Page 49 of When Stars Collide
“Holy shit, he doesn’t look like a Phineas, either.”
Phineas cocked his head, trying to process what that could possibly mean. “It’s nice to meet you, Jo, but I’m afraid we’re going to have to cut our meeting short.” I followed his gaze to the dance floor, where the man had gotten up and was beginning to look around, blood seeping from his broken nose. “Mena and I are going to get out of here.”
Jo returned her attention to me and Phineas’s coat around my shoulders. “It’s okay,” I assured her. “He’s already saved me once tonight.”
Jo nodded. “Okay. I’ll see you at home, then?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Have fun. Keep tube top girl away from my stuff.”
“Oh, she was a drag, so I ditched her for a redhead with a nose ring named Courtney.”
I rolled my eyes. “Only you. Be careful.”
“You too.” She looked from me to Phineas again. “Keep her safe, too-young-to-be-called Phineas.”
“You have my word.”
We hurried out of the club and ran down the sidewalk, until we were both comfortable that the coast was clear and that we were probably not being followed by the lumbering mouth-breather from the club.
“So, where are we going?” I asked.
“Not another club, that’s for sure.”
“You won’t hear any argument from me there.”
“That’s a first.”
Although he wasn’t directly looking at me, I could still make out a hint of a smile. “You know, I’ve just been through a pretty traumatic event, which pretty much obligates you not to be a dick to me.”
“A dick? I’m sorry, was I being a dick when I rescued you from said traumatic event?”
“See? Now you’re just bragging. What were you doing at the club, anyway?”
“A certain someone thought I should get out more, and I decided I would see what all the fuss was about. By the way, I’m convinced more than ever that my decision to remain indoors was the smart one.”
“What you’re saying is, by putting the idea into your head to get out more, I actually saved my own life?”
“Something like that.”
We stepped to the curb, where Phineas hailed a cab. “Do you mind telling me where we’re going?”
“I’m going to show you why staying in isn’t always a bad thing.” He opened the door to the back of the cab and motioned for me to get inside.
“That sounds like something a serial killer would say.”
Phineas sighed. “Just get in.”
I entered the cab and slid over for Phineas, listening to him give the driver an address in Long Island City.
“You don’t live in the office, after all.”
“You don’t seem too pleased by that.”
“Only because it would seem that I now owe Cheryl in accounting twenty bucks.”
“I’d be a little more sympathetic toward you if not for the fact you were betting against me.”
“I mean, can you blame me? You’re almost always there when I get into the office every morning and are pretty much always there when I leave at night.”
