Bored Gay Werewolf by Tony Santorella

Author:Tony Santorella
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atlantic Books

It’s golden hour when he jumps off the bus in Pleasant Heights, an established neighborhood where wide, tree-lined sidewalks with single-family homes and housing projects coexist in relative harmony. The sun’s low on the horizon, the city bathed in a warm glow. He’s never been to Nik’s apartment complex before – and since he spends most of his time now with Tyler and Mark, it’s an invitation that has been increasingly remote – but tonight’s the premiere of Darby’s show and so they’re all pretending that everything’s fine for at least the next twelve hours. Brian walks through footpaths of identical cinderblock buildings in the courtyard, following Google Maps up to the third floor. He stops at the door, adjusts the lapels on the ill-fitting brown suit he borrowed from his dad, and then knocks.

Nik opens the door. ‘Hey, stranger,’ she says, not without warmth. She looks amazing, a far departure from her usual T-shirt and clogs behind the bar at The Romanesco. He has never seen her with her hair down – a broad sweep of chestnut, cascading down the back of her jewel-toned wrap dress. ‘Wow,’ he says.

‘Oh, this old thing?’ she says with a twirl. ‘Come on in, I’ll just be a minute. There’s liquor out on the kitchen counter – you can make the drinks for once.’

Nik’s lived here for years now. Knowing the city so well, she pays next to nothing in rent and is determined never to move. Brian’s always been curious what her place might be like, and he now walks through it as if at a museum. The mix of furniture represents her gorgeous eclectic style to a tee; every piece of wall space has something to look at, a mix of rock posters and canvases, abstract acrylic artwork, vintage photos in mismatched frames, a stained-glass and rose-gold parrot hanging in the window which casts blue and red hues across the floor, an antique pistachio-colored lamp with a gold fringed lampshade in the corner; the mix of colors and eras shouldn’t work at all, but somehow they come together, the sum of their parts a stunning display of originality.

Brian finds his way to the kitchen and the liquor bottles, and free pours bourbon and sweet vermouth into a shaker. He grabs ice from the freezer, lingering over the family photos on the olive-green refrigerator. There are more recent photos interspersed with older ones whose curled corners are blanched by sunlight – a shot of her family at Disney World, Nik in a Mickey Mouse hat flanked by her brother and sister. Another of that same brother, now decades older, holding a newborn. A wedding photo of her parents, her mother in a cream lace dress and sheer sleeves, her father in the same color barong. A handwritten letter addressed to ‘Monika’ on Dr Bacaycay’s stationery that he can’t make out but for bits of Taglish Nik taught him and the heart at the signature.

Brian takes the Manhattans and finds his way to Nik’s bathroom, where she is finishing up her make-up.

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