Chapter 6 #2
“Oh, I just got rejected,” Sam mock-gasped. “Well, Miss Victoria Jameson, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
I laughed despite myself, despite… everything.
They were cute. Cute. Ugh. That was what Kevin had called me and Bridget, when I was talking about our musical tastes lining up.
That would be cute, if we were a couple.
We were not. “If you’re debating between Vicky and Miss Victoria Jameson, please, it’s Vicky,” I said, and Sam grinned.
“In that case, Miss Vicky Jameson, I’m honored.”
“Oh, god. That’s worse.” And speaking of worse, the door cracked ahead of me, and I got a nervous knot at the sight of Bridget stepping out of her room, and she smiled at me. Kevin spoke up.
“Is that Bridget?” he said, and Bridget went wary at the sound of her voice before I could see the moment she placed Kevin’s voice, briefly flashing embarrassed.
Probably still thinking about the time she’d told my brother to back off and not to touch me.
I really didn’t know how to express that, even though he was my brother, the fact that she’d done that was the sweetest thing I’d ever experienced and I didn’t know how to process it.
“Big family reunion on the couch?” Bridget said, coming cheerily over and dropping on the couch next to me. I stiffened slightly, suddenly keenly aware of how close we were sitting and whether that looked like it meant anything.
“Hi, Bridget, this is Kevin and, uh—” I blanked. Kevin gave me a dry smile.
“My boyfriend, Sam,” he said. I felt a soft spot of relief when Bridget didn’t so much as blink, beaming.
“Hey, Sam. Nice to meet you. My name’s Bridget, but your boyfriend’s probably already told you about the time I grabbed him and tried to chew his hand off.”
“She’s exaggerating,” Kevin laughed. “But only a little bit.”
“Only a little,” Bridget agreed, holding up two fingers close together. “Just tried to chew a couple fingers off. So, this is the big strategy meeting for tomorrow?”
Sam put a hand to his chest. “Oh, my god, I love a strategy meeting. Let me get drinks.”
“Babe, not everything needs drinks,” Kevin laughed, looking after him, but his tone suggested he hardly minded. Kevin had always hated alcohol, so I could only assume it was nonalcoholic drinks—I’d have been more surprised to learn he’d started drinking than that he was gay.
Mostly, though, it was just this aching, gnawing sensation in my chest seeing how saccharine sweet they were together. Kevin caught my expression, and he shrugged, coy now.
“I didn’t really expect it either,” he said.
“How’d you meet?” I said.
“Hold on,” Bridget cut in, standing up. “If we’re having a strategy meeting and cute couple stories, I’m getting us drinks too. Taking orders now, Victoria.”
“Ha… mint tea, please.”
She nudged my shoulder. “All yours.”
Kevin narrowed his eyes with a smile as Bridget left the room, heading to the kitchen, humming as she went. “How sure are you?” he said, and I frowned.
“About what?”
“That you’re not dating.”
“Kevin—keep it down.” I pinched my brow, refusing to feel hot in the face right now. He’d misinterpret it in a heartbeat, having turned into a romantic now. “She’s my friend,” I said, more measured now.
“All right.” He didn’t sound convinced. “I know this is weird, but… I dunno. I really like him.”
“I don’t think it’s weird to be gay, Kevin.”
“Not that. That I fell in love.”
“Oh, that. Yeah, that’s weird.” We’d had a whole thing.
Agreed with each other that dating was a terrible waste of time.
I’d love to have said it was from the trauma of watching Mom and Dad divorce, seeing Dad drift out of our life once he found his new wife, that we grew disillusioned.
Instead, I think I just never saw the appeal.
There were a few teenage years where hormones ruled, and then I had a relationship in college, but for the most part, Kevin and I had always had each other’s backs, solidarity in a world that expected everyone to fall in love.
“So… what? You’re gay and it turns out you just weren’t interested in dating women? ”
“Think it’s just that I never wanted to date anyone other than this scruffy goofball. You know, when you made it official with that Charles guy, you told me love does find you eventually after all.”
“Charles Dirk cheated on me with seven different women, four of whom were my friends. That’s what love got me. I was, emphatically, incorrect, and I will thank you not to quote the version of me under his delusions.”
“Just because it was a bad idea doesn’t mean you weren’t in love. You were right it does find you eventually. Just sucks when it finds you and pairs you up with a serial cheater.”
I sighed. “You’re really sure about this, then, huh?”
“Sure as I’ve been of anything.”
I stared at him—my older brother, just a year between us, my best friend and worst enemy at alternating points through my life—and finally, I smiled, softly, tiredly.
“Happy for you,” I said gently. “Really. I think he’s good for you.
And I suppose maybe it works out. Mom, I’m not dating a woman, but while you’re here ready to accept a queer kid… ”
He laughed. “Fair warning, she’s going to think you’re just being coy about your relationship. Especially if you two keep being cute.”
“We’re not—” I started, stopping myself short when Bridget came back into the room with a tray of drinks, a little plate of cookies and dried fruits.
“Okay, okay, lay the cute stuff on me,” she said, setting the tray down on the coffee table and dropping next to me. “Hold nothing back. I’m such a sucker for a cute love story.”
Sam got back before long, and he and Bridget both fit effortlessly into the conversation—I could tell Kevin and Sam instantly liked her, and I felt more relieved of that than I should have, almost… proud. Presenting her. My one and only friend. How pathetic was that?
Hey, one was better than zero.
We stuck together chatting for the longest time before the two of them had to go get dinner, and Bridget and I followed suit in our own place—Bridget, as it turned out, wasn’t much of a cook.
More of a baker, I could only assume. But I knew my way around a kitchen decently enough, and I took point having her help me make a hearty vegetable stew, and even though she was a little slow and clumsy in places, the cooking went by much faster if for nothing else than that it was…
well, fun. Getting to gossip with her about Kevin and the rest of my family, I was sorry to see it end when we’d finished dinner and she yawned, stretching her arms over her head.
“I’m about ready to crash,” she said. “I should be working on my evil schemes back in my lair of secrets, but I’m too tired…”
“Well, if you’re too tired, bringing about the fall of civilization will have to wait for another day, won’t it? Want to put on a movie or something?”
She beamed at me, her eyes absolutely radiant. “That sounds amazing.”
A movie. Yeah. And I’d stop wondering what it was she did.