Chapter 40
The next week, Felix is with me when I'm feeding Kidtal's creatures. Neither of us has brought up what happened at Byron's so far.
“How illegal are we talking about?” Felix says, looking at Arachnodesiac and all the other terrariums in Kidtal's room.
I know I'm supposed to be keeping it real and not showing anybody this stuff, but I need at least one other human being to see what I'm dealing with so I can confirm I'm not making this up.
“Pretty illegal, but at least the spider is growing on me,” I say.
“I like to think he's happy to see me when the owner is gone.” I pull the bucket of crickets out of the closet and open the lid of the chute that goes into Arachnodesiac's home.
He's too busy sprawling against the glass, glaring at us with bloodlust, but once a few of the crickets hop behind him, he flips around and goes to town on them.
Felix stares in morbid fascination as the spider dines on its prey, then shifts his attention to the other animals.
“This centipede looks like Sutter Breedlove,” he says.
“Same species,” I say. “Let's wrap it up here. I'm going to take Roland to his appointment now.”
Felix looks like he's about to say something, then stops.
“What?” I ask.
“Nothing.”
“Come on.”
“Okay. Would it be cool if I tagged along?”
“Why?”
Felix takes his cap off and scratches his hair. “I got nothing else going on.”
“I thought you couldn't stand Roland.”
“Story time: I hung out with him at the party while you were passed out.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Just, uh, there was a fight between Roland and his date, and you disappeared, so I stepped in to play peacemaker… or tried, at least.”
“And?”
He digs his hands into his pockets. “Uh, nothing. We hung out until you reappeared. Turns out he's not so bad.”
“Not so bad?”
Felix shrugs. “Yeah. Why are you interrogating me?”
“I'm not. I'm just curious,” I say, then lead him outside to the van.
When we pull into Roland's driveway, I turn to Felix. “Was he mad at me?”
“He wasn't happy. You did set him up, Wade.”
I sigh as I open the back door and get the ramp ready. “Everything was fine until Byron lit it all on fire. Fucking Byron. So glad he got dumped.”
I turn around and Roland's already there behind me.
“Hi,” I say to him. “I'm sorry about the Adam thing.”
“I've been humiliated enough the past year, okay? So when I tell you I'm not comfortable with something, I'm not shitting around.”
“I just wanted to do something good for you. I wanted you to be happy.”
“You've already been better to me than everybody else has,” Roland says. “I wouldn't try and outdo yourself.”
“Fair enough,” I say, then push him up the ramp.
Felix pops out from behind the passenger seat. “Surprise!”
Roland's eyes light up. “Oh, hi!”
“Thought I'd join you guys, if you don't mind?”
Roland asks why he would mind as I help strap him down. Felix leaves the passenger seat and takes another seat in the back. The energy of the van has totally changed now. I don't like it.
Of course, as I start driving they dive straight into the party gossip. “So that was an interesting night,” Felix says.
Roland laughs. “I had to wheel around so many passed-out people.”
“Darren was running around snatching up all the pixie dust he gave out while Byron was screaming at him from behind like a drill sergeant.”
I can see from the rearview mirror that Felix is looking at him with a goofy grin that's making my flirt radar ping. A kind of grin he's never shown to me.
We haven't quite left Oyster Pit yet, and Felix's house is nearby. Like, right down the street. I realize I need to nip this in the bud here and now, and I have the power to do it.
“Oh shit, Felix, I forgot,” I say, interrupting them. “Roland's mom texted me last night. The hospital has this new policy about nonfamily in the therapy wing except for designated assistants, which I am.”
“She did?” Roland says. “She didn't tell—”
“Yeah, something about patient privacy and insurance liability. Sorry, I should have remembered that.”
“It's fine. My house is nearby, anyway,” Felix says. “I'll just work on some coding stuff, I guess.”
I stop in front of Felix's house, where his dad is watering the front garden. I wave, but Mr. Alfaro shakes his head.
“See you around, maybe?” Felix says.
Roland smiles. “Sure!”
After he gets out and I drive away, I can still see him in my rearview mirror waving at us. Roland waves back.
“Are you sure that's a real policy?” he asks me.
“I could have misunderstood, but I'd rather be safe than take Felix all the way to Houston and make him wait outside.”
“Hmm, okay,” he says without much confidence in my explanation. He stays quiet for the next ten minutes.
“Wow, so, sounds like you and Felix warmed up to each other,” I finally say.
“He's cool.”
“He is. He's the sweetest guy once you get to know him. So sweet, in fact, that I'm going to ask him to prom next time I see him. But that's between you and me.” I technically already asked him to prom on New Year's Eve, but that was a practice round. I'm going to pretend that didn't happen.
“I thought you weren't together in that way.”
I shrug. “Eh, I mean, not yet. He's really in love with Byron and might work up the nerve to ask him out.” Roland's grin dies as soon as he hears Byron's name.
“Yeah, I know. That asshole,” I say.
“Well, let me know how the prom invite goes.”
“It'll be fine. We're moving to a place together in LA after graduation, anyway. I think we're just meant to be together forever.”
“I mean, it would make sense that you guys end up together. You're like soulmates.”
I snap my fingers. “Exactly.”
There. Even Roland sees it.