Chapter 31
31
Sybil
“Thanks for coming with me,” I said. “I promised my mom I’d at least look at places.” Ahead of us, the real estate agent in her sharp blue blazer smiled over her shoulder, her silver bob shifting but somehow staying exactly in place.
“No problem,” Kieran said as Carol pointed out the light pouring through the massive windows in what she called a chef’s kitchen. Marcus would love it, but the space felt overwhelming to me.
I glanced down at the handout Carol had shared with me when we’d entered the home. Glossy photos showed the five bedrooms, six baths, and manicured backyard featuring a pool and hot tub.
“Now, I know this is a little bigger than you wanted,” Carol said, “but I have a feeling this is what you’re really looking for. Just look at the marble countertops.”
“I didn’t know you were interested in places like this,” Kieran said quietly when the agent’s back was to us again. She motioned toward the entryway, signaling us to follow her, and I leaned toward him.
“I’m not. I asked to see small one- or two-bedroom houses.”
“That chandelier is a Lonenklein.” She pointing to the sparkling overhead light fixture, awaiting recognition from Kieran and me.
After a beat of silence, he put on the most canned show of enthusiasm I’d ever heard. “Oh, wow. Lonenklein.”
Carol beamed, and I snorted into my hand when she motioned again for us to follow her, this time up the main staircase, the wrought iron banister a sharp contrast to the white walls and cream carpet. I mouthed “Wow?” and he shrugged. “You weren’t saying anything,” he whispered, and I giggled.
“Now, this is the main bedroom,” she said with a sweeping gesture around the room, where an immaculately made four-poster bed sat as the centerpiece, and French doors led out to a balcony arranged with flowerpots. She didn’t make mention of the artwork on the walls, which looked a lot like still shots from kind of mediocre porn. She glanced down at her phone and then back at us. “I need to take this call, but let me give you two a few minutes alone to imagine how you might fill this kind of space.”
“Well,” Kieran said, staring at a five-by-five canvas showing two men in ball gags and nothing else at the feet of a blonde in a sexy nurse costume. The framed art over the shoulder of the nurse looked a lot like something from a Holiday Inn. “Do you think these are Lonenklein, too?”
I stood close and joined him in the examination. “Definitely, from their Pornhub period.”
Kieran laughed and reached for my hand as we slowly circled the room. He’d been holding my hand a lot since that day at the Science Center, even when we were alone, and I’d come to crave the feel of it. There was another painting of a tongue against the head of what appeared to be a flaccid penis dripping with hot pink paint. “Now, this one makes you think,” he said, making me giggle again.
“Is this all really expensive art and we’re just classless jerks?” I pointed to a framed photo of a really well-lit group scene where a redheaded woman enthusiastically tended to the very real-looking genitalia on several headless mannequins. “This is probably invaluable.”
Kieran shrugged, and we both glanced toward the doorway at the sound of Carol’s voice carrying down the hall. “Probably. I don’t know anything about art. Maybe we should ask Carol if there’s a way to buy the art along with the house.”
I pressed my hand to my mouth to stifle the giggle, and Kieran pulled me toward him to muffle the sound, the closeness calming and comfortable. “This is the fifth place she’s shown me that’s way bigger than I’d want.” I stepped into the en suite, where a claw-foot tub sat under a picture window overlooking the backyard. “She keeps saying she’s sure this is what I really want. Do you think she knows something I don’t?”
Kieran leaned an elbow against the door frame. “No. I think she’s not listening to you.” He pointed to the shelf behind me, where four dildos sat artfully among the white towels and bottles of essential oils. The largest was about the size of my forearm, with an American flag design on the silicone. I stepped closer to see the face of a bald eagle on the head. “If she really knew what you wanted, she’d never try to sell you a room decorated with an American flag dildo.”
“Yeah. Canadian, maybe. It would be more gentle.” I loved making Kieran crack up like he did. It sent my heart soaring to see him laugh in an unhinged, doubled-over way. “Hey, Emi texted that they’re going out tonight. Want to come?”
He nodded, still pulling out of his laughter. “Sure, if you want me to.” He gave me an assessing look, his head tipped to the side. “You look surprised. Why? Where are we going?”
“I thought I’d have to talk you into it is all.” I slid past him back into the bedroom, enjoying the clean scent of his aftershave. “And it’s a surprise.”
“Sorry about that,” Carol said, breezing back into the room. “What do we think?” She stood with a hopeful expression. “The seller has the place listed at two million, but I can get them down if we act quick.”
Kieran squeezed my hand, and I shook my head. “No, I’m not interested.” I gave the room one more glance. “I asked to see much smaller houses than what you’ve shown me. You don’t seem to be listening to what I want, so I’ll be working with someone else.” I gave her a kind smile. “But it’s a lovely home.” I tugged on Kieran’s hand, and we excused ourselves past Carol to head toward the front entrance.
···
Two hours later, I sat between Kieran and Emi, laughing at one of Deacon’s stories. Marcus and Lila had shown up together at the same time Kieran and I arrived. The table was filled with the remaining fries and the last mozzarella stick amid a lot of empty glasses. The bar was loud, and it was karaoke night, so everyone was extra boisterous in their cheers, jeers, and applause, and we regaled our table with the last house showing. “The patriotic dildo might have been a selling point if the house was what I wanted! I mean, I actually love that the owners really knew who they were and weren’t hiding their sexuality.”
“You should have seen her tell the real estate agent she wasn’t listening to her,” Kieran said casually. His arm was draped over the back of my chair, and he nursed a beer, his fingers sliding against my shoulder every so often, always sending a spark of anticipation through me.
“Good for you,” Emi said, raising her glass.
“But now I have to find someone else,” I said. “Or maybe just look for an apartment.”
Emi nodded. “You have options, and our couch is yours as long as you want it.” The waiter stopped by the table then and pulled Emi’s attention away from us.
“You could have warned me about the karaoke,” Kieran whispered in my ear. “I would have just dropped you off.”
“That’s why I didn’t tell you,” I said, angling my head toward him so our lips almost brushed. “And why I insisted you get a few drinks.” I motioned to the beer, encouraging him to finish it. He’d finally agreed when Lila showed up and promised to get his car home.
His fingers grazed my shoulder again, and he paused with our gazes locked for a second before he gulped the last of his drink. “What should I sing?”
I smacked his chest harder than I meant to. “Shut up! You’re going to get onstage?”
He grinned. Kieran Anderson actually grinned, his face shifting to a completely adorable, boyish look. “You already did,” he said, referencing Emi’s and my rendition of “Made You Look” by Meghan Trainor from earlier in the night. We brought down the house, of course.
“I know, but I never expected you to.”
Lila threw a balled-up napkin across the table at her brother, and I took in the way Marcus’s arm was behind her chair the way Kieran’s had been on the back of mine. “I cannot believe this is happening.”
Emi cheered, almost spilling her freshly delivered drink, and I felt so much love at this table. I worried Kieran would feel awkward with my friends, but he fit in so well, it was hard to believe we weren’t a real couple, that we hadn’t done this a hundred times. He’d only had a few beers, so I was pretty sure the alcohol wasn’t the only reason, but Kieran was more relaxed than I’d ever seen him.
“Who is going up there with me?” he asked, looking to me and then to his sister, who shook her head vehemently. He looked back to me, widening his eyes and giving me a hangdog expression.
“There is a song Deacon and I usually do,” I said.
“But I love that song,” Deacon interrupted. “It’s my jam.”
“Deacon and Kieran duet!” Emi clapped and announced the pairing, giggling before she finished saying it, though everyone else joined in.
Deacon looked at Kieran, holding his palms up, and Kieran shrugged. “Why not?” He pushed back in his chair and followed Deacon toward the stage to my cheers, but he paused and doubled back to the table, dipping low and pressing his lips to mine to the cheers and whoops of our friends. “For luck,” he said, pulling away from the kiss, seeming to ignore the dazed expression on my face. We were a little drunk and we were in public, so I tried not to read too much into the kiss, but the feel of it still lingered on my lips as he picked up my beer and finished it.
“Hey!” I cried.
“Don’t worry,” he said with a wink. “I’ll leave you a note letting you know I took it.”
He flashed me a quick smile as the callback to the day we met hit me. I pressed two fingers to my lips as he jogged toward the stage to meet Deacon, who pointed to the song they’d be singing.
Emi and Marcus laughed at his reaction along with me, and I scooted around the table to sit by Lila and get a better view of the stage. Kieran mouthed “You owe me” from the stage as the opening chords to “Let It Go” from Frozen began to play.
I grinned and watched him jostle with Deacon for who would sing which part, but when he opened his mouth and sang into the mic, I was shocked. Kieran’s voice was smooth and clear, and I stared at him. “He’s good,” I said. “He’s really good.”
Lila leaned toward me, laughing as Deacon played his part as Elsa while Kieran sang. “He sang all through school and earned some music scholarships before he quit.”
“But he gave it up?” I leaned nearer to Lila but didn’t take my eyes off Kieran, whose expression changed as he sang. He still stood ramrod straight but looked at ease with the microphone. And he smiled in a way that looked so free, I couldn’t help but smile back.
“I haven’t seen him sing in front of anyone since our grandma died,” Lila said. “It was their thing, and when she was gone, he decided other things mattered more.”
Onstage, Deacon and Kieran had shifted from just singing to putting on a whole dramatization, and I cheered at their antics, blowing a kiss to Kieran, who pretended to catch it before launching into the final verse. His voice carried through the bar, and there was a bit of a hush until everyone burst into applause and Kieran and Deacon gave deep bows to the crowd before returning to the table, arms over each other’s shoulders.
Kieran fell into the seat next to me and wrapped an arm around me, pulling me against him and nudging my ear with his nose. “That was fun.” There was a thin sheen of sweat on his brow from his and Deacon’s performance, and he dropped a kiss on my cheek before Deacon pulled his attention, though not his touch, away to plan their next song. I wondered how I was going to feel when he went back to school, when this whole thing was over and I didn’t get his touches anymore. I couldn’t imagine it, though. This just felt so right.
Lila took a drink from her beer and whispered, “I think he’s starting to figure out what matters again.”