Free Double Feature: Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies/Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies (The Russel Middlebrook Series Book 3) by Brent Hartinger Page B

gay love for you.)
    "God, I've missed you so much!" Otto said.
    "Me too," I said.
    "How much?"
    I looked over at him. "What?"
    "How much have you missed me?" He smirked mischievously, so I figured he wanted me to say something romantic.
    I glanced up at the sky, and then I had it. "I've missed you like the earth misses the moon!" A second later, I added, more quietly, "You know that the moon used to be part of the earth, right? They learned that from moon rocks they collected back in the seventies."
    Otto didn't say anything, just smiled. So I added, "Wow, romantic sayings lose a lot when you have to explain the science behind them, don't they?"
    Otto laughed, so I laughed too.
    "Okay," I said. "How about this? I've missed you like the beach misses the wave."
    "How does the beach miss the wave?" Otto asked. "It only has to wait a minute or so for the next wave."
    "Well, not at low tide. Because there's a twelve-hour period when—"
    "More science, huh?"
    "Everyone's a critic! Well, this is harder than it seems. You try."
    "Okay." He thought for a second. "I've missed you like a desert misses the rain. There. Nice and simple, and you don't need to know the scientific explanation."
    "Yeah," I said, "but it's a total cliche."
    "Oh, yeah? Like a beach missing the wave isn't a cliche? Okay, you don't want cliches? Well, then, I've missed you like a decapitated head misses its neck!"
    "Definitely not a cliche," I agreed. "But not very romantic either."
    Otto snickered. "Take your pick. You can't have everything."
    "Well, in that case," I said, "I've missed you like a frog misses the ozone layer."
    "And I've missed you like a loose eyeball misses its socket."
    "Ewww!" I said, laughing. "Well, I've missed you like the surface of Mars misses an atmosphere!"
    "And I've missed you like a disemboweled body misses its, well, bowels!"
    We were both laughing so hard now we could barely talk. I felt so good, like I was completely weightless, and Otto and I were bobbing around giddily up among the clouds. All the stuff with my parents, and Kevin, it just no longer existed.
    I suddenly thought about what Declan McDonnell had said about high school being about the future. That's what it felt like right then. But barreling into the future all the time, not to mention bobbing around weightless, is very disorienting.
    I lost my balance for a second and bumped up against Otto.
    The moment I touched him, I had the strangest sensation. You know how they say that people sometimes live in their head? At that moment, it was like I was living in my skin. That was the only part of me that existed. My skin had never felt so sensitive before, every inch of it, tingling and aware. It was different from the electricity that had passed between Kevin and me when he'd been working on his dead battery. That had definitely gotten my attention, but this felt deeper somehow, not merely physical.
    Otto was clearly experiencing all this too. "Wow!" he said, eyes wide. "What was that ?"
    "I don't know," I said.
    I lifted the palm of my hand, and Otto pressed his against mine. I wasn't just feeling my actual skin anymore. Before that moment, I hadn't believed in auras or spirits or even souls in the literal sense, but I believed in them now. I could actually feel mine, like a second skin, and maybe even more alive. I could feel Otto's too, pressing up against me, warm and soothing.
    I leaned forward to kiss him. When his tongue slipped inside my mouth, I gasped. His soul was suddenly inside mine too, something I had never felt before.
    I wanted to stay that way forever, but Otto broke the kiss far too soon.
    "Wait," he said. "What's that smell?"
    "Huh?" I said, disoriented again, missing his soul and his tongue.
    "It smells like a swamp. Methane or something."
    I looked around and suddenly realized where we were. We'd walked to the park with the stinky picnic gazebo, the place where I'd met Kevin the first time, and the week earlier as well. Why had I brought Otto here?