Anaise and Carey remain staring at each other, neither wanting to be the first to budge.
“Wait.” Austin says. “What’s going on?”
Without taking his eyes off Anaise, Carey answers. “I’m just wondering when you guys are gonna tell us you’re together.”
“W-what? W-we’re not.”
“You know he’s got a crooked dick, right?” I laugh, pointing to Austin with my thumb.
Anaise spins her head in my direction. “Yeah. We’ve all been friends since high school. And considering how much you and Eden love to talk about it, I was well aware.”
“Wait, wait.” Carey holds up his hands. “I’m gonna need details.”
“Well…” Anaise cocks her head to the side as Austin sinks into the couch. “Austin’s dick is… I wouldn’t say crooked. It’s more… perfectly curved. You know what I mean?” She gestures with her hands and Carey nods, totally enthralled. “It makes me come real good when I let him get it from behind…”
Austin chokes on his beer, and I crack up laughing. I know Anaise is just trying to spite me, but Austin’s reaction means I could care less.
“…And, with how obsessed Tek and your brother have been with his dick all these years, it really comes as no surprise that both of them are… well…”
I stare straight at her. “Well, what?”
Anaise stares right back at me. “Everyone in Broadrock already knows about Eden’s mystery man. It was a shock, if I’m being honest. But, what shocks me most, is that the pair ofyouare still trying to pretend like there’s nothing going on.”
With a smug grin, Carey crosses his arms and sits back. He kept up his end of the bargain, that’s for sure. He dropped a bomb, and is just sitting back to watch the aftermath.
I lean forward, resting my forearms above my knees. “How long have you known?”
Austin jolts upright. “Wait? So it is true?”
Anaise smiles. “Say it, Tek.”
“How long have you known?”
“Since New Years.”
That long? Wow.“We weren’t together then.”
Anaise leans forward to copy my position. “But therewassomething going on?”
I keep looking at her without saying a word. It’s not because I don’t want to, it’s because I thought I was being discrete.
Anaise giggles because she knows she’s won. Not that it's a competition. “This one.” She gestures to Carey, “Wasn’t even trying to hide it. But you… I think the harder you tried, the more obvious it was.”
My face goes blank, and I sink back. Every interaction I had with Carey during the week at my parents house floods back to me.
I thought I was hiding it.
I thought I was doing well.
“H… How?”
“You mean other than the fact Carey’s been living here almost a month?” Anaise stands, then squeezes herself in between Austin and I on the couch. Leaning her head on my shoulder, her voice goes soft. “I’ve known you for twenty years. I know better than anyone what you’re like when you’re in love.” From the corner of my eye I can see Carey’s head swivel towards me, and even without looking, I know he’s got a shit-eating grin plastered across his face. “You’ve shunned connection for so long… It’s been, what? thirteen years since Miri passed—” Anaise claps her hand over her mouth.
I squeeze her leg. “It’s fine. He knows. He knows everything.”
Austin leans forward. “But I don’t. Who’s Miri?”
Anaise puts her hand on top of mine. “She was my girlfriend in college.” Carey shuffles his foot towards me, and I cross mine over his, wrapping them at the ankle. “The three of us were on our way back from a party and we got hit by a drunk driver, and she… she didn’t make it.”
