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It sounds like Justin talking in my head, even though it’s my voice.
“Let’s switch the topic, okay?” I say. “This isn’t a good party topic. I liked it more when you were singing to me.”
Justin pops into the doorway now, Corona in hand. He scans the room, sees me, looks a little happy, then sees that I’m talking to a guy and looks a little less happy.
“So who’s this?” he asks, coming over.
“Don’t worry, Justin,” I say. “He’s gay.”
“Yeah, I can tell from the way he’s dressed. What are you doing here?”
“Nathan, this is Justin, my boyfriend. Justin, this is Nathan.”
“Hi,” Nathan says.
Justin lets it hang for a second, then asks, “You seen Stephanie? Steve’s looking for her. I think they’re at it again.”
There’s an I told you so embedded in his voice. And he did tell me so.
I give him back an I told you so what.
“Maybe she went to the basement,” I say.
“Nah. They’re dancing in the basement.”
Dancing. The last time the two of us danced was probably a very tipsy night at Preston’s house a few months ago.
I miss it.
“Want to go down there and dance?” I ask.
“Hell no! I didn’t come here to dance. I came here to drink.”
“Charming,” I say. What was I even thinking, asking him? Then I figure I have another opportunity. “Do you mind if I go dance with Nathan?”
He takes another look at Nathan’s tie, jacket. “You sure he’s gay?”
“I’ll sing you show tunes if you want me to prove it,” Nathan volunteers.
Justin slaps him on the back. “No, dude, don’t do that, okay? Go dance.”
Then, with a Corona salute, he heads back to the kitchen.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” I tell Nathan. I know I wouldn’t be crazy about the idea of dancing with someone I didn’t know, so I can’t really expect him to be into it.
But he says, “I want to. I really want to.”
I don’t know why this makes sense, but it does. So I lead the way to the basement. There’s a different kind of noise down there—dance noise. In a total Stephanie touch, all the regular lights have been replaced with red bulbs. It feels like we’re at the center of a beating heart.
It’s hard to see who’s here, but I spot Steve making his own pre-hangover moves in the corner.
I call out to him, “Hey, Steve! I like your cousin!”
He nods, so I guess the feelings Nathan expressed aren’t entirely mutual.
“Have you seen Stephanie?” he yells.
“No!” I yell back, figuring it’s probably best if they stay separate until they come to their more sober senses.
