7
“Hey,” I say with a forced smile. My voice is lost to the music, and Keri’s eyes dart from me to Hasan. Robert looks down at his drink, refusing to meet my eyes. They think they just caught me cheating. Dammit. I don’t want to care what others think. I shouldn’t have to explain myself. I’m a grown woman and I’m free to do whatever I want.
But I don’t want anyone to think I’m a cheater. I’m so far from that and I have no tolerance for those who do cheat. How the hell do I explain this?
“Did you break up with your boyfriend?” Keri asks, eyes narrowing ever so slightly. She takes a step forward, needing to be closer to talk since the music is so damn loud. She has no tolerance for cheating either, which makes me like her a little bit more.
“No,” I start, swallowing hard. “We’re still together.” I’m internally wincing so hard my stomach hurts right now. “This is my other boyfriend, Hasan. We’re, uh, in an open relationship…together.” With a set of twins, but that’s neither here nor there.
“Oh,” Keri exclaims, eyebrows going up. She runs her eyes over Hasan and then looks at me. She leans in, smiling. “You have to share your secret with me. Two hot boyfriends?”
I laugh, and the song playing comes to an end. A live band is coming onto the stage next, and we have a few minutes before the music starts up again.
“Hi, I’m Keri.” She extends her hand for Hasan to shake, and then introduces Robert. “Do you two work together as well?”
“In a sense,” I say, wanting to keep the lie as simple as possible. Now that she knows I’m not cheating, I don’t need to go any further with this. I have more than one boyfriend. It’s not traditional, but we live in modern times and having several partners isn’t unheard of anymore.
“You look familiar,” Robert tells Hasan, tipping his head slightly. “I don’t think we’ve met before, have we?”
“No,” Hasan answers. “I don’t think so.”
“He gets that a lot,” I blurt, thinking there’s no way anyone could recognize the guys from their stone figures. They do have similarities, but when they are gargoyles, they don’t look human anymore. “I think it’s because he looks like Jason Momoa.”
“Ohhh, you’re right!” Keri takes a sip of her drink. “We’ll let you enjoy your night. We’re supposed to meet another professor and his boyfriend for drinks.”
“Have fun,” I tell her with a smile.
She rolls her eyes and laughs. “I’m thrilled to sit there and listen to the guys talk about history. I’ll see you later.”
“Bye!” I watch them leave and turn back to Hasan, letting out a breath. “That wasn’t as awkward as I thought. Those are our neighbors, the ones who had the party Jac and I went to last night.”
“Oh, now I understand why she looked surprised.”
“Having more than one boyfriend or girlfriend is more acceptable now than it was a few years ago, but it’s still a bit out of the norm.”
“Interesting. Why do people care what you do behind closed doors when it doesn’t hurt anyone?”
“Now that’s a good question, and one I can’t really answer.”
My phone vibrates with a text. It’s Tiffany, saying they’re here. I stand, looking through the crowd of people and waving to her once she sees me. She’s all dolled up, and I had no idea she put that much effort into her appearance when she’s not at work. Which is kind of sad, considering we’ve worked together for years and I’ve never hung out with her outside of going to get food on our way home from work.
“You look great!” she tells me, sliding into the booth across from me.
“So do you!” I say. “This is my boyfriend, Hasan. Hasan, this is Tiffany and her husband Chen.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Tiffany says with a smile. “Have you guys been together long? Ace is very tight-lipped about her personal life at work.”
“Not too long,” he says. “But long enough.” He smiles when I look at him.
“How’s Mavis?” I ask Tiffany.
“Good. She’s with my mom and it’s so nice to get a night away. That sounds terrible, doesn’t it?”
We laugh and order drinks, then get an appetizer to share. Tiffany is right, a night away from responsibilities is fun. We stay at the bar for over an hour, and then take a walk around the block together. Hasan holds my hand, looking at the bright lights of the city with bewilderment. We pass by a homeless man and Hasan comes to a dead halt, looking down at the old man.
“Hasan?” I take a step back to him.
“Why doesn’t anyone help him?” he asks, deep voice low, and I’m reminded that he and Jacques were some of the few who joined the Knights with the genuine mission to help God’s people.
