King Geordi the Great Page 19

  Toff and I had been pretty much inseparable since the funeral. If it weren’t for having to go to separate houses every night to sleep, we would have stayed with each other around the clock. Emotionally, we were closer now than we’d ever been. Even when he finally bedded down at the Sanchez house, we talked on the phone late into the night, until one or the other of us was relieved of our cell phone by a cranky parent and told to go to sleep.

  As the party wound down inside, Jess, Caitlin, Jake, Carson, Toff, and I sat together on a retaining wall near the parking lot. The sun had set, and stars were beginning to dapple the dark blue of the gathering night sky.

  “This has been a great party,” Carson said.

  “It’s official,” Jess proclaimed, taking Caitlin’s hand. “I am a woman now, badass, bi, in love with Caitlin Eisner and ready to be married.”

  “Yes, you are, babe,” Caitlin agreed, then leaned sideways to plant a kiss on Jess’s lips.

  “Better be careful, ladies,” Carson said. “Grandpa over there looks like he isn’t down with what you’re doing.”

  A middle-aged man who’d walked out of the planetarium scowled at us as he unlocked the door to his sports car.

  Toff draped an arm around my shoulders and gave me a wonderful squeeze. “You know what? As long as I’ve got this guy in my life, I really don’t give a shit how many dirty looks people give me.”

  “That’s the spirit,” said Jake.

  “So what do we have to do to get you a boyfriend, Jake?” Caitlin asked.

  “I don’t know if I’m ready for a boyfriend,” he answered. “I just wanna, like, take a guy out for a test drive. You know, see if I like kissing a dude.”

  As the disapproving man in the sports car drove away, a gray sedan pulled into a parking slot in front of us.

  “Speaking of dirty looks,” Carson said, sitting up straight, “here comes my dad.”

  Mr. Meyers, tall and hefty, climbed slowly out of his sedan. He spotted us right off, and the expression he gave us was indeed pretty close to dirty.

  Carson stuck an arm straight up in the air, repeatedly jabbing a finger down at himself and Jake. “Hey, Dad! Check it out! My first kiss!” He threw his other arm around Jake’s neck, leaned over, and plastered his lips to Jake’s mouth.

  “Hell-o!” Caitlin howled.

  I think my jaw fell in my lap.

  To Jess’s and Caitlin’s applause, Carson broke away from the kiss with a loud, slurping smack. “Mmm boy!” Carson snapped. He hopped down off the wall and turned to face a very dazed Jake. “Dude, you’re a good kisser, but I don’t have to do that again.” He turned to Jess and Caitlin. “Gotta go, ladies. Had a great time. Happy birthday, Jess, and happy kin zee era. Hope you like the gift.” Finally he turned to Toff and me with a happy grin. “Later, fellas.” Then he ran over to the sedan where Mr. Meyer stood looking as if his whole head were about to explode.

  “I like that fella!” I said, pointing enthusiastically after Carson.

  Jess looked at Jake. “So how was it, kissing a boy?” she asked.

  Jake flashed a big smile. “It’s definitely something I want to do again.” Then, after a moment, some other thought hit him, and his eyes lit up. “Hey, dudes and dudettes, I’m a bi guy!”

  TOFF AND I left the museum with Javier, who headed home to get ready for a date with his latest girlfriend—number three and counting. Jess was right about his hell-with-it driving. I spent most of the trip with a hand over my eyes and a prayer on my lips.

  When we reached the house, Javier hopped out of his car and dashed inside. Toff and I stopped on the side porch. He reached in and turned off the overhead light. Then, holding hands, we kissed good night. The kiss was long and slow.

  “You can come in, you know,” he said in a low, teasing voice. “Javier will be taking off in a few minutes. We’ll have the place to ourselves until Jess and her mom… Jess and Mom… get here.”

  “Believe me, baby, I want to come in, but my parents told me to be home by ten. It’s almost that now.” He stared back at me with that familiar longing, so like my own, in his eyes. I kissed him again.

  He sighed. “You sure you don’t want to come in?”

  “I’m sure I gotta get home.” As I kissed him yet again, I let go of his hands and put my arms around him. My hands went everywhere.

  “Hey,” Toff said, squinting at me. “Are you feeling my ass?”

  “Oh hell yeah.”

  Toff laughed as the door jerked open. Javier stepped out and towered over us, having traded in his suit for jeans and a T-shirt. He looked annoyed. “Geordi, do you know where you live?”

  “Yes,” I answered slowly, drawing out the word.

  “Then go there. You know how my mom is about long goodbyes at the door.”

  I wanted to linger a bit longer, but Javier stayed where he was to make sure I took my leave. I leaned in to kiss Toff one last time, and Javier stuck his hand between our mouths. I gamely plopped a big wet smooch on the back of his hand.

  “Ew!” You’d have thought my lips were covered in pure acid the way Javier wiped his hand on the sleeve of my suit.

  I planted a quick one on Toff’s lips. “I’ll call you when I get home, sexy stuff.”

  Toff winked at me. “I’m counting the seconds, buzzy bear.”

  Javier snarled. “Mary Mother of God, stab me in the ears!”

  WHEN I got home, Mom and Dad were cuddled together on the sofa in the living room, watching some sappy movie, probably a romcom. The syrupy violin music on the soundtrack sliced across my brain like a scalpel the moment I stepped through the front door. Triple ugh! And they have the nerve to hate on the movies I like.

  I dutifully and painfully stuck my head in the space above theirs. “Hey.”

  Dad didn’t take his eyes off the TV screen or his arm off Mom’s shoulders. “Geordi. How was the rest of the quinceañera?”

  “It was great. Everybody had a blast-tastic time. And Jessica’s officially a woman now.”

  “That’s wonderful. How’s Toff?”

  “He’s good. I just dropped him off at home. I’m gonna call him now.”

  “Don’t stay on the phone too long, honey,” Mom said.

  “I won’t. Good night.”

  In my room I closed my door and took off my suit. That was a relief. I’d been starting to feel I’d been wrapped up tight as King Tut. My feet ached a little from dancing in my dress shoes, but everything was good. In my boxers and T-shirt, I grabbed my phone, crossed the room, and threw myself on the bed.

  I looked at the painting on my nightstand, the one Toff had given me just a few days ago, an eight-by-ten watercolor he’d done on canvas that Dad had framed for me. It was a portrait of Toff and yours truly, his arm around my waist, my arm around his shoulders, our cheeks pressed together, our smiles glowing happiness and love. Those smiles showed we’d struggled and searched and found ourselves in each other. That’s what I thought as I speed-dialed Toff’s number. The picture was our past. Our present. Our always.

  Toff answered after the first ring. “God! I counted almost sixty seconds. What took you so long?”

  You could’ve lit up every house in the nation with my grin.

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  Readers love Gene Gant

  In Time I Dream About You

  “It is gritty, unflinchingly honest, and yet allows for the dream of a better life to be realized in the end. It is an excellent novel that I recommend to you.”

  —The Novel Approach

  “…this is an excellent read… the combination of social issues and futuristic escapism is a great combination that makes this story worth a read.”

  —Joyfully Jay

  Bender

  “I do like the author’s style of storytelling, and can’t wait for more from him.”

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  Lucky Linus

  “Linus is lucky to finally be granted his wish and readers will be lucky to be on a journey with him.”

  —Paddylast Inc.

  “This book totes a wide range of variety, creating an important voice for an overlooked, small clique of trivialized teens.”

  —Great Imaginations

  GENE GANT graduated from the University of Memphis. He has worked with the poor as a counselor for the state of Tennessee and as a corporate writer. He lives on a country lane outside Memphis.

  By Gene Gant

  Always Leaving

  The Battle for Jericho

  Bender

  If You Really Love Me

  In Time I Dream About You

  King Geordi the Great

  Lessons on Destroying the World

  Lucky Linus

  The Supernaturals

  NEEDS

  Everything We Shut Our Eyes To

  The Thunder in His Head

  Published by HARMONY INK PRESS

  www.harmonyinkpress.com

  Published by

  HARMONY INK PRESS

  5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA

  publisher@harmonyinkpress.com • harmonyinkpress.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  King Geordi the Great

  © 2018 Gene Gant.

  Cover Art

  © 2018 Kanaxa.

  Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.

  All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Harmony Ink Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or publisher@harmonyinkpress.com.

  ISBN: 978-1-64080-092-2

  Digital ISBN: 978-1-64080-093-9

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2017911058

  Published January 2018

  v. 1.0

  Printed in the United States of America