“The hug slut is here,” Michael exclaims as Rami lets me go with a hard pat on the shoulder.
“And I’m proud of it,” Rami singsongs, sitting his burly body on my desk.
Sari walks in after them. The small bedroom feels suddenly cramped with four people inside.
“I’m glad to see you guys, but what are you doing here?” I ask them. I should get ready for my date soon.
“We are your fairy mothers,” Michael declares, placing a bag on the bare mattress. Fairy mothers?
“We texted you,” Sari lets me know with a soft smile.
“Oh, sorry. I was talking to Brad. I didn’t check my messages.”
“Oh, how is he?” Sari asks sweetly. He’s the nicest, most delicate and graceful man I’ve ever seen, with that long black braid falling on his shoulder, deep, kind eyes, and sophisticated style.
“He’s fine. He’ll move back here and come to this university next month.”
“He will? From Stanford? That seems like a strange move,” Michael muses.
He’s right. The University of Chicago is a good college, but Stanford is on another level. I came here because of my PTSD condition, even though I could have tried applying to other universities. But Brad has no apparent reason for moving back here.
“Our family is the poster child for strange.” Rami huffs. “He might be homesick?”
Maybe I can ask him or Dare to find out what’s behind Brad’s decision. No, no. I need to respect his privacy…right?
“Let’s focus on the fairy part right now.” Rami sits on the chair. “Tonight, Elly will have their first date.”
“How do you know about my date? And who’s Elly?”
“Ezra and Sully…Elly. It’s your couple name.”
“We have a couple name?” I’ve heard the ones Rami made up for the brothers, like Gabriz and Suri, but I never thought I’d get one.
“Are you still making them?” Michael sniffs with annoyance.
“They are kind of cute.” Sari is always encouraging.
“Lori told us about your special night. He had an emergency at work and was whining like a bitch ’coz he wanted to be the one tofairyyou away,” Rami explains. Of course it was him.
Michael stops the conversation by clapping his hands and then goes to open my closet. “Let’s see what we are working with here.”
I see Rami sending a kiss to the ceiling near my window. What the heck is he doing?
“Not much.” I mostly have baggy clothes. “I don’t even know where we are going.”
“Well, he won’t take you to Disneyland, that’s for sure,” Rami jokes.
“He would if Sully asked him.” Michael gives me a knowing look I’ve never seen him make before.
I go to stand near him, looking critically at my few garments. I have no idea what to wear. He starts pulling things out and putting them back, then out again. A few times, he shows it to Rami, who shoots it down with a shake of his head.
In the end, I wear a pair of tight jeans and a white cable-knit sweater they brought for me. They push me on the chair, and while Sari gives me a manicure, Michael styles my hair.
Rami is lying on my bed, one hand behind his head, putting on display his humongous bicep, and his feet crossed at the ankles. He’s looking at something on his phone when he asks, “When are you going to move to Ren’s?”
“Are you still moving there?” Sari raises a perfectly arched eyebrow at me.
“Yes.” I think.
