I held open the door to Fran’s for Alex and followed him in, snaking my arm around his. He didn’t know why I was so energetic—when he asked if I’d plugged myself in last night to be this full of energy, I couldn’t stop laughing for long enough to tell him why—but he was having fun with how hyper and happy I was.
I think that he’d just pegged it as either painkillers—that I’d sworn up and down I hadn’t been prescribed or taking—or just giddiness due to having survived.
I smiled at the waitress as she came to give us menus. She was one of the regular waitresses who vaguely knew Alex and me—though she’d gotten it into her head that my name was Molly and I couldn’t change her mind—and she knew the general areas that we liked to sit in.
“Coffee for the both of you, right? One cream, one with milk?”
Alex and I both nodded. The benefit of coming here way too often. I shook my head and chuckled a little bit.
“What’re you going to have today, babe?” he asked.
I scowled at the menu. “I think I’m gonna stick to soup and a bur…” I trailed off, raising an eyebrow. I thought I could see Jesse around the corner, sitting with his back to us.
And the guy across the table? Well, that’s…well…a guy.
“A burr?”
“Is that Jesse?” I pointed because I wasn’t actually one hundred percent sure, but it definitely looked like it was him.
“Jesse? I thought he said he had a study date tonight, not a dinner date.”
“Yeah, but look.” I motioned with my head. Alex rolled his eyes and turned around to look, but not before I noticed his expression.
“You already knew about them, didn’t you?” I accused.
He turned around, eyes wide. “You know?”
“Well, now I do.”
He swore and massaged his temple. “I can’t believe that was how you figured it out.”
“I would’ve liked someone to tell me, but I was already wondering.”
“Oh. Okay, then I feel a bit better.” He paused as my tone sank in, then sighed. “And it’s not that I thought you were going to look down on him for it or anything. I walked in on the two of them not long after they started going out, and we all kind of freaked out, and Jesse made me promise not to tell you until he’d gotten a chance to talk to you about it, and—”
“Slow down, hon, you’re going to choke on yourself.” I tried not to laugh, but when he actually did start coughing, I couldn’t help it.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Jesse freeze and turn around, also in the middle of laughing. When he saw me, his eyes widened, and he jerked backwards, startled. A moment later, he gave me a calm smile and waved nonchalantly. I waved back.
Both of us were trying to figure out how we were going to handle the situation. Without breaking the staring contest the wave had turned into, I started to stand, catching the attention of the waitress. I pointed to the table that Jesse was sitting at, then at our table.
“We’re not—” Alex began.
“Why not?” I smiled at the waitress, who nodded and took us over to Jesse’s table. “I gotta hand it to you, Jesse.”
“Hey, Holly—what’s that?” He was breathing a bit too quickly to appear as calm and collected as he was trying to.
“Once you saw me, you acted like nothing was amiss pretty much immediately.” I sat next to him, and Alex meekly sat next to his boyfriend. Or at least, who I had to assume was his boyfriend.
I looked him over, since most of what I’d noticed last night consisted of he’s shirtless, he’s going into my little brother’s room, and he’s a he. Now I could get a better look at him, the best impression I had was that he looked like he was trying to be a macho jock without any idea of how to pull that off. He was wearing a baggy hoodie and had what looked like a stud in his ear, half-hidden by his shaggy black hair.
A bead of sweat formed on his brow—I think he’d figured out that I knew what their, uh, relationship was—and I stuck out a hand.
How best to put this?
“So, I hear you’re banging my brother?”
Jesse, to his credit, almost managed not to spit out the mouthful of water he’d drunk to cover the awkwardness.
Almost.
I withdrew my hand to clap my brother on the back, still looking at his boyfriend, and then, when Jesse had stopped sounding like I needed to worry about his health, I stuck out my hand again.
“I think I recognize you, but we’ve never been formally introduced. Y’know, while wearing shirts?” That set Jesse off again, and I did my best to ignore both him and Alex, who seemed torn between horror and laughter.
“Wait—you saw him?”
“More than I wanted to, even,” I said, laughing. Jesse could only respond by flipping me off, while his boyfriend tried to stay serious, though I could see the glint of laughter in his eyes. I think I like him. At least, at this point. Not that I’m overprotective or anything. “Holly Gray,” I said.
“Brent Wang, but just call me Brent.”
I nodded, and turned to Jesse, grinning from ear to ear. “Sorry, bro, couldn’t help it.”
“I’m going to kill you,” he muttered, trying to wipe up the water he’d spit onto the table. They didn’t seem to have gotten their food yet, either, which was good. I’d feel bad making them wait for replacement food because I made Jesse spit all over it. “I’m going to kill you in your sleep tonight, and no jury would ever convict me.”
Brent started laughing nervously, and it was contagious. By the time all three of us were laughing, Jesse really didn’t have any choice but to join in. The waitress came back and seemed a little disappointed that she’d missed the joke—I told her it was one of those things where you had to be there. She took our food order and left again, and I saw Jesse reach for Brent’s hand. It made me smile. Even if he had been too scared to tell me about someone who obviously meant a lot to him, I was glad he was comfortable enough to show me now that I knew.
“So, should we leave you two alone after all, or—”
“No, it’s okay.”
I raised my eyebrows. I’d been expecting Jesse to make a snap judgement—it was what he did best—but it was Brent who had spoken. He blushed as soon as he said it.
Huh. Interesting.
“Holly, for the record, I—”
“Can it, pipsqueak.” I reached my arm around Jesse’s shoulder and pulled him into my side for a moment before letting go. “I’m a little hurt that you were worried about telling me, but I’m happy for you. Just, y’know, hang a sock on the door. And, uh, wear a shirt around the house, maybe?” I looked at Brent pointedly, trying hard not to laugh again, and he went a lot redder than I was expecting.
“Would you mind answering me something?” he asked.
I shrugged.
“You saw the traffic snarl at Yonge and College, I assume?”
Alex answered before I could open my mouth. “I was about to point it out to her when the lights came back on. Weird timing, eh?”
I looked over at Jesse and could tell we were both thinking along the same lines.
Sure.
Weird.