AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The boy starts making exaggerated kissing noises, and all three kids burst into laughter.
It’s too much for me to simply ignore. They have to be talking about Henry and Sebastian, mocking them for being so obviously queer. The little shits.
“Hey.”
All three freeze and shut up at the sound of my voice.
“Enough.”
I should say more than that. I should actually lecture them about being small-minded little bigots. They’re damn lucky they haven’t been punished for the stunt with the window. They have no idea how much grace Chloe and Sebastian and Henry have shown them.
But, as ever, I’m a coward. I’ve always been a coward. I always will be a coward. Especially when it comes to this.
“I don’t want to hear any more of that,” I say.
The boys look … if not chastened, at least scared of worse repercussions. That’ll have to be good enough. I turn around, returning to my seat at the front of the bus. By the time I flop into the seat, I’m wrung out, hollow. This was a success, but it left me drained, and that shitty little comment at the end didn’t help. Knowing those boys, they’re probably back at it, just at a lower volume. I know I should do something about it, but instead I pull out my phone.
Thank you for today, I text to Sebastian. If I’m going to be a coward, I can at least be a polite coward.
He responds quickly. He sends a heart emoji, no words.
That little emoji leaves my stomach fluttering the whole way back to school.
Chapter Fifteen
Sebastian
THE CLUB LIGHTS FLASH over my body, turning my skin into stained glass. And there is, indeed, plenty of skin for those lights to find. It’s hot in the club and I’m down to tiny shorts and suspenders that are doing absolutely nothing to keep them up. When I put my back to the crowd and shake my ass, there’s plenty of bare cheek for them to ogle.
It’s a typical Thursday night for me. The clubs are always busiest on Saturday, but Thirsty Thursdays can attract decent crowds, and summer and Pride are bringing even more people out than usual. It means I’m on stage a lot and won’t have a night off for a while, but the tips are incredible. Dollar bills create a crumbled carpet on the platform where I dance, and there’s more shoved into mytiny shorts. During a break between songs, I hastily scoop most of the bills into a bucket, but more take their place the second I start dancing again.
It’s fun. It’s easy. If I could make a living this way, I’d do it, but for now I need the café to supplement this. I enjoy being on stage. I enjoy the attention. I enjoy the way more than a couple men in the crowd look at me as I roll my body and shake my ass.
I take a quick glance at the crowd. A little eye contact never hurts in the tips department. My eyes land on a big guy with sandy hair, and my heart skips its next several beats.
I shake off the vision the next moment. When I blink, the guy is all wrong. His hair is too long. His face is too smooth. He’s got tattoos. He’s wearing leather. The similarities with Luke prove superficial at best.
I can’t help looking for the guy the next time I turn around and face the crowd.
He makes eye contact and shoots me a sly smile. I drag my gaze away, trying to lock eyes with someone, anyone else. Preferably a smaller guy with dark hair. Someone who’s the opposite of Luke.
I give up and look over the heads of the crowd, falling into the rhythm of the music. The bills keep coming, but I’m not paying as much attention to my tips as I was before. Instead, I’m desperately trying to shake Luke from my thoughts; he is just about the last thing I should be thinking about.
The field trip was days ago. Predictably, I’ve heard nothing from him ever since. He sent that thank you text, and I stupidly sent back a heart, and that’s been the end of it. There’s been absolutely zero contact since then. Maybe the heart freaked him out. Maybe it didn’t and he simply considers whatever existed between us over. It wouldn’t surprise me. This whole thing was about the window and the graffiti and the field trip. He was never supposed to end up in my bed … twice. That time when he spent the night was a fluke. He certainly isn’t going to repeat it. In fact, I’d bet he’s simply relieved that the whole thing is over. We got through the awkward field trip without anyone picking up on anything.
Well … except Henry, who pretty much immediately suspected something.
The second Luke left the café with his class, Henry asked me what was up.
“Nothing,” I said, hoping I sounded convincing.
“Nothing?”
That was the moment when I realized our sweet little Henry could sound skeptical when he wanted to.
I huffed out a sigh. “Nothing. I swear.”
“If you need to talk…”
