The heat is back in my cheeks and I rub at the back of my head again, this time pulling out so much hair I know I have to re-do the top knot. I pull the band out of my hair.
“Giles knows I’m not straight,” I mumble as I busy myself with my hair.
“Pardon?” Chloe says in a more accusing tone than should be possible with that word.
“He knows I’m bi,” I clarify but am pleased my hair is in front of my face so I can’t catch her or Radia’s eyes.
“Then why the fuck didn’t he tell you?” Radia asks.
“Exactly,” I say.
“Hold up,” Chloe interjects. “Howdoes Giles know you’re bisexual?”
I swallow and start twisting the hair around my hand. “We’ve kind of… done stuff. Together.”
There’s silence and then just as I’m about to tighten it around the knot on top of my head, my hairband breaks
“Shit,” I say, holding the broken elastic out in front of me. I don’t have another. I hate having my hair down when I’m working. It gets in the way and overstimulates me, but I guess I’ll just have to put up with it. I don’t know why I expect this personal crisis to have distracted Chloe and Radia from what I just revealed to them, but when I finally look at Chloe and Radia I see that it hasn’t. They are both staring at me, slack-jawed.
“Since when?” Radia finally asks.
“A few weeks now.”
“How? Why?”
“I asked him to give me sex lessons,” I admit and I feel as foolish as I expect saying it out loud. “Queer sex lessons. To help me confirm if I was queer or not.”
Another beat of silence, this one heavier than the last.
“Ja Allah.” Radia rolls her eyes. “It was you!”
“What was me? What have I done now?”
“Ages ago when he was asking us about sleeping with someone he had feelings for but he didn’t think that person had feelings for him.”
What, wait… ages ago? I open my mouth to ask Radia for clarification but Chloe’s already talking.
“You really asked him forqueer sex lessons?”
“Er. Yeah.”
“I can’t work out if that’s the best or worst idea you’ve ever had.” Chloe shakes her head at me and then a small laugh ripples out of her.
“It’s both,” I say and join her with my own chuckles. “It’s definitely both.”
“So by the sounds of it, Giles has caught even more feelings from these sex lessons and so have you and neither of you have actually confessed it to each other?” Radia surmises.
“If what you’re telling me is true about Giles, then yes, that’s exactly what’s happened,” I concede with a sigh.
Chloe’s eyes narrow as she speaks, “You didn’t tell Giles because?”
“Because have you seen Giles? And have you seen me?”
Radia crosses her arms. “What’s your point, Marcello?”
“Giles is a fucking Greek God who owns his own designer tailors, and I’m the Italian geezer who makes cappuccinos and eats too many pastries.” I pat my stomach for effect.
Chloe pinches the bridge of her nose. “Are you going to tell him, or am I?” she asks Radia.
