Chapter 18: Ashok
“I can’t believe you took a rock to the side of the head for Amber Alert,” Erik said, dabbing at the cut behind Ashok’s eye as gingerly as he dared.
Erik barely fit in the stall, but they were as together as the space allowed in Ashok’s shower. They’d had makeup to wash off, Ashok had had blood to wash off, and they felt the need to wash the energy of the evening away on top of it. Amber’s childish cheating had been annoying, but also oddly energizing. It had brought Raima and Miranda together as friends, and propelled them both to queen-hood, which was the best of all possible pageant outcomes as far as Ashok could imagine. But the random and scary fag-bashing had muddied the entire evening, distorting every feeling through its dark lens. Amber was harder to write off
