Page 10 of Colin

“So you say.”

“Pshh…come on. Let’s get out of here. See you, Georgie.”

“Does he want to come?”

Georgie glared at Andy. “I have homework to do. Some of us actually care about our grades.”

Andy flipped him off, but they both laughed, so I figured they weren’t fighting.

Then Andy drove us to the club.

The bar was about what I thought it would be like. Lights flashing, tons of people of many varieties, wearing all kinds of different clothes. Some wore tank tops and shorts, while some wore hardly anything. One big, muscular guy wore nothing but a kilt and combat boots, showing off his bare chest. At least I didn’t feel out of place. But there were tons of people, and the music was loud. How would I meet anyone?

But then, maybe I didn’t have to. As we made our way to the bar, I spotted a loan soul near the far side.Rourke. He sipped a drink and stared off into space, not the least bit interested in anything else going on around him. Certainly not the dance floor where all the hot bodies gyrated, bounced, and…whatever that guy was doing. Ugh! I left Andy and made my way over. I could do this. “Hey, you. Fancy meeting you here.”

His eyes grew wide in surprise, then he smiled, and it didn’t look as shark-like as it had the last time we met. It felt genuine, not forced. “Colin.”

“Yep. Me. What’s a cool dude like you doing in a crazy place like this?” I couldn’t hear his response, so I leaned closer. “What?”

“Getting out of here.” he practically yelled. “Come with?”

I bit my bottom lip, thinking about it. I could seriously ditch Andy and go with him, but…

Rourke reached out and touched my mouth. “Don’t do that.”

I didn’t know if I should apologize, but it was my lip. “I’m here with Andy,” I said instead.

“So?”

“Can’t go.”

“Your loss.” He slammed back the drink and walked off toward the front exit. Rude much? He could have stayed with me. We could have danced. I guess we’d already done that, though. I hoped he wasn’t driving.

Ugh. Why did I care about him? I yanked at my hair and then went to find Andy. Of course, he was on the dance floor, sandwiched between two muscular dudes. Why didn’t I go with Rourke? Andy did not give a shit. And I spent the next few hours having that point reinforced. I sipped drinks. Andy danced. I wondered why the hell I didn’t get Rourke’s number. No hot daddies approached me. At all. Or anyone else. I probably looked like a fool. The long-haired, chubby dude wearing clothes he couldn’t quite pull off. The night was a total bomb.

Eventually, we left, and I got a nice lecture all the way back to my Uncle’s house. “Seriously, Turtle. I saw you hanging around the bar. You didn’t even try. I’ve been going out of my way to help you, and you pull your same shy act. You have to step up if this is going to work.”

“You like totally ditched me.” I didn’t tell him about Rourke and how I could have left with him. Why ruin my fantasy?

“I was trying to give you space. I didn’t want anyone to assume we were together. That would have been totally discouraging for anyone who wanted to meet you.”

“Nobody thought that, and nobody wanted to meet me. This whole thing is ridiculous. I think I’m done searching for a daddy.”

“What are you going to do then?”

“Fuck if I know. Something. I’ll get a second job somewhere. Maybe a midnight shift warehouse job like Levi did.” That was how he found his daddy—mistaken for a rent boy. Yeah, I didn’t want that but…

Andy pulled up to the curb beside the house. The light in the living room was still on. “I hope you’re right, Turtle-Dove.” He put his hand on my head. “You deserve to be happy, you know. You’re a good person.”

I shrugged. I didn’t know. Harmless didn’t always mean good. Neither did loser. “Thanks, Andy. I do appreciate your help with this. I’ll bring the clothes back on my next shift.”

“Don’t worry about it. Bye.”

I walked up to the front door and since the light was on, tried the door before putting my key in. It was unlocked. Dark foreboding rolled over me. Uncle Edgar shouldn’t be up. “Uncle?”

He was sitting on the couch with the lights of the tree off. “Hey, uh. I waited up for you.” He wiped at his face.

“What’s going on?”

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