Chapter Caelyx #3
I’d heard my parents fighting more than once about me, and had learned that she’d never wanted children in the first place.
My dad had basically forced her to give birth to me so he’d have someone to carry on his legacy and leave his accumulation of wealth to, so her disinterest wasn’t exactly personal.
I wondered how Aspen’s mom would feel about me. I wondered if she would let us come over for Christmas once she was healthier. I hoped so.
Once my dad was done bragging and we’d suffered through what felt like an appropriate amount of time of speaking with my mother, he let us wander off while he mingled.
The huge open floor consisted of a section for dancing and an open bar.
The walls were glass all the way around so you could see the city skyline in every direction, and we’d see the fireworks and the ball drop at midnight.
A classy little jazz band were playing on a raised stage, while waiters circulated with trays of canapés.
Aspen wrinkled his nose at the caviar on brioche, even after watching me try it.
“Fish eggs?” He asked me incredulously, and I snorted.
“It’s amazing. You will love it,” I promised, picking one up for him. “Come on, Cupcake. Be brave.”
He let out a pouty little huff before begrudgingly opening his mouth, letting me gently put it on his tongue as he eyed me with obvious distrust.
“Well?” I prompted, as he slowly chewed.
“It’s… It’s really good,” he finally admitted, his eyes popping wide, probably because he’d never tasted anything like it.
“I knew it,” I remarked, smirking. “You were made for luxury.”
“Please,” he retorted, obviously embarrassed by my statement. “I was not.”
“You were,” I corrected him. “Better get used to it.”
When the familiar face of someone awkwardly loitering in a mostly empty corner caught our eye, Aspen’s eyebrows popped up.
“Isaak?” He called out. Isaak whirled to face us, looking shocked.
“Aspen?” He called back, blinking in confusion as we crossed the floor to where he was at. “What are the two of you doing here?”
“Caelyx’s dad is the one throwing the party,” Aspen told him.
“Your father is Faulkner Vane?” He asked in shock, looking at me.
“The one and only,” I said, and then recognition finally clicked as to where I’d seen him before. “You went to Vanguard Prep, didn’t you?”
“Yeah!” He answered, blinking. “How’d you know that?”
“Me too,” I responded. “You were a senior when I was just a sophomore, so you probably didn’t notice me,” I explained.
“That’s a crazy coincidence,” Aspen noted, and Isaak nodded frantically.
Upon further investigation, we discovered his mother was the owner of a luxury cosmetics brand which was exclusively sold in some of the department stores owned by my father. Our parents had attended tons of business events together, and we even had mutual friends and acquaintances.
“This is great, actually,” Aspen remarked, after listening to us chatter about our old school a bit. “You were worried about it being weird coming to hang out on movie nights and stuff, right?”
“Really?” I asked, giving Isaak an odd look.
“W-well, I’m older than you guys, and I’m a teacher’s assistant!” He explained. “I’m not really supposed to socialize with anyone in the class, because of favoritism and grade disputes and all that.”
“I don’t have queer studies anymore now that the semester’s over,” Aspen said. “So there’s no more conflict of interest, right?”
“Well… No, I guess not,” Isaak admitted.
“And you liked hanging out with everybody at the party, right?”
“Yes, of course I did,” he said. I remembered a conversation I’d had about him with Aspen, where he’d talked about how he’d felt bad for Isaak, being that he was kind of lonely and didn’t feel like he fit in anywhere with the grad students.
“So now you kind of have an excuse, in that you already know me from before university,” I offered. “Not that you needed one or anything. I don’t think anyone is going to care if you come play board games and watch movies with us sometimes.”
“That’s… That’s so nice of you,” he managed to stutter out, eyeing the pair of us with wide eyes, looking positively gooey with gratitude.
I couldn’t believe what a sensitive marshmallow he was.
I hoped hanging around with our weird little group could possibly toughen him up a bit or at least pump up his self esteem. “Thanks. It really means a lot.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I assured him. “It’s definitely a more the merrier situation,” he added, before my dad came up behind us.
“Excuse me,” he said, smoothly untangling Aspen’s arm from mine and tugging him away. “I need to borrow this for a moment.”
Glancing back at them, I saw he was already quickly leading Aspen toward the other side of the room. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion, but before I could chase behind them, Isaak piped up.
“You really don’t think your friends will mind about some new random person popping in?” He asked, wringing his fingers together in obvious anxiety.
“Ah, no,” I answered quickly, nearly cursing when I lost sight of Aspen in the crowd. “No one’s going to mind. You met Arie and Che, yeah?”
“And Cyprian, Ren, and Maddox, too,” he said. “At that party we all went to.”
“Mm, yeah, that’s everybody,” I acknowledged, distracted as my eyes darted around the room for where they’d gone. “You’ll fit right in. You probably play video games, right?”
“Yeah!” He said, for once sounding somewhat enthusiastic.
“Great. Aspen and Ren will have you queueing up with them in no time. Che, too.” Where the hell were they?
“You really think so?”
“Totally.”
At that moment, the band finished their jazzy little upbeat number and put down their instruments for a break. My dad stepped up onto the raised platform and asked for everyone’s attention, with Aspen looking mortified by his side.
“Ah, yeah, I need to go check on what’s going on over there,” I told Isaak, and he nodded.
“O-oh, yeah! Of course.”
I hurried off, trying to squeeze through the crowd, who had now all stopped dancing and socializing to look at the stage.
My dad was already yapping about how he’d started in an entry level mail room position at a consulting firm at the age of 22, right out of business college.
I’d heard it before, and so had probably most of the people in the room.
But the story branched off into a segue regarding my boyfriend, as he gestured over to Aspen.
“I know most of you have already met my son’s wonderful partner here, Aspen Davis,” he said, giving him a firm pat on the back, before launching into an explanation of how Aspen’s story reminded him of his own, and how he was working hard and finding a way to thrive, despite not being handed any advantages in life.
When I got close enough to the stage that I could lock eyes with Aspen, I gave him a questioning look.
He moved his shoulders in a shrugging motion, obvious confusion and slight horror in his expression.
I knew the last thing he would ever want in life was being dragged up onto a stage for everyone to stare at, like a zoo animal.
And he clearly had no clue what any of this was leading up to, same as me.
“And that’s why it’s the perfect time to announce that Vane Corporation is in the process of forming a new nonprofit arm that will focus on providing financial aid for transgender youth in need of support and gender affirming healthcare.”
Aspen’s eyes widened, his gaze dragging over to stare into Faulkner’s side as applause and cheers rang out around us. A few bright camera flashes went off, from people involved in the press who’d be reporting on the announcement, I knew.
“And I would love to take this moment,” he went on, turning to speak directly to Aspen instead of at the crowd. “To officially offer you the position of program coordinator for the nonprofit, once you’ve graduated from Byron Bay University.”
“Oh,” Aspen answered, looking completely fucking shell-shocked. “I…”
The crowd was quiet, watching the two of them so intently.
“We’d be headquartered right here in the city, and you could start right out of school.”
“W-well, I…”
Recognizing that frantic look in Aspen’s hazel eyes, I cleared my throat, hurrying up the steps of the stage and coming in close behind him, rubbing my hands over his arms to snap him out of it.
“Dad,” I whispered the word through my clenched jaw, giving him a meaningful look, jerking my chin toward the crowd.
“Of course he’s shocked, folks,” my dad smoothly transitioned into addressing the crowd again.
“This is a big surprise for all of us, isn’t it?
But please stay tuned for more news about our upcoming nonprofit and all the wonderful fundraising we’ll be able to do for a community that really needs our help. ”
Everyone clapped again, and my dad ushered us off the stage while they did, steering us into an empty corner, away from the eyes and ears of the partygoers.
“Dad, you can’t do that to him,” I griped, the words coming out sharp from between my clenched jaw. “He’s not a puppet you can pull the strings on to make him perform for you.”
“No, you’re right,” he said thoughtfully, scratching his chin. “He definitely needs some media training.”
“He doesn’t need anything like that,” I countered. “You need to learn some boundaries.”
“I-I’m sorry,” Aspen managed to stammer out. “I didn’t mean to… Ruin your announcement. I just didn’t expect you to offer anything like that.”
“No, I’m sorry,” he said, instantly contrite. I wanted to drop my jaw at the sincerity in the words, and the quick way he’d apologized, because he’d absolutely never done that with me, but I wasn’t totally surprised. “I suppose boundaries have never been my strong suit.”
Aspen snorted a little, a tiny laugh huffing out, though he still looked a bit dazed and overwhelmed. “I think you might have passed that trait on.”
“Hey,” I retorted. “I respect your boundaries! Mostly. Sometimes you don’t know what’s good for you.”
Aspen gave me a look that was somehow dry, exasperated, and full of resigned affection, before turning back to my dad.
“Program coordinator is going to be a perfect stepping stone for you. You can learn the ropes of the business while you’re getting experience in the daily operational side of things.
I will personally take you under my wing, and teach you everything you need to know to end up in a position like I’m in,” he promised.
I wasn’t too crazy about the idea of my cutthroat father taking Aspen under his wing and teaching him anything, but… I couldn’t deny it was a generous offer, and the whole trans nonprofit thing was probably exactly the kind of thing Aspen would love being a part of. For obvious reasons.
“I really, really appreciate the offer,” Aspen said. “It’s honestly… perfect for me, but… The whole idea of moving here right out of college is just… I don’t know. My mom kind of needs me around, and-”
“Don’t worry about any of that,” he cut him off, shaking his head. “All that’s being dealt with, and soon you won’t have anything holding you back.”
“W-what?” Aspen asked, confused.
“Dad,” I bit out the word from between my teeth again, stress washing over me and forcing my muscles to briefly clench. “Boundaries.”
“Yes, yes,” he said impatiently, waving a hand dismissively. “You and your precious boundaries. There’s no need to worry. You have two and a half more years before we’ll be crossing that line, at any rate. Please, enjoy the party and we’ll talk business later, Aspen.”
“A-alright,” he agreed.
“Gee, Dad, I hope you can spare some time to teach me a few things, too,” I pointed out. He eyed me wearily for a few moments.
“I’ll think about it,” he finally said, before glancing back over to Aspen. “Enjoy the party. We’ll talk later,” he said, before turning and heading back into the crowd.
Heaving a massive sigh, I wrapped my arms around Aspen, pulling his back into my front as I set my chin on his shoulder. The band had started playing another song, a slow, sensual one this time, so there were tons of couples on the dance floor wrapped up in each other.
“Sorry,” I said. “He’s insane, I know.”
“No, you don’t have to be,” he denied softly. “It’s so… Generous. But I never expected anything like that.”
“Like I said before, get used to it. My father is obsessed with you.”
“Sounds like someone else I know,” he remarked, a teasing note dripping from his voice. I chuckled, squeezing him tightly.
“Yes, you’re very popular.”
“I’ve never been popular before. I’m afraid I’m starting to like it.”
“Don’t be afraid,” I advised him. “I am completely wrapped around your finger, and you are never shaking me off. Might as well let me worship you while I’m here.”
He leaned back into me, twisting his head so we could kiss.
“Let’s go find some more food for you to try,” I requested, once I’d let him pull back to breathe and he’d stepped away to face me. “There’s still steak tartare, and-”
“I like steak,” he asserted quickly. “What’s the tartare part?”
“It’s a raw preparation,” I explained. “With egg and shallots, and-”
“Raw meat?” He asked, sounding repulsed.
“Did I steer you wrong about the caviar?” I asked.
“Well… No,” he admitted. “But I draw the line at snails.”
“No snails,” I promised him.
At one point during the evening, he looked down at his phone, his eyebrows furrowed a bit in worry.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Ah, nothing, really,” he said. “It’s just that I texted my mom earlier this morning to check in, and she hasn’t responded yet. She usually doesn’t take that long.”
“I’m sure she’s just busy with the holiday,” I assured him. “You can call tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, putting his phone back in his pocket. “I’m sure you’re right. My niece is probably running her ragged or something.”
When the countdown to midnight finally rolled around, we’d eaten, we’d danced, and we’d talked. We’d had an amazing time, and it seemed like he’d actually started enjoying the glitz and glamour of the evening, instead of feeling unnerved by it.
As everyone started counting down from 10, Aspen gazed down out of the glass wall at the gigantic crowd of people in the street.
“You know, they say whatever you’re doing at midnight will be what you spend most of your time doing for the rest of the year,” I told him. He smirked a bit, giving me a flirtatious look.
“Should we run and try to find a closet we can take off our clothes in?”
Laughing, I shook my head. “As long as I’m with you, I don’t care what we’re doing, Cupcake.”
He leaned into my chest, tilting up his face for my long, slow, deep kiss.
As the ball dropped, and the countdown finished, followed by cries of happy new year, I wondered if I would always remember this first one with him, or if the memories would fade to be replaced with all the others we’d have together.
Only time would tell.