Pretty Sweet - Christina Lee Page 0,8

Dane’s brother-in-law.” My heart was thudding, and my cheeks immediately spiked with heat. It was silly that I had this reaction around a cute guy, but I’d been the same way on Thanksgiving, when I originally met Jake. He’d been kind, even though he hadn’t even said much to me that night, but I’d been like a teenager around my first crush. “Yeah…Jesse…”

“I thought your name started with an S,” Jake said.

“You guys know each other?” Bonnie asked as I got even more embarrassed.

“No, I mean Jesse. He’s my roommate; well, he was my roommate, but now he’s moved in with Dane. They got an apartment. Anyway, Jesse is my friend, which is why Dane invited me over, and Seth. I’m Seth.”

Oh God. I. Was. An. Idiot. Could I babble any more?

“Wow, that was a mouthful,” Bonnie said, placing her hand on my shoulder.

“Do you think I could possibly have one of those beers now?”

4

Jake

Christ, this kid can ramble.

Come to think of it, Seth seemed as flustered as he did on Thanksgiving, so I’d go with the idea of him being flustered from meeting new people. Though from what Mom had told me of his volunteer work, he was pretty sociable and popular with the residents, so maybe it depended on the audience. What trouble could a bunch of retirees give him?

Seth was wearing a backward baseball cap and eyeliner, which made me zero in on his blue irises. He was a lot smaller than me in build, but I shouldn’t have referred to him as a kid; most likely, I only had three or four years on him. He was definitely an adult but presented younger—more naive, maybe?—with those pouty lips and round cheeks, and why the hell was I having a running commentary on this guy?

I’d done the same at Thanksgiving because there was just something about Seth—shy and sweet but also a bit reserved, sort of like a wounded animal, which was probably shitty to think of someone, but it only made me curious about his background again.

“It’s so wild that you know my mom,” I said to stop the blathering inside my head.

“Small world, I guess,” he replied, his cheeks still flushed. “But yeah, she’s…she’s great.”

I smiled because the fact that he liked my mom earned him extra brownie points. “She is.”

“You boys are too sweet. Thank you,” Mom said with a shy smile that almost matched Seth’s.

He motioned toward the kitchen. “I, uh, brought some beer, but I didn’t know if you—”

“I like a nice beer.”

Mom opened the fridge and handed me a bottle of some cider shit. I wasn’t a fan of the fruity kind, but he was nice enough to bring it, so I twisted the cap and made do.

After a couple of swallows, I opened the cupboard to reach for the dishes and began setting the table, which was the least I could do since Mom cooked for us. When Seth motioned to me, I handed him the silverware, and he got right to work helping out. My immediate impression was that he liked to keep moving, or maybe it was nervous energy from being in a new setting.

Once I set the trivets in the center of the table, I helped Mom pull the roast from the oven and motioned for Seth to take a seat across from me. “Mom says you play the piano and do the residents’ makeup?”

“Yeah, they seem to love it,” he replied, and Mom smiled at him over her shoulder. “I, uh, like to be involved in a little bit of everything.”

Something about the way he said it made me pause. He definitely sounded skittish, and I recognized that all too well. Is that why Mom befriended him? Kindred spirits?

Okay, none of my business.

“Come to think of it, I remember Dane mentioning that you work with him at…what’s it called now?” I tried jogging my memory from the last time I was over at Mark’s to shoot the breeze with a couple of beers. Dane had stopped by to visit his niece, and we got caught up on the porch.

Seth’s eyes grew wide, and the flush on his cheeks deepened. What in the hell was that about? Was it because the focus was still on him or because we were discussing the gay bar where he worked? I knew Dane was gay and had a new boyfriend named Jesse. And I didn’t give two fucks about anyone’s sexuality, even though I’d had to keep my own curiosity