“Huh,” I muttered, granting the thought permission to seep in. “It’s not a bad idea.” In actuality, I loved it.
“You could work with Jake,” Shane pointed out, and the reminder of why that wouldn’t work struck me as a lance to the gut.
“Yeah,” I said, not allowing my emotions to reach the surface. “It’s definitely something to think about,” and I left it at that.
***
Audrey came out from the kitchen with four beers pinched between her fingers. She handed them out to Shane and Cee, then came to perch on my lap while passing a cold bottle into my hand. Settling her back against my chest, I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and took a pull from the bottle. With my eyes closed and my temple pressed to hers, I listened to Jake and Freddy playing animatedly down the hall, tasted the beer, and in this moment, this brief and satisfying moment, I was happy.
“My God, they’re so cute,” Cee commented, and I opened my eyes to see her nudging the neck of her bottle toward the hall just as Freddy squealed and Jake declared he was “gonna get him.”
Audrey nodded. “They’re totally B-F-F’s.”
I eyed her with skepticism. “I dunno about that. Freddy mentioned something to me about another kid at his school.”
Smirking with a dash of seduction, she shook her head and grasped my chin in her hand. “Nuh-uh. Freddy told me the other day; Jake is his best friend.” Then, with the gentle quality I’d come to expect from her, she kissed me lightly. I took a breath, like I always did when her lips were on mine, as if that was the only time I was permitted to have air.
“Well, I guess we better get going, since these two obviously need a room,” Shane teased.
Audrey pulled away just in time for Cee to whack Shane’s chest lightly with her hand. “I’m finishing this beer first, thanks,” she retorted with a laugh. Then she looked to Audrey and said, “My ex has the kids for the weekend. I’m gonna take advantage of it.”
“Girl, there’s a case of twelve in there with your name on it,” Audrey replied, laughing and settling against me once again.
“Hallelujah!” Cee knocked back the beer with a hefty gulp before raising the bottle to me. “I love your girlfriend, Blake. She gets me.”
With a sincerity building in my chest, I waited for Shane and Cee to find a distraction in what was happening on the TV before putting my lips to Audrey’s ear and whispering, “I love my girlfriend, too.”
She hummed gently, smiling and layering her arms over mine. “You’re getting soft.”
“Yeah, maybe,” I replied, “but is that really such a bad thing?”
“Well, I’d say it’s one of the best things that’s ever happened to me, so,” she turned and touched her lips to mine once again and said, “I’d say, no.”
***
The house was dark and quiet. With their sleeping bags rolled out in the living room, Jake and Freddy were fast asleep while Gremlins continued to play for the second time that evening. Audrey moved slowly into my bedroom and closed the door behind her, leaving it open just a bit in case Freddy needed her.
“Jake’s never had a slumber party before,” I mentioned, pulling my t-shirt off. “Well, not since the accident, anyway.”
Audrey kicked her shoes off as she nodded. “You’ve told me he didn’t have a lot of friends.”
I shook my head. “No. He didn’t have any friends. The ones he did have ditched him,” I corrected her, dropping my hands to the studded belt around my waist. “When I’ve told you that my parents did nothing for him, I mean, they did nothing. He hardly left the damn house. They thought it’d make it easier on him, on them, if he didn’t go out. So,” I pulled the belt free in one aggravated tug, “the only time he’d see other kids our age, was when I brought people over.”
“And he wasn’t allowed to play with you?”
“When we were younger, he did.” I undid my fly, watching her intently as she removed her yellow shirt in a way that appeared almost as a dance. Her movements were so delicate, so graceful, and with the fluidity of water, I watched the fabric, as it drifted to the floor. “But as we got older, my friends didn’t like having him around.”
“That’s not their fault,” she interjected softly. “They were just kids.”