They had a missed call and a voicemail from Noah that they hadn’t noticed when they’d snatched up their phone to call Charlie. Aspen pressed the phone back to their ear and started walking again.
“I actually do have a voicemail. I was going to call him next, but I’m almost home, so I’ll probably just tell him in person.”
They turned the corner onto their block, and Charlie went silent again. They were going to have to have a talk about this at some point, because this sort of thing made them incredibly anxious. Dani was the kind of person who needed a long time to process things, and sometimes she would go silent on the phone as well, but she’d tell them she was taking a minute or needed a second.
“You should probably listen to the voicemail,” Charlie finally said.
“Okay…or I’ll just ask Noah to tell me what it says?”
“Either way, you said you’re almost home? Will you call me back after you talk to Noah or listen to his message?”
Something was definitely wrong, but as Aspen pressed the button for the elevator, they couldn’t think about anythingexcept throwing their arms around Noah in his cozy, after-work wear. Aspen wanted kisses and snuggles, and to celebrate. Sure, things weren’t solidified yet, just like they hadn’t officially had the “what are we now” conversation to end their trial period, but Noah coming out as greyromantic had cleared up any lingering doubt for Aspen.
Noah was one of the loves of their life. For them, that did mean romantic love, but they had no problem that for Noah, it meant they were one of his platonic loves, because he told them so every day. Sometimes he said it out loud, whispered in bed or at the dinner table. Sometimes he said it in the way he always had their favorite foods in his pantry and knew everything from their favorite color of the month to how they took their coffee. He was constantly trying to better their lives, with subscriptions to interesting documentary channels, trips to museums, and, of course, bringing Rachel and Charlie into their shared lives. Noah was their ride or die, their sexy bed partner, and their forever friend. They would need to come up with a catchier title than that, but Aspen wasn’t lacking in creativity, so it was probably just a matter of time.
Now the only hurdle left for them to conquer was going home to see Noah’s family for the wedding. Anytime Noah went home, his parents' conditional and toxic love seemed to mess with his head.
As the elevator doors opened to their floor, Aspen swiped into their voicemail and held their phone up to their ear.
“Hey, Asp,” Noah said, and Aspen’s butterfly fluttered happily, even though Aspen thought there was something about Noah’s voice that didn’t sound quite right. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get you on the phone, and…I’m sorry I didn’t try to catch you in person this morning. This isn’t really how I want to tell you this, but…”
Noah coughed, a wet sound that he then tried to hide.
“My mom strong-armed me into coming home early for the wedding. There’s some conflict or whatever with one of the aunts and so… here I am.”
There was a lot of background noise, and Aspen was pretty sure he could hear gate announcements. Was ‘here’ the airport? Aspen pulled the phone back and saw the message was from a little under two hours ago. They put the phone back to their ear in time to hear Noah let out a muffled sob.
“I’m so sorry, Asp,” he said, and Aspen wanted to reach through the phone and hug him. Why was he sorry? Aspen didn’t love flying and had been looking forward to spending the flight curled up against Noah’s side, but they were capable of flying on their own. They’d just meet him there after their flight.
“You don’t… You can’t… My mom, uhm, cancelled your flight. She said that I could only bring a plus-one if I was in a committed relationship with them, and I… I just… I didn’t know what to say. You’re my forever friend, but I don’t… I’m never going to be what she would deem as a boyfriend or a partner for you or for Charlie. I think that that’s okay and…and I… It seemed like you think that’s okay, too? I really hope it’s okay.”
Aspen had arrived at Noah’s door, and they rested their forehead against it.
“Fuck, Asp, I…I love you so much. I want that to be enough, and maybe it is, but I just don’t know how to explain—and reallycan’texplain that to my mom. It’s never going to be enough for her, and I know that, which is why when she told me she’d already changed the guest list yesterday morning, I thought you could still come, and we could at least hang out. But then she texted last night that she’d refunded your ticket, and she insisted I use the credits to come out early and… It’s always just easier to agree.”
Oh God, their poor, sweet, twisted up Noah.
“I, uh…I was supposed to go walk dogs with Charlie. I already called and told him I can’t and how sorry I am, but…maybe you can go and spend the weekend with him. Or Rachel or whoever—obviously you can do whatever you want. I…I’m sorry, Asp.”
Noah broke down in tears again, and Aspen gripped the locked door handle tightly, as if they could will it to open and Noah would magically be on the other side.
“I love you,” Noah said hoarsely. “I’m sorry this happened before we could have our second talk, and I’m sorry I didn’t fight harder for you to be here. I’m just really fucking sorry, and I hope you’ll forgive me and that you have a great week and weekend. I, uh…I’d love to hear how the meeting goes at work. Fuck, I bet you’re probably doing that right now. I hope it goes really well, and you get to celebrate with Charlie. Maybe save some celebratory cake for m-me.”
Aspen was going to kiss the ever-loving crap out of this man, then shake him, and then kiss him again. Why was he running home to the family that made him feel like shit? He should be here, so they could go have celebratory cake with Charlie and figure out what the next steps were for him to officially take over the finances and take back control of his life. Instead, he was probably on a plane, heading home to be belittled, demeaned, and otherwise made to feel like he was anything less than the amazing man he was.
The voicemail had ended, but Aspen was still holding the phone to their ear, so they nearly jumped out of their skin when it started vibrating against their cheek. They swiped their thumb across the bottom, not even bothering to look at the caller ID.
“Hi, pumpkin. How did it go?”
“Charlie,” Aspen breathed before bursting into tears.
They’d done a pretty good job of not crying in front of Charlie yet. It wasn’t like there was anything wrong with crying. Aspen just did it a lot, and they knew it could scare some men.
“I know, pumpkin,” he soothed. “It wasn’t an easy voicemail to listen to. I don’t know if he sounded better or worse in yours, but he was crying all throughout mine.”
“He cried on mine, too. And nowI’mcrying on you.”
“That’s alright. Crying doesn’t bother me, it just makes me want to fix everything—for both of you.”
