“I like him,” she said.
Ben blinked. Breathed out slowly.
“Yeah.” He bit the inside of his cheek. “Me too.”
“I know I already told you that, but wow, he is even more handsome and quiet and adorable than I expected.”
A grin appeared on Ben’s face out of reflex, but he could barely feel it. “Yeah.”
“It’s about time you found yourself someone who isn’t an asshole. Plus, I don’t know if any of your exes looked at you the way he does.”
Ben glanced at Alexei, who was leaning against London’s Tesla.
He knew how Alexei looked at him. But out of some sense of masochistic misery, he asked anyway.
“How does he look at me?”
“Like you hung the moon. Like you’re the most important person in the universe.”
Ben remained silent.
Julie nudged his shoulder with her own. Before she walked away, she said softly, “And you deserve that, Ben.”
***
The Caravalhos’ house in East Nashville was small but tidy, full of worn carpet and packed bookshelves. London and Dahlia’s apartment in 12 South, in contrast, was the epitome of hipness. Full of high ceilings and hardwood floors, it flowed from the modern kitchen, full of sleek, top-of-the-line appliances, into an open, comfortable living area. In the middle of it all, next to a long wall of exposed brick, sat a baby grand piano.
“Whoa,” Alexei said when he saw it.
“Right?” Dahlia tossed over her shoulder as she walked toward the kitchen island. “Picture me, the first time I walk into this place, and London has somehow neglected to mention they own ababy grand. Like it was normal.”
“You can move out anytime you want, you know,” London said.
“True, but Gary down the hall would miss me. You know he needs someone to remind him to take his pills. Does anyone want anything to drink? Snacks?”
“Dahlia,” Julie groaned, flopping onto a love seat. “We literally, only moments ago, stopped stuffing our faces.”
Khalil, Reina, and Laynie had other responsibilities they had to get to after brunch, but Alexei hoped he would see them all again soon. He wasn’t sure what exactly had made him so comfortable at brunch. Maybe it was the fact that he was a person who danced to pop music at parties now. Who had rough, satisfying sex afterward. Who had a beautiful man who was in love with him.
Maybe it was simply because all of Ben’s friends had been so kind. They had asked him questions, included him in the conversation. They were all so interesting, so different from each other. Alexei had gathered they all connected from different points in Ben’s life—Julie and London, from childhood; Khalil from high school and then as roommates after; Laynie had worked with Ben at the coffee shop before nursing school. Reina and Dahlia were new. But they all still seemed so intrinsically linked, if only from enjoying each other’s company. Alexei had never experienced friendship quite like that. Friendship that wasn’t dependent on shared faith.
Alexei did miss that. Being around people who shared his faith. When he’d stopped going to church after coming out to his parents, he’d dropped out of the church community entirely. Assumed no one he knew from that circle would want to associate with him anymore anyway. He still wasn’t exactly sure how to find that kind of community now, at least in a way that felt healthy.
But he had liked Ben’s friends. Alexei had liked brunch.
“Incorrect,” Dahlia said. “We stopped eating at least an hour ago. Totally room in our stomachs for snacks now.”
The group congregated in the kitchen. Alexei leaned against the granite-topped island. Almost immediately, the back of his neck prickled. He turned his head. And almost jumped.
“Oh,” he said.
A small creature with long hair in a mixture of colors stared dully back at him. With one eye. And an abundance of teeth.
“You found Schnitzel!” Julie said.
Dahlia turned from where she’d had her head stuck in the refrigerator and hustled back to the kitchen island. “Schnitzel!” she admonished in a loud whisper. “Daddy London’s going to make us give you away if you keep doing this!”
“Just”—London raised an exasperated hand to their forehead—“how does he even get up there?”
