“Hey,” I said quietly, shaking him.
Nothing.
“Vince,” I said a little louder.
Nothing.
“I’ll suck your dick if you wake up right now.” I did not just say that.
“I’m awake,” he said rather quickly, opening his eyes.
I scowled at him. “That’s cheating.”
He smirked as he stretched. “You already promised. You can’t back down now.”
“Get off me. Your head weighs like thirty pounds.”
“The human head only weights eight pounds,” he scoffed as he sat up.
I stared at him.
“What?” he said defensively. “I may not be smart, but I do know some things.”
“And one of those things is how much a person’s head weighs?” I asked.
“You didn’t know that, did you?” he asked, sounding weirdly shy.
I did (I don’t know why), but it seemed important for some reason that I didn’t let him know. “Nope. I sure didn’t.”
He looked inordinately pleased. “Stick with me, kid. I’ll teach you some stuff.”
I somehow resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “Are you hungry?”
He shook his head. “Those pills kinda messed with my stomach a bit.” He tried to send me a meaningful look to make me feel guilty. He failed. Miserably.
“I’m not going to feel bad about that,” I told him. “You needed to sleep.”
“You realize, though,” he said, “that I’ll never be able to take a drink from you again without worrying that you’re trying to drug me.”
“Good,” I said.
“Great comeback. Can I take a shower?”
My mouth went dry. “Uh.”
He leered at me. “You can join me if you want.”
“That’s okay. I’ll take Wheels outside and you can… take a shower.”
“Naked,” Vince said, arching an eyebrow.
“Naked,” I agreed weakly. “Most people do it that way.”
“And you could do it with me.”
I don’t know where it came from, but I decided to play back. “Tell you what,” I said, leaning closer to him. His breathing picked up as my lips almost grazed his ear. “If you can stand without grimacing, groaning, or showing you’re in any kind of pain, I’ll get in the shower with you.” I moved just a fraction of an inch closer. “Naked.”
“You will? No joking?”