Page 52 of Solo Stan
“Let’s just calm down,” Dakarai said, his eyes scanning the room nervously for Joshua.
“I’ll calm down when he says sorry,” the boyfriend said, pointing at Dakarai.
In a room too small for the sound being created inside of it, the boyfriend’s voice was the thing causing Elias’s temples to throb. He had chosen the hour just before sunrise, on a night when no one had had even a wink of sleep, and everyone was soaked with rain and confetti, to throw a tantrum.
Elias gave an apologetic look to Dakarai, who probably wasn’t going to like what he was about to do.
“He already said sorry,” Elias said. “And he wasn’t hitting on her. We’re together.”
The boyfriend scratched his head. “What do you mean?”
“What do you meanwhat do you mean? The two of us are on a date, as in with each other, and no one’s trying to talk to your girlfriend. Now turn your goofy ass around and leave us alone.”
Elias, chest puffed and shoulders high, felt a strong sense of pride for not swinging at this guy. Perhaps the influence of Southern kindness was already starting to rub off on him. As he turned to Dakarai, seeking his well-deserved pat on the back, Elias found his attention usurped by something entering his periphery fast. Muscle memory alone propelled him backward in a clean dodge, only to discover that the boyfriend’s attempt to throw his drink on Elias had backfired in spectacular fashion. The unintended consequence being that Dakarai, not Elias, was now the one wearing an assortment of melting ice cubes.
It was only a week ago that Elias took a hit to the face from a preteen, albeit one who looked like he was on a steady diet of redmeat and other people’s lunches. And while he usually prided himself on his facial symmetry, he really wasn’t trying to get a knock to the other side. He wasn’t that person. It’s likely he never was. Or at least he didn’t want to be anymore, especially here, with Dakarai.
Elias pinched the bridge of his nose and let out an exasperated sigh. “I did it again, didn’t I?”
“No one got hurt,” Dakarai said, brushing the ice off.
Wanting to prevent an impending altercation, Elias grabbed Dakarai’s hand, and they broke away from the disgruntled couple, nearly taking a head dive into the black waters of the floor, which was slick with spilled drinks. They wove through the dancing bodies on the dance floor, shimmied between couples, ducked behind an empty DJ booth, and eventually made it to the back hallway that led to the bathrooms. Elias looked all around for Joshua, but he was no longer in sight. He yanked Dakarai by the arm, and they both got into a half squat.
“What areyousquatting for?” Dakarai asked.
“Solidarity. Just stay down,” Elias shouted over the music.
“Well, what’s the plan? We can’t duck them forever.”
“Let’s just go out the door we came in. It’s probably time we got home anyway.”
Elias and Dakarai exchanged a tacit pep talk in the form of firm nods. Elias then led the way into the dark passageway, only to reemerge about ten seconds later slung over the shoulder of his former friend Joshua, Dakarai in tow.
Elias observed CYPHR getting smaller and smaller past Dakarai’s head as he was carried out. He felt like a popped parade balloon hanging limply over Joshua’s shoulder. As such, he waved goodbye to Imani and Sarita, who were at the bar. Joshua escorted Elias and Dakarai all the way to the main doors, where they walkedpast Robin, who wasn’t made any more pleasant by the last few hours that had passed.
“We could have been great friends, Joshua,” Elias said as his feet met the floor again. “I thought we had something special.”
“Get home safe,” Joshua said dismissively, returning to his post.
Elias and Dakarai went through the glass doors and were spat back out into the rain. They stood there a moment, trying to let what just happened sink in. Dakarai took one look at Elias’s disgruntled expression and burst out laughing. He clutched his sides and dabbed at his eye, though Elias couldn’t tell if he was wiping away a tear or rain. That made him laugh.
Elias cleared his throat when their laughter became forced and trailed off.
“Well, I guess now we know he wasn’t hitting on you before,” Dakarai said, still holding on to his sides.
“Oh, you’ve got jokes,” Elias said with a suck of his teeth. “Let’s just get out of this rain. We don’t need to water you anymore; you’re tall enough.”
He extended a hand to Dakarai, who took it and followed behind him in a renewed fit of giggles.
28
Kai
3:21 a.m.
CYPHR obviously was an unforgettable experience, but one thing that Kai had learned was that most things, if not everything, had a natural end. That went for the concert, for EZF as a complete group, and maybe for this night. What if it was only special because it was within the confines of such a short window of time? There was no telling how the two of them would feel in the morning, but he was excited to find out.
Kai and Elias joined hands and wound their way through the thicket of people outside smoking and chatting about the concert, not caring a single bit that they were getting soaked. Dodging plumes of smoke and those who had had a little too much to drink, the two boys came to many dead ends and false stops until they finally found a clearing. The rain refreshed their clothes, which clung to them in a mixture of sweat, confetti, and glitter. Kai didn’t typically like the rain, but at times like this when it was warm, it was like he was a child again. He used to look at the weather on his parents’ phones, and if it was going to rain, he’d put down pieces of cardboard in the mud. In the morning, he’d lift the cardboard and watch the earthworms wriggle back into the ground. He felt alittle bit like those earthworms, satisfied at having answered to the vibrations of the raindrops beating down on the earth. However, even worms knew it was probably best to get the hell out of there before the sun came up.
