“Yes, ma’am—”
“Lordy,definitelydon’t call me ma’am.”
“Uh, right.” Alexei looked over at Ben, who was hiding half his face under a palm, his eyes still doing that half-cringing, half-laughing thing. “Yeah, no, Miss C, don’t worry; I’m making sure your Benjamin is safe.”
He wasn’t quite sure what made him say that,your Benjamin. Maybe some semiconscious thought that by lengthening Ben’s name, he could impart the way Ben’s shortening of his own made him feel.
But as soon as he said it, he knew he’d made a mistake. Because Iris released a loudcluckof her tongue, and Ben’s eyes went wide. He waved his hands, shaking his head, his body language screamingAbort! Abort!
“Alexei, honey, can you put my dearest son back on the line, please?”
“Uh, sure, of course. Um, nice talking to you, Miss C.”
He threw the phone back at Ben like it was a hot potato, having no clue what was happening, but feeling a strange desire to giggle about it anyway.
“Ma, I—” Ben started, a hand dragging over his eyes. He was clearly cut off by the loud, fast crackle of noise coming through the receiver from Iris.
And then something remarkable happened, and any laughter remaining in Alexei’s throat died away.
Ben was talking to his mother in another language. It took Alexei’s brain a minute to remember what it was. Portuguese. Ben had said his family was Portuguese.
For some reason Alexei had never expected that Ben spoke the language, at least so fluently.
Alexei had studied Spanish in school, had been pretty good at it, as a mission trip to Central America had been scheduled in his future. Until he’d stumbled onto a Reddit thread about missionary work his senior year of high school that helped crystallize his own secret anxieties. Alexei barely even liked talking about his faith to people he knew, outside of youth group. It was personal, not something he wanted to sell, like the guys who always stopped by their house to convince them to change cable providers.
He had convinced his parents to let him delay the trip until after college. And then he kept promising, after college, that he’d do it soon, even though he knew he never would. But what was one more lie to his parents on top of everything else?
On the plus side, he still liked Spanish. And so Alexei thought he comprehended a few words of Ben’s Portuguese, here and there, but it was mostly like trying to understand a conversation through a cheese grater, rough and full of holes. Alexei had never heard anything so wonderful. Like the words were richer, their edges fuller, their loops swoopier, than anything that had ever reached Alexei’s ears before.
Ben caught Alexei’s eye and gave an eye roll.
Alexei wanted to put his mouth over Ben’s, open and hungry, and swallow down every syllable.
Eventually, Ben switched back to English, but Alexei was in such a fog by that point, he couldn’t follow the conversation then, either.
“You just made my mother’s entire day,” Ben said when he finally ended the call.
Alexei swallowed, his tongue feeling heavy in his mouth.Get a hold of yourself, Lebedev.
“How’s that?”
“My name’s Benedito, not Benjamin.”
The way he said that.Ben-uh-jee-tu.Alexei couldn’t get enough air in his lungs.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”
Ben laughed.
“Of course you didn’t know! Why the fuck would you know my name isBenedito? Anyway, the fact I hadn’t already told you my name was Beneditoclearlyshows my lack of respect for our culture and gave her a chance to go all Portuguese mother on me, so good work. She loves that shit.”
“Uh.” Alexei’s brain was rapidly losing the ability to form coherent sentences.
“And you called her Miss C!” Ben shouted. “So cute! God, she must have loved that.”
“Well. I wasn’t going to call herIris,” Alexei managed to say.
Ben laughed again, lifting a newly delivered beer to his lips.
