“Well… No, I guess not,” Isaak admitted.
“And you liked hanging out with everybody at the party, right?”
“Yes, of course I did,” he said. I remembered a conversation I’d had about him with Aspen, where he’d talked about how he’d felt bad for Isaak, being that he was kind of lonely and didn’t feel like he fit in anywhere with the grad students.
“So now you kind of have an excuse, in that you already know me from before university,” I offered. “Not that you needed one or anything. I don’t think anyone is going to care if you come play board games and watch movies with us sometimes.”
“That’s… That’s so nice of you,” he managed to stutter out, eyeing the pair of us with wide eyes, looking positively gooey with gratitude. I couldn’t believe what a sensitive marshmallow he was. I hoped hanging around with our weird little group could possibly toughen him up a bit or at least pump up his self esteem. “Thanks. It really means a lot.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I assured him. “It’s definitely a more the merrier situation,” he added, before my dad came up behind us.
“Excuse me,” he said, smoothly untangling Aspen’s arm from mine and tugging him away. “I need to borrowthisfor a moment.”
Glancing back at them, I saw he was already quickly leading Aspen toward the other side of the room. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion, but before I could chase behind them, Isaak piped up.
“You really don’t think your friends will mind about some new random person popping in?” He asked, wringing his fingers together in obvious anxiety.
“Ah, no,” I answered quickly, nearly cursing when I lost sight of Aspen in the crowd. “No one’s going to mind. You met Arie and Che, yeah?”
“And Cyprian, Ren, and Maddox, too,” he said. “At that party we all went to.”
“Mm, yeah, that’s everybody,” I acknowledged, distracted as my eyes darted around the room for where they’d gone. “You’ll fit right in. You probably play video games, right?”
“Yeah!” He said, for once sounding somewhat enthusiastic.
“Great. Aspen and Ren will have you queueing up with them in no time. Che, too.” Where the hell were they?
“You really think so?”
“Totally.”
At that moment, the band finished their jazzy little upbeat number and put down their instruments for a break. My dad stepped up onto the raised platform and asked for everyone’s attention, with Aspen looking mortified by his side.
“Ah, yeah, I need to go check on what’s going on over there,” I told Isaak, and he nodded.
“O-oh, yeah! Of course.”
I hurried off, trying to squeeze through the crowd, who had now all stopped dancing and socializing to look at the stage. My dad was already yapping about how he’d started in an entry level mail room position at a consulting firm at the age of 22, right outof business college. I’d heard it before, and so had probably most of the people in the room. But the story branched off into a segue regarding my boyfriend, as he gestured over to Aspen.
“I know most of you have already met my son’s wonderful partner here, Aspen Davis,” he said, giving him a firm pat on the back, before launching into an explanation of how Aspen’s story reminded him of his own, and how he was working hard and finding a way to thrive, despite not being handed any advantages in life.
When I got close enough to the stage that I could lock eyes with Aspen, I gave him a questioning look. He moved his shoulders in a shrugging motion, obvious confusion and slight horror in his expression. I knew the last thing he would ever want in life was being dragged up onto a stage for everyone to stare at, like a zoo animal. And he clearly had no clue what any of this was leading up to, same as me.
“And that’s why it’s the perfect time to announce that Vane Corporation is in the process of forming a new nonprofit arm that will focus on providing financial aid for transgender youth in need of support and gender affirming healthcare.”
Aspen’s eyes widened, his gaze dragging over to stare into Faulkner’s side as applause and cheers rang out around us. A few bright camera flashes went off, from people involved in the press who’d be reporting on the announcement, I knew.
“And I would love to take this moment,” he went on, turning to speak directly to Aspen instead of at the crowd. “To officially offer you the position of program coordinator for the nonprofit, once you’ve graduated from Byron Bay University.”
“Oh,” Aspen answered, looking completely fucking shell-shocked. “I…”
The crowd was quiet, watching the two of them so intently.
“We’d be headquartered right here in the city, and you could start right out of school.”
“W-well, I…”
Recognizing that frantic look in Aspen’s hazel eyes, I cleared my throat, hurrying up the steps of the stage and coming in close behind him, rubbing my hands over his arms to snap him out of it.
