Life's not easy when your mum's nuts, your uncle is becoming your aunt, and one of your crushes could -- and probably would -- break your face if he found out how you felt about him. That's Tab's life, though, malevolent gods and all. His text-flirting with Demi, the brother of his best friend, is going nowhere: Demi already has a boyfriend and anyway, who dates their best friend's twin? But then, the pining after Nick is going nowhere either, because Nick probably likes gay-bashing on Friday nights for fun. He's gorgeous, but he's dangerous, and Tab knows better than that. So what's a bit of harmless flirting, when one is taken and the other is straight? It's just a bit of fun. That is until Demi is suddenly single, and Nick is not looking as straight and scary as he was before.

The Suicidal Peanut

He just…yeah. Demi had a boyfriend, and Tab would like to, so…it was just a bit of fun. And right now he was supposed to be working on the portrait, not the fun. Even if the portrait was of a dream.


He returned to his sketches. It was preliminary—Tab worked in drafts, like a writer, creating multiple attempts before settling in for the final piece—and he was experimenting with the most realistic way to outline effectively a life-sized replication of a body. He tended to avoid portraiture. It was boring and…okay, so it was challenging, but there was no fun in it.


Chapter 25