Page 6 of Glitter

“Hey now, don’t talk like that.” Concerned, I reached out to lay a hand on his bare shoulder. “This wasn’t your fault.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” He sniffed before swallowing and letting out a long sigh, still fidgeting with the feathers. He let out a soft snort of laughter. “Maybe I should have tried to stuff my wings down his throat. It would have been nice to see him coughing up feathers for a couple of weeks.”

I smiled at the return to his fun-loving personality and the visual he presented. “I think they’re better suited on you.”Letting go of his shoulder, I trailed my fingers along the edge of one of the wings. “Do you often go out wearing wings?”

“No! This is the first time.” His eyes lit up with excitement at the topic change, thrilled at my interest. “Normally, I experiment with glitter during Pride month. This year I thought I’d try pearls for something different, and the wings kind of followed that thought.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Glitter?”

“Yes!” He let go of the wings and dug into his jeans pocket to find his phone. “Look, I’ll show you.”

He opened Instagram and navigated to his profile page. Row after row of his face appeared before me, each one with perfect makeup and different glitter configurations. The one that caught my eye the most was a remarkable closeup of his eye, staring unflinchingly back at the camera, glitter lining the side of his face in a perfect rainbow design.

“Wow…” I murmured, my fingers absently reaching for the screen before I realized how much of a creep I was being and pulled them back. I offered an embarrassed grimace to Blue only to see him beaming at me.

“I love experimenting with color. It relaxes me,” he explained, the light in his eyes glowing with enthusiasm. “I get so much inspiration from makeup tutorials on YouTube and shows likeGlow Up.” He looked down at his phone, scrolling through the images with a relaxed smile on his face. “I wish I could do it more, but you know what it’s like with work. So little time left for the fun stuff.”

A little dazed, I nodded. I couldn’t imagine being that creative. I lived my life in black and white, not in radiant color like Blue. Not for the first time, I wondered if I was like a raven, attracted to the shiny, colorful bauble that Blue represented in my dreary everyday life, a craving of what I could not possess.

Shaking myself free from my maudlin thoughts, I looked at Blue. “I should probably go.”

“Oh.” Blue’s smile slowly dropped from his face as he dropped the hand holding his phone. “Right.”

Unable to help myself, I brought my fingers up to tuck an errant strand of hair behind his ear, blushing when I felt Blue leaning slightly into my hand. “You’ve obviously got a big night planned. I don’t want to keep you.”

He peeked out from under his lashes, a ghost of a smile hovering on his lips. “You could come with me?”

“I wish I could, Blue.” Reluctantly, I pulled my hand back. “Unfortunately, I don’t do well with sizable crowds, and I have a feeling that where you’re headed, there will be people everywhere.”

Disappointment flooded his face, but understanding lingered. “I could make a call. Change my plans.”

I shook my head. “Don’t. I’m not worth the trouble.” I put my hand up when I saw him open his mouth to argue with me. “Go. Have fun with your friends. You need some fun tonight.”

The sound of the bathroom door opening made us jump apart. It wasn’t until that moment that I realized how close we’d drifted towards each other.

“There you are, Henry,” Thomas said as he wandered in, not registering Blue’s presence at all. “I wondered if you’d gotten past me and headed back upstairs, even without your phone.”

I sent Blue an apologetic look before responding to Thomas, “No, boss. Not this time.” I put a slight emphasis on the wordboss, enough for Blue to understand who Thomas was in relation to me.

With a relieved smile, Blue nodded, while Thomas hummed in response to my words before he handed my phone back to me on his way to the nearest urinal, muttering about late nights and missed dinners.

Ignoring him, I shrugged at Blue, who was busy stifling his laughter. I leaned forward to murmur in Blue’s ear, “Have a good night, angel.”

He let out the smallest puff of air before leaning in and whispering, “You too, pocket bear.”

With that, I watched him gather his makeup bag and wings and leave the bathroom, wishing that I had the courage to join him for a night out on the town rather than heading home to microwave my dinner like I always did on a Friday night. And wondering why on earth he called mepocket bear.

Chapter Three

Henry

Itdidn’toccurtome until I walked through my front door that I hadn’t thought about my work once during the drive home.

Usually, I would obsess over all the things I still had left to do or create a plan of attack for the following workday. This time, however, my mind drifted to other things.

Otherpeople.

It wasn’t a surprise that Blue had captivated me tonight. Hell, he’d transfixed me for months now. But hearing his warm voice directed at me for once was intoxicating.

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