“Great!” I said, trying not to show him that killing zebras made him a monster. “Have fun with that. See you—”
“Maybe when I’m free in a few weeks?” he asked, sounding strangely hopeful. “I’d really like to see Sandy perform. I haven’t been to Jack It in years.”
I nodded furiously. “Oh yeah, sure. Sounds perfect. Just, ah, let me know. Bye!”
I slammed the door and did a weird walk-run toward the house. I managed to stay upright as I got inside, slamming the door behind me.
I was safe. I was home. I was—
I was watching Sandy make sex face as Darren did a weird twist with his wrist from where they were fucking on the floor in the living room.
I screamed.
Sandy screamed.
Darren… well, he didn’t scream. He just grunted at me and sighed, the sweat on his considerable chest glistening, for fuck’s sake. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that it was all just a bad dream.
“Did you have a good lunch with Charlie?” Sandy asked, sounding hoarse.
“Jesus Christ,” Darren muttered.
Chapter 8: Well, That Certainly Changes Everything (Goddammit)
IT WASN’T a date that Jeremy had.
No, it wasn’t a date at all.
And thanks to Charlie, I found out exactly what it was.
I DIDN’T ask Jeremy about it the next week. It was none of my business how he spent his Saturday nights. If he wanted to go on dates with Super Gays and fuck them, then he was free to do so. It didn’t bother me in the slightest.
And so what if I was thinking about it more and more, almost to the point where I was getting obsessive. Jeremy didn’t owe me a single thing aside from the professional relationship that we already had. And if we’d cultivated a kind of friendship on the side, that was nobody’s business but our own. It didn’t affect anything at Phoenix House.
He’d be there bright and early every weekday morning in his Jeep. (And no, I didn’t continue to watch him as he jogged by our house, no matter what Sandy said; I got up earlier now only because it was better to give myself time to start my day.) He’d grin at me and ask me if I was ready when I came out of the house.
And we’d go to work, where someone in his position should have spent most of his time in his office. Instead he preferred to take work home with him so he could be out front, greeting whoever came to Phoenix House like they were long-lost friends. Hell, even Kai had warmed up to him. He was one of the few people, aside from Diego, who could get a smile out of them.
Marina loved him and told me she was going to push for him to stay. “He says he won’t,” she told me over lunch one day. “And I’m actively looking for a replacement, but not too hard.”
“That’s great,” I said weakly. “But he does love teaching.”
She sighed. “I know. And I’m probably not going to get anywhere with it, but I have to at least try. Too bad you haven’t graduated yet. I’d be trying to push you just as much if you had. Maybe someday, right?”
I was absurdly touched. “You think I’d be good at something like that?”
She nodded. “You would be. I think you’ve got the stamina for it, and the kids respond to you really well.” She frowned. “But we might not even be open that long.”
That didn’t sound good. “The funding search not going too well?”
She sighed. “It’s… complicated. You would think a city this size would be all for having a dedicated space for the LGBTQI youth. I thought that I would be able to avoid the same problems the previous center had before they closed, but it’s getting harder. The political climate is… strange right now. I don’t know how to explain it. People are distracted, and money isn’t given out as freely as it could be toward a charitable cause.”
I knew what she meant. It was toward the end of June, and the conventions for the Republican and Democratic nominees for president were next month. I didn’t know what the fuck people were thinking with that orange choad. Hopefully it would turn out all right in the end. I had more faith in humanity than what was currently on display. “Do we need to start worrying?”
She shook her head. “Nah. Not yet. I’ve got a few more tricks up my sleeve, some favors I can call in.” She smiled at me. “We’ll be all right. You’ll see.”
I hoped she was right. Because if I had to follow Sandy’s ridiculous eighties movie plot to life and fight to save the youth center, I was never going to hear the end of it.
IT WAS a normal Friday afternoon following the weekend in which I ate cheesy tots in front of Jeremy, something I certainly hadn’t planned on doing. I was looking forward to the end of the day. I was going to put on sweats and not move from the couch for the entire weekend. Nothing was going to change that. Absolutely nothing.