Page 265 of Vile Boys

“C’mon, eat,” my mom says as she sits down and places a plate of veggies in front of me. “If you won’t have the sandwiches, at least eat some cucumbers or something.”

She hands some sticks to me, and I hesitantly take a bite.

“What about you?” I ask.

She reluctantly takes a bite out of her own cardboard sandwich. “Yummy.”

“Don’t lie.” I snort.

“Shhh,” she hisses. “No need to offend the hosts.”

“Funeral food never tastes good,” Blaine says while Ares rolls his eyes.

“So you two are her friends?”

Blaine nearly chokes on his sandwich, and he swallows down a whole chunk. “Friends?”

I throw him a look.

“Oh … wait…”

“What?” my mother mutters.

“Nothing,” I swiftly say. “Yes, they’re my … friends.”

Ares glares at me, his arms folded.

“They seem nice,” she says, swallowing a big bite.

“Very,” Blaine muses.

I shove Ares with my elbow, whispering, “Say something.”

“I don’t do small talk,” Ares grumbles.

He scoots his chair back and walks off, leaving me in a really awkward position.

Goddammit.

“Well, he sure seems like a fun one,” Mom says.

“Definitely the fun one,” Blaine says, chuckling to his own joke.

In the corner of the room, Caleb and his father are accepting hugs and handshakes for their loss, but the more hands he shakes themore he seems to be disassociating.

“He’s not doing too well, is he?” I mutter.

Blaine shakes his head.

I get up and walk up to him from behind, squeezing his hand to signal that I’m there.

“How are you holding up?” I whisper.

He briefly pulls away from the crowd of people to hug me tightly. “Barely surviving.” He snorts. “But I’ll make it.”

“If you need anything, let me know, okay?”

He leans away to look at me. “For a girl who used to hate my guts, you sure are nice to me,” he says, smirking at me.

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