Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 132933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 665(@200wpm)___ 532(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 665(@200wpm)___ 532(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
He immediately answers and stands up. “Hey, bub. You okay?”
I point to the staircase, telling Lo I’ll wait downstairs for him. We rode here in the same car, and I figure he’ll want to go back to his house.
He nods once, his eyes still cutting, but his gaze drops to the floor. “Slow down, slow down. Take a breath, bub. Everything will be fine.”
Everything will be fine. I’m taking a breath on my way out. Hoping that’s true regarding my life, too. But it’s only when I sink down on a red vinyl booth, near the store’s entrance, that I realize something.
Tonight is the Beneath a Strong Sentiment finale.
Luna and I were planning on watching it together. This is the most recent episode since finding out she’s Illyana, and it’s the last one of the season. If the show doesn’t get renewed, it might be the last one ever. She’s been hyped all day. So have I.
I’ve sent her fifteen Bass memes.
“Fuck,” I curse under my breath.
We can record it.
We can watch it later.
She’ll understand. It’s not like I’m cancelling to go clubbing with friends. It’s her brother I’m protecting.
34
PAUL DONNELLY
We reschedule the Beneath a Strong Sentiment viewing for the next night. Her bedroom. She’s not upset about it, but on this peak Tuesday night, after we’ve angled her mounted TV towards the bed, she confesses that she got spoiled for the finale.
“It sucks.” She face-plants on her bed like a pancake.
“The finale sucks?”
“No, that I got spoiled from the Bass Fanaticon forum. I wasn’t even on the forum, Donnelly. I was so careful, and then some asshole—”
“Mega asshole,” I interject.
Her smile tries to appear, and to look at me better, Luna rolls onto her back and perches on her elbows. “The mega asshole posted a spoiler without a spoiler tag, and it appeared in my feed on Fanaticon. I’ve been avoiding Twitter because I knew it’d be a spoiler minefield, but Fanaticon was supposed to be safe, and now I can’t even be surprised by what happens.”
I jump on the bed with the remote. Standing on the mattress, my feet are planted on either side of Luna’s waist, and I stare down at her pouty face. I try not to grin too much because I get how shitty it’d be to run into a spoiler, especially for a show that we’re not bingeing all at once. “I feel you. This guy—”
“Mega asshole,” she corrects for me now.
I grin and lower on my knees, straddling her. “Mega asshole just earned himself a millennium of shit luck. Sucks to suck.”
Her smile peeks, and she sits up, closer to my chest. Her lips rise higher at the sight of the orange knitted, cropped sweater I’m wearing. The one with an alien making a peace sign. She was shocked I hadn’t thrown it out yet, but I wouldn’t chuck out my favorite piece of clothing.
It even beats my Van Halen shirt.
I was lucky that none of my shit got burned in the townhouse fire. Security’s place didn’t get as much damage since the fire department stopped the blaze before then.
“I guess there’s some good in all of this,” Luna murmurs.
I rest a hand on the headboard behind her. “What’s that?”
“I get to see your virgin reaction to the finale. Untouched by spoilers.”
I look into her. “I hate that you’ve been fucked by spoilers.”
“It was a brutal fucking,” she says softly, still morose.
“That’s it; me and spoilers are at war.”
“Kill them all,” she quips.
I whisper against her mouth, “You know it; no one fucks my space babe but me.” Pressing a tender kiss to her lips, Luna deepens it. Our tongues wrestle, and I slide my hand against her soft, round cheek. She’s warm against my palm. Flushed. My pulse hammers, tasting her on my tongue, feeling her for real. Not just late at night in my head while I’m sketching.
She was right—there is still something about being together that feels like we can’t. Like this is all on borrowed time, but I’m scavenging for every last second to be with her.
Shifting my knees, I pull her legs around my waist and then I lift Luna onto my lap, hands cupped on her ass.
She runs her fingers back and forth through my hair that’s grown longer. I’ll buzz it short sometimes. Leave it longer other times.
“How big was the spoiler?” I ask, rasp in my voice.
“Asteroid-sized.” She nods glumly. “It’s basically why the cast said the finale would blow everyone’s mind.”
“Bad twist? Good twist?”
Her eyes go big. “No, Donnelly, I’m not letting you be fucked by spoilers, too. Only one of us can be ruined.”
I would’ve rather it been me. Especially since I’m the one who postponed the finale-viewing. Before I can mention that, Luna speaks quietly. “You think I’m overreacting?”
“Nah, you can’t get back the experience of seeing the show you love in its purest form. You lost that. I get it.”