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“Couldn’t do it, could you?”
Lex jerked and spun around, eyes already narrowed into slits as he glared into the shadows of the sewer to find the source of the voice. His eyes adjusted enough to make out the figure seated near the wall of the tunnel, head cocked to look up at Lex and the faintest glint of the smirk visible.
Bray.
“What’re you on about?”
“I said,” Bray stood up and took slow, measured steps until he was in front of Lex, “You couldn’t do it, could you? You couldn’t kill Bluebell.”
“I was just about to when the Locos showed up and—”
Bray leaned in close, his eyes scanning Lex’s face and trailing down the rest of him before locking onto the narrowed gazed of the shorter boy.
“The Locos showed up and yet you don’t have a scratch on you,” Bray cut in, that obnoxious smirk still lingering on his lips and Lex wanted nothing more than to punch it off his stupid face.
“I gave them the slip while they were chasing that dumb animal,” he replied and felt his hands clench into fists as he glared up at the taller boy. There was no way he was admitting to this broody jerk that he wasn’t able to actually kill that stupid calf with it’s big dumb eyes. Bray looked thoughtful for a moment as if trying to decide if he believed Lex or not.
“See, I just don’t know if I believe that or not.”
“Believe what you want, but that’s what happened.”
“Maybe I should flip a coin.”
Embarrassment, panic and anger jolted through Lex and before he even knew what he was doing his right hand swung out in an attempted punch. But Bray was ready for it. Knew he only had to give the slightest nudge and the shorter boy would react with his fists. He dodged back from the wild swing and, placing a hand on his shoulder, used Lex’s momentum to shove him into the wall.
“Get off!”
Lex could feel his face burning with indignation as he braced his hands on the wall and tried to push away, but was kept in place by a forearm across his shoulders and a hand twisted in the back collar of his shirt.
“What do you think the others would say if they found out you couldn’t even take care of a helpless little calf?”
“I told you, the Locos—”
“Right. The Locos,” Bray scoffed. Lex’s jaw clenched. He was going to deal with this arrogant prick once and for all.
“If you don’t get your hands off me right now—”
All the threats Lex had ready to spit at Bray died on his tongue as he felt a hand slide into his front pocket. Then, held up in front of his face and catching the faint light from the grate above the ladder, was his lucky coin.
“Heads I tell the others the truth, tails you tell them the Locos jumped you.”
Bray flicked the coin into the air then caught it, bringing his closed fist back in front of Lex’s face. Slowly, Bray’s fingers opened revealing the silver coin in his palm.
Tails.
“I guess this coin is pretty lucky after all,” Bray hummed, the sound close enough to Lex’s ear to startle him out of his stupor. He shrugged off the hands keeping him pinned to the wall and turned back to facing Bray, a deep scowl on his features. He snatched the coin back and shoved it in his pocket. He grabbed the front of Bray’s shirt and pulled him down to eye level, enjoying the look of surprise on the other’s face.
“If you say one word to anyone about this, your dead.”
The smirk returned to Bray’s lips and before Lex could punch him for it, those lips were against his, kissing him. Of all the things that could’ve happened today, Bray kissing him was so far from anything he could believe that Lex was starting to think he really had been jumped by the Locos and this was all some horrible near-death hallucination. He snapped back to reality and shoved the taller boy away. Hissing, he reached up to touch his bottom lip. He looked down to see a small smudge of blood on his middle fingertip.
“You…”
He looked up to see that Bray had already turned and started heading back towards the mall, leaving Lex standing in the tunnel dumbfounded.
____________________
Lex winced as the cool damp cloth pressed against the small split in his bottom lip.
“Poor Lex. You’re so brave, fighting off the Locos like that,” Zandra said as she continued to clean Lex’s face with the cloth.
Lex gave her a quick quirk of a smile before his eyes drifted over to where Bray was leaned against the opposite wall of the café, his gaze intense and that infuriating smirk on his lips.