Your Princess is in Another Castle by Richard Fore Read Free Book Online

give to Starry Nights.” 
    Chris gets up and approaches the stage but comes back.  “Oh, and I preferred to play as Nightcrawler.”  Watching him reach Starry, I see she’s now nude except for her heels.  She’s moved on to a rap song that appears out of synch with her and her dancing.  Classic rock suits her much better.
    Seth puts out his cigarette.  “I always got to be Wolverine, actually.  I hated the fact that they never ported the game from the arcades to the consoles.  It would have been killer on the SNES.” 
    “So you do see my point then, Wolverine?”
    “No, I don’t see your point at all.  But you’re like Hannibal Lecter behind the glass.  You’ll either do something or you won’t.  There’s no persuading you.  I’m not even going to try.  Just like with whatever noose is around your neck right now, you’re not going to tell me about it.  Now I don’t take that personally.  Because I know you want to confide in someone.  But you also don’t think you deserve to ease your burden, so you’ll carry it around all alone and deliberately make yourself as miserable as you can.  If they were readily available you’d buy a hairshirt.  But like Chris said before, you did come out with us tonight.  All I really expect of you is to blow some money on a stripper.  And that’s all.  But if you wanted to share, I’d listen.  But you don’t and you won’t.  So let’s just try to enjoy the evening, shall we?”
    Seth turns his attention to the main stage, watching Starry Nights drape bo th of her long legs over Chris’ shoulders.  Two other men are at the main stage with him, but she is focused on Chris for the moment; the price has been paid in one dollar bills.  In one gulp I finish off my second Coke, trying to come up with a way to articulate how Seth is wrong.  There’s no reason to explain to him about Sonya, the event has come and gone, and what could he say anyway?  Supposing they are right about Sabrina, there’s no reason for her not to just ask me out if she likes me.  If that’s what she wants, and since she instigated our first conversation anyway, let her ask me.  No rejection that way.  No misinterpretation of intentions. 
    “Sabrina can ask me out , right?” I ask.  “Isn’t the notion of boy asks girl, boy decides what to do, boy pays, boy initiates sex for the first time, boy proposes marriage just a little old-fashioned?  If she’s into me as much as you say, I’ll let her start things up.”
    “Ah, okay.   Sure, go on ahead and construct a series of Rube Goldberg machines to gradually draw the two of you together while always making sure that Sabrina is the one to set in motion each step.  She’ll definitely prefer that to some other guy and his hey, let’s go out sometime direct approach.”
    “Yeah, well, I liked playing Mouse Trap when I was a kid.  Sometimes the situation calls for a little complexity.”
    “Everybody played Mouse Trap exactly once and then lost integral pieces that made the game impossible to play without them.  After that it sat in the closet gathering dust, a lot like the destiny of your dick.  And dude, look what Chris is doing.”
    Relieved that the subject has changed to Chris, I glance over at him to see him sucking on Starry’s big toe.  She appears amused at what he’s doing, perhaps impressed at his willingness to indulge.  Taki ng her digit out of his mouth, he begins to massage the sole of her foot just as her routine comes to an end.  He looks at us then looks away, realizing in horror that he has been caught. 
    “Huh,” says Seth.   “I wouldn’t have thought that they’d even allow that.  Maybe it never came up before.”
    “Did you know that he was into that?”
    “No.  Did you?”
    “No.”
    “Poor bastard.  Probably been hiding it all this time.  I guess he just lost control.  Pretty mundane thing to hide though, given what all is out there.”
    Starry Nights disappears