Page 15 of The Dragon's Perfect Omega
"But you seem so knowledgeable, and like you have a true appreciation for the city. I'm sure you'd make a fantastic tour guide. Besides, I already know you're good company."
"Yeah, maybe, but..." I rubbed the back of my neck. How to say this? I couldn't just tell him that I couldn't be seen escorting a dragon around the city. What if word got back to my parents?
"You don't want to be seen with a dragon," he summarized my thoughts for me.
"It's not like that. I just—"
"It's fine," he cut me off, an icy chill entering his voice. "I understand that there's issues regarding being homosexual or even bisexual in your culture, but I didn't know you'd bought into specism too."
"No!" I couldn't let him believe I was like that. "Do you think I'd be a fan of your band if I believed all those rumors about dragons? I know that's bullshit. I just don't want to upset my parents. They don't even know I went to your concert tonight."
For a long moment, Lowen only looked at me. Then he sighed. "You carry a whole bag of problems around with you, don't you?"
I wanted to disagree with him, but couldn't. "I'm sorry," was all I could say in the end.
"Okay, fine." He stepped around the bed to his suitcase, then bent down to raffle through it. "I'm prepared for situations like this."
"What are you talking about?"
He pulled a wig out of his suitcase and showed it to me. It was long and blond. It looked kind of ridiculous, actually. "I've got ways to disguise my identity. And you can stop snorting, I know it looks bad. Finn chose this for me. I didn't think I'd actually need to use it."
"I'm so sorry." But I also couldn't wait for him to put it on so I could laugh some more. Evil, I know.
"It's okay. Does meeting up at 3pm in the hotel lobby work for you?"
"Sure," I said, before I could catch myself. The whole business with the wig had distracted me so much that I'd somehow agreed to give Lowen a tour of the city.
I really had no idea what I was getting myself into.
6
Lowen
"What doyou mean you're not coming?" Finn asked me the next morning when I tried to explain to him that I'd canceled my flight. Zed and he had spent a long time at the bar the night before and I hadn't gotten to talk to them before I went to bed. So I went over to Finn's room, which was next to mine, shortly after my alarm rang in the morning. Finn was an early bird, so I hadn't woken him or anything, but he was still disgruntled by my news.
"I'm extending my stay here for a day," I said again.
My friend narrowed his eyes at me. "What happened last night?" he asked, combing his hair with his fingers. I'd obviously disrupted his morning routine.
"Nothing much." That wasn't a lie. Zim and I had only talked, after all. "But someone offered to give me a tour of the city today. I figured I should take them up on it."
"A tour of the city? Dude, come on. Tell me what really happened. You wereitchingto get back home."
I sat down on Finn's bed and licked my lips. "There's something about Zim..."
"Zim? You mean Derick's friend? The one who vanished to the bathroom and never showed up again?"
"Yeah, that one. He did actually show up again. I slipped him a paper with my room number while you guys were laughing. He took me up on it."
"You mean he came to your room?" Finn's eyebrows rose. "Didn't think he was the type."
"No, me neither. But he surprised me."
"So he's the one showing you around town today?"
"Yeah, I kind of talked him into that. I wasn't lying when I say that nothing much happened yesterday." I ran a hand through my hair. I had to tell my friend what was going on, but how? The way Zim pulled me toward him... it wasn't easy to put into words, but if anyone could understand, it was probably Finn. He was living with his fated mate after all. I remembered how the two of them had danced around each other before finally getting together.
"Nothing happened last night and today you're extending your stay so the guy can show you around town?" Finn didn't mask the disbelief in his voice, but he didn't have to. I knew this situation looked all sorts of fishy.
