Page 67 of Light in the Dark
"Of course it is. That toothless hillbilly loves The Borderline."
"I'm gonna tell him you called him that."
"You will not," I say, pointing at him.
"He’s sensitive about his teeth."
"It was a joke."
"You'rea joke."
I sigh. "Very mature, Rye."
Nyx lost most of his front teeth in a bar fight. He has implants, now, but for a while he had to wear denture things that he was super sensitive about. He still gets pissy if you bring up his teeth, even though you can't tell anymore.
Riley elbows me. "Come on. No more jokes, I swear—what's up with you and Ember?"
I shake my head. "I don't know. After we…" I tip my head side to side. "It wasn't a hookup. Whatever. After whatever happened, happened, we talked. She told me some stuff she's been through, and…" I shake my head again. "She needed time alone to process her feelings."
"You tell her about Amy?"
"No. But she knows there's something."
"You're one big ball of issues, bro—ofcourseshe knows there's something." He glances at me. "You're still hung up, aren't you?"
“No."
“You are! You're hung up on Amy still." He groans. "Bro, for real, you may need a therapist."
"Bro," I mock, "Shut up."
He rolls his eyes. "Oh, very mature, Fee."
"We didn't talk about me. But let’s just say that yes, my issues did present themselves."
"What's she like?" he asks. "As a person. I'm not being a jackass this time."
"For once," I mutter. "She's amazing. She's lived a crazy life, been through a lot of seriously hard shit and she's still…just full of light and life. She's funny, interesting, strong, resilient.” I sigh. "But she has things in her past that are…holding her back. Which obviously you know I understand more than most."
"Yeah, I do know that. So what are you gonna do?"
"Fuck if I know. WhatcanI do? If she's not ready, she's not ready. And honestly, I don’t know if I am, either.”
Riley stares at me. "You don't know if you're ready…to not be a lonely, grumpy old ogre?"
I glare at him. "I'm not grumpy!"
"Hey Siri," he says in a loud, clear voice. "Call Nyx."
"Calling Nyx—cell phone," a disembodied voice says from the speakers.
It rings twice and Nyx's voice fills the cab. "Motherfuckin' Riley Crowe in the hizz-ouss!"
Riley laughs. "You're already into the whiskey, aren't you?"
"Fuck yeah, man. You on the way?"
"Yeah, me and Fee."
