by Jerry Cole
Jo nodded again, twisting her lips. “I thought you were going to finish your master’s degree. Don’t you have another semester left?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I have another semester left before I finish. Like I said, though, I’m struggling to make ends meet.”
Jo cocked her head and frowned. “Don’t you want to finish it?”
Trevor heavily exhaled. He didn’t expect Jo, out of all people, to call him out on this. “Of course I want to finish,” he said. “I’m just…”
“I get it,” Jo said. “Listen. Let me do a couple of things here, okay? I’ll talk to Megan, maybe we can move your yearly review up a few weeks. You’re due one in about two months, right?”
He nodded. “Yep.”
“Step it up a bit, okay? I know things are really hectic for you right now, but I don’t think you’re going to get an amazing performance review if you keep on slacking.”
“Shit,” he said. “Have I been slacking?”
“I wouldn’t call it slacking,” Jo replied. “I just think you need to be careful because you’re going up against yourself and your last performance review.”
“Shit,” he replied, burying his head in his hands. “I didn’t know I was doing that poorly.”
She shook her head. “You aren’t doing poorly, you’re just—you’re burning out,” she said. “I’m worried about you. We all are.”
Trevor’s eyes widened as his heart started to beat quicker. “You’re all worried about me? Like everyone who works here?”
“I’m just—well, I didn’t want to say anything, but you’ve lost some weight,” she replied. “You have these bags under your eyes and you keep getting lost whenever you’re in a conversation with anyone. You’re normally so sharp. Have you not been sleeping?”
He shrugged. “Sleeping isn’t a problem,” he said. “I mean, finding time to sleep is a problem but actually sleeping isn’t a problem.”
“That sounds like a problem.”
“It’s not,” Trevor replied, more snappily than he meant to. He closed his eyes tightly. “I promise.”
“Hey, you don’t have to convince me,” she replied. “I think you need to reconsider it, okay? You may think you have all the time in the world but if you end up in the hospital or something—”
“I’m not ending up in the hospital,” he said. Despite how nice Jo had been, he was done with the conversation. He didn’t like the idea he was pushing himself too hard. He knew that, he thought about it sometimes, but it wasn’t as if he could do anything else. Talking to her about it was only making Trevor feel worse. He didn’t want to hear that everyone else could already tell he was falling apart. “My break is over. I should get back to work.”
She nodded. “Okay,” she said as she tied her blonde hair up in a bun. “You still want me to talk to Megan?”
“Yes, please,” he replied. “I should get back on the floor.”
He didn’t say anything else as he stood up and walked toward the door of the break room.
Chapter Five
Basil had been waiting for his sister for about twenty minutes when she finally showed up. It had been a few weeks since they had been able to meet up. She picked a restaurant in the city that had just opened up and Basil had never been to, which was good because he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to start this conversation. Since the restaurant was new, they would be able to talk about the food, the location, the decor, anything. He was already second guessing his plan. It had only occurred to him once he thought he would have to deal with Jennifer Burton again. He couldn’t think of anything worse than having another date with her. Actually, on reflection, having children with her would definitely be much worse.
He imagined the other Burton sister would be very similar to Jennifer. The idea of having children with anyone was scary, but the idea of having children with someone he didn’t even like took it from scary to terrifying. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been around children, and he didn’t know how he would be around them. His parents wanted grandchildren—Walker grandchildren—and they assumed Sage would be married before she ever had any children. They probably expected her to take her husband’s name.
Neither one of them knew Sage was a bisexual woman in an open relationship with a bunch of people who Basil could never remember the names of. Well, she had broken up with one of them. Or maybe it was all of them. Now she was seeing some girl called Amanda and that sounded intense, from what little Sage actually told him about her. She seemed like she was fun and Sage was struggling to keep up with her, something Basil didn’t even realize was possible until she described her new girlfriend at some length.
Maybe Sage would be receptive to his plan after all. He wanted to make sure she was on board with this, mostly because she would be truly instrumental in making it happen.
She waved at him from across the restaurant as she took her animal print scarf off. She sat down in front of him and flashed him a grin.
“Sorry,” she said. “I missed the first metro.”
“It’s cool,” he replied. “I’ve been looking at the menu for a while and I still have no idea what I want.”
“Are you even hungry?” she said, laughing. “You are looking down at that menu and you don’t seem to want anything at all.”
“I’m hungry,” he replied, closing the menu. “I am. I swear. I guess I’m just a little nervous.”
She cocked her head and licked her lower lip. “You’re nervous?”
“It’s just—you didn’t seem super excited about the idea when I called you,” he said. “The more time I’ve had to think about it, the less I want to do this, y’know? Like it was just a thought I had in a moment of madness and now, on reflection, it’s kind of…”
“Bananas?”
“Yes,” he replied, cracking a smile. “It’s a little bit bananas, I guess.”
“I’m still kind of confused about what you want to do,” Sage said. “You want me to talk to Trevor about what, exactly?”
He bit down on his lower lip and looked away from her. Now that he had to explain himself to her, he knew it would probably sound even more ridiculous than when he had first called her.
“Can we order food and then talk about it? Maybe I’ll feel more inclined to discuss this with you once I have a few drinks in me,” Basil said quietly.
“That kind of conversation, huh? Sure. I don’t mind getting you drunk. God knows I’ve done it plenty of times before.”
“You were always the irresponsible one,” Basil replied with a smirk.
She laughed, throwing her head back, her blue hair catching the dim electric light of the hanging wall lamp. She looked so good and so confident, like she was always about to laugh. Basil had always been jealous of her. She had been lucky enough to be born a girl so she didn’t have to bear the brunt of their parents’ expectations for an heir, one that would have the Walker surname until the day they died.
He knew, from comments he had only heard offhandedly, that his parents had tried to have more children after his sister was born. He also knew they had considered adopting. He never asked why they decided against it. All he knew was that he would have loved another sibling to run around with. The Walker mansion was never especially kid friendly, except for the grounds, where Basil and his sister were able to spend all the time they wanted provided that they finished their homework and the few chores that they had.
Things changed when they had reached their teens. It soon became clear the things that were expected from Basil weren’t the same things that were expected from Sage. He hadn’t had a point of reference back then and he had always thought it was normal for parents to tease their children a little bit about their romantic relationships but it was a lot more than that with him. His parents started setting him up on dates when he was about sixteen years old, though it was never outwardly spoken about as a date. He just did “activities” with heiresses, which included things that went from horseback riding to walks o
n the beach while they watched a sunset.
He’d had sex with a lot of those girls, but he had definitely never contemplated a future with even one of them. He certainly had a type but that had only become clear once he had gone off to college. His parents had secured a dorm room for him that was close to a sorority full of rich white girls, but he had fallen hard and fast for Katie after he met her at the library.
Of course, his parents hated her at first. When it became clear she was the only girl who Basil might be interested in having children with, they had become a little bit more open to her. Not much but enough. Then things had gotten fucked up with her, and his parents had gone back to hating her, probably for good reason. He didn’t like to think about it too much. The break-up felt just as much his fault as hers, but of course his parents didn’t see it like that.
He was already twenty-five and he knew his parents shouldn’t have this much of a say on who he was supposed to be settling down with. He had given them a chance, it had gone terribly. He didn’t want to think about it anymore.
“I may be the irresponsible one, but you’re still the one calling me for help with our parents,” she replied.
“You’re not wrong,” Basil replied, twisting his lips. He took his glasses off, wiped them on his jacket, and put them back on. He rarely fidgeted with his glasses, but it was just another thing that proved exactly how nervous he was and how this probably wasn’t a good idea at all. He put his glasses back on and tried for a smile. “Thank you for coming.”
“You’re welcome,” she replied. “Let’s get some food and then we can talk about it, huh?”
Basil nodded gratefully. They spent a while talking about the food. It wasn’t until it had finally arrived and Sage had her mouth full that she asked him again. “So, are you gonna tell me what’s going on or what?”
He shrugged. “I guess.”
“C’mon, you called me out here,” Sage replied. “You’re never in the city unless something is going on.”
“I feel like I should be offended by that,” he said.
Sage shrugged. “You shouldn’t be offended by it,” she said. “I’m just a little bit worried about you. You sounded a little distraught on the phone.”
“I’m not distraught,” Basil said, sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. “Actually, yes, I’m a little bit distraught. But you can’t tell Mom and Dad, okay?”
“Oh, yeah, because I already talk to them so much,” Sage replied. “Seriously, you’re making me nervous. This is about Trevor?”
Basil shrugged. “It might be about Trevor,” he said. “I mean, maybe. I’m not sure. It can be about someone else or it can be about him, but I just thought, I don’t know, I thought if anyone knew who to turn to for this kind of stuff it was you.”
“This kind of stuff?”
“You know,” Basil said, his voice dropping to a whisper. “Like getting a boyfriend so they stop bothering me.”
She smiled. “Let me get this straight,” she said. “You want to pretend to come out as gay so Mom and Dad stop telling you that you need to give them grandchildren?”
“Grandchildren with their last name, yeah,” he replied. “I know, it sounds so dumb and pathetic, but I’m kind of hoping it will be enough to get them off my back. At least for a couple of years.”
“Okay,” Sage said. “So, you’re going to hire someone to play your boyfriend, come out to our parents, and live a lie because you don’t want to have children?”
“I don’t know if I wanna have children, okay?” He was leaning over and whispering. He didn’t want anyone else to hear him and he wasn’t sure why. “The way I figure it, I have at least another good forty years before I decide whether I want to have children or not. But the thing is, Mom and Dad, they want to have Walker heirs now and the worst part is they want me to have babies with one of the Burton girls.”
Sage laughed, throwing her head back. “Not with Jennifer.”
“Yes,” Basil said. “With Jennifer.”
She cocked her head and bit her lips. “Oh my God, she was the worst of them.”
“You remember her?”
“Hell yeah I remember her,” Sage said. “She kept trying to get me to go to a purity ball with her when I was about thirteen. I think she was about sixteen? I’m not sure. She said it was really important and special, and I just thought it was weird as fuck.”
“So, you didn’t go?”
“To a purity ball? Nah,” she replied. “I mean, I’m pretty sure I would have burst into flames as soon as I stepped into the hallway or whatever, but I didn’t want to find out.”
Basil smiled. “She hasn’t gotten any more fun.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” she said. “There’s something wrong with that family.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Because our family is so normal.”
“Comparatively,” she replied, taking another bite of her food and then waving the fork in the air. “Though I guess that really isn’t saying much.”
“It really isn’t,” he said. “So, will you help?”
“It isn’t really up to me,” she replied, smiling. “Do you really want me to talk to Trevor about this?”
He twisted his lips. “I don’t know,” he said. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. I want to do this. I think this is the right thing to do. I just don’t know if there’s anyone that’s going to be up for it.”
“Are you going to pay him?”
“It is a job,” Basil said. “Of course I’m going to pay him.”
“But you’re not going to pay him to have sex with you, right?”
Basil’s eyes widened. “God, no,” he said. “I’m not—I’m not actually gay. You know that, right?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Sure, I know that.”
“So, will you talk to him?”
“Sure,” his sister replied. “Sure, I’ll talk to him. But I can’t make any promises. I mean, are you picky about who does this?”
“Not that picky,” he replied. “I just want someone who is easy to convince and is, y’know, gay and…”
She smirked when he didn’t finish his sentence. “And out and proud?”
“I guess,” he replied. “Do you think anyone would be interested?”
She looked him up and down and her smirk turned into a grin. “I can think of a couple of people, yeah.”
“Great,” he replied. “The sooner you do this the better. I really don’t want a repeat of the Jennifer Burton thing. Ever.”
“Yeah,” Sage said. “I don’t blame you.”
Chapter Six
Trevor tried his best to stay awake while watching the news, or whatever it was that was on, but it was hard to concentrate on anything. He was about to give in to his sleepiness when Sage sat down next to him and squeezed his shoulder lightly.
His eyes shot up and he tried to focus on her. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong,” she replied. “I brought you a beer.”
He smiled at her. “What do you want?”
“I don’t want anything,” she replied. “I mean, I just want to talk to you about something and then I’ll leave you alone.”
“Am I behind on a bill? Did we get another late notice?”
He reached out and grabbed the bottle of beer Sage was offering him and leaned over to grab the bottle opener they inevitably seemed to leave on the coffee table even though it technically belonged in the kitchen.
“We didn’t,” she said. “And you know, if we did, I would be more than happy to cover it.”
“Yeah, I know,” Trevor replied. “It doesn’t mean I want you to.”
“We’re not arguing about this,” she said. “Also, you look like shit. Why don’t you just go to bed?”
He laughed. “It’s like you don’t know anything about me,” he said. “Half the time, when I do get any sleep, it’s on this fucking sofa.”
“You have a perfectly good bed,” she said.
“I know,” he replied
. “I think the last time it saw any good action was a couple of years ago.”
“You mean like sex?” she replied, smiling at him.
“Nope, don’t think it’s seen that for years,” he said, grimacing. “God, I miss sex. I miss having a fucking life, y’know?”
“You don’t have to work this hard, Trev,” she said and squeezed his shoulder again, this time in what Trevor thought was meant to be a reassuring manner. He hated it. It felt wrong to take her money even though sometimes he didn’t feel like he had another choice. He knew she had the extra money and it was no skin off her nose, but he didn’t like relying on her. He didn’t like relying on anyone but himself.
“No, you don’t have to work this hard,” he replied, nudging her playfully. “I have to work as much as I gotta. What would my daddy say if I relied on a woman to pay my way through life? Wait, no. Don’t answer that.”
“I don’t think he’d be mad,” Sage said, obviously trying to stop herself from laughing. “Is he still not cool with you being gay?”
“It’s not that he’s not cool with it,” he replied. “He’s come to terms with it, y’know, over the last few years. He’s just not very enthusiastic about it.”
Sage smirked. “Does he want you to have cute babies who look like him?”
“Like him and my mom, I guess,” he said. “My sisters are still not going to have babies for a while, probably, and my parents are getting old.”
She cocked her head and narrowed her eyes. “So, would you have babies?”
“Like with a surrogate?” he asked, closing his eyes. It had been a long time since he thought about anything other than his career, at least when it came to his future. Having a child and a partner had never even crossed his mind. “I guess. I hadn’t really thought about it. Like maybe when I’m really rich and famous and I find some cute guy who’s willing to put up with my shit, I guess.”
They sat in silence as they both took sips of their respective beers. Sage had still not told him what she wanted and he didn’t want to push her. There was so little time they could spend together just hanging out with each other, even though they lived together.
