Sounds like something Mrs. Paquinn would say.

“Why Asia?” Corey asks.

Sandy rolls his eyes. “Long story, baby doll. Let’s just say Vince wanted to see fortune-cookie factories.”

Uh, okay? Because that totally makes sense.

“They’ll be back by the time you get here,” Sandy says. “We’ll have ourselves a blast before we send sweet innocent Tyson back to the coast.” She smiles, and it’s a wicked thing filled with all sorts of promises that I don’t know quite how to take. “Of course,” she says, her voice a growl, “he won’t be quite so innocent then, now, will he? Tyson, tell me, dear. You ever shot your load onto a drag queen’s feathers?”

“I honestly can’t say that I have,” I admit.

He winks. “First time for everything. They’re just going to eat you up. I, for one, can’t wait to witness the carnage.”

“Super,” I say. “Fun. Neat.”

“Corey, you going to see the fosters while you’re here?”

Corey shakes his head slowly, his mouth going into a thin line, his eyes narrowing slightly. “Don’t know if I’ll have the time.” The voice he speaks in is softer, almost fluttery, and it’s Kori through and through. He told me once that sometimes that Kori made him feel safer when he was upset. I didn’t understand it then because I’d had no experience with the bigendered before. Now, I wonder about it.

Sandy turns to look behind the couch. “Wheels! You better not be shitting on my imported area rug!” He looks back at us. “Have to go, baby dolls. I need to see how fast a two-legged dog can run.” He winks and the screen goes blank.

“Two-legged dog?” I ask.

“I have no idea,” Corey says. He sounds more or less like himself again.

“Your friends are weirdly fascinating.”

“They think the same about you, so it’s all good.”

That’s comforting. I think. “And why the hell did you bring up Dominic? I told you that was over and done!” I punch him in the shoulder.

“It needs to be said,” he retorts, slapping my hand away, “that just because you want to act stupid doesn’t mean the rest of us do.”

I knock him over, and we roll off the couch and onto the floor. He tries to tickle my sides (which honestly I hate because I tend to bray like a hyena in heat), so I retaliate by grabbing both of his hands and squeezing my knees against his hips. As he looms above me, it dawns on me how very sexual this position is, me on my back with my legs wrapped around his waist. He smiles down at me, and I think to myself that he just might be the only person in the world who has ever looked at me this way, filled with love and adoration and maybe something a little bit more. He says he broke up with me because we were never meant to be, but I don’t know if that’s exactly true. I see the way he looks at me sometimes. We’re best friends, sure. But I didn’t want it to end. It never burned with the adolescent fire I had for Dominic, but it was sweet. It was kind. And above all, it felt safe.