Fuck this.I hop out of the car.
“Tommy, wait!” Kira scrambles out after me, our voices the only sound in our corner of the night. I’m not running or anything, so she catches me quickly and grabs my arm. “Where are you going?!”
“I just need some air.” She hits me with a disbelieving stare and I sigh. “Alright, fine, I don’t want to wait here just for him to come get rid of me.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” she insists, holding me tight and looping her arm through mine. “He’s going to fix it.”
“I don’t need him to fix anything for me,” I huff, but I let her pull me back toward the car, so we end up leaning against the side of it together, our arms linked between us. “I don’t need him at all.”
“I–you–” She opens her mouth a few times, her brows deeply furrowed, but eventually stays silent.
We stand there together while the driver nervously watches us, the whole block feeling abandoned and quiet. I can see the city lights not far from here, boxing us in, but we’re in one of those districts with older buildings that all close down in the evening. The city might never sleep, but certain neighborhoods definitely do.
“You really think he’ll fix it?” I finally ask.
“I know he will.” She sounds confident, but I’m not so sure.
“It’s my fault. He’s gonna be so pissed.”
“No, he won’t. It’s not your fault. We’re going to stick together and take care of this.”
I chew on her answer for a minute. Eventually, I turn my head and look down at her. She meets my eyes in the darkness, unafraid.
“Kira, why do you even care? Why do you want me to stay? I’ve been nothing but trouble.”
“I…” She shakes her head. “I’ve never seen my uncle look at anyone the way he looks at you.”
“You didn’t even know he was gay until a few minutes ago,” I call out her bullshit, trying not to get dizzy from the butterflies rioting in my stomach.
Her little scowl makes me laugh and she elbows my side hard. “I didn’t know he feltthatway about you! But I thought he was taking you under his wing as his, like, protege or whatever.”
“Oh my god,” I scrub a hand down my face. “Seriously?”
“What? It’s possible!”
“So you thought what? That I was just his mini-me?”
“Well…” She shrugs innocently. “What else was I supposed to think when he bailed you out of jail and then basically told me you were staying with him indefinitely? He wouldn’t do that for justanybody. You have to be special to him somehow. And he’s never been into anyone before, let alone a guy! So how was I supposed to know?”
“He’s not into me,” I deny, despite the mountains of evidence to the contrary, because I literally can’t believe in a good thing for myself, it’s physically impossible. “He’s just like, bi-curious or something. Experimenting.”
“Wow,” Kira draws the word out, emphasizing her incredulity. “Are you seriously ‘it’s a phase’-ing my uncle right now? That’s not very LGBTQ ally of you.”
“Um, excuse me?! I’m literally gay! I don’t need to be an ally!”
“Wow.” She draws the word out again.
“Why are we arguing about this right now?”
“You started it!”
I roll my eyes, and she huffs, but our arms stay linked and we aren’t yelling or anything, so I guess we’re not really upset. I’ve never really been one to bicker; I usually jump straightfrom being a brat to punching people, but this? It feels almost comforting. The nerves simmering inside me aren’t forgotten, but feel more tolerable with this gentle distraction, and waiting for Young-gi to show up and decide my fate feels less horrible.
“You know, you’re alright for a rich girl,” I say suddenly, feeling fond of her.
“Oh, shut up, Tommy,” she groans.
Before I can tease her any more, or bicker with her again, we both flinch at the nearby sound of tires squealing on tar. I straighten in front of her protectively as three large black vehicles barrel around the street corner and jump the curb, all of them circling around our town car.
