“Well, notjust,” Rus elaborated. “My birthday’s in April but—”
“That’s like a year-ish ago,” Kaiden said with a laugh as he counted the actual number of months on his fingers between April and September.
“But,” Rus said, clearing his throat with a bit of hostility, “I sort of got into some legal trouble around then, and that pretty much blew my whole summer away. Between community service and driving all the way back home for family time—because God forbid my behavior ruin any family reunions or vacations or blah, blah, blah.”
“If you hadn’t screwed up, we might never have crossed paths.” Dylan had a coy smile.
“Himbos is pretty great.” Kaiden’s phone buzzed, and he dug into his pocket.
“Minus the tourists, right?” Rus added.
“Exactly. But even they can’t ruin the Friday night drag shows,” Kaiden said, swiping to ignore a barrage of texts from his sister. “You should check it out.”
“Yeah,” Dylan exclaimed. “Oh, I haven’t been to one of their drag shows in forever.”
Not forever. The last time he went was back in July. Kaiden had managed to pry Dylan away from his work at Dorothy’s Home. If not for Kaiden, Dylan would pretty much hunker down and work nonstop, relying on his phone for any and all human interactions. Even when they hung out, Kaiden spent much of it helping around at the queer youth home, whether that meant sorting through donations or organizing fundraiser venues.
“You should go this Friday,” Kaiden suggested, taking a careful sidestep as he prepared to exit so he could message his sister and do a lap around the venue. If he enjoyed the fundraiser too much, Alison might notice.
“That’d be fun,” Rus said.
“Yeah, definitely.” Dylan grinned.
“Then again, it is a Saturday…” Rus raised his shoulders suggestively, likely testing the waters on whether anyone wanted to go.
“Remember what I said about tourism?” Kaiden made a face.
“Okay, okay, so Friday it is.” Rus dug through his pocket for his phone. “So, should we like meet at the club or like hang downtown beforehand? The food’s good there.”
“I’m pretty much down for whatever,” Dylan answered, taking Rus’ phone as he handed it to him, clearly requesting his contact info. “What do you think, Kaiden?”
“What?” Kaiden paused, staring at the two of them. “I was just making a suggestion. I wasn’t going to go.”
Scanning through his texts, Kaiden read through the increasingly aggressive messages his sister left him. Apparently, he’d flaked on dinner for the family, even though he told everyone multiple times he wouldn’t be there because of the fundraiser. Now, if he skipped out on a Friday in the same week, he’d never hear the end of it. His sister usually picked up extra work on the weekends, which meant she’d need someone to watch the kids.
“What?You’d send me there by myself?” Rus placed a hand to his chest, feigning the same phony surprise Kaiden had a moment ago. It pulled Kaiden’s attention away from his phone. “What if I get snatched up by one of those hetero tourists? Do you have any idea what they do to bi boys?”
“No, what?” Dylan asked.
“Neither do I,” Rus said with a laugh. “That’s why I asked.”
“You won’t be alone.” Kaiden gestured to Dylan.
“I don’t know.” Dylan shrugged. “It’s been forever since I’ve gone to Himbos; I might lose him.”
“And I’m just a lil baby, remember?” Rus made his voice light and childish.
Kaiden scoffed. “I guess I can check my schedule.”
“Sounds good.” Dylan shoulder bumped his friend, keeping Kaiden planted in place in the storage room.
“So, which one of you is buying me drinks?” Rus handed his phone to Kaiden.
“You little scammer.” Kaiden rolled his eyes, typing his name and number into Rus’ phone before texting himself.
“Damn straight—pun certainly not intended.” Rus winked. “It’s my first time at the gay club. I expect to be plastered on someone else’s tab.”
“We’ll find you a sugar daddy for the night,” Kaiden teased.
