“He’s at his parents’ house,” Vince said. “He needed to go help Nana put together a bookcase and then he was going to take her to the flea market.”
Paul gave him a thumbs-up.
I glared at both of them, because he could get all of that, but he couldn’t understand hanging up the fucking phone?
“Ah,” Darren said. “And you thought to call me because….”
“Just to say hi.”
“Really.”
“Sure.” Then his eyes lit up. “And to ask you where you’re going on your date. With the hipster twink.”
“The hipster twink? Jesus, you’ve been hanging out with Paul and Sandy too much.”
“Well, I am engaged to one of them.”
“Right. And he makes you happy, so knock yourself out, bro.”
“Thanks, bro. That’s rad of you to say.”
“Now observe,” Corey whispered in my ear, “the elusive homo jocks in their natural habitat. Their communication skills are somewhat primitive, but their social structure is fascinatingly complex.”
I clapped my hand over my mouth to keep from braying unattractively.
“We’re going out this afternoon,” Darren said. “To that one place we went near Jack It?”
“Poco’s?”
“Yeah, it’s where he wanted to go. His choice, anyway, since he’s the one that paid for me and everything.”
“Uh-huh, and what time will that be?”
“Why?”
Vince’s eyes went wide. “Um. Because?”
“Right,” Darren said. “You sure you’re okay, bro?”
“Yeah, bro. I’m totally cool.”
“If you say so. We’re meeting there at two. And then maybe after, we’ll see how it goes with—”
“Oh no,” Vince said manically. “Look at the time. I have to go to that thing. At the place. With all those people and the Jesus. Church! I have to go to church.”
“What? Since when do you go to—”
“Bye!” And he disconnected the phone. He let out a long breath, cracked his neck, and said, “I think that went well.”
Paul had to hold me back from launching myself at him.
Chapter 21: Slim Trim and the Mystery of the Public Rimjob
“YES, HI, we have a reservation for four?” I told the hostess at Poco’s.
She looked up, a smile forming on her face.
It froze when she saw us.