Yet a Stranger (The First Quarto #2) - Gregory Ashe Page 0,7
anything but what it is. And you don’t have to be scared of it.”
“I am, though,” Cart said, and then he kissed Theo’s temple again.
“Let me brush my teeth,” Theo said. “And we’ll get dinner going.”
In the shorts gathered around Cart’s ankles, his phone buzzed. Theo fished it out for him and passed it over.
“Yeah?” Cart answered. “For fuck’s sake. Are you fucking kidding me?” He listened for a moment. “I’m at the grocery store, dumbass. I’ll be there in five minutes.” When Cart disconnected, he gently nudged Theo off his lap, and then he stood and pulled up his underwear and shorts. “Work,” he said as he adjusted himself. “Another goddamn demonstration.”
“They’ve got a right to be upset,” Theo said. “I’ve been to a few of them myself. We should all be upset.”
“I’m not saying they shouldn’t be upset,” Cart said a little too loudly. “But could they fucking do it when I’m not having a night off?”
“At the grocery store,” Theo said.
Cart wiped his face, staring at his feet.
“I shouldn’t have said that,” Theo said. “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to pick a fight.”
“Well,” Cart said, heading for the door, “you still said it.”
5
On Sunday, Auggie had just finished editing another video when the knock came at his door. In the video, he, Orlando, and Ethan competed to do the best version of the dancing-in-underwear scene from Risky Business. Auggie had to give himself credit—he was a way better dancer than the other two, and, of course, that was the whole reason he’d wanted to do the scene. But Orlando stole the show anyway. He was just too hot in nothing but briefs and white socks. At the end of the video, the camera panned to show three bored girls sitting on a sofa. They got up to leave, totally unimpressed, while the boys were still arguing about who had won. Auggie posted the video, rolled off the bed, and answered the door.
Orlando was standing there, his eyes red, a hangdog expression on his face.
“I just posted it—” Auggie began. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
“Can we come in?”
“Um, sure. Ethan—”
“No, not Ethan. Billie, come on.”
A girl sauntered into view. She was clearly Orlando’s sister—the same dark, curly hair, the same strong jaw—and Auggie imagined that only ferocious waxings kept her unibrow-free. She moved with a casual grace, shaking out her hair, turning her head to wink at someone down the hall. A moment later, Ethan came into sight, practically drooling. The button on her white polo was undone, and she wasn’t wearing a bra. Her shorts left about a mile of tan thigh exposed. Auggie wondered if there was anyone normal in Orlando Reese’s whole clan.
Moving to one side, he waved for them to step into his room, and then when Orlando looked at him, he shut the door.
“This is my sister Billie,” Orlando said. “She doesn’t want me to do this, ok? So just ignore her.”
“What’s going on? I just saw you a couple of hours ago for the video, and you seemed fine. You—have you been crying?”
“I guess so,” Orlando said, pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes.
“He’s overreacting,” Billie said. She worked a scrunchy off her wrist and put her long curls into a ponytail while she talked. “He’s always been a crybaby. That’s because he’s spoiled.”
“Sit down,” Auggie said, guiding Orlando to one of the desk chairs. Orlando dropped into it heavily, still covering his eyes. “Why don’t you tell me what this is all about?”
“It’s Cal,” Orlando said, and then he started to cry.
“Oh Lord,” Billie said, rolling her eyes while she adjusted the scrunchy. “I have not missed this, I can tell you that much.”
“Who’s Cal?”
“Our brother.”
“He’s missing,” Orlando said, his voice rising with anger. “And nobody told me!”
“We don’t know that he’s missing,” Billie said. “You need some posters and stuff. Oh, you know what you should get? You should get a hookah. That’s such a frat boy thing to have.”
“I don’t understand,” Auggie said. “Your brother is missing?”
“Yes,” Orlando said, wiping his eyes.
“No,” Billie said.
“And they’ve been lying about it for almost a week.”
“Orlando, you are such a baby about things. We weren’t lying to you. We just didn’t tell you. Honestly, it’s because we didn’t want to deal with this. You’re a total drama queen, and it’s exhausting.”
“He’s really upset,” Auggie said. “Maybe you should go easy on him.”
“Go easy?” Billie tugged on the polo, studying her boobs. “Everybody goes