Page 110 of Pride High 2: Orange

“Almost,” Ricky said meaningfully. “What about you?”

Diego shrugged. “I mostly just worked. And hung out here. Which was cool. Hey, I made you something.”

He opened Ricky’s closet and went inside, which would have bugged him if it was anyone else, but he was very into the idea of Diego invading his privacy. What he didn’t expect was for him to return with a baking dish covered in foil.

“Happy holidays and all that shit,” Diego said, thrusting it out.

Ricky took the baking dish from him and sat on the bed. “You made this for me?”

“Yeah. Hurry up. I hate this kind of thing.”

“Anticipation you mean?”

Diego merely huffed in response, so Ricky pulled off the foil to reveal a baking dish full of brownies. They were a little dark around the edges, and looked kind of dry, but they smelled nice. With a hint of skunk.

“Don’t worry,” Diego said. “It’s not as lame as it looks. They’ve got weed in them. You don’t know how to smoke, so I figured it’s the best way to get you high.”

“Thank you,” Ricky said, moved by the gesture more than the gift itself. “I didn’t realize that you like to bake.”

“I don’t. This guy I sell to, his wife can’t smoke either, but she likes to get high when she has cramps.” That seemed a very considerate thing to do, although the shine was taken off when he added, “I got the recipe out ofThe Anarchist’s Cookbook.”

“I thought that taught you how to make bombs and stuff. I didn’t realize that it has actual recipes.”

“It’s a lot of things,” Diego said, nodding at the brownies. “Try one.”

“Not while my parents are home!”

“Oh yeah,” he said as if the thought hadn’t even occurred to him. His mom must be really lenient.

“I’m excited though,” Ricky said. “We can eat them together. How about tomorrow? We’re still going to hang out, right?”

“Yup.”

“Good.” He’d wanted to confirm that before extending a different invitation. “Hey, my friends are having a party. We could go together.”

Diego’s eyes narrowed. “Which friends?”

“Oh you know,” Ricky said casually. “Mindy will be there. So will Whitney. Dave and David… Cameron.”

“Huxley?” Diego grumbled.

“Yeah. You got along fine during the play, didn’t you?”

“We stayed out of each other’s way.”

“That works.” Ricky decided not to mention the names that would really upset him. Like how it was Omar who was throwing the party. He figured they simply needed to be around each other again to get over their dumb feud. Whatever it was about. “Anyway, it should be a lot of fun.”

“Yeah, why not?” Diego perked up. “Hey! I got a nice Christmas present from my mom.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yup. She kicked her new boyfriend out. Literally. And then I fired him.”

“That’s great!” Ricky said. “So everything is back to normal?”

Diego seemed a little weary when replying. “Yeah. I better get going actually. I’m still getting caught up.” He turned and headed for the door.

Ricky jumped up and grabbed his arm, eager to make physical contact. “Wait! My parents will see you. Let me umm…” How were they going to sneak him out? “Do you have a minute?”