Chapter 27 #6
I roll my eyes, picking up the litter bag. "You're so dumb." I leave the room, phone propped against the wall, and head into the bathroom. "Wait there," I call over my shoulder. "Be right back."
I pull all the clothes from Gio's washer, arms full of soft black T-shirts, then push open the back door. The heat hits me like a wall. Cicadas are screaming. I can barely see with the sun in my face. I start hanging the clothes one by one.
"So? Catch me up. What did I miss?"
I smirk to myself. "Oh, you missed a lot."
"Start talking. I hope you can wrap it in four hours because I have a tattoo appointment."
"Don't care. Listen." I clip a shirt onto the line. "The day you left? Gio's mom ends up in the hospital. I'm the one who drives them there. It was fucking scary."
Noah's voice changes instantly. "Wait, what?! Is she okay? Was it serious?!"
"She has a chronic condition," I say, pausing to hang a towel. "It got bad for a bit, but she's doing better now. Gio's with her as we speak."
He is quiet for a second. "Damn…"
I keep working, arms moving on autopilot. "After that, Gio and I go to this park. With swings."
"Swings? You two went to swings? I've always questioned your taste, man."
"Shut the hell up," I mutter. "They are important swings." I clip another shirt onto the line and just stand there for a second.
"It was one of the best nights of my life," I say.
"I'm talking full breakdown, man. Like, tears.
Voice cracking. Hyperventilation. The whole package.
" I lean against the balcony rail, letting my forehead rest on my arm.
"I told him everything. Literally, everything.
Stuff I didn't even know I was still carrying.
I just let it pour out. And he did too. Like we were cracking open at the same time. "
Noah's face on the screen is frozen in awe. Literally mouth open. "I even told him," I say, laughing under my breath, "about that one time in middle school? When I purposely got detention so I could stay behind after school just to sit near him longer."
"YOU—WHAT?! Why didn’t I know about this, dude?"
I look at the phone. His face is lit up like a stage. "Wait. No. Don't talk. I need a second. Jesus Christ. You finally listened to my prayers for you two fuckers. You actually did it. You felt things. And said them. To each other."
He grabs his own face in his hands. "Oh my god." I roll my eyes, but can't stop the smile.
"I told him I love him," I say.
Silence. I can hear his breathing pick up like he's charging up for something catastrophic. Then the scream. Lulu bolts under the table like the house is on fire.
"YOU DID WHAT?!"
"I said it," I say, laughing now. "Out loud. To his face."
"YOU SAID 'I LOVE YOU' TO GIO?!"
"Yes, Noah."
"And?!"
"He said it back. Well, to be fair, he said it first. And I said it back." There is this one beat of total stillness. Then he slowly sinks to the floor on his end of the video call, clutching his chest. "I can't feel my legs," he whispers. "This is it. This is how I die."
I groan and walk over to the line, grabbing the last damp shirt to hang. "You're such a freak."
"NO. FINALLY MY CHILDREN HAVE COME HOME."
"I hate you."
"I AM SO PROUD I COULD COMBUST. You're in love. He loves you. You're doing laundry at his place. THIS IS HUSBAND BEHAVIOR, RAVA."
I snort. "It's laundry. Not a wedding."
"Don't play with me. I know you. You're probably folding his socks by color. Did you wipe down the counter? Are you gonna alphabetize his spice rack next?"
"Yes I might, Noah, leave me alone."
"God, Gio so deserves you." I look back at the phone while folding Gio's shirt badly, but it's the thought that counts.
"Oh—and it doesn't stop there," I say casually. Noah, from the floor, still has his hands on his face. "Remember that little girl from the beach? The one who was making sand castles with Gio?"
His eyebrows rise. "...Yes?"
"She made us matching bracelets."
"Oh okay. So, basically wedding rings. Got it. What else?" "Shut up."
"No, please. Continue, Rava. I'm just ordering your engraved champagne flutes."
I roll my eyes. "Listen." I take a breath. "Yesterday…my dad punched Gio." His head snaps up into the frame. "WHAT?!"
I nod. "Oh yeah." His mouth is already half-open to scream again. "And you know what I do after that?"
He shakes his head, muttering, "Please don't say murder..."
"I kiss Gio. In front of my father."
"Wait, like—"
"Tongue. Hands. Everything."
Noah's scream echoes so loud Lulu hisses. "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON IN YOUR LIFE RIGHT NOW?!" I fold another T-shirt. "I don't know, man. I just—I snapped. I told him everything." I swallow, rubbing my eyebrow. "He hates Gio. You know that."
"YEAH. THE WHOLE PLANET KNOWS THAT."
"So…maybe I yelled in his face that I've been sleeping with Gio. And that I love him." Noah's screen freezes for a second. He isn't blinking.
"…Hello?" I ask. He raises one finger. "Give me a moment," he says. "I'm trying to process the fact that my quiet, passive-aggressive, cardigan-wearing best friend just casually dropped a declaration of love and sex and emotional war on his psychotic father like it is a damn school presentation."
I sit down on the little couch on the balcony.
"Bro."
"Yeah?"
"I'm gonna need you to sit me down and walk me through your trauma because this plotline is out of control."
I wipe my hands on my shorts and sit back down on the step, still staring at the phone. "Okay…anyway. After all that, we came back here." I gesture vaguely behind me. "To Gio's place. As you can see."
Noah narrows his eyes. "Wait wait wait…you went through all that emotional warfare, and then what? You came back and have the 'I'm proud of you' sex?"
I blink. Lean closer to the screen. "On. The freaking. Bike."
His eyes go wide. "Deadass?"
I nod solemnly. "Deadass."
There is a beat of silence.
"…You absolute slut. You unhinged, glorious, filthy animal. You had swing-set confessions and then got railed on a Ducati? Who are you?!"
"Shut up."
"Railed by Gio, king of brooding sexual tension, on his bike, like this is some gay Fast & Furious sequel?!"
I cover my face with my hand. "Jesus Christ," he mutters, not even loud. "I need holy water. I need a priest. I need to disinfect my brain and also frame this moment."
I am wheezing. "And excuse me," he continues, "do I get an award or what?"
"What?"
He points at the screen like I'm forgetting the sacred origin story. "I was the one who told you to make a move! Me! I was out here planting seeds like some chaotic gay Cupid, and look at you now. In love. Getting bike-fucked."
"Oh my God—"
"No, no, don't you dare downplay this. I deserve a plaque. A medal. One of those sashes that says Matchmaker of the Year."
"You're unbelievable."
"You know what's unbelievable? That you didn't jump him sooner." I sigh, still grinning. "I should've known you'd milk this forever."
"Oh, baby," he says, leaning in close to the camera. "I'm never letting it go."
I blink at the screen. "Noah, thank you. I mean it."
He smiles. He pauses for a breath, and I clear my throat.
"Oh—yeah. The Master's program called." Silence.
"Oh,"
I can hear the chair creak as he sits up straighter.
"They called you?"
"Yeah. I got offered a full scholarship. They want an answer. Soon."
"Bro. What is this life you're living? I don't even know if I can keep up with your life right now. I feel like I'm watching a limited series. With cliffhangers. And trauma. And a hot lead."
I grin. "You're being dramatic."
"You're being main character and I'm just trying to get a recap every four hours so I don't emotionally combust."
I laugh. And then stare out at the sunlit trees. "…I don't know what I'm gonna do, Noah."
"You'll figure it out." He is quiet for a second. "But whatever you choose, you better not ghost me when this shit goes global. I was here before it was cool."
I smile. "Noted."
But before he can even answer, BANG. The front door slams open, and Lorenzo's voice detonates through the hallway.
"I HEARD THE VOICE OF MY BELOVED, WHERE IS THAT FUCKING BITCH?!" I turn so fast I nearly drop the phone. "Lorenzo?!"
He marches into the room like a possessed villain, sunglasses on, hair a mess, shirt only halfway buttoned. He looks around, sniffing the air for drama. Then he sees my phone, snatches it from my hand, and holds it up like Simba in The Lion King.
"Noah," he says dramatically. "My precious forbidden fruit. I've missed you."
"OPEN YOUR MESSAGES YOU GREMLIN!"
"Don't yell at me," Lorenzo coos. "I'm sensitive." I sigh and leave him there seducing my best friend via FaceTime, and start heading downstairs to make sense of my life again. As I step into the main room, I freeze.
They are here. All of them. Gio. Daisy. My mom. And Jin.
Just standing there. In Gio's house. I blink, completely thrown. Jin walks up to me first, grinning.
"Your man's about to cook for all of us," he says, patting my shoulder. "We've claimed him. He belongs to the stove now."
"…Huh?" I turn. Gio is standing in the kitchen, already chatting with my mom about whether his back-left stove burner is better than ours. "What the hell is going on?"
Gio looks up at me, completely calm. "Oh," he says casually. "Your dad hasn't come home since yesterday. I found them on the balcony so I invited everyone over."
I open my mouth. Fail to form words.
"After last night, I've decided to commit fully to my culinary path," he adds.
"Chef Gio is back, baby."
31) Humble Servant Gio
Gio
I have a wooden spoon in one hand and the burner on low, trying to coax the damn thing to stay lit without giving up my dignity.
The kitchen is full. Rava's entire family is in here.
Jin is sitting in a chair directly in front of me, eyeing me.
"That bruise on your face?" he says. "It's kinda badass. You look like someone tried to take you down and failed."