felt it, too?” I whispered.
“I always feel it when I’m with you.”
Well, no wonder he’s a madman.
Sheri left for her appointment with her shrink half an hour later, and Alys, X, Phil, and I headed over to the Lotus House in X’s Jeep. Jason had declined to go with us, saying that he was worn out and needed some sleep. I had the feeling he wanted to be home when Sheri got back.
“Kanpai!” cried the sushi masters as we walked through the door to the restaurant.
Phil and X threw their arms in the air and shouted back, “Otsukaresama deshita!”
It completely stunned Alys and me, startled other diners, and thrilled the sushi dudes.
“What does that mean?” I asked Phil.
“That you look tired as fuck. It’s a compliment in Japan, trust me.”
“Yeah, all right.”
A tiny woman greeted us and led us to our seats before handing each of us a menu. Phil and X ordered a ton of sushi and two carafes of warm sake. Alys and I dutifully refused to look at the staggering prices. If the guys wanted to pay, then…why the hell not?
“So, what was it like for you guys, growing up here in La Place?” X asked. “What was high school like for you? Phil and I were pretty dedicated to the band from an early age, but we still went and did normal teenage stuff. What did you guys do?”
“We were the outcasts, on the fringes of the social norm back in the day,” Alys replied. “We weren’t popular at all. We had friends, but we didn’t really do anything mainstream. We spent most of our time at concerts, listening to music—”
“Taking mushrooms,” Phil casually injected.
“Yeah,” agreed Alys. “That kind of stuff.”
“We went to homecoming in tenth grade, just to see what it was like,” I said. “It was a waste of time, in my opinion.”
“Well, your date was gay, and your boyfriend was at his grandma’s fifth wedding,” said Alys dryly.
“I don’t think he would’ve gone anyway.”
“Why not?” Phil huffed, all offended for me. “I’d have been proud to take you.”
“You went to homecoming with a gay guy?” X asked, completely ignoring Phil.
“Yeah, Jimi. He’s one of our closest friends. We get our weed from him.”
X looked at Alys. “Did you have a boyfriend?”
“I dated. Nothing serious, like Kenna and Jaime. They were together through almost all four years. Lili was with Matt for a long time, too.”
“Too bad we didn’t meet you guys back then,” X said warmly. “I’d have made sure you had a boyfriend.”
“What? To break my heart when you guys went on tour? Pfft!”
He grinned at her. “I wouldn’t have broken your heart, Alys. I’d have taken you with me.”
“I went to college,” she retorted before knocking back a cup of sake.
“What was that like?”
She shrugged. “It was college. I probably had more fun than Kenna and Lili did though. Kenna went to med school and didn’t resurface until January this year.”
X looked at me. “Seriously?”
“I was pretty busy, yeah.”
“Your social exile was self-imposed,” Alys said. The sake was working on her already, loosening her up. “She spent almost six years wearing herself out, working her ass off. She and Lili only came up to visit a handful of times in four years. One time was to see you guys when you played at Wigglers—”
“You went to that show?” X asked us, startled.
I smiled at the memory. “We did. That show was fucking amazing, one of my favorites.”
Phil had a wounded look in his eyes, and my heart sank.
“I looked for you at a lot of our shows,” he told me quietly.
“I was at a few of them,” I admitted. “But I—”
Swelling with a deep breath, he let it go. He nodded and squeezed my hand, letting me know he was cool.
“Whenever we could, we’d see you guys,” Alys said. “You were—still are—our favorite band of all time, especially Kenna’s.” She looked at Phil and smiled. “Deep down, she wanted nothing more than to see you again. She tried to hide it, but she was secretly devastated when you guys left on tour.”
For the love of all that’s holy, someone take the fucking sake away from this bitch!
My face was on fire.
Phil chuckled. “And you tried to make me think you weren’t madly in love with me—”
“Shut it, Phil I-don’t-know-your-middle-name Deveraux! I most certainly did not do anything of the sort!”
X and Alys cracked up.
“I was under the impression you thought it was fuckin’,” said Phil.
“Eh?”
“You call me Phil fuckin’ Deveraux.”
Alys lost