Page 32 of Paint Eater
Rich people. They were all crazy as fuck.
Nisha ended up muttering something to Logan, and he capitulated, hunched over the camera like kids sharing a secret. Logan threw Jay a look like he was waiting for him to ask to see the pictures too, but Jay just munched on his sandwich until Logan relaxed.
Jay understood that Nisha would have privileges Jay didn’t. The two of them had been friends for a long time—since they were toddlers, Nisha had said when Jay had asked, giving him a smirk that told him she knew precisely why Jay was so interested in Logan.
It was impossible, Jay found, to keep much from her, and Jay wondered if she knew about him and Logan hooking up. Probably. He pitied Logan trying to keep it from her, even if he wanted to.
He couldn’t imagine that Logan wanted to boast about the fact that they were getting down and dirty. Not that Logan disliked him, obviously, but he sure as hell didn’t want to shout it from the rooftops like Jay did.
But then again, Jay had always been a fool.
When Nisha and Jay started painting again, Logan sat and watched, camera cradled in his crossed legs. Jay got lost in the image again, in working alongside someone else, and the pleasures and difficulties of it.
By the time they were finished, hours had passed, the sun having scuttled across the sky like a golden-backed beetle. Jay was sweaty, his afro tied into a wild starburst of a ponytail damp at the edges.
“You look like a clown,” Nisha had said when he’d tied it back, snatching her phone and taking a picture.
Jay had just shrugged and laughed, and then he’d laughed even harder when he saw the picture.
She wasn’t wrong.
“You know what we need?” Nisha asked seriously as they packed the paints away.
Jay looked over at her. “What?”
“Ice cream,” she replied decisively.
“Hellyes, ice cream.” Jay pumped the air.
Nisha snorted. “You haven’t changed a bit since high school.”
“Psh, how would you know? We barely talked, don’t front.”
“Psh right back atcha. I pay attention, you know.”
“Tome?”
“Yes, toyou. Now shush, let’s go.”
Jay swallowed down his questions—why the hell had Nisha been paying attention tohim? In combination with her going to his tattoo parlour, that seemed like a suspicious comment to make.
Jay looked at Logan questioningly, but he ignored Jay rather studiously. He sighed and let it go.
He’d have other opportunities to satiate his curiosity, and Nisha and Logan were vaults when they wanted to be.
They dumped the paints in Logan’s car and went in search of ice cream.
“There’s a Van Leeuwen nearby,” Jay said, looking up from his phone.
“Oooh, yes, I love their Earl Grey ice cream.” Nisha clapped her hands together.
“Gross.” Jay stuck out his tongue and made a face.
Nisha stuck her nose in the air. “Philistine.”
Jay stuck his tongue out again, this time at her. “Rich bitch.”
Nisha blinked, mouth parting in surprise, and Jay hunched his shoulders in. He’d seen her and Logan go at it and thought he could too, but—
