Read Tango with a Twist (Smashwords edition.) Page 35
#scenebreak
Everyone took turns keeping me company and playing bodyguard. Most nights, K-pop came by after dinner. That Friday, we watched anime and worked on dance moves. After dark, we climbed onto the roof using the tree outside the window Tango broke. It was a great place to hang out, look up at the stars and talk.
“So how’d you get hooked into all the Korean stuff?” I asked.
He was quiet a moment. “How’d you get hooked into all the ballroom stuff?”
“Fair enough.”
He glanced at me, then sighed and returned his gaze to the stars. “I’m not the most macho guy in the world,” he said. “I like cartoons. . . I like boy bands, for Christ’s sake.” He lay silently for a while. “It’s normal there. I mean, sometimes it’s hard to tell the guys from the girls because all the roles are so different.” He grunted. “Here?” He grunted again. “If you don’t play football, collect guns and spit tobacco, you’re a little girl.”
After a full minute, he whispered something so quiet I scooted closer so our shoulders touched. “What was that?”
“Cosita is the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.” His eyes filled with stars. “She’d never be into a guy like me.”
Maybe it’s a guy thing, but that’s all he needed to tell me.
I thought long and hard about the best way to give my friend hope. “It’s different away from here. Ballroom’s not the butchest pastime on the planet.” I nudged him with an elbow. “In Austin, it wasn’t a problem.” I nudged him again and he looked at me. “They have anime clubs there. Huge.”
He raised his eyebrows so much his eyes were practically exclamation points. “Hai?”
“Hai.”
“Ethan?” Dad’s voice reached us through the open window.
“Up here, Dad!” I scuttled to the edge of the roof.
He poked his head out the window, saw me there and I swear he threw up a little in his mouth. “What the hell are you doing on the roof in your condition?”
K-pop appeared at my shoulder. “I helped him, Mr. Fox.”
“He practically carried me up here, over a shoulder.”
Dad scowled. He always knew when I was lying.
“Seriously. . . carried. . . like a baby.”
K-pop turned to me. “You only carry a baby over your shoulder if you’re trying to get it to spit up or burp.”
I glanced his way to express my utter disdain for his correction. “How do you even know that?”
“My little sister has a kid. He lives with us.”
Interesting, but not especially germane to the conversation.
“Are you going to grow an ulcer with me up here?” I asked Dad.
He tried to say no, but failed. “Just give it a couple of weeks for the old man, okay?”
We climbed down, and Dad will never know how close I came to falling and breaking my neck. He left for his second official date with Mike, so K-pop and I wandered out to sit by the pool instead. Since I was barred from the roof, I grabbed a few Shiners as way of compensation.
Well, a few each, which is how I decided we needed to go skinny-dipping a couple of hours later. Splash! The water was cool and soothed my battered body.
K-pop was rendered momentarily inhibited.
I splashed him. “Dude! Don’t be an old man.”
“When in Rome.” K-pop chortled and left Vash the Stampede on the arm of a chair.
Cannonball!
He surfaced with a big grin and glanced around nervously. “Sweet.”
I’d left Shiners at the side of the pool in the shallow end. “You never been skinny-dipping before?” I passed one to K-pop.
More grinning. “Nope.”
I held up my bottle for him to clink. “Here’s to first times.”
He tapped my bottle with his. “First times.” He drank and turned to watch the moon sparkle on the water. “You must think I’m a little kid.” His speech was slurred.
“What?” I gave him my full, albeit fuzzy, attention. “Why?”
He scoffed. “Never had a girlfriend.” He waved a hand across the pool. “Never swam naked.” He looked at the beer bottle in his hand. “Never drank before.” His face clouded a little bit. “Well, once before. . . that was different.” He finally looked me in the eye. “It’s like it’s all normal to you.”
I rejected the first ten things that came to mind. “Dude.” I tapped his shoulder with my beer bottle. “This is one of those drunken late night conversations, right? Where guys get to say emotional shit ‘cause we can pretend we don’t remember it in the morning?”
He chuckled. “Yeah. Kinda seems like.”
I shrugged. “Never had one of those before. Well, maybe once with my dad, but that was different.”
He held up his bottle. “First times?”
I clinked it. “First times.”
He smiled. . . then he sputtered and broke out laughing. “Oh my God, did I really sound that pathetic?”
I went for sincere. “No, it was sweet. Really.”
“Shut up.” But he was smiling.
“No, really.” I moved toward him. “Come here and give us a kiss.”
He held me off with his free hand, still laughing.
One benefit of being both a dancer and a boxer is that even when drunk I can very quickly grab someone and throw him into the deep end of the pool.
Crap, that hurt! Forgot about the ribs!
K-pop came up sputtering. “Okay, that’s it,” he said with fake menace. “I still had beer in that bottle.” He swam at me. “I have an older brother, dude. I know a thing or two.”
Sam and Dean eat your hearts out.
Thank God the patio door is really loud, so when it slid open half an hour later, I heard it above the sound of our splashing. “Auntie Mac, no!” I called. “Don’t turn on the light!”
K-pop squealed and ducked down so only his face was above water.
“Don’t come out here, either,” I added. “K-pop’ll die of embarrassment.”
“Dude, shut up!”
“He’s naked and no girl but his mom ever saw his wiener!”
“Dude!” He pushed me under. Again.
Fortunately, Auntie Mac stayed inside. She would’ve had a few things to say about the beer. As the patio door slid closed, I registered K-pop’s slightly unfocused eyes. “Auntie Mac?” I called. “Can you throw the air mattress and a coupla blankets into my room? K-pop’s staying over.”
K-pop grinned. “Sleepover? What are we, twelve?”
I splashed him. “Bro, you are not driving tonight.”
“No worries.” He fell quiet for a minute. “Never had a sleepover.”