I Prefer the Mind Control Rewrite - Chapter 4
Here's chapter 4 of my I Prefer the Mind Control. Here's hoping the rewrite is sufficiently awesome!
previous chapter
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The main cafeteria did a brilliant job of utterly wrecking my appetite, but I found myself here for lunch anyway because of my fucking meal plan. Preston sat across from me, staring into his unidentifiable chicken dish. The food here looked more alien than what I had had at Xan’s apartment.
Speaking of Xan, he hadn’t yet called, and I was starting to think nothing would come of our encounter, mind control or no mind control.
Preston muttered, “Hannah texted me earlier. Said she was super-excited for ‘girl time’ with Bonnie.”
“Did she now? That’s -- that’s awkward. What did you tell her?” I asked.
He half-heartedly poked his food with a fork. “Nothing. I didn’t text her back. If she asks why, I’ll say I misplaced my phone.”
I offered Preston a small smile. “With how messy our room is, I would buy it.”
“On a date already?”
I looked up to see Bonnie standing over our booth.
“B-Bonnie. Wh-what are you doing here?” Preston stammered.
She held something silvery and shiny in her hand. “I think I’ll give this back to you. After all, it was your six month anniversary gift, and, well, look how that turned out.”
Bonnie dropped a necklace onto the table with a sad little clink. If I didn’t know any better, I would swear the pendant was glaring at us. I thought Bonnie was just gonna fucking leave, but she placed her hands on the table and leaned right up in Preston’s face.
“Hannah texted me, asked how we were doing. She wanted to ‘catch up’ with her ‘future sister-in-law’ who ‘finally proved my brother wasn’t gay.’” She started laughing. It sounded so fucking harsh, I was actually a little scared.
I wanted to reach for Preston to reassure him. That wouldn’t look suspicious at all, right?
Bonnie sneered, “If you want to know what I told her, I said I would tell her everything when we met up. Just a fair warning.”
Preston’s face paled. “You’re -- you’re going to tell her I’m gay?”
“Don’t you think your family deserves the fucking truth?” she spat.
“Don’t tell them, Bonnie,” he pleaded.
Okay, Bonnie had lost all her marbles and then stolen other people’s marbles so she could lose those, too. I stood up and got in Bonnie’s face.
“It’s not your secret to tell,” I hissed.
She stopped focusing on Preston and started focusing on me. Her brown eyes flashed. I was afraid she would fucking attack me or something. Preston had told me Bonnie had a temper
She said, “You might want to back off.”
“Not until you promise to leave Preston alone.”
Bonnie drawled, “Oh, defending your boyfriend, are you? I have a right to say what I want. Haven’t you ever heard of freedom of speech?”
“Yeah, I have. And you’re fucking abusing it if you out Preston. You need to leave now before I strangle you to death with my undercooked spaghetti.”
My threat made no fucking sense, but I stared at Bonnie as hard as I could. We were locked in a staring contest. I wasn’t backing down, not when my friend was concerned. My body shook as I glared at Bonnie’s angry face. Preston might have accidentally broken her heart or whatever, but there were lines you just didn’t fucking cross, no matter how hurt you were. Outing someone because they hurt you was not cool; I should know.
Dammit, you’re curious about why I should know about that, aren’t you? I’m not talking about it right now, so quit asking.
Bonnie huffed, “I’m making no promises. I’ll say what I want, and you two assholes will just have to deal with how you hurt me.”
She turned on her heel and fucking flounced out of the cafeteria. I watched her go with a sinking feeling in my stomach. Bonnie sounded like she would keep her promise to spill Preston’s secret, which was several billion flavors of wrong.
Preston was still pale as fuck. “Bonnie -- she -- she can’t really do that, can she?”
“I’m pretty sure she fucking can,” I muttered.
“She can’t,” he breathed.
I said, “Bonnie seemed awfully determined.”
“You -- you don’t understand. My parents -- I meant it when I said they don’t agree with you. They think something’s wrong with being gay. Really wrong, enough to -- to cut me off, not -- not pay next year’s tuition.” he whispered.
“Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously, Dylan,” Preston muttered.
“That’s fucking terrible,” I said.
He stared into his still-uneaten food. “What am I gonna do? The year’s close enough to over. Don’t -- won’t have a place to stay.”
I couldn’t exactly magically generate a house for him.
Preston’s hands shook. It hurt to see him so panicked. My stomach clenched. I had no words to make things better. My brain -- it was a total fucking blank, as far as coherent and helpful things to say went, so I did something possibly stupid. I reached out and placed my hands over his. Yeah, I know about mixed signals, but I was trying to be a friend, okay? No, I don’t reciprocate his crush. Stop looking at me like that.
“Preston, we’ll figure this out, okay? We don’t even know if Bonnie’s really gonna tell your parents,” I murmured.
“But you said...”
“There’s a chance I’m wrong. Maybe by next weekend, Bonnie will have had a chance to, like, cool off and shit,” I offered.
He sighed. “Bonnie doesn’t cool off. She mood swings, sure, but she’ll also hold a grudge if it suits her.”
Without meaning to, I squeezed Preston’s hands. My mind swirled as I tried to figure out what we were gonna do. Sadly, Preston getting kicked out and cut off wasn’t remotely implausible.
I said, “Is there a chance explaining your parents’, like, probable reactions would get Bonnie to back off?”
“No way,” he moaned. “She knows what they’re like. I think -- I think she agrees with them. Her family -- they don’t like gay people either.”
“Well, they’re all giant sacks of stupid, okay?” I tried to smile at him.
“And some of these ‘sacks of stupid’ give me every single dollar I have,” Preston said.
Good fucking point. What the hell could I say to make things better? My own parents would never be such raging assholes. When -- you know, what? I’m still not gonna talk about that.
Anyway, my parents were much more tolerant than Preston’s vaguely parent-shaped things. They didn’t give a shit that I was bi. And they fucking believed me, which was more than I could say for, well, a lot of people. Yes, bisexual dudes were a real thing. I was a real thing that existed.
I murmured, “They’ve got to have, like, campus resources, right?”
“I don’t think any ‘resource’ can pay full tuition,” he said.
He had another good point, unfortunately. But wasn’t it better to seek help than, you know, not doing that?
Preston muttered, “I wish I were normal.”
Oh, he was not gonna go there.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You are fucking ‘normal,’ Preston. Don’t even start.with that shit, because I am not gonna tolerate it. Yeah, things would be easier if you were straight or whatever, but, man, you realize you’re calling me weird, right?”
“That’s not what I meant,” he said.
“I know that’s not what you meant, but that’s what you were implying. Don’t imply that.”
Preston mumbled, “I’m -- I’m sorry, but...”
“No buts,” I muttered. “There is nothing wrong with being how you are, okay?”
I gave his hands another squeeze when my phone rang. Whoever was on the other line sure had fabulous fucking timing. Reluctantly, I let go of Preston and grabbed my phone.
“It’s Xan!” I breathed.
Wait, maybe talking about my probably-not-a-boyfriend in front of Preston wasn’t the best idea. That didn’t stop me because it wasn’t like my brain and mouth always got along. Do you know what that’s like? You do? It can be really fucking awkward, can’t it?
“You should answer it,” Preston muttered.
“Okay...”
I pressed the button and answered the call. “Xan!” That was fucking eloquent.
“Dylan, you picked up,” he said.
“Obviously I picked up or you wouldn’t be talking to me, duh.” Wow, I was being such a genius right now.
“I’m glad to see your wit is still intact.”
I asked, “My wit? My brain is barely working right now. I’ve got -- stuff going on.”
“What kind of stuff?” he asked.
I muttered, “You wouldn’t by any chance be able to give me fifty thousand or so dollars, free of charge, would you?”
What the fuck was I doing?
I said, “That’s mostly a joke, it’s just my friend kind of needs tuition money. Or he might need tuition money in the future if his ex girlfriend is as insanely evil as I think she is and his parents are as awful as I think they are...” I ran out of breath.
“What on Earth are you talking about, Dylan? I like you, but it would look highly suspicious if I just suddenly gave you fifty thousand dollars for -- did you say it was for tuition? Your friend is having financial trouble?” Xan sounded seriously baffled. “Did your friend commit some kind of crime and that’s why his parents are not going to pay?”
I burst out laughing. What the fuck? Where did Xan get that idea. Damn, that was a deeply ridiculous conclusion. Preston hadn’t committed any fucking crimes. At least, being gay wasn’t a crime anymore in this country.
Preston just stared at me blankly. I think his brain had overloaded. There wasn’t any actual way Xan could help out, was there?
I told Xan, “Not unless being gay is a crime.” Shit, I didn’t know if I should have said that.
“Gay? That means he is attracted only to his own gender, right?”
Xan didn’t know what “gay” meant? That was fucking weird.
I said, “Yeah. You don’t have gay people on Zimara?”
“We have two genders, but everyone likes them more or less equally. You have people who aren’t like that?” he wondered, clearly find the idea baffling.
The giggles nearly overtook me. “Most people aren’t bisexual or anything like that, Xan. You guys really are aliens.”
Then I thought about the situation and stopped fucking giggling. “Xan, the short version is my friend’s parents don’t like his sexual preferences and are going to stop paying his tuition because of it. I don’t suppose there’s any way you could give us fifty thousand dollars?”
Preston muttered, “Your boyfriend may be a Prince of Zimara, but he’s not going to just give us that much money for nothing.”
I put the phone on speaker, figuring my friend ought to be in on this.
I said, “Preston doesn’t think you’ll give us that much money for nothing, but will you give it to us because we’re awesome?”
Xan laughed. “I cannot do that, but I may be able to help you out.”
Wait, what? Really?
“Are you serious?” I cried.
“I am perfectly serious. Your friend might have something I want,” he murmured.
Preston stammered, “Ex-excuse me? Prince Xan? Wh-what could I possibly have? I’ve got nothing except, well, me, sir. And my laptop is pretty nice.”
Xan said, “I don’t want your laptop, Preston. You say you’ve got nothing but yourself, which is just fine. That’s what I want -- you.”
Wait...he couldn’t possibly mean that.
“M-me?” Preston wondered. “For what? To clean your house or something? That’s not worth fifty thousand. Is it?”
“It’s not. I don’t want you for cleaning. Rather, I’m looking for something a little more...intimate. One night in bed is all I ask.” I swore I could hear his eyes sparkling. Yeah, I know that’s physically not how it works. Sparkles aren’t audible. I get it. Shut up.
“Wh-what?” I sputtered. “You want to fuck Preston?”
“Indeed,” he murmured.
“You don’t even know what he looks like,” I said. “He’s hot, but that’s -- that’s not the point.”
Xan said, “I am not so concerned with how he looks. I like all types and, besides, this is partly a favor for you.”
Huh? That -- totally didn’t fucking compute.
He continued, “I am willing to give Preston the money, no interest, because he’s your friend and I like you. That said, I can’t do this and get nothing in return. On Zimara, an exchange like the one I propose is commonplace.”
“You want to have sex with -- with me? For money?” Preston breathed.
“That is correct,” Xan said.
“I’ll -- I’ll do it,” Preston murmured.
I -- what? I stammered, “You -- you’re okay with this?”
While I had no problems doing what Xan wanted, this was something else. And, yeah, the idea was kind of hot, but we didn’t do this stuff on Earth in anything like polite company. And we were on the fucking Earth right now. I would have no problem giving myself for fifty grand, but -- I didn’t know if Preston was okay with this or just fucking desperate. Or, somehow, both.
Preston said, “I’m fine with it. Just -- is it a problem if I’ve never, uh, had sex before?”
That was when I realized we were in the fucking cafeteria making a deal to sell Preston’s body for fifty grand. In the cafeteria. Did I mention that? Oh, I did. Well, okay then. I temporarily forgot on account of how we were going to sell my fucking roommate. What is wrong with you that you come up with this stuff? What’s wrong with me if the idea really fucking turns me on? Don’t judge, okay?
Xan murmured, “That is no problem. Are the both of you free this Friday at 8PM?”
“Uh, sure,” Preston said.
“Yeah, I’m free.” And on the verge of a brain explosion.
“I’ll pick you up where I dropped Dylan off before. Does that work for you two?” he asked.
“Yeah, that works for me. We can meet you in Parking Lot C.” If my brain didn’t fucking explode first.
“Excellent, I’ll see the both of you then. Wear something cute. Goodbye for now.” He sounded so fucking satisfied.
“Goodbye, Xan,” I said.
“Bye,” Preston breathed.
Xan hung up, leaving me to stare awkwardly at Preston, who looked like a particularly dumbfounded deer caught in particularly bright headlights. Were we really going to do this? Bonnie would out Preston, and he would lose his tuition money. What other option did we have?
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written for 500themes prompt #450 - "The Space Between"
next chapter
previous chapter
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The main cafeteria did a brilliant job of utterly wrecking my appetite, but I found myself here for lunch anyway because of my fucking meal plan. Preston sat across from me, staring into his unidentifiable chicken dish. The food here looked more alien than what I had had at Xan’s apartment.
Speaking of Xan, he hadn’t yet called, and I was starting to think nothing would come of our encounter, mind control or no mind control.
Preston muttered, “Hannah texted me earlier. Said she was super-excited for ‘girl time’ with Bonnie.”
“Did she now? That’s -- that’s awkward. What did you tell her?” I asked.
He half-heartedly poked his food with a fork. “Nothing. I didn’t text her back. If she asks why, I’ll say I misplaced my phone.”
I offered Preston a small smile. “With how messy our room is, I would buy it.”
“On a date already?”
I looked up to see Bonnie standing over our booth.
“B-Bonnie. Wh-what are you doing here?” Preston stammered.
She held something silvery and shiny in her hand. “I think I’ll give this back to you. After all, it was your six month anniversary gift, and, well, look how that turned out.”
Bonnie dropped a necklace onto the table with a sad little clink. If I didn’t know any better, I would swear the pendant was glaring at us. I thought Bonnie was just gonna fucking leave, but she placed her hands on the table and leaned right up in Preston’s face.
“Hannah texted me, asked how we were doing. She wanted to ‘catch up’ with her ‘future sister-in-law’ who ‘finally proved my brother wasn’t gay.’” She started laughing. It sounded so fucking harsh, I was actually a little scared.
I wanted to reach for Preston to reassure him. That wouldn’t look suspicious at all, right?
Bonnie sneered, “If you want to know what I told her, I said I would tell her everything when we met up. Just a fair warning.”
Preston’s face paled. “You’re -- you’re going to tell her I’m gay?”
“Don’t you think your family deserves the fucking truth?” she spat.
“Don’t tell them, Bonnie,” he pleaded.
Okay, Bonnie had lost all her marbles and then stolen other people’s marbles so she could lose those, too. I stood up and got in Bonnie’s face.
“It’s not your secret to tell,” I hissed.
She stopped focusing on Preston and started focusing on me. Her brown eyes flashed. I was afraid she would fucking attack me or something. Preston had told me Bonnie had a temper
She said, “You might want to back off.”
“Not until you promise to leave Preston alone.”
Bonnie drawled, “Oh, defending your boyfriend, are you? I have a right to say what I want. Haven’t you ever heard of freedom of speech?”
“Yeah, I have. And you’re fucking abusing it if you out Preston. You need to leave now before I strangle you to death with my undercooked spaghetti.”
My threat made no fucking sense, but I stared at Bonnie as hard as I could. We were locked in a staring contest. I wasn’t backing down, not when my friend was concerned. My body shook as I glared at Bonnie’s angry face. Preston might have accidentally broken her heart or whatever, but there were lines you just didn’t fucking cross, no matter how hurt you were. Outing someone because they hurt you was not cool; I should know.
Dammit, you’re curious about why I should know about that, aren’t you? I’m not talking about it right now, so quit asking.
Bonnie huffed, “I’m making no promises. I’ll say what I want, and you two assholes will just have to deal with how you hurt me.”
She turned on her heel and fucking flounced out of the cafeteria. I watched her go with a sinking feeling in my stomach. Bonnie sounded like she would keep her promise to spill Preston’s secret, which was several billion flavors of wrong.
Preston was still pale as fuck. “Bonnie -- she -- she can’t really do that, can she?”
“I’m pretty sure she fucking can,” I muttered.
“She can’t,” he breathed.
I said, “Bonnie seemed awfully determined.”
“You -- you don’t understand. My parents -- I meant it when I said they don’t agree with you. They think something’s wrong with being gay. Really wrong, enough to -- to cut me off, not -- not pay next year’s tuition.” he whispered.
“Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously, Dylan,” Preston muttered.
“That’s fucking terrible,” I said.
He stared into his still-uneaten food. “What am I gonna do? The year’s close enough to over. Don’t -- won’t have a place to stay.”
I couldn’t exactly magically generate a house for him.
Preston’s hands shook. It hurt to see him so panicked. My stomach clenched. I had no words to make things better. My brain -- it was a total fucking blank, as far as coherent and helpful things to say went, so I did something possibly stupid. I reached out and placed my hands over his. Yeah, I know about mixed signals, but I was trying to be a friend, okay? No, I don’t reciprocate his crush. Stop looking at me like that.
“Preston, we’ll figure this out, okay? We don’t even know if Bonnie’s really gonna tell your parents,” I murmured.
“But you said...”
“There’s a chance I’m wrong. Maybe by next weekend, Bonnie will have had a chance to, like, cool off and shit,” I offered.
He sighed. “Bonnie doesn’t cool off. She mood swings, sure, but she’ll also hold a grudge if it suits her.”
Without meaning to, I squeezed Preston’s hands. My mind swirled as I tried to figure out what we were gonna do. Sadly, Preston getting kicked out and cut off wasn’t remotely implausible.
I said, “Is there a chance explaining your parents’, like, probable reactions would get Bonnie to back off?”
“No way,” he moaned. “She knows what they’re like. I think -- I think she agrees with them. Her family -- they don’t like gay people either.”
“Well, they’re all giant sacks of stupid, okay?” I tried to smile at him.
“And some of these ‘sacks of stupid’ give me every single dollar I have,” Preston said.
Good fucking point. What the hell could I say to make things better? My own parents would never be such raging assholes. When -- you know, what? I’m still not gonna talk about that.
Anyway, my parents were much more tolerant than Preston’s vaguely parent-shaped things. They didn’t give a shit that I was bi. And they fucking believed me, which was more than I could say for, well, a lot of people. Yes, bisexual dudes were a real thing. I was a real thing that existed.
I murmured, “They’ve got to have, like, campus resources, right?”
“I don’t think any ‘resource’ can pay full tuition,” he said.
He had another good point, unfortunately. But wasn’t it better to seek help than, you know, not doing that?
Preston muttered, “I wish I were normal.”
Oh, he was not gonna go there.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You are fucking ‘normal,’ Preston. Don’t even start.with that shit, because I am not gonna tolerate it. Yeah, things would be easier if you were straight or whatever, but, man, you realize you’re calling me weird, right?”
“That’s not what I meant,” he said.
“I know that’s not what you meant, but that’s what you were implying. Don’t imply that.”
Preston mumbled, “I’m -- I’m sorry, but...”
“No buts,” I muttered. “There is nothing wrong with being how you are, okay?”
I gave his hands another squeeze when my phone rang. Whoever was on the other line sure had fabulous fucking timing. Reluctantly, I let go of Preston and grabbed my phone.
“It’s Xan!” I breathed.
Wait, maybe talking about my probably-not-a-boyfriend in front of Preston wasn’t the best idea. That didn’t stop me because it wasn’t like my brain and mouth always got along. Do you know what that’s like? You do? It can be really fucking awkward, can’t it?
“You should answer it,” Preston muttered.
“Okay...”
I pressed the button and answered the call. “Xan!” That was fucking eloquent.
“Dylan, you picked up,” he said.
“Obviously I picked up or you wouldn’t be talking to me, duh.” Wow, I was being such a genius right now.
“I’m glad to see your wit is still intact.”
I asked, “My wit? My brain is barely working right now. I’ve got -- stuff going on.”
“What kind of stuff?” he asked.
I muttered, “You wouldn’t by any chance be able to give me fifty thousand or so dollars, free of charge, would you?”
What the fuck was I doing?
I said, “That’s mostly a joke, it’s just my friend kind of needs tuition money. Or he might need tuition money in the future if his ex girlfriend is as insanely evil as I think she is and his parents are as awful as I think they are...” I ran out of breath.
“What on Earth are you talking about, Dylan? I like you, but it would look highly suspicious if I just suddenly gave you fifty thousand dollars for -- did you say it was for tuition? Your friend is having financial trouble?” Xan sounded seriously baffled. “Did your friend commit some kind of crime and that’s why his parents are not going to pay?”
I burst out laughing. What the fuck? Where did Xan get that idea. Damn, that was a deeply ridiculous conclusion. Preston hadn’t committed any fucking crimes. At least, being gay wasn’t a crime anymore in this country.
Preston just stared at me blankly. I think his brain had overloaded. There wasn’t any actual way Xan could help out, was there?
I told Xan, “Not unless being gay is a crime.” Shit, I didn’t know if I should have said that.
“Gay? That means he is attracted only to his own gender, right?”
Xan didn’t know what “gay” meant? That was fucking weird.
I said, “Yeah. You don’t have gay people on Zimara?”
“We have two genders, but everyone likes them more or less equally. You have people who aren’t like that?” he wondered, clearly find the idea baffling.
The giggles nearly overtook me. “Most people aren’t bisexual or anything like that, Xan. You guys really are aliens.”
Then I thought about the situation and stopped fucking giggling. “Xan, the short version is my friend’s parents don’t like his sexual preferences and are going to stop paying his tuition because of it. I don’t suppose there’s any way you could give us fifty thousand dollars?”
Preston muttered, “Your boyfriend may be a Prince of Zimara, but he’s not going to just give us that much money for nothing.”
I put the phone on speaker, figuring my friend ought to be in on this.
I said, “Preston doesn’t think you’ll give us that much money for nothing, but will you give it to us because we’re awesome?”
Xan laughed. “I cannot do that, but I may be able to help you out.”
Wait, what? Really?
“Are you serious?” I cried.
“I am perfectly serious. Your friend might have something I want,” he murmured.
Preston stammered, “Ex-excuse me? Prince Xan? Wh-what could I possibly have? I’ve got nothing except, well, me, sir. And my laptop is pretty nice.”
Xan said, “I don’t want your laptop, Preston. You say you’ve got nothing but yourself, which is just fine. That’s what I want -- you.”
Wait...he couldn’t possibly mean that.
“M-me?” Preston wondered. “For what? To clean your house or something? That’s not worth fifty thousand. Is it?”
“It’s not. I don’t want you for cleaning. Rather, I’m looking for something a little more...intimate. One night in bed is all I ask.” I swore I could hear his eyes sparkling. Yeah, I know that’s physically not how it works. Sparkles aren’t audible. I get it. Shut up.
“Wh-what?” I sputtered. “You want to fuck Preston?”
“Indeed,” he murmured.
“You don’t even know what he looks like,” I said. “He’s hot, but that’s -- that’s not the point.”
Xan said, “I am not so concerned with how he looks. I like all types and, besides, this is partly a favor for you.”
Huh? That -- totally didn’t fucking compute.
He continued, “I am willing to give Preston the money, no interest, because he’s your friend and I like you. That said, I can’t do this and get nothing in return. On Zimara, an exchange like the one I propose is commonplace.”
“You want to have sex with -- with me? For money?” Preston breathed.
“That is correct,” Xan said.
“I’ll -- I’ll do it,” Preston murmured.
I -- what? I stammered, “You -- you’re okay with this?”
While I had no problems doing what Xan wanted, this was something else. And, yeah, the idea was kind of hot, but we didn’t do this stuff on Earth in anything like polite company. And we were on the fucking Earth right now. I would have no problem giving myself for fifty grand, but -- I didn’t know if Preston was okay with this or just fucking desperate. Or, somehow, both.
Preston said, “I’m fine with it. Just -- is it a problem if I’ve never, uh, had sex before?”
That was when I realized we were in the fucking cafeteria making a deal to sell Preston’s body for fifty grand. In the cafeteria. Did I mention that? Oh, I did. Well, okay then. I temporarily forgot on account of how we were going to sell my fucking roommate. What is wrong with you that you come up with this stuff? What’s wrong with me if the idea really fucking turns me on? Don’t judge, okay?
Xan murmured, “That is no problem. Are the both of you free this Friday at 8PM?”
“Uh, sure,” Preston said.
“Yeah, I’m free.” And on the verge of a brain explosion.
“I’ll pick you up where I dropped Dylan off before. Does that work for you two?” he asked.
“Yeah, that works for me. We can meet you in Parking Lot C.” If my brain didn’t fucking explode first.
“Excellent, I’ll see the both of you then. Wear something cute. Goodbye for now.” He sounded so fucking satisfied.
“Goodbye, Xan,” I said.
“Bye,” Preston breathed.
Xan hung up, leaving me to stare awkwardly at Preston, who looked like a particularly dumbfounded deer caught in particularly bright headlights. Were we really going to do this? Bonnie would out Preston, and he would lose his tuition money. What other option did we have?
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written for 500themes prompt #450 - "The Space Between"
next chapter