Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
JACQUELINE
Turns out, Leo was a very moanable name.
* * *
“I can’t believe I missed it” Violet whined as she shifted back into her seat.
“It was awesome!” Signe’s eyes were shimmering after showing Violet the video she took the day I danced at Leo’s rugby practice. It was a good thing Signe recorded the experience because I sure as hell wasn’t doing that again.
…Unless Leo wanted me to.
Then I’d consider it.
It was about a week later, and the women of the office all went out to dinner at a Korean barbeque restaurant. We were each sharing space on the grill built into the table, searing our preferred meats.
Violet had been working from home, so this was the first she had been able to see my dance.
“You two are so cute together,” Violet smiled before using chopsticks to flip her steak, “I’m glad that ended up happening.”
“Thanks,” I grinned, scooping some rice with my pork.
“So you have a start date, yeah?” Signe asked, turning to Violet.
“I do,” Violet smiled, but it quickly dimmed, “I’m so nervous about moving.”
“Why?” Jamie asked. She reached over to snag some of the side salad Mary had ordered, grinning when Mary pretended to glare at her for stealing off of her plate. Jamie shimmied happily after taking that bite, before turning back to Violet.
“Change is always hard when you feel safest with a routine,” she lifted a hand to tuck her electric blue braid behind her shoulder, “I’ll have help. But I’m still anxious over it.”
“It’s just temporary though, right?” Mary asked, “You and your daughter will be back within a year or so?”
“Yeah, but it would almost be better to just move there and stay put for a few years.” Violet met our gaze, before lifting her shoulder, “I’ve managed to stay in the same apartment since she was two. Moving was kind of a trauma for Gracie. Thankfully, my dad is going with us. So she’ll have two familiar adults in the new house.”
“The house looks cute,” I chimed in, “Brandon was showing us pictures of the guest lodging.”
“That, I’m grateful for,” Violet grinned, “I think Gracie will like the quiet, once she adjusts to the change. Actually,” Violet sat taller, “Taylor recently met up with us at a park and gave me some pro-tips on what might help Gracie regulate at this stage of her development.”
“I love Taylor,” Signe grinned, “I’ve met them a couple of times now. They’re so chill.”
“They are very fun,” I added. Mary and Jamie also mentioned how well they got along with the Occupational Therapist after my performance. I guess they both helped get the speaker back in Taylor’s car, and then went out for drinks.
Nicole, sitting next to me, stayed quiet.
She shifted her chopsticks side to side, pushing food around on her plate as we all talked about our admiration for Taylor Desmond.
“Anyway, I told Zaid I wanted to drive up and visit you while you’re there, because Northern California is so pretty and green,” Signe shifted the conversation, “Maybe we could all spend a weekend with you and your daughter or something—if she’d be okay with houseguests.”
Violet giggled, “She is very much not okay with house guests, but I’m sure we could figure out something so you all could visit.”
Jamie frowned, “How does that work with dating? You just never bring people home?”
Violet shook her head, “I don’t date, period.”
Mary nodded, “Ah. Makes sense.”
Signe gaped, “Ever?”
Violet shook her head once more as a humorous grin tugged on her full lips, “I’m okay, I know how to work a vibrator.”
Signe snorted, I lifted my hand to cover my mouth and laugh.
“Cheers to that,” Nicole lifted her water glass, clinking it against Violet’s and making us all laugh, “Sometimes it’s best to take time for yourself. Romance isn’t always for everyone.”
“Preach,” Violet agreed before taking a large gulp of her water, then tilted her head in thought, “…I wouldn’t hate to eventually ride some dick again, though.”
Mary and Nicole grimaced, while Jamie, Signe, and I laughed. Mine was quieter, and I was able to collect myself before the others did.
“Just upgrade to a dildo,” Mary waved her hand at Violet, “Don’t settle for some mediocre man who probably doesn’t know how to get you off.”
I nodded, turning toward Violet, “I was with a man for years who never figured out how to get me off,” I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile, “But I eventually found someone who proved that, if he wanted to, he would.”
“Gross,” Mary grunted, puffing her cheeks out as if she was holding back.
“Sorry.” I blushed, realizing that Mary probably didn’t want to hear how easily Leo got me over the edge.
Violet’s phone started buzzing on the tabletop, and we all ate our food while she flipped it over and checked her messages. She was sipping from her water when her brows suddenly lowered, “Oh.”
“What?” Mary asked around her mouthful of food.
“I think, um…” Violet’s lips pulled back into a smile, “I think Brandon’s brother thinks I’m a guy.” She angled her phone face out to show us an email from Graham Moore. I momentarily ignored all the pictures he attached to the email, showing what I assumed would be the house Violet and her daughter would be living in, and read the text at the top of the email instead.
“Did he really start the email off with a ‘Hey man’?” Jamie giggled. She reached a hand out to angle the phone more towards her so she could read it all, “Here’s some pictures of the space. Let me know if you need anything else.”
Signe was smiling as she asked, “Why does he think you’re a guy?”
Violet shrugged, “No idea.”
“Sexism,” Nicole said, “He’s just assuming that his tech support is a guy because it’s a male-dominated field.”
All of the women at the table collectively shared a groan.
“…[email protected] is a masculine-looking email, too,” Jamie tilted her head, sitting back so Violet could look at her phone again. She quirked her lips to the side as she studied the screen.
“You should respond with ‘Hey girl’.” Mary grinned at her suggestion.
Violet laughed, “I think I’m not going to address it at all. Let him be surprised when I show up,” she waved a hand over herself, gesturing to her general appearance, “Instead of a bro coming to help him out, he’s about to live side-by-side next to a blue-haired, tattooed mamma with tig-ol-bitties.” She then made a gesture that looked like she was about to cup her own breasts, which were significantly fuller than mine.
“ Mommy indeed,” Signe wiggled her eyebrows, “You’re going to keep up the ruse?”
“Yeah,” Violet grinned, “Something about fucking with a presumptuous man gives me a thrill.” She thumbed back a response on her phone, reading it aloud as she typed, “Hey man, thanks for the photos. Looks like a nice place. While I have you, do you know of any good sports bars in the area? …Now I just gotta remove my email signature and replace that ish with a simple gender-neutral-looking letter V.”
Signe snorted while Mary threw her head back and cackled.
Violet shimmied excitedly in her seat, before pocketing her phone.
Then it was my phone’s turn to buzz because Leo was FaceTiming me.
Except it wasn’t Leo’s face that filled the screen when I answered the call.
It was Taylor Desmond.
“Hey J.” They grinned, their septum piercing shimmered in the low light of the sunset. Their cheeks were flushed and their dark hair was pulled back with a thin headband. Before I could properly say hello, Leo shoved his face next to Taylor’s, wearing a matching headband to keep his hair out of his face. His cheeks were also flushed from exertion, his breath puffed out of him as he gave me a wide smile.
“Hey.” I smiled at him.
“Why weren’t you at the game, J?” Taylor pouted, jutting their bottom lip out, “Leo needs a good luck charm.”
I blushed, glancing up at my friends at the table. Jamie, Violet, and Signe were chatting to themselves as they dug into their meals. Mary and Nicole were watching me take this call.
“I’m with my friends.”
“I told you she’s having girls’ night, T.” Leo tried to take the phone from Taylor, who laughed manically before running away from him. Leo cursed in the distance, and Mary’s lips twitched with a smile as she overheard her cousin being bested by someone else.
“C’mon, J,” I had never formally permitted Taylor to call me by the first letter of my name, but I was okay with it. They were probably the only one who could get away with the nickname. “Leo dropped the ball so many times today. Literally. He has the worst butterfingers I have ever seen.”
“I’m sorry,” I held back a giggle from Taylor’s antics, they were such a character, “But, how would I help, exactly?”
Taylor’s eyes widened before they rolled. To my side, Nicole muffled a giggle, “Because he’ll want to show off for his pretty girlfriend and perform better.”
“What if she’s just a distraction?” Nicole asked from my side. I turned the camera towards her so she could be in the frame with me, and Taylor’s eyes changed. I couldn’t tell how they changed; I just noticed that they did.
The shift in their expression lasted half a second, before they recovered and continued, “What if she’s not?”
Nicole studied my phone for a moment, a warm color touching her cheeks before she shrugged and dug back into her food.
“I’ll try to make it to the next game,” I promised Taylor. They grinned at me, before the camera started shaking and the image became pixelated. There was a grunt and a “hey!” from them before Leo’s handsome face filled the screen again.
“Sorry for interrupting your night, love,” Leo licked his lips, and I suddenly wished the girl’s night would wrap up sooner rather than later.
“You’re fine,” I glanced around at my friends again, double checking that they were distracted with their food or other conversations before I pulled the phone closer to my chest to ask, “…But what if afterward, you were waiting for me at my apartment?”
Leo bit his bottom lip before replying, “In your bed?”
Mary started fake-vomiting all over her food, and Nicole barked out a surprised laugh. Nicole hadn’t laughed like this in a while, I realized. She had been reserved and closed off most of the year ever since things ended with her last girlfriend. To see her throw her head back and laugh at Mary being dramatic, I realized that maybe she was starting to come out of her mourning phase.
Nicole’s laugh was contagious, it made me huff some giggles out too, even though Mary was teasing us at our expense.
“Obviously, in my bed,” I rolled my eyes when Mary’s response to that was to pretend to stab her chopsticks into her throat and die. She collapsed against Jamie’s shoulder dramatically, who just patted her head, and continued her conversation with Signe and Violet as if this was normal for them.
“Hurry home, love,” Leo blew the phone a kiss before Taylor jumped on his back and the call ended. I was grinning when I pocketed my phone, a feeling of peace swarming inside my stomach that I wasn’t familiar with quite yet. A sense of contentment. Of love.
“Starry-eyed-and-in-love-Jacqueline is my favorite,” Signe sang from the opposite end of the table. I glanced up to look at her, gnawing on my lip before picking up my chopsticks and digging into my plate of food.
“Me, too.”