Earth to Alis by Lex Carlow

Author:Lex Carlow [Carlow, Lex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Spinning Rock Press
Published: 2024-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

22

Craig puts his hands on his hips, frowning at the two bunk beds. “Hmm.”

I sigh. “What?”

He gestures to one of the top beds. “Well, you can’t take a top bunk because then I won’t be able to see if there’s something wrong with you—” he points to the bottom bed, “—but you can’t take the bottom because there’s no side rail. You’ll just roll right off onto the floor, which is not good for someone with possible brain damage.”

I narrow my eyes. “Roll off?”

He gnaws his lip in thought. Then he raises a finger in the air, his eyes lighting up. I watch him stride past me, grab the rail at the foot of the bunk bed and start pulling.

He drags the bed over to the other side of the room with what appears to be great difficulty, then jogs around to push it against the other bunk bed so the bottom beds are flush.

He grins at me, breathing heavily. “I’m a genius.”

My stomach twists with embarrassment, and I glare at him under my lashes. “I’m fine, Craig.”

“Unfortunately, for the next twenty-four hours, I’m not going to believe a word you say about your own health.” He points at the makeshift double bed. “You go on the far side, so if you start rolling, you’ll either run into me or the wall. And I’m very solid; you don’t have to worry.”

I don’t know what to do about the heat under my skin. Is this something a straight boy would do? Maybe he’s just that nice and that comfortable in his sexuality that this is nothing for him. But he’s fucking seventeen, so that would be really annoying.

I notice his eyes are going a bit round as he looks at what he’s done. He grips the back of his neck. “Sorry, is this weird? This is weird. I’m not, like—I’m not forcing you or anything. I’ll just⁠—”

“It’s fine,” I say shortly, because he’s the one making it weird. I scoop up my bag from the floor and start heading back toward the door. “I’m going to shower.”

I hear the slightest sound come out of Craig’s mouth and spin on him, “Don’t even.”

Craig bites his lip, his eyes crinkling. “But what if you slip⁠—”

I put my fingers in my ears, then use my elbow to push down the door handle. I stick my foot in the crack and wrench the door open with it, managing to escape without hearing whatever stupid excuse he was going to make for why he needs to follow me to the shower.

When I reach the washroom, I realize I didn’t stop to get the folding knife. That thing in my stomach had been writhing around so hard in the cab and at the doctor’s office, I thought for sure I needed to do something about it. And then I didn’t.

And I still don’t think I need to do it.

I swear it’s the first time it’s ever calmed itself on its own.

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