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“What are you, twelve?”
Dmitri gave him a flat look. “Is that a crack about Chinese people looking young?”
At that, Talia shut her mouth and looked far more apologetic than she should have. “That’s not what I…shit. I’m going to shut up. But that wasn’t what I meant. You graduated high school not that long ago. It’s a bit early to have a full-blown crisis.”
Dmitri shook his head. “Trust me, every single one has been necessary.”
Before Talia could say anything, Dmitri heard voices. He didn’t recognize the specific ones, but he knew what was coming. There was no surprise in the way they stopped—two men, three women. They were all around Talia’s age, maybe older, and they stared at Dmitri like he was a walking car crash.
Two of the women leaned in to whisper, and one of them shook their head while the blond man snickered. Dmitri wanted to shrink into himself, especially with the way Talia was staring at him. Hard. Then she rose and faced the group, saying nothing, but the look on her face was enough.
They darted inside, and Talia remained standing until the door slammed shut. “What the fuck was that?” she demanded as she spun back around.
Dmitri groaned and sat back, biting the inside of his cheek until he tasted blood. “Gossipy shit.”
Talia lifted her brows. “Jayden telling everyone when he caught Aksel and Roman fucking in a boat is gossipy shit. That was…not.”
Dmitri didn’t want to air his dirty laundry to this woman who was almost a stranger, but there was something in her eyes that made Dmitri feel oddly safe, and his tongue loosened a bit. “My parents kind of had a bad reputation when they lived here. Uh. You know, adopted a kid from China, tried to look like upstanding citizens, except they were drunks who had the sheriff called on them a lot.” Dmitri closed his eyes and breathed out. “People noticed.”
Talia cleared her throat. “Well, trust me when I say they’re not worth thinking about. Not just those guys. Your parents too.”
The left side of Dmitri’s mouth tugged up into something like a half smile, and he shrugged. “I don’t think about them much. My mom eventually left, then my dad decided to follow her, but they were both addicts. And, well. CPS came and took me from him, and they both went to jail, and I had to move back here. It probably would have been fine, but I had anger management issues. Then…I’m sure you heard about Antoine.”
Talia smirked. “Right, Antoine. The car thing, or the drowning thing? Or the peacock thing?”
Dmitri flushed. “The car thing was me. Not…not on purpose. But people were happy to blame me for the lake thing. Or any other made-up thing that people find funny. It’s…whatever.”
Talia shook her head. “People are dicks.”
At that, Dmitri had to laugh. “Yeah. Most of them really, really are.” Then he thought about Raphael and added,but not all of them, to himself.
They sat there a while longer, the silence between them comforting in ways Dmitri hadn’t expected. Then, Talia sighed and pushed her cup to the edge of the table as she leaned forward. “You know, if youdoneed a job, I have an in with the owner.” She nodded her head towardL’Chaim’sfront door, then shrugged.
Dmitri smiled at her—feeling the grin as it reached his eyes, and he shook his head. “I really do have a job. But um. Thanks?”
Talia nodded, then pushed herself to her feet. “See you around?”
Dmitri smiled again, and Talia rapped her knuckles on the table twice, then turned on her heel and left.
* * *
Dmitri knewhe’d been standing in the supermarket aisle too long by how many times the woman with the toddler passed him, but his anxiety had gripped him by the throat. He was seconds away from abandoning the whole trip, so he forced himself to finally move, grabbing the box of Twinkies from the shelf. The box bowed a little under the pressure of his fingers, but he managed to keep it from being crushed as he hurried to the self-checkout and shoved his five dollar bill into the machine.
He dropped a couple of the pennies on the ground as he fumbled with his receipt, but he couldn’t breathe properly until he was behind the wheel of his car. He felt like a moron, really. It was a fucking box of Twinkies, and it was just Raphael.
Just Raphael, who had been on his mind since the night they sat in that empty parking lot and watched the stars.
Just Raphael. A man Dmitri wasn’t even sure had liked him up to the moment he invited himself along on his birthday trip and turned what had been a gut-wrenching ache into something beautiful. Raphael had spent the night making him feel special, making him feel like he wasn’t some freak of nature walking around in a human body. He hadn’t asked him awkward questions about being ace, he hadn’t implied that he just needed to find a good man or a good dick.
In the most subtle, quiet way, he’d spent those hours telling Dmitri he was worthy of his time simply by existing as he was. Dmitri had always been a bit smitten—the soft accent, the way he slipped into German without thinking about it, the way his cheeks dimpled a bit when he laughed. He wasn’t stupid enough to think he had a chance even now, but at the very least, he thought something like friendship had formed.
It was that thought that gave him the courage to make the drive over to the salon. He didn’t see Jayden’s car in the front, and something about that offered a bit of relief as he took the steps up and moved inside. The salon door was closed with abe back soonsign, but it was cracked open, and he could see Raphael behind the desk on the phone.
He glanced up and smiled when he saw Dmitri, beckoning him in, so Dmitri slipped through and shut the door with a firm click behind him. The bag from the market hung off his arm, and he felt a little bit foolish, but not as much as he would have if Raphael weren’t still smiling at him.
“Yes, okay. No, I promise I will, just…okay. Yes. Tonight. I’m at work so I refuse to play this game with you.” Raphael pulled his phone from his ear and jabbed his finger against the screen to end the call. “What brings you by?”
“Um.” Dmitri swallowed thickly, then held up the bag. “Thank you gift?”
