Black and Blue by Paige Notaro Page B

leaned in. “Well, you’re here. I’m here.”
    I mirrored her. “And neither of us is queer, that’s for sure”
    She smiled, then cracked into a laugh. “Yeah, there’s definitely that.”
    A couple years back I probably would have used rougher words that would have killed the vibe. Maybe I wasn’t as out of this as I thought. We glowed at each other, helped along by the alcohol a bit, but not completely. It felt good.
    “Sean? Ma man!”
    Oh, shit.
    I looked up and saw Silvio standing over us with a slack-jawed grin. He had on sneakers and jeans and an oversized t-shirt. If he weren’t white, he might have been bounced out of here. Unlucky for me, his Italian ass had cleared through.
    “What are you doing here?” he asked.
    “What am I doing here? What are you doing out here by yourself?”
    “Oh, I got a hankering for this mixed drink they have. So freaking good. Did you get it?”
    He was pointing almost directly into Gabi’s drink. To her credit, she hadn’t flinched. The Guy was clearly high out of his mind.
    I sighed. “Gabi, this is my friend, Silvio.”
    She shook his hand gently. “Yeah, I think we met.”
    Silvio stared at where she had gripped his hand. His red eyes went wide. “Oh are you on a date?”
    “Yeah, we are.”
    He nodded, but made no attempt to move. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t whoop his ass and I couldn’t let him stay. I shot an apology to Gabi, but she just giggled.
    “It’s fine if he joins,” she said. “I remember that he was pretty funny.”
    “I am,” Silvio said, pulling up a chair. “Speaking of funny, did I tell you about that squirrel I saw the other day doing that thing with its nuts?”
    He launched into one of the dumbest stories I had ever heard in my lifetime. I would have laughed if we were alone or with the boys, but I felt a shame I hadn’t felt since middle school hearing it now. Gabi smiled politely through it.
    “That’s crazy,” she said, then turned to me. “Hey you mind if I call my friend Jada to join us?”
    “Sure, why not.” I wanted her to myself, but apparently fate wasn’t keen on us. Things had been going so damn good too.
    Silvio at least had the courtesy to keep talking, and move on to less dirty stories. The lounge door whipped open not long after and a tall black woman came in and beelined it to our table. She moved like a fighter almost, her long braids whipping behind her like lashes.
    Gabi yelped and jumped up into her with a hug. I took the chance to punch Silvio in the arm.
    “Ow, man,” he said. “I hope I remember that.”
    Jada shook my hand firmly. “Nice to meet you finally.”
    She shoved a chair in between Gabi and Silvio and sat.
    “So,” she said. “Tell me about this squirrel.”
    Silvio needed no other words to launch back into his story. Apparently her friend wasn’t here to rescue her. It was to rescue us from my friend.
    I nudged over next to Gabi and whispered apologies to her, but was interrupted by a peal of laughter from Jada. I took a closer look at her eyes and saw them tinged red.
    “Is she high?” I asked.
    “Oh yeah,” Gabi said. “Girl loves to smoke way more than I do.”
    My friend and hers started debating the merits of various strains. Gabi rested her head on my shoulder and we talked about them two in turn. It was nice, like watching animals in nature.
    Maybe our worlds weren’t so far apart.
     

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
    Gabrielle
    “The zoo?” I asked.
    “Yeah.”
    “Seriously?”
    I still wasn’t sure I’d heard him right. The shower thundered and misted all around me. I was still vaguely dizzy from being pressed against the frosted glass and taken from behind. Now, Sean’s blurry body was facing me on the other side of the glass.
    “You don’t want to go?” His voice rang in the bathroom.
    “I mean…no, it’s fine. It’s just kind of unexpected.”
    “Figured it would be a sweet sort of afternoon. Girls like you like that right?”
    I giggled. “You know I