“Sorry, that must have been a lot for your first day here,” I said as we got into the car. “And then my mom and Jace must’ve been grilling you to make sure you weren’t some sort of psycho.”
“What? Oh, no. That was all really nice of your family. I’m proud to have been a part of it.”
“You seem like you have something else on your mind,” I said, assessing his expression, which I couldn’t quite make out.
He looked so serious, considering we’d just seen a bunch of guys doing a weird-ass dance to “It’s Raining Men.”
“No, there wasn’t anything wrong with any of it. It just wasn’t what my experience has been with my family.”
Oh…fuck.
“I’m sorry, Owen.”
He shook his head. “No, it’s not that I expected any different, and Mère and Frederick were great, but it’s been far from a party, and if anything, just created even greater distance between me and my brother than before. Meanwhile, your brother was in there, cheering you on, letting you know he was there for you. It’s the way it should be.”
I hadn’t considered that he’d have to witness that party and reconcile it with his own experience with his family.
“Yes, it is the way it should be.”
“It’s fine,” Owen said, even though he clearly wasn’t. “If my brother knew I was being serious and didn’t believe this was all just to tell him to go fuck himself, I’m sure he would be reacting differently. Or I don’t know. Maybe not. Maybe every decision I make is bound to set us at odds with one another.”
It was apparent he was talking about far more than his coming out experience.
He shook his head. “I don’t mean to ruin your special day.”
He reached out and took my hand, stroking his thumb across the back of it softly, in a way that ignited that familiar sensation he stirred within me.
“Thank you, Keegan. Not just for getting into this mess with me, but…well, I haven’t had many people to really talk to about everything I’m going through right now…outside of how it’s affecting my country, and it’s been nice to have a friend.”
Hearing him refer to me as that made me appreciate it that much more.
I wanted to do whatever I could to console him, which gave me an idea. “Hey, you wanna go out tonight? Not like a date or anything, but we could go to a gay bar.”
“I’ve been to gay bars before, Keegan.”
“But how many have you been to since you’ve ‘come out’?” The way he pondered that told me all I needed to know. “Come on. It’ll be fun.”
“Isn’t the drinking age twenty-one here?”
“Yeah, but I can still get into Fever Fridays. They just make me wear anXon my hand so I can’t drink.”
He chuckled. “Well, sounds like we could have a fun time.”
“Yeah, wecould, so just say yes, and then wewill.”
He laughed again.
“Come on. I know what it feels like to get out of your own country. Gives you some perspective on the things that are important in life, especially when you wind up getting arrested in that country.”
“I’m never going to live that down, am I?”
“Oh, definitely not. Now come on. We have plenty of time to prep for interviews and stuff. We’ll be good, but we can also be bad.”
His smirk twisted into his cheek, looking particularly wicked. “When you put it like that, I have to admit, maybe a night on the town of Fever Falls is exactly what I need right now.”
And I could tell by the way he eased up that he meant it.
12
