Chapter 7

“Kissing Jack, kissing Tav, what’s the diff?” Antonio asked idly.

“Oh shut your face,” Luca mumbled. He was going an odd whitish-green colour. “Kissing Alison, kissing Katie, what’s the difference? And I’m gonna throw up.”

“Point taken,” Antonio said as a nurse produced a kidney dish and folded Luca’s hand around it.

“In there, dear.”

As the bed was settled and the orderlies disappeared, the nurse fussing around for a little longer, the colour slowly faded and Luca closed his eyes. For a minute, Tav thought he must have drifted off, but when he tried to extract his hand, Luca’s tightened.

“No.”

“Hey, okay. Still here.”

“Jack kissed me.”

“CPR is hardly a kiss.”

“Yeah, but if I, like, stop breathing and die tonight, he’ll be my last kiss.”

“Don’t say that,” Tav snapped angrily. “That’s not fucking funny!”