Page 5 of Roleplay at Randy's
Her snort of laughter makes the phone crackle. “Your very gay sister. Seriously, Ei, you need a professional shoot done.”
Warmth rushes over the tips of my ears, and I duck my face into the shadow of the locker even though she can’t see me.
There’s something about putting on my Voltage persona that makes all the embarrassing shit I have to do not so—well, embarrassing.
As soon as I’m off stage, the mortification sinks in.
“I’ll get right on that with the money I don’t have.” My muscles are already protesting the long walk I have ahead of me, and they groan under the weight of the duffle I throw over my shoulder.
“If I wasn’t already dishing out for the wedding photography, I’d totally book you a shoot.”
“What would I even do with it? Blow it up and hang it over my bed?”
“Advertise yourself, silly! Bring in some big tippers. Hell, hit up the LGBTQ+ forums; they’re always down for supporting their fellow queers.”
I squash the phone between my ear and shoulder, stepping out into the cool, autumn air. “I don’t think I fit that criteria, Mi.”
She hums, and it’s in that annoying twin telepathy way where she thinks she knows exactly what I’m thinking.
“I’ve never even kissed a guy. Doesn’t that make it feel deceptive?”
“What matters is that youwantto kiss a guy. Pretty sure it’s been on your bucket list since college.”
She isn’t wrong. It’s definitely something I’ve wanted to explore, but my life as of late hasn’t exactly lent itself to any sexual explorations.
“What about the boy from the diner?”
Matty.
Deep brown eyes and silky black hair; soft lines but distinctly masculine muscles. I couldn’t see them through his oversized t-shirt, but I felt them as I steadied him. My heart had kicked up a racket like a rabbit in a snare.
“He was cute,” I say, because spouting some nonsense about his gaze feeling like a summer night beneath a starry sky is a surefire way to make sure Miya never drops the subject. “Unlikely I’ll see him again.”
“You should have gotten his number!”
“I was drunk and in no condition to be flirting with pretty boys.”
“You think he’s pretty. And cute. I’m calling it now. Little Ei is gonna fall in looooove.”
My face heats, and I brush my thumb over the blush on my cheeks as if it were something I could just erase.
“Not everyone gets a love story like yours, Mi.”
A brazen tale of moving to LA and falling head over heels for a local roller derby star.
“You’ll never know if you don’t put yourself out there.”
Maybe if I were Voltage all the time, I could seek out something like what Miya found. As it is—existing as myself—Elias Lee is no one’s happily ever after.
The wind nips at my skin, the darkness illuminated by the street lamps overhead.
“Shouldn’t Roxy be coaxing you into bed by now?”
The click of her tongue says that she disapproves of the subject change, but she can’t refute me.
“I can play ignorant for a few more minutes.”
God, I love my sister. No matter how sickeningly sweet in love she is, she always takes the time out of her day to check in with me. Sometimes it’s after work like this, other’s it’s on my day off to video chat with Calum.
