23. Chapter Twenty-Two London
Chapter Twenty-Two: London
“This is so exciting,” she says. “I can’t wait for you to meet my family. They’re going to love you.”
“I hope so,” I say, checking my email to make sure the tickets arrived in my inbox. “Otherwise it would be an awkward five days.”
She rolls her eyes. “My mom is always bugging me about meeting you. She thinks we’d be a perfect match.”
I put down my laptop on the coffee table and reach for her hand across the couch. “And you don’t?”
Gloria squeezes my hand. I close the remaining distance between us and our lips meet .
This kiss is nothing like the eager first kiss we shared. It’s still passionate, but it’s easy. Gentle. Soft. Like a habit, to be repeated for the rest of our lives. We pull apart, and I rest my forehead against hers, shutting my eyes.
Could we do this for the rest of our lives? I can’t picture myself with anyone but Gloria. I can’t picture myself marrying anyone but her. But could I imagine myself having children with her?
I’ve always imagined having kids would be painful. Something that would take me away from the familial responsibilities I already have—the constant obligation to make tenuous peace between my parents and my siblings.
I’ve always thought that even if I could be a father without feeling like I was failing as a son and a brother, I’d hurt my children.
I might do to them what my parents did to us.
Giving us distorted perceptions of love and conflict resolution.
Arguing and raising my voice, and making slammed doors and curse words the norm.
Never giving them the peace I longed for.
But what if it could be different? With Gloria? Somehow, I think that if we had a family… it might be different. It might be better than the childhood I knew. We could build something greater and brighter, more tender and loving, than the pain and brokenness of my family.
“Hey,” Gloria says. “What’s going on? You seem… quiet.”
“Just thinking.” I stroke her cheek.
“About what?”
“That I love you.” I kiss her forehead.
Her phone rings before she has a chance to respond. She jumps off my lap. “Raina! It’s so good to hear from you… I’m with London right now… Karaoke double date with you and Kostas? Oh, Sasha too? And Giorgio?”
I’m half-grateful for the interruption and half-curious as to what Gloria was going to say.
“Let me ask London,” she says. “But will there be dinner involved?”
“I’d love to go to karaoke with you and your friends,” I say .
“Perfect,” Gloria says into the phone. “We’ll meet you at Turn it up Tunez in half an hour.”
Despite being a royal who I once heard Gloria refer to as ‘Prince Grumpy’, Kostas is pretty laidback. Maybe marriage has changed him.
“So, have you ever been to this karaoke bar before?” I ask him.
Unlike Giorgio, who’s waiting in line to sing a Taylor Swift song, Kostas doesn’t seem like the karaoke type.
He also doesn’t seem like the partying type, which is ironic considering his winery business.
The waiter brings Kostas’ ice water, Raina’s Shirley Temple, Giorgio’s beer, Sasha’s iced tea, Gloria’s mojito, and my gin and tonic.
The two of us take our drinks, being the only ones at the table.
Kostas chuckles at my question. “Once, five years ago.”
He glances at Raina, who’s up on stage with Gloria, performing a duet. They sing and laugh, their arms wrapped around each other.
“How was it?”
“Oh, I wasn’t singing. I was here to pick up Raina, but she was so drunk she threw up on my shoes.” Kostas smiles as if remembering how his now-wife vomited on his clothing is enjoyable.
“Well, that’s definitely memorable.” I chuckle, popping a fry into my mouth.
I’ve only heard bits and pieces of how Raina met her husband, Prince Kostas of Dorapolis. While Raina was living in Dorapolis, I would come over to help Gloria take care of Raina’s guinea pig, Biscuit. I also bought her pets of her own, a tank of tropical fish she still has.
Next up, Sasha and Giorgio are in line to sing a duet of a song by Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran. Though, it doesn’t look like it’ll be very successful, since she’s glaring daggers at him while he just smirks down at her.
“What about you, London? Have you ever been to this bar?” Kostas asks .
“Once or twice, but I’ve never gotten on stage. Gloria wants to change that, though.”
“Oh?” Kostas arches a brow. “What song are you singing?”
I sigh. “She’s picking. With my luck, I’ll wind up singing Justin Bieber.”
“Hey! What’s wrong with the Biebs?” Raina asks as she and Gloria have finished their song and are now standing by our table.
I plan to stand up to let Gloria back into her side of the booth, but she slides in next to me instead, wedging me between the wall and her.
Which I don’t mind at all. Sasha and Giorgio get on the stage next, and the soft acoustic strains of Taylor Swift’s “Everything Has Changed” filter through the room.
Sasha eyes Giorgio with barely-veiled annoyance as she sings one of Taylor Swift’s lines, while Giorgio wears a mischievous smirk as he belts the chorus. I have no idea how she got roped into singing with him when it looks like she hasn’t forgiven him for their mini golf date.
“Please never refer to Justin Bieber as ‘the Biebs’ again,” Kostas says.
“Why not?” Raina asks with a mischievous smirk. “Does it annoy you?”
“Yes,” he says with a glower that could send lesser men fleeing for their lives. When he turns it on his wife, though, she just laughs and kisses his cheek.
“I think you should do a duet with London,” Raina suggests to Gloria, her eyes sparkling.
“I would say you’ve had too much to drink, if you weren’t clearly pregnant,” I say, shaking my head.
Gloria flips through the binder of songs, her finger swiping through the laminated pages until she finds a song she likes. “Aha! Perfect.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Please, no One Direction.”
“We should make him sing a Ryder Black song,” Raina suggests with a laugh .
Gloria gets up to order more fries and Kostas excuses himself to use the bathroom, leaving me alone with Raina.
I’ve never really spent much time with Gloria’s best friend before.
They were roommates in college, so we would bump into each other every now and then, but we never shared any classes.
Once or twice, we all hung out in a big group with some of Raina’s friends, but other than that, I’ve never been alone with her.
The way she’s scrutinizing me makes me feel like a lab rat, though.
“So, you and my best friend are together now,” Raina says, swirling her paper umbrella around her drink. Who knew a fake paper umbrella could look so threatening, as if she’s sharpening a knife in front of me instead? “How did that happen?”
“Gloria hasn’t told you all the gory details?”
“She has, but I’d prefer to hear them from you.” I feel like a criminal suspect being interrogated by a cop.
“I came to my senses and realized I couldn’t miss my chance with her after Giorgio asked her out,” I say, summing it up in what I hope is a convincing statement. Sweat beads under my collar. Why do I feel like I’m hiding a secret that she’s determined to ferret out?
“Hmm.” Raina sips her remaining Shirley Temple. “So your relationship was only born of your testosterone-fuelled rage at seeing her with another guy?”
“No! I’ve been in love with her for years.”
“She mentioned that you’re close with your mom,” Raina says. “Which is sweet. But she also said that it’s the reason she hesitated to believe you had feelings for her for so long.”
“What does my mom have to do with anything?” I wonder how long it will take Kostas to come back from the bathroom and Gloria to get more food. I’m worried that if I get up, Raina might try to stab me with the pointy end of her paper umbrella.
“Oh, Gloria told me a story about her once. You mean she hasn’t told you about it?” Raina’s pencilled brows shoot up in surprise.
“No. She hasn’t.” I drum my fingers on the table, wondering how long this interrogation will last. And what Gloria hasn’t told me. She’s only met my mom once, I think, when I brought her home for Thanksgiving the year we met. How could that have been enough time for my mom to scare her off?
“You should ask her, then.” As if on cue, Kostas returns to the table as Gloria returns with a fresh basket of fries.
Gloria slides into the booth next to me, only to grab my hand. "We’ll be next. We're doing an Adele cover."
I can't decide if singing karaoke or being faced with Raina Aguilar Vasileiou's questioning is more terrifying.
"Yay," I deadpan. Raina turns her all-knowing eyes on me like she's revelling in my suffering.
As Gloria half-drags me, and half-walks toward the stage, I say, "I thought Raina liked me."
"She does."
"Really? Because she seemed like she couldn't wait for us to break up with how she was interrogating me just now," I hiss as we near the MC's stand.
"Oh, that's just her way of showing affection," Gloria says airily.
We pass by Giorgio and Sasha, who are getting off the stage.
Sasha holds a fruity drink and waves it at Giorgio. “If you flirt with me one more time, I will dump this drink over your head.”
“You’re sweet enough, I don’t need any more sugar.” He winks at her.
Sasha flushes and makes to throw the drink at him, but he dodges and it splashes onto the floor instead. Fortunately, I already got out of the way so it didn’t land on my shoes. She chugs the remainder of her glass and slams it on the bar before storming off.
"Up next, Gloria and London, singing Adele's Rolling in the Deep!" the MC announces.
The music plays, and as I sing the line, we almost had it all , I hope and pray that this song won't be about us. But Raina's words about Gloria's hesitation to tell me about her alleged experiences with my mother… I don't know if I can be certain about us.