Page 70 of Off the Edge

“I couldn’t fault it.”

“Not even a little bit?” He showed me a gap between his finger and thumb.

“There were some things I would have done differently,” I admitted.

He laughed and nudged my arm. My tea spilled, hot down my thigh. I hissed, he swore, I balanced my mug and chuckled, moving off to grab a cloth.

“Shit, again, sorry.” He tilted his head back and blinked at the ceiling. “Oh my god, all over your fancy clothes. I’m such a fuckup.”

“Stop,” I laughed.

I left the mug on the table, and grabbed a wet cloth from the bathroom, then returned, dabbing at my trousers.

He’d gone quiet, and a little sad again in the time I’d left his side.

“I . . .” He swallowed, then sipped his tea to try and hide it, or soothe the wobble in his voice. “Don’t leave,” he said, looking up, right into my eyes. “I know it’s a lot and I’m a fucking mess, but don’t leave me alone. Please.”

“I hadn’t intended to.” I picked up my mug and returned to his side, against the table. I’d have left, if he’d wanted me to. But I really hadn’t had any intention of abandoning him when he was clearly in distress. I wasn’t my father.

We drank the tea together quietly, side by side.

“Wanna watch a movie?” he asked, when our mugs were empty.

“What movies are there?”

“I have no idea. I haven’t had time to even turn the TV on.”

This was the first time for either of us where we didn’t need to be somewhere else in the next hour. Everyone was busy with the party, and we had the night before anyone would notice we were missing together. Again.

We moved to the couch. Cam grabbed the TV remote, and we flicked through various TV channels, all of which were in Japanese. He landed on a colorful game show with a great deal of shouting and sirens.

“I have no idea what’s going on.” He handed me the remote. “You have a go.”

“What do you like?”

“Right now, something stupid.” He shuffled deeper into the couch cushions. “Hit me up.”

“Alright.” I flicked to the animated channels, and settled on Kiki’s Delivery Service, then set the remote control aside. The couch was small, so we couldn’t really help our legs touching, but it felt good. Nice, even, just to sit next to him.

Cam frowned. “What is that?”

“Exactly what you need.”

“It’s a kid’s show.”

“It’s anime.”

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”

Clearly, he needed some emergency education. “I am offended.”

“Is that your offended face? Because it looks like your judgmental face.”

“That’s because I am judging you while also being offended.”

He laughed, and it warmed me through to hear it after having him sob so thoroughly in my arms not long ago.

“What’s it about?” he asked.