Chapter 80
“That is an ugly hat. Seriously. Ugly. Where’d you get it?”
Dizzy laughed. “Took it off some guy mansplaining engineering to Caitlyn Sommers. Caitlyn Sommers, I say that again, with special emphasis. I’m only wearing it ironically because it’s a trophy of my triumph.”
“Caitlyn Sommers is, I gather, an engineer?” Andy asked. He’d picked up the rules sheet for Settlers and was skimming over it.
“She is the engineer,” Dizzy said. “Production designer for the naval shipyard. If there’s a weapons system or aircraft carrier engine that launches out of the bay that Caitlyn can’t tear apart and make better, I’ll eat that fuckin’ hat.”
“You’d like her,” Scooter said.
“I do like engineers,” Andy agreed. “Though I usually stick to smaller projects, like cars. And ovens.” Martin jumped in at that, and he and Andy started excitedly going over some recent advancement in car engines that Scooter tuned out immediately in favor of doing a quick headcount to figure out who was missing.
“Is Krause not coming?” Scooter finally asked.
Lemarr licked his lips carefully. “Ah…Letty will be here a little later. She’s feeling shy.”
“Oh, it’s a Letty day? Okay, good to know. Did she say how her date went back in April? I haven’t talked to her for a while.”
Justin shrugged. “The usual. Straight men are stupid. No offense, Jason.”
Jason waved it off; they’d all been frustrated by the steady march of men who’d decided that Letty wasn’t for them. Stupid men; Letty was awesome.
Scooter nodded. “Okay. We’ll save her a seat at our table then.”
“I do not want to play Settlers, but I will take Martin’s place at Cards Against Humanity,” Kat said, stealing Martin’s cards and practically sitting in his lap before he ceded his space to her.
Scooter tugged Andy over to the table where Jason was setting up a fresh game. “Letty’s transitioning. She lets us know who’s coming over, usually. If she’s feeling shy, she’s probably got a new dress. She goes all out for the gang. It’s good to see. She was miserablewhen we were kids.”
Andy nodded. “It’s good you’re all supportive. Who is she when she’s not Letty?”
“Lenny,” Scooter said.
“Letty’s great. She’s a lot of fun.” Jason said, handing around game tokens.
It didn’t take long before people were making suggestive jokes about wood and sheep (it never did). Andy was building an empire like he’d been born to it halfway through the first game, and had actually let Junior drag him into a “yo mama” exchange between rounds. Andy lost that one, but everyonelost to Junior at that. Andy’d held his own decently enough to earn a few high-fives at least, and Scooter was practically glowing at how well he was slotting into the crew.
Then the door opened again, and…fucking Mark Johannson walked in, six pack of some fancy microbrew dangling from one hand.
Scooter sighed. Mark shouted a greeting and went around collecting kisses from the people who were still willing to kiss him. When he got ‘round to Scooter, Scooter tipped his cheek.
“It seems I’m getting cheek from Scooter Stahl,” Mark crowed and kissed his cheek noisily. And then licked him. Ugh.“Who’s your gorgeous little friend?”
“That’s Kat,” Andy answered promptly. “Haven’t you met her before?”
“Sweet and sassy!” Mark grinned and dragged a chair over to Andy’s other side, turning its back to the table and straddling it. “Your chair looks uncomfortable. Come sit in my lap and we’ll talk about the first thing that comes up!”
Scooter buried his face in one hand. God, Mark was so, so embarrassing. “That was terrible, Mark. You should be ashamed of yourself. Do you get your pick-up lines at the discount store?”
“Aw, go easy on him,” Andy said, winking at Scooter and flashing him another glimpse of blue tongue. “I’m very intimidating, I’m sure he’s just nervous.”
“I’m always star-struck by new, beautiful faces,” Mark said, leaning into Andy’s personal space. “You make all these—” He waved a hand, encompassing the room. “—look ordinary. Your face is the only one here worth looking at.”
Even Jason rolled his eyes at that. “Mark,” he said, in greeting, with that particular half-sigh of only vaguely amused tolerance.
“Jason,” Mark said. He glanced across the table and then away again, dismissing Jason entirely. Straight guys were of no interest to Mark unless he thought he could help them out of the closet.
Andy was eyeing the board, drumming his fingers lightly as he calculated. When Mark leaned toward him—undoubtedly to offer yet another bad line—Andy leaned away. “Nope,” he said distractedly. “I’m trying to formulate strategy here.”
Scooter eyed Andy sidelong, trying to read the expression on his face, but Andy seemed unconcerned. It was Scooter’s turn, so he offered Jason a truly ludicrous and badly balanced arrangement that would probably get Jason wiped out in the next two turns, just to see if Jason was actually paying attention.