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Unfortunately, May noticed. She burst out laughing, which drew everyone’s attention to my partially raised hand. Laughter rippled through the crowd while I innocently lowered it again and clasped both my hands behind my back like I’d done absolutely nothing.
“Have to keep you on your toes,” I murmured when she turned back around.
“Mmm,” Sariah replied, just soft enough for me to hear. “Retaliation will be so sweet.”
I didn’t doubt that in the least. Fourteen years might have changed a lot about us, but not everything.
“Hello, hello.” I tapped the microphone to get everyone’s attention. It made a harsh crackling sound, drawing groans and protests from around the crowded deck. “Trent, I thought you were supposed to be good at this! What the hell are they paying you for?”
Trent was the sound manager for Noise Dolls and the only person allowed to touch any and all sound equipment.
“Fuck you, Kennedy!” he shouted from the back of the room as he threw his hand in the air to flip me off. I laughed.
“So, for those of you who don’t know me,” I began, “my name is Rhodes fucking Kennedy, rocket scientist and Star Wars nerd—I lost a bet years ago saying I had to introduce myself that way.”
“Damn straight you did!” Sariah called out
“Joke’s on you. That’s a great way to introduce myself. I’m going to have business cards made,” I retorted, earning another round of laughter. “You know, if all of you keep laughing, this will turn into a stand-up comedy hour.”
“His ego doesn’t need the help,” Sloane hollered from his spot against one of the railings.
“He’s not wrong,” I agreed. “Anyway, if you don’t know me, clearly you’re here as May’s guest because everyone in Sariah’s life has been subjected to me for the last fourteen years. You know, when Sariah asked me to be her Mandalorian of Honor—”
“Stop calling yourself that!” Sariah interjected, her cheeks flushed with amusement.
“You should’ve thought about that before you decided to give me free rein of the microphone,” I shot back. “And apparently, this microphone comes with rules. Rather, it comes with a list of things I’m not allowed to say. Like I’m not supposed to tell you about the IKEA incident, where we went for the meatballs—as any normal person does—and left with a dresser. But instead of reading the directions, Sariah said fuck it, and that she could do it herself.”
“The dresser worked fine!” she insisted.
“You put the dresser together backwards! Honestly, the fact that you did that and that it was functional is nothing short of impressive,” I said. “Or that year Sariah decided she could cook a turkey.”
There was a collective groan from the band and crew. They knew the story. They’d all been present for it.
“And honestly, I knew enough about thermodynamics to be helpful,” I continued. “Unfortunately, the fire department didn’t agree with either of us. The parade of hot firefighters through our living room made up for it.”
“No, it didn’t!” Sariah interjected.
“It’s not my fault you’re a lesbian who can’t enjoy hot firemen,” I told her. “But that is a great role-play idea for you, May.”
“Who says we haven’t already?” May teased. I paused and lowered the microphone as I laughed, genuinely surprised by her response. It took me a hot minute to regain my composure.
“That was a good one,” I commented, giving props where they were due. “As I was saying, I’m also not supposed to tell you about the time Sariah got locked out of her apartment naked and tried to climb through the neighbor’s window.”
“That was you!” Sariah exclaimed as she slapped a hand on the table.
“No, it wasn’t.” I frowned as I faced her. That look on her face told me otherwise. “Are you sure?”
“I kept your ass out of jail.”
“Huh. Well, you were there, so it counts.”
“That doesn’t make it my story,” Sariah retorted.
“Your stories are my stories,” I reminded her, earning a smile. “Anyway, I’m not allowed to talk about all those things, which means I guess I’ll talk about love.”
The amusement died, which was the point. I wasn’t just up here to make everyone laugh. I had a point to my whole speech.
“When I met Sariah, we were both in the military, and we just clicked right away. Our friendship was instant. We were angry and stubborn… we were deeply unpleasant on occasion.”
