Pop 24

Ashton tugged at the collar of the tight white shirt Olive had forced him into.

“I shouldn’t have listened to you,” he muttered. “I can’t even breathe in this thing.”

Olive handed him a drink with a mischievous grin.

“Take a sip. You’ll feel better.

And relax—you look hot. That’s the look here: tight and fit.”

Ashton sipped and made a face. “Hot? Please.

This drink tastes like expired cough syrup.

And I’m not tight and fit—I’m old and grossly arthritic.

Can’t we just go get dimsum instead of gawking at these—oh my gosh—actual hot guys?”

The DJ cranked up the K-pop beats, neon lights flashing like a fever dream.

Olive jumped to her feet.

“Come on, Ashton! Let’s dance!”

“Are you insane?” Ashton said, pulling back. “We’ll break a hip and end up on the six o’clock

news: ‘Nursing Home Escapees Discovered: They dance until their bones cracked.’”

Olive burst out laughing—right before bumping into a ridiculously

handsome young Korean guy. He winked at her, and she practically melted.

“See?” Olive said, handing Ashton another drink. “One more sip. Then one little dance.”

Ashton sighed and downed it. “Fine. One dance, and then we’re heading home.”

Olive smiled knowingly. What Ashton didn’t know was that she’d crushed two of the pills into his drink.

Ashton walked onto the dance floor stiffly, but soon the crowd shifted

around him—young guys moving closer, eyes locked on him.

At first, he thought they were just shoving him out of the way,

but no—they were flirting. He blinked, confused.

“Wait… are they… looking at me?”

Then—like a scene straight out of a music video—Leo appeared through the strobe lights.

White shirt, tight jeans, and a grin that could stop time.

“Leo?” Ashton blurted out.

Leo hesitated for half a beat. “You know my name? Tarot reader? I like that.”

Before Ashton could say anything else,

Leo grabbed him by the arm and pulled him off the floor—straight into a dark bathroom

with flickering lights.

The door clicked shut.

Leo’s lips crashed against his. It was fast, messy, electric.

Ashton’s mind spun—Leo, the kiss, the pills, the club—all colliding in one dizzy blur.

Leo’s hand are suddenly all over him. He’s touching him everywhere, including there.

He unzipped his pants.

Ashton closed his eyes, as Leo gently glides his hand inside his pants.

He felt Leo’s desire.

Then—BANG!

The door flew open. Olive stood there, panting. “We gotta go!”

“Olive—what the—” Ashton struggled to pull his pants up as Olive yanked him away.

Seconds later, they were in the back of a cab with a sassy Indian driver

who immediately side-eyed Ashton fumbling with his zipper.

“Okay, girl—uh uh. Not in my cab. You two need to get a room.”

Olive rolled her eyes. “Just drive. Back to the nursing home.”

The driver muttered under his breath, still eyeing them through the rearview mirror.

“My poor car, my poor soul…”

Ashton slumped back in his seat. “Olive, I have no idea what just happened.

All those guys—they were all over me!”

The driver snorted. “Okay, girl, I’ll stop you right there.

No way the whole club was after you. I mean, not to be overly rude, but did you throw cash or something?”

Olive shot him the stare—the kind that could end civilizations.

The driver shut up immediately.

“Ashton,” she said softly, reaching for his hand. “There’s something you need to know.”

Ashton sighed. “Let me guess—you spiked my drink? Everything is just an illusion, none of that was real?

“What you saw back there…” Olive hesitated. “It wasn’t normal. But its…real as, right now”

“Yeah, I noticed. And by the way—couldn’t you have waited? Leo was almost there!”

Olive ignored him, pulling out a small pill and handing it over.

“What’s this? No thanks, I don’t plan to get high with you in this curry scented car….”

The Indian driver rolled his eyes, “Excuse me, that is so racist sir.”

Olive snatched the driver’s water bottle. “Borrowing this!”

“Hey! That’s my—”

She silenced him with another look, twisted the cap, and

shoved the bottle at Ashton. “Take it. You’ll understand everything.”

Ashton swallowed the pill.

The driver watched through the rearview mirror—and nearly crashed when Ashton started

transforming into someone younger right before his eyes.

And to Ashton and Olive’s shock, the driver pulled over and

screamed like there’s no tomorrow. It was so loud that

two weeks later, Olive and Ashton were still in the hospital.

Diagnosis: Tinnitus.