyes searching, intent, wide. "I'm sorry for putting you through all that drama."
