Read Chrysalis for Free Online Page B

distract me."
    Josh just grins again, and we head off with Emmy and three of her friends. Josh looks a bit awkward; I guess he's not used to being around all girls so much and Emmy's friends can be a bit intimidating. They all look the same—well, not the same, they all have different hair colours and body shapes and whatever … but they all wear high heels, short dresses, and have long, straight hair and glossed lips. They make me nervous whenever they get ready to go out, when they transform from geeky college kids into these weird, overconfident women.
    We arrive pretty much on time, because Charles gets pissed if we're late. Chelsea's friends are already there, all making coo-y baby noises at her bump. Thibby is at the computer, making a karaoke playlist, so I kind of know which way this evening is headed. Evenings with Thibby always tend to include singing; Thibby doesn't drink, but he seems to have the ability to get drunk on songs.
    "Good evening." Charles comes over and I figure he's safe enough as my least weird friend, so I steer Josh toward him. "You must be Josh?"
    Josh nods and holds out a six pack of some kind of lager he brought along. "Can I stick these in your fridge?"
    "If you can find room." I leave them chatting and slide over to the cupboard to get a drink. There's not much choice because Charles likes good wine and has no money now he's saving for the baby, but I manage to find half a bottle of sherry that still smells alright and decide to steal that for the evening.
    "Luke!" Thibby comes over and wraps his arms around me, balancing his chin on the top of my head. "Don't tell me that thing you brought with you is your boyfriend. I thought you had taste."
    "Yes, he's my boyfriend!" I hiss, trying to disentangle myself. I'm a little afraid of introducing Thibby to Josh, to be honest, and I'm not sure about which one of them I'm worried.
    Thibby scowls at Josh. "Look at him, seriously, look at him. You made him sound exciting and scary. He's just some boring, middle class bloke drinking lager." He finally lets go of me and I grab one of Chelsea's plastic mics. "How did the third date go?"
    "It went well." I can't stop myself smirking a little at the memory. "It went very well."
    Thibby looks a little shocked. "You didn't. Did you? Did he? Who did what? I thought you were never going to end up in a relationship."
    "It's none of your business," I snap, because Thibby is starting to annoy me. It looks like Josh isn't the only one with irritating friends.
    "But he's not your type at all, Luke. Seriously ,what do you have in common?"
    "Well, what do you and Charles have in common? Just because we don't both have emo hairstyles and fucking scars doesn't mean we can't go out." I lower my voice, so Josh doesn't hear me having an argument and the rest of the room doesn't hear me yelling about my scar.
    "Shall we start?" Thibby turns away from me shaking his head and picks up the other mic. "Before you turn into someone completely different."
    I glance over my shoulder to where Josh and Charles are sitting on the couch, talking together. They look like they're getting on well; just a pair of good friends with no worries or awkwardness. For a brief moment, I feel slightly jealous of how well they're getting on and I'm not even sure of which one I feel most jealous. But then Josh looks up, sees me, gives me a big grin, and suddenly, I feel all shivery inside. I don't mind him looking at me like that anymore. I just can't believe how it all worked out; that he wants to be with me and I want to be with him.
    Thibby follows my gaze and gives Josh a sort of snide look. "So do you just hang around with sporty jerks now?"
    "Shut up." I scowl and press play. I don't know why I'm such good friends with Thibby when he pisses me off so much. He was my first gay friend and I think we just never stopped hanging around together. He's still looking daggers at Josh, and I suddenly start to wonder whether he's a bit jealous. Not of