“What are you making?” I nosily ask.
“Something manly,” he says, voice a bit gruffer than it usually is, which is just confusing.
“Did Isayit wasn’t manly? You do realize you’re the only one who has this weird idea that crocheting isn’t manly enough, right? Will you make my husband an elephant trunk thong?”
“How long is this flight?” Everly asks from his seat next to Micah. Micah was originally seated next to Henry until he flashed his window seat at Henry who took it without hesitation, leaving Micah to be as close to Everly as possible. Everly had stared at him like a hissing cockroach had slid right into the seatnext to him, instead of an attractive man who is doing his best to give him a winning smile.
“Too long. Anything with Leland involved is too long,” Micah assures him.
“Not Jackson’s di—I mean… weenie,” I correct. “See, babe, I’m learning.”
“What exactly are you even saying? Like are you claiming my… penis isn’t long enough?”
“No! That it’s perfectly long. Jackson… you’re just… when this world was made, there was onlyoneperfect human in it and the rest were just prototypes. You were the only perfect one.”
And yet he gives me such a strange look with his perfect eyeballs. “Uh… huh…”
“Thanks, Leland,” Henry says withmuchsarcasm.
“You’re the perfect Daddy,” I assure him as I reach out and try to hold his hand. The look he gives me tells me that there will be absolutelynohandholding from him on this fine morning.
“Everly, we could watch a movie at the same time anddiscuss it,” Micah offers.
“I’m going to read,” Everly says.
Micah is not deterred. He’s set his sights on this man and appears determined to get him. “What are you reading? I’ll get the same book on my phone before we take off, and we can have our own mini book club.”
“Ellis and I are already reading it together,” Everly says, which makes Micah give Ellis a look that seems to concern the poor guy. He’s just over here existing and slightly terrified of pretty much everything.
“Oh… yeah… I don’t care if he joins. I’ll, uh… text you the link to the book,” Ellis says, which I’m not sure was Everly’s intention. But Micah seems pleased enough as he fiddles on his phone before hesitating.
“Damn, did you send me the extended version or something? Why’s this book so long?” he cries.
“Go watch a movie,” Everly says.
“How long does it usually take you guys to read a book this size?” Micah asks, eyeing the thick paperback in Everly’s hands.
Ellis leans forward. “I’m usually a little faster than Everly, so… I don’t know, maybe four days for me?”
“Does Tavish evenseeyou if you can read a book this thick in four days?” Micah asks.
Tavish huffs. “He made me read the last one. I tried finding those… what do you call it? SparkNotes? Couldn’t find anything. Read some theory about it off Reddit. When I proudly revealed the theory to these two, they stared at me like I had three heads. Here it was for a different book.”
“Ooh, you two could start a book club and maybe read things more aligned with what you like?” Ellis suggests, sounding very excited about the idea of Tavish making friends in a book club.
“Nah. I’m good,” Tavish says as he jerks some yarn around for a moment then plops a rainbow dragon he’s just finished crocheting down on Ellis’s lap.
Ellis looks ecstatic when he picks it up. “He’s so cute! I love him so much.”
“Good,” Tavish says bluntly, like he’s not over there looking embarrassed and pleased by Ellis’s reaction.
“I’m going to be honest, I’ve been super nervous ever since you said we’re getting on a plane after the last plane we got on, but this makes me feel better,” Ellis says as he squishes the dragon a little.
I eye their disgusting display of affection before looking over at my husband. “Jackson, I want you to make me something.”
“I made you a son,” he says while he flips through the movie choices.
“Actually,Imade you the son,” Cassel corrects. “And I did it so damn well that even the highly scrutinizing and confused Patel can’t refute it.”
