“We had a talk about figuring ourselves out,” Tean said.“I think a lot of this is a persona.”
“Great.I hope he figures out real quick how annoying the persona of diva bitch can be.”
Tean laughed, and for a moment, the heaviness of Jem’s smile lifted.Then Scipio hopped down from the couch and began to growl.A silver Impala was parked in the driveway, and Ammon was getting out of the front seat.He was dressed in jeans and a blazer over a tee.Either he’d started going back to the gym again, or the clothes simply fit him well.He’d cut his hair even shorter, so that it was barely more than a buzz.He looked middle-aged, and Tean thought with a flash of disbelief that they were, actually, the same age, and he wondered if that was how he looked.
“Not even close,” Jem murmured.
“Hm?”
“You don’t look like a raggedy old man like that,” Jem said.
“How did you—” But then Tean laughed.“Thank you.”
“Okay,” Daniel sang as he swished into the living room.“I’m ready.”
He was already a beautiful child; he always had been.And over the last couple of years, adolescence had started to strip back the baby fat to reveal hints of the man he’d be.But tonight, with his hair done to perfection by Jem, with makeup that accentuated his lips and cheekbones and eyes, he looked like an adult.Young, yes.And maybe even more beautiful.But impossible to pretend he was a child.
“Where’s your necklace?”Tean asked.
Jem flashed him a look that Tean couldn’t decipher.
With an uncomfortable shrug, and not quite meeting Jem’s gaze, Daniel said, “I didn’t want to wear it tonight.”He gave a turn, and the tulle skirt rose on the air.“How do I look?”
“Wonderful,” Tean said.
“Like you’re trying to get pregnant,” Jem said.
“Jem!”Tean said, but he couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him.
Daniel gave that huge grin again; then he swallowed it and, face set somewhere between mysterious and trying not to look flattered, said, “Good.”The happiness in his face faded, though, when he looked out the window.In a small voice, he said, “Can’t you take me?”
“Your dad’s doing this for you because he loves you,” Tean said.
Daniel’s shoulders dropped.“He’s going to talk shit about my makeup.He’s going to hate my clothes.”
“Fuck him,” Jem said.“Just ignore him.Get to the dance, have a great time, and don’t worry about what he thinks.”
Daniel nodded, but something like despair darkened his eyes.
“Come here,” Tean said.“I need to take a picture of you before you go.”
Thatmade the despair burn off into a familiar mixture of gratification and annoyance.“We don’t have time,” Daniel said.“I’m going to be late.”
“You shouldn’t have spent so long on your eyelashes, then,” Jem said.“Tean gets to take a picture of you.We’re your gay uncles.This is your first gay prom.Don’t be a little bitch about it.”
“While I appreciate the support,” Tean said, “maybe don’t call a child a bitch—”
“Fine,” Daniel snapped and flounced over to the closest wall.
“I called him a little bitch,” Jem said, “because he’s acting like a little bitch.”
“Just take the picture!”
It wasn’t quite that straightforward.Tean took a few pictures of Daniel—who had apparently gotten over his concern about being late and was now trying out various poses.Then he wanted a picture with Jem.And then Jem insisted they get a selfie of the three of them.
As soon as they finished, though, tension tightened Daniel’s body again.He stared at the floor, picked at the fairy lights, and shifted his weight from foot to foot.
“You’re going to have a great time,” Tean told him.
