Behind the Curtain by Amy Lane

Author:Amy Lane [Lane, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: epub

NO DICE. The magic grown-up fairy did not just appear, sprinkle some dust, and tell Dawson how to put Sacramento next to Los Angeles without crashing the rest of the state into the ocean. But Benji showed up with some better food and a change of clothes and a pillow and the fuzzy blanket from the foot of Dawson’s bed, the one in bright orange that was cuddly forever.

Dawson looked at the collection of stuff in the bag and smiled. “You love me.”

Benji lifted one shoulder. “Eh. Are you really going to put Topher in the booth tonight?”

Dawson looked up to the bed, where Jared was still sleeping. The light from the window made the skin of his cheeks translucent and highlighted the remains of what had probably been freckles from his childhood, and Dawson fought the urge to go stroke them with his thumb.

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I was gonna call Professor Weber to sub if he couldn’t. That pissed him off—I think the douchebucket might behave.”

Benji sighed and sat down next to him, then wrapped an arm around Dawson’s shoulder. Dawson leaned his head against him.

“He’s going to be okay, right?” Benji asked reassuringly.

“Yeah,” Dawson tried to sound happy too—but he couldn’t. “This time.”

“What—how many times does a guy get a killer attack of the flu?”

Dawson looked up at Benji—self-assured, I’ve-got-your-back Benji—and tried to imagine a time when Benji had ever needed to stand in the spotlight and be the prettiest one.

“He drove himself to it,” Dawson said quietly.

“I figured,” Benji replied heavily. “God, Dawson. What are you going to—”

“I mean, we watch them all the time. We sort of make fun of them, right? The guys in the front of the house. I mean, we want to make the stories real, and that’s why we do what we do. But we don’t want to be in the stories, because the stories hurt. It’s hard to survive those stories. And you and me, we’ve got it okay, right? We don’t want to see if we’ve got it in us to live through that. But Jared—he’s been alone since… since ever. And he’s survived. But if him and me, we’re going to make it work, I’ve got to be that strong, don’t I? I’ve got to be in his story, and not just the guy behind the scenes.”

Benji sighed. “Yeah.”

Dawson leaned on him some more. “You get a good secondary role, you know.”

“I brought you a fuzzy blanket. Does that count?”

“And food. That’s better than sleeping with the director.”

“Booyah. Go shower. I’ll stay here in case he wakes up.”

Dawson kissed his cheek because he felt like it, and Benji didn’t even roll his eyes or anything. “Thanks. He’s coming home tomorrow, and he’s not going back until Friday.”

“Awesome. I’ll buy cottage cheese and orange juice.” Benji slid his eyes sideways then, and a corner of his mobile, laughing mouth quirked up. Dawson suddenly loved him, all in a rush.

“I’ll give you our firstborn,” Dawson said solemnly.

Benji rolled his eyes. “I’ll give him back.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.