I didn’t dawdle.
Well, a little dawdling. But only because I tried to beg Izaac silently with my eyes to save me from the ass chewing I surely faced.
He frowned when he saw me.
Then he saw the look on Charlie’s face and smiled sympathetically at me.
That bitch. I would see him fired before night’s end for crossing me.
I thought about making a break for it out the door and then fleeing the county to some mystical faraway land like Toronto or Bismarck, North Dakota. But then I remembered I was a queen and a queen always held her head high, even upon facing her execution by an aging leather daddy. I had my pride.
I walked up the stairs resolutely.
Charlie followed me.
I entered the Lair.
He closed the door behind us.
I turned to let him know I wasn’t afraid, that I would always be a queen. I squared my shoulders and jutted my chin defiantly. I said, “I will be remembered for sparking a revolution. You may silence me today, but my words shall rise tomorrow in the cries of a million voices saying, no, no, we won’t stand down and take this tyranny any longer!”
Charlie sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. “What in the holy hell are you talking about, boy?”
“You know, I don’t really know,” I said. “It just sounded good at the time.”
“Uh-huh.” Charlie moved slowly toward his stool. “I have a feeling your life is directed by ideas that sound good in your head but maybe not so much in reality.”
“Hey! That’s not even… remotely… false. Huh. This… is probably not the best time to be having that realization. I should think on this some more. By myself. Not here. I’ll just leave you to it.”
“You take a step toward that door and you’ll have my handprints on your ass.”
“Stop flirting, you old charmer.” But I didn’t leave.
Charlie grunted as he sat down, spinning until he was facing me. I tried to maintain eye contact, but couldn’t quite keep it up.
He said, “What are you doing?”
I shrugged, going for casual and missing by a mile. “You heard. Trying to save the gay bar.”
“By pretending to be in a relationship with Darren to convince his father to somehow come over to your side but now you’ve somehow found yourself lying to all of your friends except Darren and are now on the losing side of a bet that I don’
t think you ever had a chance of winning.”
“Wow,” I said. “Someone doesn’t believe in the power of positive thinking.”
“Probably because I’m too busy being rational,” he said. “Who am I speaking to right now?”
“Huh?” I looked back up at him.
“Is this Sandy or Helena? Because depending on what frame of mind you’re in right now, I’ll have to take this one of two ways.”
“Because that doesn’t make me sound bipolar at all.”
“If the straitjacket fits,” he said.
“Funny man,” I said, lips quirking into a smile. “Sandy. Just… Sandy.”
“Okay,” he said. “Sandy.”