“That sounds weird, though,” Oakley says. “It’s still weird that you’re single. Levis Li always has a girlfriend.”
“Levis Li doesn’t want a girlfriend right now,” Levis says.
“All right, all right. Anything exciting we should know about?” Honey Bee asks. “No more harassing. Just asking.”
Levis shakes his head. His eyes meet mine briefly, and at that moment, I know the situationship he told me about a while ago is still going on. I smile and watch the big house.
“What about you, Honey Bee? When are the wedding bells?” Haze asks.
“Ew,” she says, glaring at Haze. “Stop. Don’t rush me.”
“Haven’t you been with Myro for like, two years?” Oakley asks.
“Ugh. I’m sorry I was harassing you, Lev. As it turns out, this isn’t fun,” Honey Bee says.
Levis snorts.
“What about you, Haze?” I ask. “What’s new with you and Imry? Wedding bells? Babies? Matching tattoos? Any exciting kinks you want to tell us about?”
My friends study me for a minute, and I shrug. Whatever.
“Uh… no. We haven’t talked about any life moments.” He chews his lip for a minute. I’m the only one really watching him, so I see when he glances in the direction of Imry’s house. “Did you know he had a really bad relationship before we met the Van Dorens?”
That has all our attention.
“What happened?” Honey Bee asks.
Haze shakes his head. “Nothing I feel comfortable repeating, but…” He pauses as he stares off in the distance. “SometimesI forget that the Van Dorens aren’t untouchable. When we first started messing around, that’s how I viewed them, you know? Like… all you see is this aloof persona that the world sees. That’s what Imry was to me. Then I learned about the guy a few years before me, and I realized how incredibly human he is. Last week, with their shitty grandparents, I again remembered how stupidly human they are. A nasty family is my thing. Ineverthought the Van Dorens had that, too.”
“I know what you mean,” Briar agrees. “Even knowing that Noaz was with Jalon for most of their childhood, a part of me always romanticized it, thinking that it kind of happened because of their close age with Myro.”
“Now we have a different view of the family,” Honey Bee says.
“We get a different view all the time since we’re exposed to them daily now. Slowly, we’re being let into their lives. All their private past moments. Their secrets,” Levis says. “Haze is right. They become a little more human all the time.”
“What happened with Imry’s ex?” I ask.
“We struggled a little in the beginning,” Haze says instead of answering my question. “I had it in my head that I needed to figure out who I am now that I’m not under the watchful eye of my father and brothers. I thought I needed to do that alone. Imry… struggled with letting someone get close again and risking getting hurt. It was kind of messy for a bit there.”
“Why didn’t you say something?” Briar asks.
Haze looks at me. His eyes remain locked with mine when he answers. “I think because we’re adults now and sometimes we feel like we need to figure our shit out on our own instead of burdening our friends with every little problem we have.”
I nod.
“We all have things we’re working through. We all have things from our past that might influence how we deal with the situations we’re in now—like Honey Bee’s sudden aversion to marriage,” Haze says.
Honey Bee sticks her tongue out.
“It kind of feels like we’re burdening each other when something that might seem small and insignificant comes up,” Haze says. “So we keep it to ourselves to work through. At least, that’s kind of what I was dealing with. It seemed so… stupid. Trivial.”
“I kind of hate that,” Levis says. “When did we become that?”
“It’s probably my fault,” I say, and immediately, all five of them begin arguing. “It is,” I interject. “The moment Oakley started seeing someone for real, I made our home hell. I became volatile, so you all stopped sharing.”
I can see it on their faces. Acknowledgement that maybe I’m right.
“Okay, well that ends now,” Briar says. “No one is a burden. Nothing that bothers you is trivial.”
