Something Like Lightning Read Free Page A

passing, his head turning to follow them. Then he pretended an invisible force was dragging him backward, like a hooked fish. After hopping on one foot a couple of times, he winked and resumed walking normally.
    The girls giggled. Kelly turned away from them with a grimace. Nothing confused him more than the fairer sex. Did their giggles mean they thought Jared was stupid? Were they mocking him? Or, like Kelly, perhaps they found his antics more adorable than embarrassing.
    “You’ve got to work on your moves,” Kelly said once the girls were out of earshot.
    “They liked me,” Jared said, oozing confidence. “Besides, I didn’t see you trying.”
    “I let the ladies come to me.” Kelly instantly hated himself for pretending. He should be brave like his mother kept insisting he was. Besides, what did he have to gain by playing straight? If Jared was interested in him, this little charade would send the wrong signal. Coming out would be more strategic. That way Jared could do the same and they could finally admit the truth to each other.
    Yeah, right. Kelly sighed. He already knew the truth. Jared was straight. There wasn’t a chance in hell they could be together, but in the meantime, at least he could pretend. As long as he never gave Jared an opportunity to shoot him down, Kelly could keep dancing with his own delusions.
    “Sorry, man,” Jared said, mistaking the reason for his exasperation. “I was only kidding. Besides, who am I to talk? When’s the last time I got any action?”
    Kelly grinned. “When your cousin tried to kiss you.”
    Jared winced. “Don’t remind me.”
    They both laughed, but as they kept walking, Kelly glanced over at Jared and wondered why his friend was always single. Sure he had sort of a big nose and his forehead was often a battleground for acne, but past these imperfections, he was downright fine. If the ladies couldn’t see that, it was their loss.
    “Hey, we never go in there,” Jared said, bumping against Kelly and forcing him to enter a store.
    A moment later Kelly found himself surrounded by princesses, pirates, and animals wearing human expressions. Disneyland had come to Texas, or at least its gift shop had. He followed Jared, who picked up various items and made snarky comments. Kelly barely heard his words, amazed by the sheer amount of corporate propaganda stuffed into such a small space. He lifted his camera and took a few photos, feeling like a tourist at the actual theme park. When they circled back around to the entrance, a pile of stuffed animals caught his eye.
    Eeyore—the eternally depressed donkey from the Winnie-the-Pooh books. As a child, Kelly had always liked him best. Unlike the other maniacally grinning characters in children’s stories, Eeyore seemed much more honest. With his big fat back turned away from the world, he seemed to say, “Prepare yourself, kid. Life sure can suck sometimes.” Here the message was loud and clear. Eeyore the stuffed animal wasn’t even allowed his individuality anymore, set among countless plush clones of himself. Adding insult to injury was the sign above him advertising seventy percent off the normal price.
    “We don’t want him anymore,” Kelly said, peering through the camera’s viewfinder. “Take the miserable ass home with you.” He snapped a couple photos and was steadying himself to take another when a concerned face filled the lens.
    An older man stood between them and the display, an open palm raised as if he were a celebrity trying to fend off paparazzi. “I’m sorry, but we don’t allow photos.”
    Kelly lowered the camera. “Why not?”
    “Company policy,” the man said, hand still poised in the air.
    “It’s just a bunch of stuffed animals,” Jared replied.
    “No,” the man corrected, “it’s company property.”
    “What if I bought one?” Kelly asked. “Then it would be my property and I could take photos of it all I wanted.”
    The man hesitated.