6. Brodie
SIX
brODIE
“Alright. Shirt off. I don’t have all day.”
Mindy, Foxboro’s admin and the baker at Skye’s coffee shop (see also: small town, many hats), sets up a tripod in front of the log I’m about to chop.
She’s supremely disinterested, smacking her gum and scrolling her phone before putting it in the ring light.
Templeton circles her ankles and she stoops to give him a little pat.
“It’s cold,” I whine. “And I’m still concussed.”
“You were the one who wanted to do this today,” she fires back. “I have to be back at the desk in forty-five minutes.”
“Because I can’t work. I have to do something to contribute.”
She shrugs. “Aren’t you going back to work tomorrow?”
I huff, because she is correct.
Is there a teeny, tiny, infinitesimal part of me that chose today to film content because Aria might also be filming content in these woods?
Absolutely not.
I ended up finding her mushroom channel last night, scrolling through video after video of her in these very woods.
Watching it gives me this weird mix of emotions.
I’m upset that things aren’t different between us.
What would our lives be like if we had become something?
I’m a little jealous that she shares so much of herself on this page.
I wish I didn’t have to find out that information from the internet.
But more than anything, I’m proud of her for finding a way to do what she loves. The comments are full of positivity, this amazing community she’s built. People are curious and she answers their questions so graciously.
I watched her series on the mycelium she and Richard are studying, confirming that she is not a medical doctor.
I had to revisit what “mycelium” meant. It’s basically mushroom roots.
But . . . it’s like, sentient? It lets trees talk to each other?
Ari made this long video about the intelligence of mushrooms and how much more significant fungi are than plants.
She also explained the mechanics of it all, how mycelium turn into fruiting bodies, or the parts we commonly know as mushrooms.
She’s so smart.
She and Richard have so much fun in their videos. She tees him up to make jokes and gives appropriate sincerity to the amazing things they’re studying. I remember when I was part of their fun. I didn’t understand it all, but they let me play along.
But now it’s just the two of them in their doctor science club. She probably thinks these woods belong to her and that my content is mind-numbing drivel.
Her comments are all intelligent questions. My comments section is all full of “sorry, I was watering my fish. Can you do that again?” and “where’s the button to order him?” The strangest was, “I’d let him ice my gingerbread.”
I mean, clever. I’m a ginger. But. Ew?
Mindy and I get to work. My shoulder’s still a little sore, but I’ve been out of the sling for a day or two. The content mill must be fed. My videos feed the people who need it in this town. My videos sell calendars. My calendars pay for food for Foxboro.
Do we have a backlog of footage? Well, yeah. But the people demand fresh, fall-time footage.
I chop log after log. Just as I’m starting to get tired, Mindy holds up the mini-chainsaw.
This is always the grand finale: carving a heart into the log and blowing it off with a wink.
Technically, Sue in my department came up with the idea in her wood-chopping videos, and it was so popular with the women loving women crowd that I was encouraged to add it.
I didn’t realize the queer women of the internet were so thirsty for butch women chopping wood, but Sue has taught me many things I had no clue about.
We hoped the trend would extend to “the straights” as Sue calls us, and we were quite correct.
I rev the chainsaw and start to cut logs down to the right size for the trick.
“Alright, let’s roll,” I tell Mindy. She presses to record. I’m halfway through the heart shape when I notice a figure off to the side: Aria, staring with her jaw hanging open.
Adrenaline surges in me. Now it’s showtime. I’m sweating and panting by the time I blow the sawdust off the log and wink at the camera.
I cut the gas to the chainsaw and walk right up to Aria, still breathing heavily. I squint like she’s got something on her face, then use my thumb to swipe beside her lips. “Got a little drool there, Ari.”
Her eyes narrow, her skin goes red, and her hands curl into fists. “What the hell is this?”
I wipe my brow with my forearm, which is covered in sawdust. Thus, now I have sawdust on my forehead, but I’m going to pretend it’s hot rather than weird. I smile. “Making you fall into a thirst trap.”
She huffs and, if she’d stomped her foot, it would have taken me right back to her at age eight, throwing her little tantrums. “Your chainsaw was drowning out my videos. You know Richard doesn’t talk loudly!”
“My videos are for a good cause,” I say calmly.
“What? The Hot Firefighters Help Line? The Closing the Orgasm Gap for Straight Women Cause?”
“Lesbians love it too,” Mindy interjects.
Ari tips her head. “For him?”
Mindy grins wide. “No. For Sue. Did you not know about our famous lady firefighter?”
“We just call them firefighters,” I cut in, and Mindy waves me off.
She walks over to Ari and leans to show her a video on her phone. Ari’s eyes bug out and she takes the phone from Mindy’s hand to get a closer look.
“Hell, maybe I’m a lesbian,” she muses.
“Right?” Mindy says. “She’s?—”
“So hot,” they say together, then laugh.
If I were a dragon, I’d be snorting fire right now.
Ari’s allowed to be attracted to whoever she wants, but hello? I’m standing here and I know from thousands of internet comments that I am not unattractive.
“Oh! Aria, it’s actually great we ran into each other,” Mindy goes on. “The charity date auction is this Thursday. You should offer up a date.”
Aria groans. The date auction is an annual part of the Fall Fox Fling, the longstanding festival Foxboro puts on every year. I always think it’s fun. Aria clearly does not share my enjoyment of it.
“No, come on!” Mindy tries. “It’ll be fun! I’m offering a baking session. Brodie’s offering a tour of the firehouse and riding the pole.”
Aria concedes a little snort. “That’s pretty funny, actually.”
Mindy puts a finger in the air. “Oh, I know! Would you be willing to offer a woods walk or something?”
Aria considers it. “Yeah. Sure. Why not? I can take the highest bidder on a foray. Show them around the mushrooms here. Worst case, I’ll make Richard bid on me.”
The thought of anyone bidding on Ari but me makes me feel sick. I need to stake my claim on her affections stat. Maybe I’ll show her what a great guy I am.
“Since you asked,” I interject, “our videos fundraise for our calendar. Our calendar pays for the food bank.”
I expect Ari to be impressed, but she just looks annoyed. She even rolls her eyes. “When did you become a good person?”
I’m taken aback. My temper flares, my blood searing in my veins. The chilled October air has no effect on me now. “Since when am I a bad person?”
Aria examines my face for a long time. “I think you know the answer to that.”
Acid churns in my stomach, my brow knitting. Like an old bruise getting poked, the memories of how we fell apart rush in. I can’t stop myself from blurting out the thing I was willing to let go of in favor of having her back in my life. “You stopped showing up at our spot.”
Tears brim in her eyes. “Because you acted like I didn’t exist. Every summer, you were my best friend, and every fall, I became invisible.
You let your friends call me a methhead.
You wouldn’t even claim me as your friend.
Meanwhile, I knew how mean they were to you.
I knew the real you. And you exploited the real me.
” She shakes her head. “I wasn’t cool enough for you, but you know what?
I know now that you weren’t cool enough for me. ”
It stings. It smarts. But worst of all, I know she’s not wrong.
For years, I’ve written it off. Everyone acts stupid in high school. Surely it was water under the bridge. Yeah, it hurt me too when she didn’t spend summers with me anymore, but I got over it.
It’s hard for me to accept that I hurt her and that it still bothers her all these years later. After all, she hurt me too, but I’m trying to be the bigger person and let it go.
“Well, you fell on me!” I try. It’s the weakest argument.
She closes her eyes and shakes her head. “You know what? You’re right. We’re even. I have no reason to be mad at you.” Aria turns and heads back in the direction from which she came. “Mindy, always a pleasure to see you. I’ll be there Thursday night for the auction.”
And I’m left standing there, looking like the asshole.
Except for once, I’m afraid I might be the asshole.