Page 37 of The Boy Who Loved Wicked
Danny stopped in front of me. “If he hurts you, he’ll have to deal with me.” He hiked his tie-dye jeans up.
“Thanks, Danny.”
I’d resettled into my seat after coming from the bathroom when a wave from across the lunchroom caught my eye. Mason. And he headed toward our table.
“Shit,” Theory said, rushing on in one long breath. “Last night you may have responded to his Facebook message asking if you wanted to go to retro-night at Johnny Rockets.”
“Imay have?”
“Yes. Well, you know what I mean,” she brushed me off impatiently. Mason drew closer. “You asked if you could bring your two friends. Us,” she clarified.
“Yes, I got that. But why?” I’d have to wait for an answer. “Mason. Hey.”
He said hi. Theory waved and Danny pulled him into a strange half-handshake, half-hug. “What up, bro.”
“So, see you guys at seven?” he said, fiddling with his red hoodie zipper.
“Can’t wait,” Danny chirped up. “I live for retro. Already got my outfit picked out.”
“Cool.” Mason’s eyes landed on me.
“Yeah. Can’t wait. Thanks for the invite,” I said as convincingly as possible.
“Of course,” Mason said. “We did promise to be friends.”
There was an awkward silence as I worked to figure out what Theory’s motive was here. “Alright, well, see you later,” he said.
Theory snatched up her bag with plans to leave.
“Not so fast,” I warned.
“You said you guys could be friends. It’s not like it’ll only be the two of you. We want to get to know him better too.” She kicked Danny below the table.
“Ah, yeah. Can’t have too many friends,” he finished to a glare from Theory.
“You can’t play with his emotions, Theory. I’m not interested in him in that way.”
“I know, but it doesn’t hurt to be sure. And we’ll be there to help the stars align if they’re meant to.”
I didn’t argue. It was pointless once she got in her dog-with-a-bone mood. Just because she had stars in her eyes for a love connection that would never happen, didn’t mean Mason and I had to fall in line. We did agree to friendship, and that’s how I would look at tonight’s meet-up. Theory would have to deal with that.
Entering Sebastian’s home, I called out for him. He stepped out of his study. “Hey—” His words died on his tongue. “Did I miss the role play memo?”
I’d slicked my hair back and tied it at my nape. I wore a biker jacket Danny had gotten me last Christmas, and a white t-shirt to complete the Fonzie getup. “No. I stopped by to see you before heading to Johnny Rocket’s for a retro party.”
“You hate parties.” He intersected his arms across his chest.
“Yeah, but Danny and Theory want to go and things are strained as it is. Figured one night of suffering won’t be too bad.” I shrugged. “It’s hardly a party anyway. More like a costumed dinner. Ends at nine.”
“I see. I won’t lie and say I won’t miss your company tonight, but I understand that you have a life outside of me. It’s important to maintain that.” He still wore the brown suit he had on earlier, sans jacket, and the sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up his strong forearms. His vest was still buttoned, but the top buttons of his shirt had been opened. The house was dark save for the light coming from his office and a meager lamp sitting on the end table near the couch. We weren’t far from each other, but we weren’t close either.
I couldn’t make out the shade of his eyes, but when he reached up to remove his glasses, I could see that they were fierce. “Mason is coming.”
“How did that come about?”
“We agreed to remain friends. He’s the one who invited us.” I left out the gory details of how this night-of-friends got started.
“I see,” he said indifferently.
