Page 66 of The Corruption of Hollis Brown

He was tired, expectant. Indolent, amused. Walt pulled the cloth from the bar beside the shower and wet it, squeezed it. Covered their mouth, slipped it down to their neck, then dropped it, soiled, onto the porcelain.

Toy

Contrary to popular belief, Hollis wasn’t a stranger to this.

Spoiled

They didn’t talk about the night after Homecoming the way they didn’t talk about that night when Hollis had spent time learning how to get Walt out of him.

It was too much, it needed time to breathe.

Instead, Hollis bickered with Walt as they did the laundry, washed the dishes, and mopped the floor. Mr. and Mrs. Brown came back Sunday night to a clean house.

Annie hadn’t texted them since Saturday night, but Hollis wasn’t worried. He’d hear the music Monday morning; this experience wasn’t new.

As the sun went down and it got closer to bedtime, Hollis could feel Walt getting nervous. He nearly spilled their water at dinner, and Hollis caught their cup at the last second. The upstairs-neighbor noises were relentless.

Walt waited for Hollis to overwhelm him again. To ask for it or do it unannounced, and it only made Hollis want to swoon and sigh. Made him want to use their face to grin.

And he didn’t, because he could.

Spork

Annie bounced out of her house and slapped Hollis on the arm.

“You ready?”

“Yup.”

You said she’d be mad.

Give it some time.

Annie had dyed her hair light green over the weekend and cut the back very short. The rest of it she had tied into two space buns decorated with butterfly clips.

She had bright pink blush fluffed across her nose and eyeliner freckles; she looked like a sweet strawberry.

“Did you see Yulia at Will’s?”

Annie shrugged. “Yeah, she came way after you left and stayed late. She’s probably still hungover, to be honest. She was sad that she missed you.”

Annie seemed too happy, and Walt was anxious about it. Hollis spent the majority of their walk to school soothing his worries while Walt tried to dual wield a conversation with his least-favorite person.

True to form, when they arrived, Yulia looked like she’d been through the wringer. But she was still well-dressed in matching cream-colored sweats and Birkenstocks in spite of the cold weather.

She pulled Hollis forward by the back of his neck and dropped a rare kiss on his forehead.

“We’re going out for lunch, don’t be late.”

Rune

Jorge wasn’t at school yet—he had one more week.

That didn’t stop familiar eyes from following them around the halls. It wasn’t as bad as right after Rose Town. Only the people who had been at Will’s seemed to be staring, but it was near enough.

Walt seemed pleased, but it was bothering Hollis.

Timothy looked over at him the minute he sat down.