Chapter 35 #2
“Ah, I see,” I reply. “I should have known this would happen. Alas, I am aware of the effect I have on women.”
“Jesus Christ,” Jude mutters.
Taylor snorts. “You two are fun! We should hang out before we head back to Indiana on Sunday. Maybe a double date?”
Jude and I lock eyes and smile. “Yeah, I think that would be nice,” Jude says.
We finally reach the food, and I excitedly start piling my plate. Halfway through, I feel a tug on my pants. I glance down to find Brooke staring up at me. “Hello again! How can I help you?”
“Hey, hey, can you come sit next to me?” she asks.
I look to Jude, who shrugs. “I think there’s probably more room at the kids’ table anyway.”
“Okay, Miss Picasso,” I say to Brooke. “Jude and I will be right there.”
Brooke beams, then scampers away.
“Miss Picasso?” Taylor echoes. “That’s adorable.”
“She asked for a nickname,” Jude explains. “You should hear her try to repeat it.”
“Whose nickname is Jude?” Danny asks.
Jude and I exchange a glance. “It’s mine,” Jude answers. “It’s my favorite Beatles song, so Oliver calls me that sometimes.”
“Aww, that’s so cute!” Taylor exclaims. “I like that name for you! Feels right.”
Jude’s face lights up. “Thanks.”
Once our plates are full, Jude leads me to the kids’ table, where Brooke is impatiently sprawled across three chairs. As we approach, she shifts to the chair on the right, then pats the middle chair. “Oliver, this is your seat.”
“I guess you’re the new favorite,” Jude teases.
We settle in next to Brooke and greet the other kids at the table.
Just as I’m about to finally stuff my face, I make eye contact with Jude’s brother-in-law, Cody, across the room.
I try to offer him a polite smile, but his expression hardens when he notices where I’m sitting.
Or, more accurately, who I’m sitting next to.
“Hey, shouldn’t DEADNAME and her date sit at the adult table for once?” Cody blurts to no one in particular. “She’s in college now, right? Why’s she still stuck at the kids’ table?”
The room grows quiet as several adults turn to look at us. Mrs. Cohen nods emphatically and waves us over. “Cody’s right—come, come sit.”
Jude frowns. “Mom, there’s no room over there. Besides, Brooke asked us to sit here.”
“I saved them seats!” Brooke adds.
Cody whispers something in his wife’s ear, and her eyes fill with horror before she leans in to share the secret with Megan. Megan isn’t subtle either, staring at Jude and me with what I can only interpret as contempt. Did we break a rule without realizing it?
“Well,” Uncle David says. “If Brooke wants them to sit there, I don’t see anything wrong–”
“Look, it’s nothing personal,” Cody declares. “But I think we’d all be more comfortable if we didn’t have the strange young man none of us know sitting alone with our kids.”
An uncomfortable silence settles over the room. Oh, that’s what this is about. Yikes.
“Seriously?” Jude asks.
“Cody, dude, come on,” Danny mutters to Cody. “We’re all right here. Nothing’s going to–”
“Come on, DEADNAME,” Mr. Cohen commands firmly. “You and Oliver come sit over here.”
Without hesitation, I gather my plate and cup and head toward the already crowded adults' table.
Jude reluctantly follows, hands shaking and eyes downcast. Taylor ushers us over to where she, Danny, and Harper sit, and I eagerly comply.
With a little adjusting, they squeeze Jude and me between Taylor and Austin.
Soon, conversation picks back up among the older family members, while those of us at the far end of the table try to recover.
I do my best to soothe Jude, gently caressing their knee under the table as they stare at their plate without eating.
Fortunately, Taylor seems to sense Jude’s discomfort as well as I do and occasionally gives them a reassuring back rub.
Eventually, Jude starts picking at their food, so I follow their lead and happily polish off every morsel on my plate.
I’m able to dissociate into my meal until I hear my name.
“So, Oliver, are you a Georgia native?” an unfamiliar voice asks. Following the direction the voice originated, I’m shocked to see Jude’s brother Brian watching me expectantly.
I clear my throat. “I’m originally from Raleigh, actually. Spent most of my childhood there, and then my dad and I moved to Georgia when I was twelve, to a little town called Specter.”
Brian nods, chewing on a piece of turkey. “I’m familiar with Specter. Nice town. Any siblings?”
“Two younger stepsisters.”
“Oh, how old?” Brian’s wife, Megan, interjects. “I have a friend who teaches at Specter Middle.”
“Thirteen and fifteen.”
“How neat! DEADNAME, have you met his family yet?”
Jude glances up from their still-full plate, then shakes their head. “But I’m meeting them tomorrow.”
“Oh, won’t that be nice,” Megan says, flashing a rather insincere smile.
Man, Jude was right. Most of these people suck.
“So, DEADNAME and Oliver,” Mrs. Cohen says after a beat. “How did you two meet?”
Jude and I share a look, and I nod for them to start if they’re ready.
“Well, you might remember my high school buddy Max—he just started at Eidola this semester and is sharing a four-bedroom dorm with three suitemates. On the night before classes started, my friend Celeste and I walked down to see Max in his new dorm and help him settle in. He introduced us to his suitemates, and it turns out Oliver was one of them.”
“Was it love at first sight?” Ashlynn teases.
Jude scrunches their nose, but they grin at me. “Something like that.”
“I like to think it was,” I add, flashing Jude an earnest smile.
“Aww,” coos Ashlynn, Taylor, and Aunt Lisa.
Jude’s cheeks flush, and they look away, bumping my leg with their knee under the table.
A part of me wonders whether it was really love at first sight for me.
I’ll likely never know, because all my memories of Jude have an ethereal sheen to them—a distinct, lovely glow of affection that I now understand as romantic love.
Nothing or no one has ever come close before, and I can’t imagine anyone or anything will again.
Now is probably the worst time to wonder about that, I realize, but that’s where my mind goes.
The questioning continues, mostly at a surface level. Nothing really throws me until Austin asks me about my hair.
“So, what made you decide to grow it out?” Austin asks.
“Honestly, I don’t remember,” I answer. “It’s been at least shoulder-length since elementary school. I can’t imagine life without it.”
“Wow, your parents didn’t make you cut it?” Steph asks with thinly veiled disgust.
I shake my head. “My dad knew I liked having long hair. My stepmom has only known me with long hair, and she’s always loved it. She’s the one who taught me how to take care of it properly.”
“What about the earrings?” Ashlynn asks, leaning in. “How long have you had them?”
I resist the urge to touch them. “Oh, these are fairly new—I got them pierced in mid-October, I think?” I look to Jude for confirmation.
Jude nods. “Yeah.”
Ashlynn gasps. “Wait, DEADNAME, your nose! Aww, y’all match!”
“What’s that?” Mr. Cohen’s voice booms across the table.
I feel Jude tense up beside me. Uh oh.
“DEADNAME and Oliver have matching studs,” Ashlynn reiterates, completely oblivious. “Oliver’s ear studs and DEADNAME’s nostril stud.”
“You got a nose piercing?” Mr. Cohen repeats.
Jude blinks. “Yeah, just one on my nostril.”
“It’s cute!” Taylor exclaims. “It really suits you.”
“That’s funny,” Mr. Cohen remarks. “I could have sworn we were just talking about facial piercings, weren’t we, Susan?”
Mrs. Cohen stares at Jude in disbelief. “Bill, not at the table.”
“You didn’t do it yourself, did you?” Brian asks.
Jude and I both shake our heads. “No, we had it done professionally,” Jude explains.
“So, you paid to get your nose pierced?” Mr. Cohen says. “With whose money?”
“I paid for it,” I blurt, probably a little louder than necessary. “It was a gift.”
Mr. Cohen glares at me, but doesn’t respond.
“Aw, come on, Bill,” Uncle David says with a chuckle. “Don’t be such an old grouch. Face piercings are far more common these days.”
“And a nostril piercing is one of the tamer ones,” Ashlynn adds. “The doctors at our practice allow them.”
Brian grunts. As a doctor himself, he would probably never allow anything fun for the nurses at his practice.
“I just think girls as pretty as DEADNAME shouldn’t feel the need to butcher their faces like that,” Mr. Cohen grumbles. “But I felt the same way when she chopped her hair off, too, so apparently I’m just too old-fashioned.”
Yikes.
“Mm, no, you’re entitled to your opinion, Bill,” Cody says with a mouthful of macaroni. “Free speech is still our God-given right in this country, despite how hard the left constantly tries to take it away from us.”
My brows shoot up. Oh boy, here we go.
“That’s right, Dad,” Megan chimes in. “It may not be considered ‘woke’ to uphold traditional gender roles, but it is Biblical.”
Jesus Christ, I think to myself, carefully keeping my face in check. Ha. Literally.
“Amen,” Steph adds.
Wow. How insightful.
Shit. I have to be careful. I have one job: to be here for Jude. If I argue or make a scene, it’ll only make things worse for them.
“Hey, maybe we shouldn’t bring up politics or religion today,” Taylor interjects. Finally, a voice of reason.
“Why not?” Austin argues. “It’s not as if we’re in mixed company.”
All eyes land on Jude and me—well, mostly on Jude. Shit.
“Psh, just because DEADNAME has short hair and a little diamond in her nose doesn’t mean she’s a liberal or anything,” Ashlynn adds with a laugh. “Right, girl?”
I feel my pulse spike. I reach under the table for Jude’s hand and squeeze it. Their face is pale, but they keep their gaze fixed straight ahead, refusing to engage. It’s probably for the best.
“Well, she is attending a very liberal college in the middle of very urban Atlanta,” Cody mutters. “It’s only a matter of time before the brainwashing takes effect. Right, DEADNAME?” He actually winks at Jude, and my stomach churns.
“Okay!” Mrs. Cohen stands abruptly, an exaggerated smile plastered on her face. “Who’s ready for dessert?”
God, I’ve never wanted a cookie so much in my life.