A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall Read Free Book Online Page B

I’ll be right back.”
    Bailey, one of our other friends, comes in while Gabe is gone. “Who are you supposed to be?”
    “I’m Dora the Explorer.”
    “Holy shit! You’re Dora the Explorer!” I say as I fully take in the pink T-shirt and orange shorts.
    “The T-shirt and shorts cost me seven dollars at Walmart and I stole this wig from my aunt.”
    “You probably should have shaved your legs.”
    “I thought about it, but I wasn’t that invested.”
    “Good showing,” I say, giving him a golf clap.
    He shrugs and smiles. As a friend group I think we might shrug too much. “Where is Gabriel this evening?” he asks.
    “Gone in search of beer,” I say.
    “How are his spirits?”
    “They seem pretty good actually. I know we don’t like … talk about him behind his back, and I’m sure he’ll tell you about this, but I saw him last week at the dining hall and he said he started seeing a therapist.”
    “Whoa, wait,” Sam’s voice says behind me. “Who started seeing a therapist?”
    “Your brother,” I say, unable to hide the question in my voice.
    “Oh, yeah. I knew that. It’s a good idea, I think.”
    “I’m always the last one to find this stuff out,” Bailey says.
    Gabe comes up the stairs smiling and saying hi to people he passes. He gives Bailey one of the beers he was carrying.
    “That’s good service you have here,” Bailey says to me.
    “They were technically both for me,” Gabe says. “But I suppose I’ll share.”
    “What about me?” Sam says.
    “You shouldn’t drink anyway. Don’t you have some kind of sport you’re training for?” Gabe asks with a grin.
    “Shut up, so do these two losers!” Sam retorts as he trudges downstairs.
    The three of us back off out of the way and lean on the kitchen counter, bullshitting as we tend to do. Gabe and Bailey argue about Gabe’s lack of costuming and Gabe pulls his mask on to demonstrate that it’s not so bad at the same second Lea walks in.
    I nudge him. “The girl of your dreams is here.”
    “Huh?”
    “Lea. Is here.”
    “What? Where?” he asks, lifting his mask and leaning in to hear better.
    “She just went into the basement.”
    “Shit. I hate the basement. It’s so loud down there.”
    “It’s a party, Grandma Gabe,” Bailey says, tapping him on the chest. “We’ll go find Sam.”
    “Come on, ten minutes of mingling never hurt anyone,” I add.
    Gabe makes a face but pulls back on his mask, and Bailey straightens his wig. We go down into the basement, where the lights are mostly off except for one in the far corner by the keg and a lit disco ball that my roommates hung up in the middle of the room. It seems to be spinning a little too fast, but that might be the four beers I’ve had.
    “This doesn’t even look like your basement,” comes Gabe’s muffled voice from behind his mask.
    “I was just thinking the same thing!” I call back.
    We wander around. Sam is talking to a girl I’ve never seen before and he gestures for us to stay away. It’s surprisingly packed down here.
    Finally I see Lea and her two friends in the corner by the keg. Gabe sweeps in like nobody’s business and starts pumping beer for them. I’ve never seen him this energetic about a girl before. The girls are talking and smiling, and I’m annoyed at him for being too stupid to take his mask off before jumping into the fray. Now Lea has no idea that her chivalrous beer pumper is actually Gabe. I shake my head.
    “Dumbass should have taken his mask off,” Bailey says loudly in my ear.
    “Such a shame,” I say.
    I hear the girls thank him and then move away. Gabe saunters back over to us, head held high, back straight, obviously feeling like he just did something awesome. A minute later we all have fresh cups of beer and I gesture for us to head back upstairs. Gabe raises his mask as we enter the relatively quieter and much cooler kitchen, taking up our same positions by the counter from fifteen minutes ago.
    “That was