Page 48 of Candy Hearts
William and Perry were sitting on the couch, seemingly enjoying the show. Perry kept laughing at Sasha’s antics, totally distracted by her, as always. Benji shucked his sweater off and threw it at William’s face. William caught it (with his face) and held it to his nose. Lust shot through Benji’s veins. He could feel William’s eyes on him, as viscerally as the sweat on his body.
Benji wanted them to dance together. To be sweat and rhythm and the deep bounding bass together. He was nothing if not reckless and great at bad decisions. He took a step toward William. William’s eyes went molten behind his tortoise-shell glasses, and he sat up slightly from his relaxed sprawl.
Sasha threw her arm over Benji’s shoulders, stopping his forward movement. He snapped his gaze away from William and tried to shake the thirst from his brain.
“I have a present for you.”
“Damn right you do,” Benji said.
She pulled him over to a tumble of her stuff in the entryway and handed him a brown paper bag. He opened it up and drew out a red silk robe.
“Sasha, it’s beautiful.”
“There’s more in there.”
He peeked at the bottom of the bag and grinned. “You’re the fucking best.”
She smacked a kiss on his cheek, then she hauled him back into the living room and raised her hands. “Bonfire, bonfire!”
He grinned at his sister and joined her chant. “Bonfire, bonfire!”
William stood up. “We might as well. Not much else to do without power.”
“We brought the stuff for s’mores,” Manuel chimed in.
“S’mores, s’mores!” Sasha chanted. “Oh, and I have something special to drink too.”
Sasha magicked up a bottle of champagne from their cooler. She said they had to drink it now because they couldn’t keep it cool in the dead refrigerator.
Logic was nice.
In the end, it was impossible to resist her enthusiasm. He loved that about Sasha. She did everything with her full gut.
William and Avi built the fire on the shore of the lake. William didn’t have to chop wood. Benji asked. He had evidently bought a bunch from the Kum & Go before everyone had arrived. Which was a huge shame.
Benji bundled up in every layer of clothing he’d brought and clutched a cold mug of champagne between his hands. They sat in lawn chairs around the fire. He managed to place his next to William’s without drawing any suspicion.
Benji was eager to make a s’more, even though William informed him the best time to roast marshmallows was after the fire had died to embers. Benji had roasted marshmallows maybe twice in his lifetime. He wasn’t willing to wait.
The marshmallows were pink and heart-shaped. Benji would normally joke about how silly that was. The Valentine’s Day markup was probably ridiculous, but as he bit into the s’more, he decided that these babies were no laughing matter.
Benji moaned around the perfect, gooey treat, and William made a choking noise in the back of his throat. Benji licked pink stickiness off his thumb with a smile.
“We should talk about love,” Wren said dreamily after a while.
“What about it?” Robin asked. They were sharing a chair and a drink.
“Oh, I know. Best dates,” Wren said. “You go first, Robin.”
Robin hummed. “I haven’t been on a date in ages. Let’s see. Once a woman took me to a movie makeup class. We got our faces done up like zombies, then went to a haunted house. I enjoy spooky shit. What about you, Perry? Best date?”
Benji rolled his eyes. Everyone knew what Perry was going to say.
“Once Sasha stood up on stage at a Christmas party and told the whole room she’d made a mistake when she rejected me. Then we danced in the snow and fucked in her VW Bug.” Benji snapped his gaze over to them. Perry grimaced. “Oh, oops. Sorry, Benji. TMI.”
“Me next!” Manuel said. He was snuggled up on Avi’s lap. Avi hid his face in the back of Manuel’s neck. “I was on a date with this guy named … uh, what was his name, Avi?”
“Dick.”
