“It’s not that simple,” Felix said, which was obviously true. If hecould,he would have.
“Can we eat?” Aiden asked. “Not that I’m not interested in what Felix has to say, just that I might die before he says it.”
“Eat,” Mom said, taking charge of the table. “We’re listening, honey, but you’ll feel better on a full stomach.”
I helped Felix to a handful of roast potatoes before I even grabbed my own. He needed the comforting carbs, fat, and salt more than I ever could.
When we’d talked about this over lunch yesterday, I hadn’t realized what a big deal it was to him.
“At the risk of freaking Kieran out,” Carter began. “I could’ve used a book with a bisexual protagonist when I was a teenager.”
“Why would that freak me out?” I asked, managing to grab the last two potatoes for myself once everyone else had theirs.
“The sheer amount of time we spent sleeping in the same bed,” Carter said, deadpan.
“Wait, what?” Felix asked from beside me.
“Platonically,” I clarified. “We used to have sleepovers, Carter had a double bed.”
“Yeah, no, that’s normal,” Morgan said. “Shared a bed with Aiden a bunch of times.”
“How did you bothfit?” Devin asked, looking between the two of them as though he was trying to piece them into one bed like it was a game of Tetris.
“Double bed, and we used to be smaller,” Aiden said.
“Don’t pretend like we never had naptimes together,” I said, smiling at Felix. “Dunno why you’d think that’d freak me out.”
“Maybe I was getting off on it?” Carter said.
“Were you?” I asked, suddenly curious. Aside from that one kiss we’d both tried—and kind of hated—I’d never thought about whether or not Carter was attracted tome.
Especially not since Aiden was apparently his type, and aside from a little family resemblance, we couldn’t have been more different.
“No, but…”
“You’re straight,” Morgan said. “Straight guys are weird about stuff like that. Generally. I figured you’d be cool, always have been before.”
“Thank you, Morgan,” I said. “I think.”
“Do you put up with this every Sunday, Mrs. Goode?” Felix asked, turning to Mom.
Clearly, he was making a play to be her favorite of the week.
She’d always liked him—a lot—so he could have justexisted, and that would’ve been enough to give him a better than even chance. He’d already brought flowers, he was leagues ahead of any of us.
“No, honey,” Mom said, smiling wryly. “The boys take turns hosting now. Aiden and Carter are up next week.”
“Which you’re also invited to, if you’re still in town.”
“Oh, umm…” Felix looked around the table, clearly surprised. “I think I will be. I’d love to. Thank you.”
The conversation moved on from Felix’s books and who’d slept in who’s bed and who was bi-curious when they were a teenager, which was kind of a relief. For Felix’s sake, I wanted him to feel welcome, and normal, and like he was just taking up his old place as a permanent fixture in this family, like Carter and Morgan.
“These potatoes are still incredible, Mrs. Goode,” Felix spoke up as he started in on his last one. “I think I’d actually forgottenhowgood.”
Mom glowed with pride, Felix having sealed his claim on thefavorite sontitle for the week.
That was fine. He clearly needed the boost, and I hoped I was helping. All I wanted was to see him happy, and I was still haunted by the exhausted, shivering Felix I’d found yesterday.
