As soon as Camila and Zach got back to Pittsburgh, the peace they’d found at the lake was agitated by flight itineraries and party plans. They tried to carve out as much time as they could together before Zach’s trip to California. Camila’s apartment was inconvenient for commuting to Zach’s store, and his house was just as much of a hassle for her commute to work. But they endured the extra-early mornings and grueling traffic so they could spend their nights together, curled up on one of their couches with takeout and Netflix before pleasuring each other into blissful sleep.
Zach despised air travel. Once you’ve endured the atrocity of an 18-hour flight, something in you breaks permanently, and now even the trek from Pittsburgh to L.A. made him fussy.
He’d mentioned this to Camila, and she brought over her noise-canceling over-the-ear headphones for him to borrow. “I made you a playlist of binaural beats and ASMR. Put this on —” she said, handing him a weighted eye mask covered in silky fabric — “and turn on the playlist, and you’ll be out cold until you land. Trust me.”
He tried on the mask. “Oh no,” he said. “I’m never going to be able to sleep without this now. This is heaven.”
Lifting the mask off one eye, he saw her smile like he’d given her the best compliment of her life. “Just wait until I get you into Korean skincare. I’m going to hit ‘upgrade’ on your entire life.”
She was the one who drove him to the airport. He realized no one ever had before. He couldn’t decide if kissing her goodbye right before entering the terminal made him feel better or worse about the trip. He decided to focus on the good. A few days of dealing with his father, and he’d be back in Pittsburgh with his girl.
He had never expected to actually long for that city.
* * *
Zach
Camila
“Big brother! I missed you sooo much!” Irene greeted Zach at ground transport with a bear hug and big smile, then sneered in his ear, “I’m going to commit patricide, please get me out of here.”
Zach went from happy to see her to immediately concerned. He looked over warily at his dad’s shiny black sedan. He was getting out and popping the trunk.
“Hey bud, good flight?” he asked, taking Zach into an awkward half hug and hoisting his suitcase into the trunk. Jerry Manolis was looking fit and trim, the California sun bringing out the olive in his skin that made the gray streaking through his hair even more striking. It felt like looking at himself with one of those old-age filters, except Zach would never be caught dead in a lime green athletic polo.
“Hey dad. Flight was good. What have you two been up to this past week?” Zach asked, plopping into the passenger seat.
“Reenie and I have been having a time, haven’t we? Took her to the golf club. Got her some surfing lessons. She’s slowing me down on my morning jogs, but she’ll be marathon-ready in no time if she keeps it up,” Jerry said, his laugh booming through the caramel leather upholstery.
“It’s been soooo fun,” Irene said. “Hey Zach, you should go on an evening jog with us tonight!”
“That’s a great idea, kiddo!” Jerry said. “I usually do them twice a day, but I don’t want to wear your sister out.”
“Plus I’ve been way too full every night from the grilled chicken and steamed broccoli dad makes. It’s soooo yummy.”
Oh god. It was going to be a long weekend.
* * *
Camila voice memo
The bachelor(ette) party shenanigans were in full swing. The event had started on a 16-person “bike” that took them through the Strip District, with stops for eating and drinking. Then they’d had a fantastic sushi dinner, and were now making their way through every bar on Carson Street. The next morning would be a surprise that Seth and Camila had cooked up together for Era — attending a Doctor Who-themed drag brunch. It was going to make Era’s whole life … assuming, of course, that she made it through the night with how absolutely hammered she was getting.
Which was why Camila was currently dancing between her and Ivy on top of a table, trying to keep both women balanced.
She was very glad she’d had the forethought to wear bike shorts under her red sequined dress.
When she’d finally lured her friends back to sea level, she snapped a few pictures and sent them to Zach.
It was strange to have a partner, but it was also wonderful. With Liam, she’d had the probably misguided feeling that she had to play a part, to mask her impulses and insecurities. And with Johan, she felt like they never really knew each other outside of the fantasy they performed for each other.
With Zach, everything was on the table. She wasn’t terrified of being abandoned by him, even if being apart for a few days reminded her those anxieties were still within her. She didn’t feel like she had to copy his identity, because she was finally secure in her own and in the way he accepted it. There were no secrets between them.
She felt something she’d rarely felt with a man — safe.
Zach
Camila
Zach
* * *
Zach was terrible at golf. That made the experience extra unbearable, because his father alternated between bragging about his own skills, and offering Zach plenty of “helpful” pointers.
In between his critiques, Jerry would not stop talking about this role he envisioned for him. It sounded like a ton of meetings, both virtual and in person, trying to build up the furniture company’s portfolio of international hospitality properties. There were aspects that didn’t sound dreadful — talking to architects and interior designers, developing marketing copy, staying at incredible hotels around the world. He’d have a decent health care plan, a 10 percent 401k match, and a month of annual vacation time after the first year.
“Dad, it’s just not going to work,” he said. “I wouldn’t even be able to start until next summer, at the earliest, when Irene graduates.”
Jerry parked the golf cart near the next hole and grinned. “There’s plenty you can do in the meantime. You can start training remotely, start getting an in with our international contacts. Start some less far-flung travel during Irene’s school holidays.”
Zach groaned. “And run the store?”
“Well, you’re selling it, aren’t you?”
“Soon, I hope, but what about in the meantime?”
Jerry waved a dismissive hand. “Hire a couple of high schoolers for minimum wage to fill in the gaps. You’ll make so much working for me, you’ll be able to swing it.”
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Zach gritted out, “Dad, can we not do this right now?”
“You’re right. We’ll swing by the office after the next hole.”
Zach was sullen like a teenager on the drive to his dad’s company. Jerry chatted away, pointing out landmarks, telling stories about dinners he’d been to with such-and-such famous/rich person. He could picture his father making an absolute fool of himself, being derided as a new money nobody behind his back.
“Look at this traffic,” Jerry said, whistling.
“There’s a con for moving out here,” Zach said.
“Oh, he speaks! I thought your sister was the quiet one.”
“Hmm, well, let me know your updated impressions after her trip. Then you’ll have spent, what, a month of her life, cumulative, with her?”
Zach almost wanted to take it back, but Jerry responding with an uncomfortable laugh and quipping “You’ve got your mom’s sense of humor, kid,” made him wish he’d been meaner.
The mood was decidedly tense when they arrived. Jerry played it off, cheerfully introducing Zach to the administrative assistant and giving him a tour of the office. It surprised him how bright and modern the place was. There were glass offices surrounding a common area, and a showroom acting as the focal point along the back wall. Walking him through a manufacturing area, Jerry explained that most of the work was done at a plant on the other side of the city, but they had a “maker space” for prototyping and testing upgrades to existing pieces.
“We’re expanding into the work from home vertical,” he said. “Our new standing desk is going to be a huge hit. Here, let me show you the one in my office.”
Begrudgingly, he sat in his father’s office for an hour, silently fuming at the framed photos of him and Irene when Irene was missing two front teeth, and of Zach and Jerry the day of Zach’s high school graduation. What an involved father he portrayed.
But the more Jerry talked, the more Zach softened. For the first time, he thought this job might actually be a good deal. He had to school his expression when he heard the starting pay and the list of countries Jerry hoped to send business development to in the next 3-5 years: Germany, Spain, Ireland, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia.
“Though there will be stiff competition for some of those trips,” Jerry said with a wink. “Nothing a little nepotism can’t help with.”
He couldn’t possibly take it. He still had no clue what he was going to do in Pittsburgh long-term. But he’d figure something out.
Unless… a month of vacation was pretty solid. He could travel back to Camila regularly. Maybe fly her out on his trips. She could do her job remotely, right? Would she have to get licensing in California, or was there a loophole for travel? Maybe she could even move to L.A. with him, eventually. Camila deserved to live a big life, not stay in Pittsburgh forever. They could figure it out.
Hypothetically. If he were considering the job.
Back in the parking lot, as his dad was putting his tacky Supreme jacket back on despite the 90-degree heat, Zach checked his phone to find a bunch of photos from Camila of the drag brunch. Era and Seth’s elated, dorky faces were the best part, even more than the queen dressed as the Thirteenth Doctor, blonde bob and suspenders and all, or the queen costumed as a sexy TARDIS.
Along with the messages from Camila, Zach had notifications from Instagram. He had posted a few photos from his trip so far, so he wasn’t surprised to see the likes and comments.
What he was surprised to see was a DM.
From Chase Stone.