“How does everything you say sound so dirty? What you need is some home training.”
Elias barked like a dog.
Kai massaged his cheeks, which were sore from all the smiling. He then leaned back and tried to pay attention to what Elias was doing with the machine, but his focus was pulled toward Elias’s back and then down his arms.
“I only have two quarters, so seventeen minutes is all we get,”Elias said over his shoulder. The coins dropped into the machine with achunk, chunk.
The dryer kicked on, and Elias leaned against the table next to Kai, folding his arms. They talked for a while, but the late hour was finally catching up to them, and they settled into comfortable silence, watching their clothes spin. Several minutes passed. It wasn’t until a loud growl came from Kai’s stomach that they broke out of their shared daze.
“You’re hungry?” Elias asked. He stood in front of Kai, leaning against his knees. “I can make you something when we get back.”
“He cleansandhe cooks?” Kai joked.
“Yes, he does,” Elias replied. “How do you like your eggs in the morning?”
“I like them on someone else’s plate. And itisthe morning,” Kai said, bopping his palm against Elias’s forehead. Elias caught Kai’s hand before he was able to bring it back to his side, delicately placing it on his chest. Elias’s heart was beating fast beneath the red screen-printed heart of his T-shirt.
Being away from home, sleep-deprived, dressed like idiots—this was the perfect moment for Elias to kiss him. Kai had initiated both times tonight, and he yearned for Elias to take the lead here. As if reading his mind, Elias tilted Kai’s head to the side and leaned in. But in the split second it would take for their lips to touch, the timer to the dryer went off, loud like a buzzer signaling the last moments of a basketball game.
Elias pretended he hadn’t been startled by pacing around and trying to laugh it off, while Kai simply closed his eyes and shook his head.
Clearly sensing that the moment had passed, Elias said, “Let’s go home.”
29
Elias
4:01 a.m.
Elias went inside the bus station while Dakarai waited outside, leaning against a lamppost in the parking lot. Dakarai’s phone illuminated his face as he checked his texts and voicemails.
Approaching the locker room, Elias placed his hand on the doorknob, almost certain that it would still be locked. However, to his surprise, when he pushed it, it opened, and a soft breeze invited him inside.
Unfolding his wallet as he located his locker, he dug around for the receipt and entered the code printed on it. Inside the bright red locker, his bag awaited him. It was just a messenger bag filled with a bunch of stuff he didn’t even need, except for his house key. But then again, if he hadn’t brought this big stupid bag—and if he had been smart enough to keep his house key in his pocket—the entire night never would have happened.
It was the first time in a long while where he could go out without worrying about whether his sister was home alone because his mom was at work, stressing about his mother eating something good after a twelve-hour shift, or being concerned about waking up early in the morning because he was always theone who had to get himself and William out of bed.
Yet, the freedom came with a sinking, guilty feeling, as if he was somehow leaving everyone behind. He had faulted William so much for doing the same thing, but there he was in Raleigh with a boy he liked at four in the morning. He hadn’t slept a wink, there was barely any food in his fridge, he had work in only a few hours, and his bed wasn’t even completely set up.
He threw the bag over his shoulder and rejoined Dakarai outside.
“Everything good?” Elias asked Dakarai as he approached, his house key dangling from his finger.
“Do we have to go back?” Dakarai asked as he picked at his hair. He had already loosened the braid that framed his face so much that it was unraveling. “My phone just started working again, and I have a million missed calls from my parents.”
“Take my phone, then,” Elias said, handing it to Dakarai. “Not a single person has checked up on me.”
Dakarai abruptly got up, his and Elias’s phones still in his grasp. Elias scrambled to follow him out into the parking lot. Broken glass and pebbles crunched under his feet as he ran to Dakarai, who had his arm cocked back, ready to launch both their phones into the trees.
“Hold up!” Elias shouted, grabbing Dakarai’s arm just in time. He wrestled his phone from Dakarai’s grasp and held it to his chest. His lungs were raw from the sprint. “You toss your own damn VCR. My phone’s the one with the bus tickets.”
Dakarai choked out a laugh. “Don’t make me smile when I’m trying to be sad.”
“When else would I make you smile?” Elias gently led Dakarai back to the bench. He slid himself up onto the armrest and motioned for Dakarai to come closer. Dakarai scooted over andrested his chin on Elias’s leg. “What are you really mad at?”
Elias started on Dakarai’s braid, unbraiding it and detangling with his fingers as best he could without the luxury of a comb or decent light.
“I think I’m glad Bobby’s gone,” he admitted.
