CHAPTER 3
Mindy shivered on the front porch, going cross-eyed when she stuck out her tongue to catch a falling snowflake.
Enough had fallen to blanket the world in white, but sadly, not to cancel school.
Oh well. At least everything was pretty now, instead of drab and gray.
She perked up when a minivan pulled into the driveway and rushed for the warm interior.
“Hey,” Galen said dreamily.
“Hello,” Mindy replied, giving him a quick smooch. “Thanks for picking me up.”
“No problem.” While reversing out of the driveway, he added, “I mean, you’re my girlfriend… right?”
He didn’t sound sure of himself, and for good reason.
They hadn’t made it official yet. Mindy kept tap-dancing around the issue.
Not because of any shortcoming on his part.
Galen was cute! She liked his stylish flat-top and his thick friendly features.
Cuddling with him was like having a great big teddy bear all her own.
He was an avid reader and fun to be around.
Galen would make a fantastic boyfriend! If not for Vonn.
Keisha’s older brother was pure sex appeal. College age, cool, and confident. The mere thought of his body made her tingle in all the right places. Those luscious lips haunted Mindy’s dreams! Vonn was the living embodiment of a romance novel. Galen was more like poetry, sweet instead of sultry.
“Or maybe not,” he said when she failed to respond.
“Wouldn’t it be a conflict of interest?” she asked, buying time. “I mean, you are my Dungeon Master.”
“I like how that sounds,” he said before choking. “I don’t mean that in an S&M kind of way. I’m not into bondage or anything.”
“Too bad,” Mindy said wistfully.
“Unless you want me to be!” Galen glanced over at her with wide eyes. Then his features relaxed and he laughed. “You’re messing with me.”
Toying, to be more accurate. But not cruelly.
Mindy was simply excited, after being ignored by boys for so long, to have two that were interested.
Three if she counted Diego, who was most comparable to a raunchy story in the magazines her dad kept hidden beneath his bed.
Irreverent and undeniably hot! So yeah, now that she finally had options, Mindy found herself reluctant to eliminate even one of them.
“It would be weird for the others in our group, don’t you think?” she prompted. “Anytime something good happens to Allura, people will assume it’s because I’m the DM’s girlfriend.”
“What if I promise to be especially hard on her?” Galen said. “Wait! I didn’t mean for that to sound…” He shook his head. “You’ve got me so flustered!”
“That’s one of my favorite words,” she said.
“I’ve always been more partial to discombobulated.”
She smiled. “That’s a good one too!”
Galen was awesome. Like a friend she could safely experiment with.
They had made out in her bedroom the other day and she’d let him touch her boobs.
That had been fun, and sort of awkward, since there wasn’t much of a reciprocal equivalent.
He had taken off his shirt too, but his chest didn’t hold the same appeal.
The experience hadn’t stirred new emotions inside of her.
Mindy hadn’t really stopped to wonder if it changed anything for him.
She didn’t want to make him feel used. That wasn’t her intent at all.
“In a way, it would work out well,” Galen continued. “Whitney and David are dating now. Ricky and Diego too, um, when Ironwood Assbreaker was still a member of the party, that is. So we’ve always kind of been a romantically charged roleplaying group.”
“Speaking of which,” she said, “when is Cameron finally going to take Diego’s place? We’re getting our butts handed to us each session. I miss his big sword.”
Okay, maybe she was laying it on thick, because Galen peered at her.
“Did you guys ever… Were you…?”
“No,” she said. “We started down that road, but it never became anything.”
“I’m scared to ask… Is that all we are?”
Mindy took a deep breath. “Do you remember when Diego and Ricky broke up briefly? I was sort of a rebound for him. So no, it isn’t the same. He was still hung up on Ricky. You and I are both free to do as we please.”
It was important to make that clear, considering she had kissed Vonn since getting closer to Galen. Mindy didn’t want to disclose that fact to him and didn’t feel obliged to, as long as he understood there wasn’t any sort of commitment.
Galen glanced over at her again. “People keep asking if you’re my girlfriend. I’m never sure what to say. I mean, we’ve been on a few dates.”
“That’s it!” Mindy said. “We’re dating.”
“We’re dating,” Galen repeated, as if trying it on for size. He nodded to himself. “All right. I like the sound of that.”
“Me too.” She reached over to take his hand. “I’ve never had a boyfriend before. My first date was with a gay guy, and my first kiss was with a jerk. I’d like to get this one right. If you don’t mind taking it slow. I can’t make any promises. But I really do like you.”
“That works for me,” Galen said, as if she was doing him a favor.
What a sweetie! He deserved a treat. She scooted closer and moved his hand to her thigh.
Galen grinned but didn’t press his luck.
Mindy felt secure with him. Vonn had an edge of danger.
She wasn’t sure how to choose, or what she wanted more, but with prom coming up and feelings on the line, the decision felt more consequential than ever.
— — —
Cameron walked into Sweet Tea Antiques on a Friday afternoon, feeling a double dose of relief.
He was done with school for the week and had retreated here to his own personal sanctuary, where he could spend the rest of the evening free of obligation.
Anthony had remained close to Omar ever since the death of his grandma.
They were spending the night together. Cameron no longer begrudged that or felt any jealousy.
In some ways, his boyfriend being preoccupied was especially welcome at the moment, since the upcoming move had made his life so complicated.
“There he is!” Charles declared as if a group of admirers were awaiting his arrival, when in truth, they were alone at the front of the store.
Charles was wearing a pink turtleneck sweater that matched his lipstick. An ivory knitted hat was perched atop straight blond hair that stopped shy of his shoulders. All he needed was a pair of Oakleys and he’d fit right in on the ski slopes.
“Cute outfit,” Cameron replied.
“Flattery will get you all sorts of places,” Charles said when walking around the counter. “More often than not, it’ll land you in trouble. Brace yourself, honey, because have I got a treat for you!”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yes! Come see.”
He followed his friend to the back of the shop. They passed a few customers along the way.
“Just holler if any of you looky-loos feel like ruining your credit score,” Charles called to them.
“Business seems to be going well,” Cameron murmured as they entered an employees-only area.
“Inventory has been selling,” Charles replied. “I’m not sure how much that truly pleases me, since I do hate parting with so many of my prized possessions.”
“If only you’d kept a bunch of them at home,” he teased, knowing full well that the house remained a veritable treasure trove of antiques.
“Yes, well, as we say in this business, out with the old, in with the even older. Speaking of which…” Charles gestured to a stack of bentwood chairs bound together by fraying twine. “Tah-dah!”
“Well well,” Cameron said, as if presented with a scantily clad sailor. “What have we here?”
“They were just delivered today.” Charles handed him a box cutter. “I thought someone too young to have back problems should do the honors.”
“Gladly.” He cut the twine and removed a chair from the top of the stack. “Uh-oh,” he said when noticing that the caned seat had been punched through. “Who’s going to fix this?”
“You are!” Charles said.
“Me?” he spluttered in disbelief. “I can’t even weave a basket!”
“You mentioned wanting to learn. Now you have ample opportunity.”
“I said that cane webbing impressed me.”
“I saw the glint of interest in your eye. Don’t pretend you aren’t intrigued. Look, I even found this in the shop.” Charles took a book off a nearby cardboard box and held it up.
“Weaving Chair Seats,” Cameron read aloud before proceeding to the subtitle. “You cane do it!” He groaned.
Charles laughed. “I could always hire out the work, if you’d prefer.”
“No! That is, I at least want to try. So what exactly are these?”
“You go first,” Charles said playfully.
“All right.” Cameron turned one of the chairs over. “I’m guessing from the fine grain and bendability that these are European beech?”
“You never fail to impress me.”
He wiggled a loose joint experimentally. “I’m guessing from the early style that hide glue was used. That’ll make restoration easier. This one says Thonet on the bottom, which rings a bell. Just not loud enough.”
“See the number?”
Cameron checked again. “Fourteen?” He glanced back. “I only count ten.”
Charles laughed. “The reason the chair isn’t making a bigger impression on you is because it’s prototypical.
You’ve seen dozens of imitations, but this is the original—a Thonet number fourteen café chair.
These are still made today, although this particular set is from the late eighteen-hundreds and will be worth a pretty penny if a certain someone can make them shine. ”
“No pressure,” Cameron joked. “Are you sure you want my first attempt at caning to be on something this valuable?”
“I have faith in you,” Charles said. “But if you’d like something to practice on…”
He pointed. In the corner was a cheap kitchen chair with a blown-out rattan seat. Someone had probably put a foot through it when attempting to change a lightbulb.
“Good idea.” He set down the chair he held and jiggled it, to test how level it was. “I can’t wait to get started. When do you need them by?”
“Summer, ideally,” Charles said.
Cameron frowned.