Page 51 of Damnation
“Are you sure everything is okay?” Alex asks me, thoughtful.
“I’m sure. I’m just tired of her and her childish games,” I confess, staring at the shelf, which is now nearly full of books.
“What games are you referring to?”
“Yesterday she came by the Marsy when I wasn’t there. Apparently she asked one of my coworkers to have me call her.” I shake my head bitterly.
“Your mom is consistent, I’ll give her that,” Alex says.
I sigh and let the topic drop.
After unpacking everything, we decide to reward ourselves with three delivery pizzas, which we devour sprawled out in bed while watchingFast and Furious.
“This is without a doubt the best pizza I’ve ever eaten in my life!” Tiffany says, chomping into her last slice.
“I don’t even know how you can eat that. What kind of psychopath puts cream cheese on a pizza instead of mozzarella?” Alex says indignantly. “If my nonna saw this, she would lose it.” As the grandson of an Italian woman, Alex is a bit of purist when it comes to Italian food.
“Before you bad-mouth it, don’t you think you should try it?”Tiffany lifts the slice of pizza closer and closer to Alex’s face, before suddenly spreading it around on his mouth, chin, and cheeks. The two of us burst out laughing, while Alex gets his revenge by tackling and tickling us. We wriggle, between laughter and tears, and in all the excitement, my shirt rides up a little over my stomach. Alex takes advantage of the exposed strip of skin to escalate the tickling.
Right at that moment, the bedroom door opens. We freeze. In the doorway, I can see Thomas and Vince. Alex’s head immediately swivels toward them.
“Hey!” we all exclaim at the same time, a bit awkwardly.
“Holy shit, people. Is this another one of my recurring sex dreams?” Vince starts.
Thomas doesn’t let out so much as a breath. Paradoxically, it is this moment, when he shrouds himself in silence and restricts himself to merely slaying a person with his eyes (which is what he is currently doing to Alex) that all my senses snap to attention. I bound out of bed and go over to him, straightening my T-shirt.
“So, how was your workout?” I smile at him and stand on tiptoe to kiss him, but he doesn’t smile back. He remains impassive with his lips pursed, arms motionless, looking sideways at me.
Alex and Tiffany also get out of the bed and pick up the empty pizza boxes before joining us at the door. Tiffany gives me a smacking kiss on the cheek and bumps Thomas with her shoulder. “Collins, a word of advice: repaint these walls. They’re disturbing. Much like your face right now,” she jokes in an obvious attempt to lighten the mood.
“That’s what I like about them,” he says, lifting the corner of his mouth, and I can tell that he isn’t mad at her. The murderous look he gives to Alex standing beside me similarly leaves no doubt about his feelings there.
“Nessy, we’re headed out. Call if you need anything,” Alex tells me, trying to mask his unease with a sweet smile that warms my heart.
I nod, giving his arm an affectionate squeeze.
“Hey…man,” Alex continues, turning to Thomas. “I hope you haven’t gotten the wrong idea here; I assure you that we—”
“We’re not friends,” Thomas snaps, cutting him off, his voice devoid of any emotion.
“Thomas!” I say, taken aback.
Alex runs a hand through his hair. “That’s true, we’re not. But I don’t want there to be any misunderstandings. I just want to say, Vanessa and I are just friends,” he repeats.
“Friends,” Thomas repeats mockingly, crossing his arms over his chest. “Were you being friendly when you stuck your tongue down her throat at the pool party?”
This shocks everyone. I can see Tiffany cover her eyes, and Alex blushes.
“Wow, this shit is starting to get interesting,” says Vince, who is apparently enjoying the show. Too bad it’s time for it to end.
“Thomas, knock it off!” I order him.
“Relax.” Alex puts a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “It’s fine; I’d better get going anyway.”
“Yeah. You’d better,” Thomas answers harshly, ignoring my warning. He steps back to clear the hallway, never taking his eyes off Alex.
When Tiffany meets my anxious gaze, she mouths the wordmen. Alex gives me a final nod before disappearing down the stairs with Tiffany. Vince turns to watch her long slender legs go by, and when he snaps out of the trance they’ve put him in, he runs after her like an excitable little dog to see if she needs a ride home.
