Chapter Text
“Mama! Mama!”
“Fuck fuck fuck.”
“Mama!”
“Go go go.”
This Kewpie Doll-looking girl is screaming her head off like she’s just seen Justin Bieber being dangled over a shark infested torture tank instead of us…instead of seeing what Even and I were just doing in her swimming pool.
My heart starts beating so fast I think I might blow a vital valve or maybe the whole damn organ. We scramble to get out ourselves of the water. I could be Michael Phelps I am moving so fast to get the hell out of here.
“Who the hell actually lives here?” I ask.
“Umm..someone I went to grade school with.”
Since Even is part gazelle he has already grabbed his discarded Halloween costume and heaved himself out the window but I am stuck dangling half-way like a total wiggling idiot, legs flopping uselessly behind me.
“Dude, help me out for chrissake!”
Even grabs my hands and pulls me up and out the window so we are face-to-face in the small alcove. The wet fabric of his t-shirt clings to his chest muscles and outlines the deep indent of his collarbones. He smiles and raises a questioning eyebrow and frigid night air hits my wet skin like a freeze-ray gun. I am a shivering mess and my insides start wrenching while he is standing there smiling, glowing even. Jesus Christ.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here before we’re arrested,” he says.
Even is already halfway down the yard to his bike. I bundle up the rest of my Julius Caesar costume bullshit under my arm while trying to run and put my shoes back on at the same time, which results in what probably looks like a flamingo's hopping mating dance ritual. Plus my socks are squishy and cold, the absolute worst feeling in the world ever invented to torture humankind. But for some reason I can’t stop laughing.
“I can’t fucking believe you.” I can’t keep the smile out of my voice as I gracelessly try to mount his bike’s rear rack while throwing on the rest of my idiotic costume.
The house’s front porch light suddenly flicks on and my stomach drops down to my ankles.
“Fuck! Someone’s there. Go go go go go!”
“You on ok?” Even asks.
“Just go already Jesus Christ it’s fucking freezing and that psycho girl is going to call her psycho mom and sic the police on us.”
His first push-off lurches us both forward and I grip his hips involuntarily to steady myself. An electric dart rockets through my body as I register the friction of his wet clothes against my palms and the steady rising and falling of his hips as his pedaling begins to pick up speed. A translucent layer of white fabric is all that separates me from his skin and I try to breathe without my teeth clattering so loud that they wake up all the neighborhood babies.
“You alright back there? See anyone? Do we need another getaway vehicle?” He whips his head around for a fraction of a second to meet my eyes and smiles. I look over my shoulder to make sure some crazy mom lady isn’t chasing after us with a cricket bat.
“Don’t see anyone thank fucking god. Jesus I almost had a heart attack. Where the hell are we going now?”
“Don’t know let’s just get out of here before they call the police and national coast guard.”
“Don’t even joke, what if they’d had alarms on their windows? Jesus freakin’ hell dude we could have gone to prison.”
“Not unless they had CCTV.”
“Fuck! CCTV. I hadn’t even thought of that. What if they had security cameras in the pool?”
“Then NIS is a bunch of pervs who like to watch dudes go skinny dipping.”
“We were not skinny dipping.”
“Yeah but you wanted to.”
It’s so cold out that I can’t believe I am actually blushing so badly.
“Yeah right," I say. "Swimming was your idea so I guess you are the perv then.”
“Anyway I knew there weren’t any alarms.”
“Oh yeah? And you knew miss Cabbage Patch girl from your babysitter days right?”
“Yes actually her name is Astrid.”
“Astrid.”
“Yeah and her sister’s name is Ingrid.”
“Ingrid.”
“And their brother’s name is Alf.”
“Astrid, Ingrid and Alf.”
“Yes Alf was in my grade school.”
“And where is Alf now?”
“I believe Alf is studying abroad in Albania.”
“You are so full of shit.”
“No Alf and I we were tight in grade 1. Bros for life.”
I grunt and shake my head in disbelief but am happy Even's back is to me so he can't see the idiotically goofy grin I can't shake off my face. We cruise for a while in silence. I look up at the abstracted red and orange patterns of leaves and streetlights and window lights streaming by like a kaleidoscope.
“Hold tight, we’ve got a big hill coming, don’t want you to fall off and break your gold crown.”
I hug him fully around the waist and brace for the descent. Even lets out a whoop as I press into him and feel the rush of gravity plunging us downhill.
When we reach the bottom, a shiver passes all the way through my body and Even stops the bike abruptly.
“Are you so cold?” he asks.
“No shit I’m cold it’s freezing.”
“Do you still want to go to the Halloween party?”
“Like this?”
“Well we could change clothes if you want.”
“I…ummm. I think I’d like to get warm first. Maybe go to my house and take a shower. Then we can go to the party.”
“Ok.”
“Ok.”