“Why the hell not?”
Chapter seventeen
Dorothy’sFriendslived,unsurprisingly,in the heart of Boystown.The busy neon sign and the facade’s bright rainbow colors dulled under the darkening sky.The sidewalk was sticky with something Baz did not want to question.
Pop music underscored the ocean of chatter that froze Baz to the entrance.Every table in the generous—stillveryred—space was packed, and still, people crowded around the bar.A glass smashed to the floor, followed by howled cheers celebrating the scattering shards.
Awelcome to hellsign passed Baz’s inner eye.
This was a mistake.He needed to get out of here, tell Sami to come over whenever he was done partying—
“You came!”Sami’s voice cut through the chaos, an anchor grounding Baz in the safety of Sami’s beaming face that approached with quick strides.Green, glittery eyeshadow adorned his hazel eyes.Baz had never noticed how long his lashes were.The top three buttons of his burgundy shirt were open, revealing his hairy chest, also sparkling with green glitter.
Baz had to remind himself to breathe.
“I’m a man of my word.I know that’s a strange concept to you.”
Chuckling, Sami brought his hands on Baz’s shoulders as if to hug him, except he stopped there.Since when did he need encouragement?
Baz let his hands wander to Sami’s waist, hot even through the cotton fabric.For once, not an awful choice of material.
“How are you feeling?”
Mad.Exhausted.Shit on toast had nothing on him.
“Ready to be distracted,” Baz settled on.
“My specialty.”Sami’s fingers slid between his.He pulled Baz past the generously stocked bar, and toward a corner booth four others already claimed: three women, one of whom was lying back-first on the lap of another, and one guy.The aforementioned gang, Baz presumed.He had no script to follow, no prepared conversation topics, and plenty of bad impressions to make.
Just like sucking up to the partners.He squeezed Sami’s hand, a silent plea not to leave him hanging.
“Guys, this is the dick I work with.Or rather, against,” Sami announced.Yeah, should have seen that coming.
“But most people call me Baz.”He offered a polite smile to the round.
Sami scooted knee-first onto the red-cushioned bench, patting the space next to him.After taking off his trench coat , Baz followed the invite and was greeted with a hand on his thigh.His skin grew hot and tingly under its weight; Baz put his hand on top to keep it right there.
“Baz, this is my roomie and ride or die, Naija.”Sami pointed at the woman from the bar, except now, her hair was angelically curled and the Lesbian flag painted on her eyes with impressively sharp lines.
“Nice to meet you properly,” Baz said.
“And you.”She flashed a pearly smile.Her white teeth glowed against the dark purple of her lips.“I’ve heard so much about you.”
Wait, really?Sami talked about him?
“And these are Kaina and Zahra.”Sami gestured toward the women intertwined with each other.“They are insufferably in love.Honestly, close your eyes, it’s nauseating.”
“He’s just jealous,” the one on the lap, Kaina, said.
“Much to be jealous of,” Zahra purred, bending down to kiss Kaina’s forehead.Two of her blue locs fell into Kaina’s face, who giggled and twirled one around her finger.
Baz was well familiar with giddy devotion.Nothing would ever top Eevee and Joel during their first few weeks of living together.The amount of earplugs Baz had gone through back then was undignified.
There was no trace of nausea on Sami’s face either, rather something Baz could only describe as an adoring cheekiness, so he was just full of shit once again.Kind of nice, being able to count on that.
“And this is Tony, our token White gay.”Sami completed the round of introductions with the young-looking, skinny guy with spiky hair and striking gray-blue eyes squeezed on the other end of the bench.
“It’s a huge responsibility, but I carry it with grace,” Tony said.His voice was more nasal than Baz had expected.
