“Is it a real thing?”
“Yeah. Corey said so. But I don’t know what he was talking about. He just
drew the number and kept pointing at it with a pen.”
“Hmm.” Henry thought about it and nestled further into his sleeping bag. “I
think it’s when you sleep in the opposite direction of somebody in bed. Like
with your feet next to their head. And that’s what the numbers mean.”
“The numbers?”
“The six and the nine are the people in bed because the round parts are their
heads.”
“Oh.”
“So, like, you 69 when you do that,” Henry said.
“Like with your brother when you’re camping? That’s not cool.”
“Yeah, I don’t get it either. Maybe it’s only sexy with a girl.”
“Huh.” Justin turned in his sleeping bag. They heard Bryce’s mother pull into
the driveway in her minivan and the front door of the house open and close.
A minute later the kitchen light went out and they heard footsteps cross the
ceiling again. After a while Justin said, “I’m sorry I got you in trouble, Hank.”
Henry stared at the ceiling. He had forgotten about having to talk to his father
in the morning, and shame crept back into his stomach. “It’s okay,” he said.
“Goodnight.’ ‘
’Night.”
Sleep set in slowly, but eventually it took them both. Henry even made sure
to keep his hands inside his sleeping bag in case Justin tried dipping his
fingers in warm water to make him pee. Bryce had told them how to do it,
and he claimed it worked every time.