by Joy Penny
Nora spun around, practically knocking Brielle over. “When I’m eighteen, I can do anything I want.”
Their mom scoffed. “Sure. If you have the money to do it.”
“Oh, I will,” said Nora, heading to her room. “Because I’ll be certified multilingual and I’ll actually have a chance to get a good job, not be a floor scrubber!” She slammed the door behind her.
Brielle watched the closed door for a few moments, staring at it even after Nora blasted a Taylor Swift tune like a scene straight out of a movie. I was never that bad, was I? Brielle really didn’t think she was.
“Where’s your job offer, huh?”
For a second, Brielle thought her mom was shouting it at Nora in response to finding that “good job” because she’d be multilingual. (Multiple members of the Scrubbing Cherubs’ staff were multilingual—about half were immigrants—so Brielle failed to see the correlation.) But when she turned, she found her mom full-out glowering at her, like she’d just been the one to insult her mom’s business and make her scream about her marital failure.
“What?” she said, stunned, although the gears in her head were already turning to make sense of the question.
Her mom tossed her hands in the air and rolled her eyes. “The offer for the job you’re supposedly looking for. The job hunt that’s supposed to be your priority!”
Brielle was so taken aback, she actually took a step back. “I’ve been busy… Working…”
“Yeah, so have we all.” Her mom stepped over to the table to grab her phone and then snatched her purse off the counter along with her car keys. She sniffed audibly, obviously trying to stop herself from crying, but Brielle was too hurt to care much at the moment. Her mom left out the back door, letting it slam behind her almost as loudly as Nora’s bedroom door.
The steaming pot of pasta and the smaller pot splashed red with sauce sat lonely in the middle of the kitchen table as Brielle heard her mom’s car exiting out of the garage and driving away. (Brielle was relieved she’d parked on the street as usual, so her mom didn’t come back in in a foul mood demanding she remove her vehicle from her path.)
Brielle felt her own well of tears filling up and swallowed hard. Screw it, she told herself. I’m not letting her take it out on me.
She ignored the cooling dinner and went to her room to change before making her own getaway.
Staring at Archer play for almost an hour had been enough to empty her mind. In a good way.
Even from that distance, she could tell he looked really good bare-chested and covered in sweat.
Sitting back on the bench after he’d left without so much as a word, she stared after Archer, watching as he almost vanished from sight.
Some impulse raged in her. The same kind of impulse that had made her follow Daniel down his dorm room hall months after she’d already known he was bad news because he’d given her some look, said something halfway flirtatious, and she’d been lonely and tired from all of that studying and writing she’d been doing for weeks on end.
So it was a bad impulse, she knew, but she pushed the guilt down anyway and ran after her cantankerous client. “Archer!” she called more than once. She got louder as she picked up the pace in order to catch up to him.
Is he actually moving away from me faster now?
She hesitated, not wanting to bother him or break the tenuous working relationship they’d managed to hash out between them, not wanting to seem desperate.
Which after weeks—months of getting no action—she kind of had to admit she was.
Damn it, she thought. Please tell me I’m not turning into Lilac. Take away the endless assignments and constant research, though, and her brain did seem to wander to more sensual things apparently. Not that the job hunt was much less mentally taxing than school at this point.
Her foot caught a crack on the sidewalk and she stumbled, crying out.
Archer stopped and spun his chair around in time to see her hopping on one foot to regain her balance. “Hi,” she said after the fourth dorky hop.
“Hey,” said Archer. He was panting and looked like he’d just had a cooler of water dumped over his head. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, putting her hands behind her back and shuffling her foot. “I just…” She pointed back to the bench. “I was sitting back there and I saw you and I thought I’d… say, ‘hi.’” It sounded really stupid when she said it. “I didn’t know you’d be here—I mean, I know you live near here, but—”
“You didn’t think I’d be into park sports, considering the wheelchair?”
She shrugged. “No, not that. I mean… This is just the closest park to my place, too. And sometimes I just need some fresh air and peace, you know what I mean?”
She wondered if Archer really did know what she meant since he had his peace alone in his condo and seemed to find camaraderie here in the park.
He nodded, though, his gaze drifting off somewhere behind her. Brielle felt eager to fill the silence and said the first thing that popped into her head. The stupidest thing, she would soon think. “So… ‘Hot date’? That guy said you had a hot date.”
His face grew three shades darker and his Adam’s apple bobbed perceptively. “He was just kidding. Trash talk.”
Brielle wasn’t sure “trash talk” meant what he thought it meant, but she could certainly tell he meant the guy was teasing him. “Oh,” she said, interlacing her fingers in front of her abdomen. “That’s good.” Dumb, dumb, dumb.
He raised an eyebrow and looked into her eyes for the first time since he’d spun around. “It’s good I don’t have a hot date?”
“No! I mean… Of course not. I guess.” She laughed nervously.
“Well, I’ve never had one.” He swallowed.
“A hot date?”
“A date at all. Not really. Not if you don’t count a pity dance date in school.”
Brielle frowned. She hadn’t meant to bring up such an uncomfortable topic with him, hadn’t meant to insinuate anything. She supposed he was a bit old not to have been on a date—although Pembroke wasn’t much better, but she was a girl at least and guys typically didn’t patiently wait for “the one” to walk into their lives—but there was his disability to consider. It was definitely rude to question him further on that point. Maybe he couldn’t even… Maybe he didn’t want to date because of where it might lead and maybe he couldn’t go that far. Her own face darkened at the picture that had just popped into her head. It wasn’t her business anyway.
“I can… date,” he said as if reading her mind and deciding to censor her thoughts somewhat considering there were kids just a few hundred yards away. “I just… haven’t.” He cleared his throat. Then he laughed, his face stricken as if she’d caught him in an embarrassing admission. “It was always just easier not to try. I can’t even picture how I’d kiss a girl comfortably.”
Brielle’s cheeks blazed harder. “You’ve never been kissed?”
He stared at her. “Well, I mean… Not more than a peck on the cheek. From… relatives.” The ground seemed suddenly far more intriguing for him to look at. He was squeezing the life out of that shirt with both hands. Brielle was just glad he hadn’t thought to put it back on.
“Would you like to try?” Brielle could feel the heat on her breath. She knew she was being bold, knew this type of interaction was awakening something inside her she usually managed to keep hidden. God, if Lilac even knew, she’d never stop teasing me.
Startled, Archer jumped a little in place and looked around. “With who?”
Laughing, Brielle crossed one foot in front of her other one. “With me. I don’t exactly have permission to grant on behalf of anyone else.”
Archer tried to look up at her, but his gaze kept flicking to whatever he found so intriguing behind her. “When? How?”
She shrugged. “Right now.” She tentatively took a step forward and put her hands on either side of him at the edge of his armrests. They were shaking a little, but she coul
d feel that warmth surging inside her from that place below her stomach. She needed this right now. She needed to have a small taste of him. “Like this.”
There was no pulling away from her eyes when she was this close. He looked as surprised at what she was doing as anything.
“Would you like to?” she asked, breathless.
“Yes,” he said softly.
She leaned forward, tilting her head slightly as he turned his to let her that close. When she was sure she’d make a skilled landing, she closed her eyes and tapped her lips to his. They were a little chapped, a little rough, but they gave way to the slight pressure she put into the kiss as she deepened it. Her back and neck strained just slightly from holding the position leaning over him, but she dug her nails deeper into the sides of his armrests and pushed harder, parting his lips to let just the tip of her tongue inside him.
More, her idiotic mind commanded her. More. More.
But the screeching laugh of a child across the park reminded her of where she was, of her relationship—or lack thereof—with this man, and she pulled back, laughing. “Sorry,” she said as she let his chair go and took a step back.
He swallowed again and ran his fingers over his lips, almost like he was trying to catch the ghost of her kiss. It drove Brielle wild. She wanted to do it again. Wanted to lean in once more… Instead, she started walking backward, pointing over her shoulder. “So, yeah… Um. Yeah,” she said, her sex drive apparently shutting down the communication center in her brain. “I should get back. I left my purse at the bench.” She laughed at how obtuse that was of her, and what a dumb excuse it really was to walk away from a hot guy she’d just kissed. “See you. See you soon.” She pantomimed vacuuming. “When I come clean,” she added, in case he got the wrong idea.
She didn’t even wait to hear any response at all he might offer, just turned around and took off for the bench.
Fortunately, no thief had made off with her purse while she’d been gone. She didn’t have much cash in there, but it would have sucked to have to cancel her cards and replace her phone. Her phone buzzed almost as soon as she confirmed it was still in there—a video chat invite with Lilac and Gavin. She would have thought they’d be too busy with their hectic, really-grown-up lives to bother with it. But they were all freshly graduated—only the test of time would tell if they’d really stay in touch.
“Hey,” said Brielle, breathless, as she accepted the invite and their faces popped up on her phone screen. She had a sudden pang of how her mom would be mad if they went over family data plan limits, but it wouldn’t be long before she’d make her pay for her own plan regardless. Plus, her mom kind of deserved it right now.
“Bri!” Lilac reached out toward her phone camera and made smoochy noises. From the background, it looked like she was in her room at her aunt’s. “Help me!”
Her tone was whiny and not exactly panicked, so Brielle wasn’t concerned for her safety.
Gavin rolled his eyes. He was sitting on a couch. Brielle had to wonder if he actually had the place to himself for once. “Miss Big Bazongas is being harassed by Earl. Like that’s such a big surprise.”
“Earl?” asked Brielle, totally out of the loop, her mind still lingering on that kiss.
“The guy I work for at the resort.” Lilac pressed closer to the camera with a haggard face. She pinched her fingers together. “He’s this close to like dropping a pencil in front of me and touching my butt when I’m bent over to pick it up, I’m telling you.”
“Gross,” said Brielle and Gavin at the same time.
“But he’s like… He’s walking that line perfectly. Making me feel uncomfortable without ever giving me anything I can actually complain to anyone about.” Lilac sighed. “And actually, I don’t even know who to complain to since, like, he’s my boss and I don’t know who his boss is.”
“Tildy Tapir,” said Gavin, entirely unhelpfully.
Lilac scoffed. “I’ll be sure to file my complaint to Ms. Tapir—right before I hop over to Disney World like a traitor and tell Gaston how my best friend back home first thought he might be gay when he fell madly in love with his two-dimensional six-pack.”
“You were in love with the villain?” asked Brielle. Okay, he was hot for a cartoon, but she’d pictured Gavin as the more innocent type.
“He was fine as hell and he could sing like a badass. So sue me.” Gavin shrugged. “I wore out that DVD so much, it got to be I could only watch Beauty and the Beast with my sister or at Grandma’s if I didn’t want to risk raising my parents’ suspicions.”
Because only a gay guy could like Disney, princesses, or musicals? Not for the first time, Brielle felt so sorry that Gavin had grown up with people like that.
Lilac massaged her temple. “Gav always has the worst taste in men.”
Gavin gestured to the screen with both hands. “Says Earl’s new girlfriend.”
“Don’t even,” said Lilac, shaking her head. “Besides, if I’m going to be anyone’s new girlfriend, it’s going to be the guy in a Silly Sandgrouse suit.”
“You’re joking, right?” asked Brielle.
Lilac laughed. “Only half-joking. He’s pretty hot once you get that doofus head off.”
“There are actual live Gastons walking around the much better park next door”—Gavin held a finger up so Lilac wouldn’t jump in to correct him—“and you’re telling me Silly Sandgrouse is hot. Reality check, Li.” Gavin brushed his bangs out of his face.
Brielle sat down on the bench once more, ready for a long conversation. “So how’s your love life, Gavin?”
Lilac snorted. “Don’t ask.”
Brielle cocked her head. “That bad?”
“That good,” said Gavin, grinning mischievously.
“Okay, now I want to know more,” said Brielle, devoting her entire attention to the phone.
Gavin shrugged and avoided her gaze. “My roommates have a date here almost every night.” He looked up and gestured back and forth with his hands as if tabulating the numbers. “Okay, between them, there’s been a guy here every night.”
Brielle winced. “You must be getting a lot of sleep with all that… activity.”
Gavin stuck out his tongue like he was about to gag. “Yeah, well… One of their ‘dates’ decided to hang on my couch with me before heading off to the bedroom.”
“Please tell me you didn’t hook up with someone your friend brought over to bang,” said Brielle.
Lilac gasped and giggled.
Gavin raised and lowered both of his hands in turn like he was weighing his options. “Is it really so bad if he didn’t make it to the bedroom and decided to take me out for coffee instead?”
Lilac rested her chin on both hands and stared dreamily into the phone. “Aw, coffee. Not a drink. Not the bedroom, but coffee… Sure.”
“I don’t exactly have a bedroom to invite a guy to,” said Gavin matter-of-factly. His voice lowered. “Until I settle in permanently, I have to entice a guy to invite me back to his place.”
Lilac laughed and clapped her hands. “So innocent, this one.”
“Besides, I’m not a one-night-stand kind of guy. So excuse me if I wanted to get to know him a little better.”
Brielle could feel her face flushing. She wasn’t exactly comfortable discussing her friends’ love lives in this much detail. “How’s the job, though? Think you’ll have an offer by the end of the summer?”
Gavin’s face soured. “I don’t know if I want an offer. I’m thinking of this as a resume-booster and hitting the classifieds in a few weeks to see if I can find something else in Chicago.” He made the hitchhiker’s thumb movement. “Otherwise, I’m just out of here.”
“Oh, but what about coffee guy?” cooed Lilac.
“Shut it,” said Gavin, but he was suppressing a smile.
“Why?” asked Brielle, confused. “I thought you were really excited about working there.”
“His boss is a huuuuugggeee asshole,” said Lilac. “Like, we’ve
been having a competition for whose boss is the bigger asshole all week.”
Gavin pointed at the screen. “No, you win that, hands-down. If Gabriel starts grabbing my ass, maybe there’ll be an actual comparison.” He pinched his lips together, thinking. “No, even then, you’d win. I don’t know if Gabriel is married or not, but at least he’s hot.”
Lilac covered her mouth. “Oh my god, you never told me he was hot!” That seemed to make an actual difference to her.
“Anyway,” said Gavin. “Bri, you’ve barely told us what’s up with you. How’s your week been?”
Brielle shrugged, not sure how much to say. “Not much going on. I’ve been cleaning. I’ve applied for a few jobs. My sister and mom are at each other’s throats just about every day.” She shrugged again. “I… Well…”
Lilac grabbed a decorative pillow from off-screen and hugged it. “Oo, please tell me this is boy-related.”
Gavin shushed her and Brielle felt herself blush even deeper.
“It is!” said Lilac.
“Not really,” said Brielle. “I mean, this guy I clean for is kind of super sort of gorgeous.”
Gavin shook his head quizzically. “‘Kind of super sort of gorgeous…’” He laughed. “That’s even better than the compliments you first paid Daniel when he caught your interest.”
“Don’t remind me.” Brielle huffed.
Lilac pounded her pillow. “Details, details!”
Brielle shrugged again. “Nothing to tell. I clean for him. We had a misunderstanding the first day and I thought I would die from embarrassment, but… We’re cool now, I guess?” She didn’t want to tell them about that kiss. Nope, she really didn’t want to keep thinking about that kiss.
“What kind of misunderstanding?” asked Lilac.
Brielle tapped a finger to her cheek. “He’s in a wheelchair and he was grumpy about me seeing his comic book art and I just… sort of crossed some boundary with him? I don’t know.” Ha, speaking of crossing boundaries…
