Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
KENNETH
Christmas is an unfortunate event in the Meyer family.
Not only do my parents always host an annual Christmas party, it's an entire who's who of people that I quite frankly don't want to spend time with.
Anyone who is rich and not trotting off to some fancy destination for the holiday comes to my parents' house and brags about everything they've accomplished during the year.
Considering how much I can't stand to listen to people brag, unless it's of course the guys on the team, you can imagine it's a nightmare for me to attend. But given that I am Kenneth Meyer and share the last name of the host, I have to be there.
Plus, it's not like I have anywhere else I could go. My options are quite limited.
I know Gil would probably let me come to his place. Really anyone on the team would, but I’d feel like a burden and a burden is not what I want to be. I’m familiar with what it's like to have one of those. Two of them actually.
My parents.
“Mother. Father,” I say, when I greet them in the receiving line right past the entryway of my childhood home. Their butler opened the door to let me in just a moment ago and now I'm stuck in line with all the other people.
They smile cordially. My mother gives me a kiss on the cheek and my father claps me on the shoulder while shaking my hand in that manly way one does to be affectionate but not too affectionate.
“Good to see you, son,” he says, nearly shouting the words to draw attention.
Mom beams, taking my hand between hers. “It's so good to see you. We have several people here who are wonderful. I think you would like to meet them, yes?”
She doesn't have to say who the people are for me to know that they're women she's interested in setting me up with. Women that I have no desire to even speak to, but I will for the sake of my mother and saving face for this party.
“Sounds good, Mother. I'll go get a drink while you finish greeting your guests. I'm sure you'll be able to find me later.”
They smile, thankful that I'm not pushing back at them. I've done so in the past. Nowadays, it’s a pointless endeavor.
I make my way over to one of the many bars stationed around the house. The guy working it must recognize me because he puts my preferred drink of choice in front of me.
“Thanks.” Taking the drink in hand, I slug it back in one go.
He winces as he takes my empty glass. “Maybe slow down. I doubled that first one.”
As he pushes a refill over, I nod. Since I’m already feeling the effects of the drink move through my blood, I suspect I definitely do need to slow down.
“Good looking out,” I say as I take the drink and walk off.
I need to keep moving. Staying in one position leaves me open to be cornered. No one wants that. I’m a mess when caged in.
My parents will be done hosting soon enough, and I'll have to play the role that they've set for me. It's best for me to enjoy my free time while I still can.
As I'm moving through the space, several people nod and wave. People that I've known for years but have no desire to stop and talk to. They must sense I don't want to speak because none of them move to stop my path.
It's not until I'm on the back porch looking out to the crowd gathered on the lawns that my time runs out. It was a good twenty minutes while it lasted.
“Son! I'm so glad I found you. I would like to introduce you to Claudia. She's the daughter of one of our dear friends, and I think the two of you would get along great. Claudia, this is my son Kenneth. Oh, would you look at that, I see someone calling my name. You two have fun.”
Mother runs off before either of us can even speak a word. Claudia smiles shyly, scooting closer to me her own drink in hand, untouched.
“Do they do this to you every time, too?” she asks.
I take a swig of my drink and nod. "Ever since I was legally able to get married, yes. I must warn you though I'm not looking for a relationship.”
She nods, her expression not faltering one bit. “That's probably good because my girlfriend would have a field day if I even entertained dating you.”
I raise my brows and give her a genuine smile. “Your girlfriend sounds lovely. I hope you two are happy together.”
“Oh, we are. In fact, we’re engaged, but my parents deny, deny, deny, which means I don’t wear my ring, and I come to these events so that one day they’ll get over it.
It used to be because I wanted them to help pay for the wedding, but at this rate, I really don’t care anymore.
We’re probably going to elope next month. ”
I reach out and touch her elbow—a place that’s not sexual at all and meant as a comforting gesture. “I think that’s amazing. If I had found the man who would be the love of my life, I’d run away with him too.”
Somehow, her smile gets even bigger. “Oh thank goodness I’ve found you, my brethren of the alphabet mafia,” she says dramatically.
I snort as I take a sip of my drink and have to fight back the coughing fit that comes with it. She giggles, patting my back gently and waving others away. “Oh, he’s fine. It just went down the wrong way,” she says.
Then she loops her arm through mine and begins to lead me through the crowd.
“Since we are two peas in a pod, I think we should stick together tonight. Neither of us wants to be here, and since we’d much rather not be set up with another person, why don’t we just pretend like we’ve found our soulmates in one another? ”
I look her up and down. “You know, you look pretty innocent, but I’m getting severe dominant vibes from you.”
She grins. “Probably a good thing, considering I am. Not for you though, of course. You’re adorable but not my type.”
“I would surely hope not. You would probably win in a fight against me.”
I shiver for dramatic effect.
She squeezes my bicep and shakes her head. “Honestly, I probably could. My girlfriend definitely would. She works out a lot. Makes her ass look great.”
I groan. “Can we not talk about how great people’s asses look? I’m currently in the midst of my own crisis.”
Claudia freezes, turning me to face her. “Oh no. You have to tell me everything. Who is he? What has he done? Do we hate him? Do we love him? What’s going on?”
I clear my throat, looking around the room to make sure no one is close enough to hear this conversation as I pull her over to an empty set of seats on the lawn. Once we’re positioned and our drinks are on the table, I take her hand in mine and begin my tale.
“First things first, you should know—it’s they/them, so we can have pronouns right.”
Claudia raises her hand. “Absolutely, my apologies. I should not have assumed that. Again, you did say ‘marry him.’”
I wince. “Yes, I know, but it was just to make it clear that you knew, anyway.”
Claudia waves me away. “No, I get it. You needed to stand your ground that you’re not one for the coochie. Understandable. But tell me more about them.” She enunciates the pronoun to make sure we’re on the same page.
I smile and dive into the history of Kenneth and Royce.
Honestly, it would be a great biopic. A story that moves across decades and spans the medium town of Bellport.
I nearly crack myself up with the internal monologue moving through my head.
It’s like I’m thinking of an episode of Gilmore Girls mixed with Battlestar Galactica.
We’re not that fanciful, though. It’s truly one of those 'wish I could but probably never will' situations.
By the time I’m finished, Claudia is completely tuned in to me. She’s captivated, making noises of shock and glee and nearly panting when I describe the tension-filled moments between us that have happened. She pulls her hands away and presses them to her cheeks.
“I can’t believe all this has been happening to you, and you somehow still made it to this party. I would not be able to climb out of bed with all the time I’d need to just contemplate and bed rot. How do you go to work with them? Because that’s just fascinating.”
I pick up my drink and take a sip. It gives me a minute to think over the correct answer. And by correct, I mean honest, because my initial reaction is to lie.
“To be fair, I have to show up for work. Royce doesn’t know all the inner workings of everything yet, and I kind of want to prove myself to them.”
“Well, that’s good, I guess. But where are they right now? I mean, why aren’t you seeing them for the holiday? You seem to have grown pretty close, right?”
“I mean, we’re close-ish, I guess. I don’t know. It’s all still very complicated.”
Her eyes light up. “Wait, you just said Royce. As in Royce Bellport. Oh, the scandal continues! If you don’t know where they are, then this is an easy fix. We’ll just get on social media.”
She pulls out her phone, and in an instant she turns it toward me, showing the Bellport family page.
“What is this?” I ask.
She raises a brow. “You don’t know what this is? Jake Bellport runs it. It’s pretty much a behind-the-scenes look at the Bellport family. You know how much people are obsessed with them, right?”
I nod slowly, taking in the images on the screen. Each one is a glimpse into their lives, and I am quite aware that later on I’ll spend hours breaking down every single photo and post when I’m in the comfort of my own home—with a pen and paper.
I sense Claudia understands my plight because she just dives straight in. “See here, it looks like they have stories up. Jake is really good about posting what the family’s doing when they’re all gathered in real time, so let’s see.”
She presses the button, and the screen changes. We’re presented with a video of Jake in a room full of people.
“Hey everybody, we’re here with the Bellports,” he says. “Well, almost all of us. Poor little Roycey-Royce is sick, so they went to bed.”
He says it in a teasing voice. My heart lurches, and Claudia winces. “Oh no! They’re sick.”
Before she can say anything else, I pull my own phone out and begin to search for meal delivery services that might be open today.
While I could try to take it to them myself, I don’t think my parents would take well to me leaving the party so soon.
I’m usually expected to last until the final guests leave.
It’s meant to show solidarity of the family unit.
Claudia looks over at my screen and then smiles, closing out her app. “Here, let me help you. I know a place. They should be able to help, but you’re not gonna find it on any of the delivery apps.”
Taking my phone, she dials a number and puts it up to her ear. She begins to speak in rapid-fire Spanish, and I recognize a few names: Aries and Raymond, along with Rodney. She’s got to be talking to Bellamy’s co-worker for the Bulldogs. Aries plays for the team, right?
I’m doing mental gymnastics, trying to connect the dots in a six-degrees-of-Bacon situation, when she looks to me and speaks in English.
“She says she can have it ready in forty-five minutes and have it delivered and dropped off. It’s no fee. She just asks that you give her tickets to a game.”
“Tickets to a game?” I ask for clarity. “She can have freaking season passes for all I care.”
The woman on the phone squeals excitedly, loud enough for me to hear, and Claudia goes back to speaking Spanish with her.
By the time she hangs up, I understand that a large portion of food is going to be cooked up and delivered to the Bellport home, specifically to Royce, with only my initials signed on a get well soon card.
“Claudia, you beautiful woman, thank you so much,” I say, my hands cupping her face as I press a kiss to her forehead.
She blushes, pulling back, and that’s when I realize our parents are watching us from across the room. Claudia turns to look too, and when she looks back at me, her eyes are wide.
“Oh God, I think they’re probably planning a wedding.”
I grin at her, sitting back and picking up my drink. I raise it to her as if to toast. “It’s a good thing you’re getting married next month then, isn’t it? They couldn’t possibly get anything arranged before then, and oops, you’ll be off the market.”
Claudia smiles, raising her glass to tap against mine. I didn't expect to find an ally here at the party, and definitely not someone who could help me come in clutch with this, but I already feel a million times better.
While I wish I could be there with Royce—to take care of them, feed them the food, and make sure they were covered—I know they’d probably fight me, considering they don’t like to be babied, and they’re very dominant in their own right.
But everyone deserves to be taken care of when they don’t feel well.
This is my own little act of doing so.
I can only hope it doesn’t blow up in my face later.