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Emory clicked his tongue and tried to shoo the blond away with both hands as he snapped, “Mind your own business, Martin!”
“I’m just saying.”
The blond went back to touching up his eye makeup while Emory told me, “You don’t need this craziness right now. Let me give you the keys to my apartment. Go upstairs and make yourself a nice cup of tea. I’ll be up in about an hour, and we’ll figure this out. Also, you’re more than welcome to spend the night on my couch if you need a place to stay.”
“Oh my, maybe I spoke too soon about Polly and her pocket. Way to get ‘em on the rebound, honey,” the blond quipped with a huge smile, and Emory rolled his eyes.
My friend fished a set of keys from the pocket of some jeans that were crumpled on the floor and handed them over. I gave him a hug and said, “Thank you. I really appreciate this.”
He tried to shrug it off by saying, “You’d do the same for me.”
His apartment was on the top floor of the same building that housed the drag club. To access it, I had to go back outside and use one of the keys to unlock a security gate at the side of the building. Then I walked to the end of a narrow service alley and used another key to open a door that led to a staircase. After that, it was a four-story climb and another trip down a long hallway which led back to the front of the building.
His one-bedroom apartment was definitely on the small side, and he’d basically turned the living room into a closet for his costumes, but it was cozy. After I did as he suggested and made myself some tea, I took off my shoes and folded myself into a corner of the couch. Then I took a look at my phone. There were no messages. Gabriel would definitely have made it back to the apartment by now, so that meant he was choosing not to answer my text.
I spent the next hour or so lost in thought. The forgotten tea had gone cold by the time Emory let himself into the apartment. He was dressed in a hot pink outfit he’d referred to as ‘Black Barbie’ when we’d caught his act earlier in the week. I blinked and murmured, “How’d you manage that if I have your keys? I thought I’d have to let you in.”
“My landlord was working behind the bar tonight, so I asked to borrow his spare set. He owns the whole building, including the club. I thought you might have fallen asleep, so I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“That was very considerate.”
Emory mumbled, “It was just common courtesy.” He was carrying a big bundle of clothes, and he shifted them in his arms as he headed into the bedroom and said, “Be right back, I’m going to take a quick shower.”
When he reappeared fifteen minutes later wearing gray sweats and his thick glasses, it was a bit jarring. It was almost a Clark Kent-Superman kind of thing, except his Superman was actually a gorgeous, confident woman who commanded attention wherever she went.
My phone was still in my hand, and he pointed to it as he sat down on the other end of his red sofa and asked, “How many times have you texted Gabriel tonight?”
“Just once, because I’m trying to give him some time. I keep checking to see if he’s sent me a reply, but he hasn’t.”
“What did your text say?”
I pulled it up and handed him the phone, and he read the message and handed it back to me. “After I sent it I thought of so many more things I could have said, but I didn’t want to blast his phone so I just left it at that.”
“I think you’re doing the right thing by giving him some space,” Emory said, as he tucked his feet under him.
“I’m definitely going to go see him tomorrow and beg him to talk to me. I won’t be able to hold out any longer than that.”
He studied me for a few moments before saying, “You seem to be handling this pretty well, all things considered.”
“I’m really not,” I admitted. “It’s all I can do to stop myself from running to the apartment and throwing myself at his feet. I feel all shredded up inside, and if he doesn’t take me back I don’t even know what I’ll do.”
He said, “Well, then you’re just going to have to get him to forgive you. It’s as simple as that.”
That wasn’t simple at all, but I nodded in agreement anyway.
Chapter 10
I called in sick to work the next day, both because I was a wreck, and because I wanted to talk to Gabriel as soon as possible. I’d barely slept the night before. Instead, I spent hours staring into the darkness and rehearsing imaginary conversations, trying to work out what I wanted to say to him so I didn’t mess it up. I hadn’t thought of anything brilliant by the time I finally gave in to sheer exhaustion and fell sleep just after dawn.
