Page 78 of Bears Behaving Badly
“No, that’s okay. This is fine.”
“Sure it is.”
“Well, it is,” he snapped.
“Where’s the bar? You’re lying on it, aren’t you? You’re lying on it right now. Admit it. Admit you’re lying on the bar.”
“…Yeah.”
She laughed. “Your friends are nice.”
“Yeah.” But he sounded pleased.
“Could I ask you some personal questions?”
“Sure.”
“How did you lose your parents?”
He snorted.
“If you don’t want to talk—”
“It’s not that. I’ve always thought that euphemism is just dumb, is all. I didn’t misplace them. They died. My dad of cancer when I was fourteen, Mom of liver failure when I was in college.”
Liver failure. Cirrhosis? Alcoholism?
“I’m sorry. I misplaced mine when I was young, too. Permanently,” she added over David’s chuckle. “So your father died, and you started spending time with your neighbors?”
She could hear him shifting in the sofa bed, trying to get comfortable. “Yeah. My mom had to take another job to pay the bills, and I ran a little wild.”
“Roaming the countryside searching for maple syrup to dunk into your coffee?”
“Naw, back then I was all about making chocolate milk with Hershey’s Syrup. You start with a cup of milk, and then you add a cup of syrup, and—”
“GoodGod.I’m getting a cavity just hearing about it.”
“I’ve got perfect teeth, so back off.”
“I’ll bet,” she purred, then immediately covered her face with her hands, feeling herself blush.What the hell was that supposed to be? You sound like an amorous dentist!
Judging by the pause, David was a bit taken aback as well. “Anyway, Jim and I were good friends, and Jenn’s family had moved into the neighborhood just before my dad died, and long story short—”
“But I like long stories.”
“—I was careless and Jim saw me shift. And he was half in love with Jenn already, so he told her, and…”
“Yes? And?”
“And I waited for the world to end.” His voice, coming at her from the dark, was deep and amused. “The worst thing had happened, right? Even worse than my dad’s death, to hear some of the adults tell it. Exposure. Potential annihilation. Everything was over—my life, my future, all gone. So I kept waiting for the government or, I dunno, assassins or evil Stable scientists or whatever to show up and kill me. Or kidnap me and vivisect me. Or put me in a zoo. Or shoot me with a silver bullet.”
“Sounds like you had all the bases covered.”
“And nothing happened.”
“And your mother?”
“Lost it. I had to tell her—warn her—and she was furious and terrified that I had exposed us to danger. And at first I thought it’d be okay, I thought she’d settle when nothing happened to us. But she didn’t relax when days and weeks and months went by and nothing happened.”
