"Let's go ahead and post it, honey," I said after hanging up. "They're almost back to their house."
Five minutes later, we sent a group text to Matt, Tony, and Josh to let them know we'd released it. Nico did the same for his family, and I sent one to my family, Aunt Ellen, and James. For the next thirty minutes, our phones both went off constantly with incoming texts and phone calls.
Nico had wandered into the other room to talk to his parents and his Nonna on speakerphone when Matt called me to check in. I told him about the other article and questioned him about his black eye. He was weirdly evasive about it, so of course, I started guessing.
"Were you mugged?"
"Nope"
"Tripped over the dog?"
"I don't have a dog."
"Sleepwalked into a door?"
"I don't sleepwalk. I don't think I do anyway, so nope."
"You pulled your covers up, your hand slipped, and you socked yourself in the eye?"
"What? I don't think that's possible, so nope."
"It's definitely possible. Please don't ask me how I know that. Hmmm, oh I know! You hurt yourself during some kind of kinky sex thing?"
I heard a strange kind of choked inhale on the other end...then nothing.
"Matt? You OK there?" I heard him breathing, but he wasn't saying anything. Oh my God, he wasn't saying anything!
"Oh shit, that's it, isn't it???" I shrieked. "What were you doing? I mean, who were you with? Oh my God, did it involve a sex swing?"
"What? No...it wasn't...we weren't...what???" Matt was apparently in the midst of some kind of fit on his end because he couldn't seem to get his brain to work properly.
"Come on, Matty, you can tell me," I wheedled.
"You can't tell Nico,” He warned, "at least, not yet."
"Why? It's not like he would care unless it's something really embarrassing. Did you slip in a puddle of lube?"
"Shit, Allie, where do you come up with this stuff? Sex swings and puddles of lube? What the fuck are you two doing over there?" he asked, laughing.
"Nico won't care, come on, just tell me already. Who, what, and how?"
Matt stopped laughing, and he said in all seriousness, "Nico will definitely care, Allie."
"Why on earth would - Oh my God!!!" my question died off as I realized why Nico would care. "Becca? Oh, fuck me, you were with Becca????" I whisper-shouted, stunned at the realization that Matt and Nico's little sister...oh shit! Yeah, Nico was definitely going to care about this.
"OK, don't freak out. We're going to tell him. I mean, we aren't going to tell him about how I got a black eye - we're never telling him that - but we are going to tell him that we're together. We're just waiting for the right time, after all this mess with you two dies down."
"You're together-together? Not just friends with bennies, but actually together?" I tried to keep my voice down. I did not want to have to explain any of this to Nico. Not my circus, not my monkeys, to quote one of my favorite mugs.
He sighed and gave a slight chuckle. "Yeah, we're together-together, babe. We have been since her birthday party."
"Oh shit, well, Nico may not be all that surprised. He caught you, and I quote 'eye-fucking my little sister' when you two got out of the pool that day. Wow. So, it's serious then?"
"She's moving in with me soon and I'm willing to risk my best friend kicking my ass and breaking up the band, so yeah, I'd say it's pretty fucking serious."
"Wait a minute, if the band breaks up, it will be your fault, not mine, so that means you would be Yoko. No, you would John and Becca would be Yoko. Right? Then Nico is Paul, Tony is George because of - "
"Could you focus for a second, Allie? My life and livelihood may depend on this," he interrupted with a nervous laugh that sounded way too forced.
