Pretenders (Firsts and Forever 3)

“Yes, you do. It’s why you’ve never been in a serious relationship,” Cole said. “And I get it, I really do. It’s scary as hell to make yourself vulnerable and to take a chance on love. But sooner or later, you have to open up and let someone in, Ash. You owe it to yourself. I know you don’t want to get hurt, but just imagine how amazing it’d be if it worked out.”

“If it worked out,” I repeated.

“Yeah, if. There are no guarantees, but you’ll never know what could happen unless you try.”

“That’s good advice, but this isn’t the right time for it,” I said. “Wes isn’t interested in me. He’s just this sweet, heartbroken guy who needs a fake boyfriend for a few days, and I’m nothing but the fake sex worker who took the job.” It was depressing to admit how little all of this was supposed to mean.

Cole looked like he had more to say on the subject, but the back gate opened and Josh entered the yard, followed by Nana’s cute little husband Ollie. Both men were carrying drones and grinning from ear to ear. Darwin came outside with two pitchers of lemonade, and when he spotted his fiancé he put down the drinks and ran across the yard.

The three of them cheered triumphantly, and Darwin high-fived Ollie before grabbing Josh in an embrace. I couldn’t help but smile as I watched them. I’d been friends with Nana and her family long enough to see Josh grow from a dorky kid into a handsome, confident man, and the love he and Darwin had for each other was a thing of beauty.

When they joined us, I said, “Excellent job, gentlemen.”

For Josh, this was more than a game—it was personal. On more than one occasion, Huntington had slammed Darwin with some truly hateful transphobic bullshit, and ever since, Josh had been on a payback mission. No one was going to disrespect his sweet, wonderful fiancé, who happened to be transgender. Not on Josh’s watch.

“Thanks,” Josh said, as he and Darwin took a seat at the table and Ollie went inside to find his wife. “I think it sent a good, solid message without actually being destructive. It was super tempting to fill those plastic dicks with sticky candy jizz, like the kind that comes in those Easter eggs, but we decided that was pushing it.”

A bark of laughter slipped from Cole, and he asked, “The what now?”

“You know, those chocolate eggs with the cream filling that show up every spring,” Darwin said. “Josh loves them, but he always has to comment on the runny white stuff inside.”

“I can’t be the only person who thinks that looks like jizz,” Josh commented, as he poured himself and his fiancé some lemonade, then passed the pitcher.

Lunch was served a couple of minutes later, and it was phenomenal. No wonder, since both Nana and River were great cooks. My diet revolved around pizza and take-out burritos, so the huge pot of tortellini soup, the Caesar salad with homemade dressing, and the freshly baked rolls were something special to me.

While we ate, we brainstormed ideas for the next way to ruin Huntington’s day, but nothing was decided by the end of the meal. After lunch, Cole and I volunteered to clean up. We carried stacks of dishes into the kitchen, and as we loaded the dishwasher, he said, “So, tell me more about this trip. When are you going?”

“This weekend. There’s a party for his parents’ fortieth wedding anniversary on Sunday, and the wedding is the following Saturday. We’ll fly home the day after.”

“Will you be stuck with his family that whole week in between?”

I muttered, “God, I hope not.”

“Well, I hope you have a great time, despite the potentially snobby family. That’s such a beautiful part of the world.”

River joined us just then. He came up behind his husband, slipped his arms around him, and kissed the side of his neck before asking, “Is Ash going somewhere?”

Cole leaned into him. “Yeah, to Bora Bora.”

“Fancy. Did you rob a bank, Ash? If so, we can provide an alibi.”

I grinned at him and said, “I’m going as somebody’s guest to a destination wedding. He initially wanted to hire my roommate for the job.”

“Ah.” River nodded knowingly. “So, you’re dabbling in the prostitutional arts. Good for you.”

I laughed and told him, “That’s not a word.”

“It is now.”

“I love the way you both just take this in stride with zero judgement,” I said.

“I know plenty of people who’ve been sex workers, and yeah, this is totally a judgement free zone,” River said with a shrug. “Just be safe and take along lots of condoms.”

Nana happened to walk in right at the end of that sentence, and she exclaimed, “Does Ash need rubbers? Hang on a minute!”