Merry Cherry Christmas - Keira Andrews Page 0,15

kitchen.

The walls were painted plain beige and had a few art posters tacked up, also IKEA by the looks of them. He wondered if it was Max or Honey who’d chosen the black-and-white photo of the Brooklyn Bridge. There were no decorations or Christmas tree, but Honey was probably going home for the holidays like Max was.

The flare of hurt as Jeremy thought about his parents and Sean flying to Honolulu for their Christmas cruise stabbed hot in his chest. He’d checked the news earlier to make sure there hadn’t been any plane crashes. So far, so good. Jeremy took a deep breath and locked away all those messy worries. Max was taking a chance inviting him for poker, and he was going to make a good impression.

Even with his slightly blurry old glasses, at least now he could get a good look at Max’s friends. Carrying bright plastic bowls piled high with chips, Honey greeted Jeremy with a bright smile. He was Black, tall, and built like, well, a football player. Mike was big too, chubby with buzzed dark hair and light brown skin.

They crowded around a square dining table that was surely a hand-me-down judging by the nicks and a big stain on the pale wood that had probably been red wine. The basement had wall-to-wall carpet with its fair share of faded stains as well, although the apartment didn’t seem dirty. There were some used glasses sitting on the coffee table by the couch, but it was clean overall. Jeremy wondered what Max’s room looked like but couldn’t exactly go poke around.

He fiddled with the sleeve of a new sweater Max had encouraged him to buy. Max had liked it on him so much that Jeremy had said he was chilly and changed into it in the café bathroom at lunch. It was fuchsia pink, which Jeremy would never have picked for fear of looking too gay. Which he knew was bullshit internalized homophobia, but he still braced for Max’s friends to make some kind of comment. They didn’t, eating chips and talking more fantasy football while Max and Honey served drinks in red plastic cups.

Jeremy wondered what his parents would say if they saw the pink sweater. Also what they’d say when they got the credit card bill, even though he’d mentioned to his mom he had to buy some winter clothes. He’d bought more than he planned, but they wouldn’t be mad, would they? He’d always been responsible with his card, which they’d given him for emergencies and stuff when he turned eighteen.

Even though everything was weird and tense now, they wouldn’t cut him off. Would they? He had some savings from working at an electronics store all through high school, but that wouldn’t last long if his parents stopped paying. He’d have his meal plan for the rest of the school year, but what then? What if—

“You good?” Max asked quietly, nudging Jeremy’s knee under the table with his own.

Nodding automatically, Jeremy picked up his cup and gulped the mix of Jack and Coke that was kind of gross. “Just going over what you taught me about poker.”

Honey’s eyes lit up. “What do we have here? A virgin in our midst?” He shuffled two piles of cards together with a flourish, thumbs releasing each side.

Jeremy helplessly felt his face go hot and knew he was beet red even if Honey had just meant a virgin at poker. He fiddled with his glasses and took another gulp.

Max said, “He’s a natural, so don’t get too excited.”

“Don’t worry, buddy,” Mike said. “We’ll be gentle. While we take alllll your money.”

“I thought we were just playing for change.” Jeremy thought about the credit card again and the what-ifs. He and Max had stopped by a laundromat to use the ancient change machine that still serviced equally ancient coin-operated washers, so he had a baggie of quarters as well as whatever random change he’d had in his wallet.

“We are,” Max assured him. “But these morons get real excited about nickels and dimes.”

“That’s the fun of it,” Honey said as he dealt. “All right, let’s see what you got, kid.”

Jeremy was confident he didn’t have much. Max had bought a pack of cards from the random stuff at the checkout line at Winners and taught him the basics over lunch.

Now they played poker and snacked. When a pizza showed up, Max insisted it was on him. They’d stopped for booze earlier, so at least Jeremy had contributed by buying