“Were?”
“We had a falling out, I guess.” I could tell from the crinkle between her eyes that Dana didn’t even believe her own words. “With her family, really. They, uh, didn’t want me hanging around her because I was a bad influence.”
I laughed. “That was every parent of my friends. Their moms had heart attacks every time their daughters hung out with me. I didn’t help matters by driving my car onto the front lawn of the schoolyard either. But it was worth it just to see the principal’s face. Red and bloated like a tomato.”
I was laughing, but Dana was barely smiling. She cleared her throat and said, “She wasn’t just my friend.”
It took me a second, but I eventually got what she meant.
“Oh,” I said. “She was your…?”
“Yeah.”
A part of me was surprised by the revelation, but yet it wasn’t all that shocking the more I thought about it. I wondered if everyone else knew and if Priscilla convinced herself Dana was into her yet. Priscilla was the type to think anything with a sex drive would want to fuck her. Priscilla wasn’t ugly, but she wasn’t all that either. The chick had to get over herself.
“Was she not out?” I asked.
Dana shook her head. “Neither of us were. But her mom could see what was growing between us, and she put a stop to it.”
“That was a long time ago, though, right? You could always get in contact with her. It’s not like her parents can say shit now.”
“I don’t think she wants me disrupting her life. Last I heard, she was living in the city with a man.”
“So she’s still in the closet,” I said with a nod.
Dana shrugged. “Or I was just a phase. An experiment. Something to make her conservative parents angry.”
I was guilty of more than a few drunken nights out with my friends kissing up on them and messing around just for the hell of it. It never even crossed my mind that someone could get hurt in the process.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“I’m not. I learned a lot about myself that summer.”
“If she was just using you, why do you keep her picture? I would have torn it up by now.”
“Just because it wasn’t real for her doesn’t mean it wasn’t real for me.”
I couldn’t relate to that kind of thinking. My marriage falling apart left me bitter and angry that just the sight of him made my blood boil. “I burned most of my wedding pictures,” I whispered. “Nothing good came from that marriage.”
“Not one thing?”
“Maybe I did learn one thing…that you can feel completely alone even with your husband sleeping beside you.”
“That’s the worst kind of loneliness. You have people to fill out these roles in your life, but yet you’re still empty inside. Hollow, even.”
It wasn’t just a thing to say. She understood me. I could feel it.
“You’ve been in a relationship like that?” I asked.
“Not a romantic one, no. Just my friends. If I dated boys and had the right hair I thought we’d have more in common that we could talk about, but it never helped much. How do you gush about men you’re going out with when really you think their sister is cute?”
I didn’t think she was trying to be funny, but I laughed anyway. And she smiled at me. Her smiles were always so sad and hesitant, and I just wanted to tell her everything would be okay.
“I should probably get back to looking for the marshmallows,” Dana said.
“Do you even have marshmallows? Be honest.”
“Probably not, but Cora’s so nice I don’t want to disappoint her.”
I chuckled. “I doubt she cares.”
“Well, just in case.” She smiled and then pranced toward the kitchen, her brown hair bouncing around on her shoulders with every step she took. I watched her for a minute or two and for a second forgot why I was even standing by the desk. Until that moment, I hadn’t realized how shiny Dana’s hair was. It was sort of hypnotic.
I exhaled and reached into the drawer for a lighter, and then returned to Cora and Priscilla. To continue our wait.
Chapter Twenty-Three
DAGGETT
To my knowledge, no one followed us to the shop.
Max and I broke into the building with virtually no trouble, as well, because the place didn’t even have an alarm. I felt guilty that we were stealing, because it looked to be a small family business that sold car parts and other car-related products, as well as having a garage in the back where they could repair vehicles.
The smell of tires and car oil was everywhere, and it made me think of Lincoln. He was always tinkering around with vehicles in his spare time.
After we shifted back into our human forms, we started to get dressed. “I sure am tired of looking at another dude’s package,” I admitted, as I stood there in nothing but my boxers and socks.
“You’re the one that makes it awkward by staring,” Max replied as he put his shirt over his head.
“You think anyone followed us?”
“I hope so.”
I squinted at him. “Why would you hope for something like that?”
“Because it means they’re not back at the apartment messing with the girls.”
Typical Max, all manly and ready for a fight to protect his girl. Meanwhile, I was trying not to shit my pants. Good thing Priscilla wasn’t with us.
With her on my mind, I asked, “Hey, Max, do you think it’s at all plausible that Priscilla likes me?”
He clicked his tongue. “So you’re actually into her?”
“You say that like she’s grotesque.”
“No, I say that like she’s a handful. A few hours with her and her brand of sass, or whatever the hell you
