Keisha barely seemed to hear him. “You’re good,” she said before walking away.
Most of her family was filing out to visit the game room. Omar stuck around to interview some of the older folks who stayed behind. He asked them their favorite thing about Little Bee, funny memories about her, and cutesy stuff that would make great bumpers between all the other footage. If he made the video an absolute masterpiece, maybe he wouldn’t be in as much trouble for pissing off the customer.
Even this hope faded when at the end of the party, while everyone was slowly leaving, he saw Keisha talking to Mr. Dandy. She looked around and pointed at him, his stomach sinking, because he was as good as fired. He might not even get the chance to edit the footage. Or use all that awesome equipment.
He decided to go to the security room so he could at least push a few buttons before everything was ripped away from him. He was turning the jog wheel back and forth longingly when he heard a knock on the door. Mr. Dandy was standing in the threshold.
“Did you get it all filmed?” his boss asked.
“Yeah,” Omar replied, ejecting the tape and holding it out.
“I wouldn’t know what to do with that!” Mr. Dandy said with a titter. “But I just finished talking to the Hart family and they are already thrilled with the experience.”
“They are?”
Mr. Dandy nodded. Then his eyes narrowed in suspicion. “The girl who is close to your age. Is she your friend? You two aren’t dating, are you?”
“No!” Omar said with a little too much emphasis. “We don’t really know each other.”
“Well she had nothing but praise for you.”
Omar waited for the other shoe to drop, but it never did. “For real?”
Mr. Dandy nodded happily. “She mentioned that you are working on a video yearbook at school, and that after seeing you in action, she can’t wait to get hers. She said you’re a born cinematographer.”
Omar blinked. “Wow. Cool!”
Mr. Dandy’s eyes darted to the equipment. “Will it um… take you very long to edit the footage? I wasn’t sure how much time you would need, so I offered to mail it to them.”
“I can get started right away,” he said. “If you want.”
“Please do! I can’t wait to watch it myself.”
Mr. Dandy patted him on the back and left. Omar turned around to consider the video equipment. He ran a hand along the top of the EV-S7000 lovingly. “All right baby,” he murmured. “Let’s spend some quality time together.”
— — —
The sun was shining in Antioch Park, tranquil clouds drifting across the blue sky above. Children shouted with glee while chasing each other through miniature wooden buildings. Anthony had done the same long ago. He remembered hopping from stone to stone across the narrowest part of the lake and how excitingly dangerous that had felt. So many joyful scenes and magical memories surrounded him, and yet, his friend outshone it all. Ricky radiated with happiness like the sun did warmth. Usually. Anthony had witnessed previously how sad Ricky could get. To the point of becoming suicidal. And so he tended to worry about him, although not so much at the moment.
“This is so nice!” Ricky said, beaming at the world around them. “I can’t wait until I’m old enough to drive. My parents won’t show up here like they did at Archie’s last weekend.”
“I didn’t think so either,” Anthony replied, furrowing his brow before he pointed, “but isn’t that your dad on the swings over there?”
“What?” Ricky’s head whipped around before he laughed and shoved Anthony playfully. “I wouldn’t have been completely surprised. My parents keep asking what I want for my birthday, but my mom says pagers are for doctors and drug dealers. I’d feel way cooler answering one of those than having them call everywhere.”
Which is what had happened earlier while they were hanging out in Anthony’s room. As soon as Ricky had hung up with his mother, a miserable mood had come over him. That’s why Anthony had suggested coming here. Currently they were strolling along one of the paved paths without a destination in mind.
“Speaking of your birthday,” Anthony said. “Is there anything in particular that you want?”
“There is,” Ricky said, his expression hopeful. “Would you be my alibi so I can spend more time with Diego? I’m thinking it’ll be just like today, except after my mom calls, I’ll have him pick me up. If she calls again, you could say I just left and send a special code to Diego’s pager, so he’ll know to drive me home.”
Anthony smirked. “Tired of sneaking out?”
“Yeah, literally.” Ricky yawned, as if in demonstration. “I haven’t gotten much sleep this week.”
“Because you guys stay up all night talking or…”
Ricky grinned. “Because we’re officially doing it.”
“Really!” Anthony had suspected as much. He couldn’t imagine being locked in an office all night with Cameron without something happening. “What’s it like having sex with Diego?”
“The first time was quick but intense. The second was mostly me wanting more.” Ricky hid his mouth behind his hand and tittered. “The third time that night—”
“You’re talking about the same night?” Anthony asked in disbelief.
“Yeah, except it was practically morning by then and I was almost late getting home.” Ricky shrugged. “We had some catching up to do.”
“Sounds like it!” Anthony shook his head. “Diego Gomez… Huh. I never would have guessed.”
Ricky’s happy expression faltered. “Yeah, I wasn’t sure either. I’m still not.”
“How come?”
Ricky pressed his lips together as they continued walking. “I was hoping to talk to you about that actually. Sleeping with him is really hot. But it’s also a little one-sided.”
“Do you mean…” Anthony trailed off before deciding not to censor himself. He didn’t have anyone else he could talk to about such things, besides his boyfriend of course, but he already knew what that was like. “I have to admit, it’s hard to imagine Diego sucking cock.”
“Exactly,” Ricky said. “I’m not that hung up on it though, because I’m more interested in doing things to him. Not in a selfless way either. It’s really exciting to be able to touch him and do everything else I want.”
“That’s how I feel about Cameron.”
“Really?” Ricky perked up at this. “So you think it’s normal?”
Anthony hesitated. “I’m not sure, because Cameron seems just as interested in me.”
Ricky grimaced, as if this confirmed his suspicions. “That’s how it was with me and Jerimiah too. Neither of us had been with another guy before. We practically fought over who got to touch the wiener.”
“I know the feeling,” Anthony said with a chuckle. “Diego didn’t seem interested?"
"Not at all. Except he likes to kiss me. And I never have to ask him to hold me. I’ve been over there a bunch of nights, and whenever we fall asleep, he doesn’t let go. Even if I roll away, he’ll pull me close again. I love it so much.”