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The guys have all moved outside to the deck, where Boone has also smoked a prime rib. I watch as Abel and Barrett, as animated as always, are talking with one another. Remembering how lonely I was last year, and comparing it to now, when I feel so fulfilled.
"Yeah, Boone and I actually talked about getting married last night." Alexis confesses, her voice soft, cheeks pink when I pull my gaze up to meet hers.
"Oh my god, are you serious?"
"Yeah." She nods. "It was surprising to me too, but we'd just gotten everything ready to go for everybody. He had started the smoker, and I'd made a list of all the sides and desserts, trying to see if I'd missed anything. I wasn't expecting it, but he came up behind me, put his arms around me, leaned in, and said he hoped next year maybe we'd have a baby to join the crew. He knows how I feel about having a baby. I won't do it unless we're married. I'll stay with him until the end of time, but if we have a baby, I want us to be married. It's the only thing I'm old fashioned about, and he said that he knows."
I squeal as quietly as possible. "So, what you're saying is he basically proposed to you."
"No." Eyes roll heaven-ward as she grins. "But he did infer that it's coming. If he asks, I'm saying yes. I've never been happier than I am right now."
I can relate. It's the same with the relationship Abel and I are building. Equal parts exciting and scary, but totally worth it in the long run.
* * *
Hours later we're all sitting around the bonfire, having a great time. It's chilly, but I'm in Abel's lap and his warmth is around me like a blanket. Boone takes a drink from his beer, laughing as he continues to talk about taking Abel to kindergarten. "I mean, I was like nineteen, and they thought I'd brought my little brother. He got so mad." He looks at Abel, a softness I don't see often. "He just kept yelling ‘That's my dad, not my brother’."
Everyone is laughing, including Abel. "Apparently I felt some type of way about it."
"I did too." Boone hugs Alexis to him. "I felt so inferior because they looked at me like I didn't deserve to be there. I had adults treat me like I was a kid, and they kept asking other people what should be done for my son, because I was so young. It pissed me off, and at one point I laid into a teacher who treated me like I was a kid too. He was having trouble with math, and all I was trying to do was figure out a way to help him. She made a comment about how it would've been better if I waited until I was older to have him. I pulled him out of there so fast, her head spun."
Abel has tightened his hold on me. "I hated that for him, I think that's why I responded the way I did to anyone who acted like he didn't know what was best for me. I struggled with that more than anything. He was the one person I trusted above anyone else, the only one who never left me, and all of these people kept assuming he didn't have my best interest at heart. Meanwhile I could even see at that age how hard he was working, that he was killing himself to make sure I had everything I needed. It made me so mad, I kicked one in the shins, and I got detention, but it was worth it."
Boone sits up, holding Alexis closer. "You know I went to that school and raised nine kinds of hell when they did it, and they acted like I was a dumbass. I pulled him out of that class and asked for another teacher. It was the second time I had to do it. They never messed with us again. I think at that point, they realized that I might have been young, but I was tough, and I wasn't going to put up with bullshit."
I think about how a child he has now would be protected, and I'm excited for my friends, because I have no doubt before they enter into their full first year of being together, she'll have his last name, and they'll be giving Abel a little brother, even though the age difference will be significant.
Turning my head into Abel, I kiss his cheek. "Thanks for inviting me."
His hand grips my thigh. "Where I go, you go."
For the first time in my life, I truly believe it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Abel
"No! No! No!"
"Oh my god, suck it!" Jasper screams as we're standing in my living room, pretending like anything we do will make the people on the screen do something different than what they are.
"Jesus Christ." I blow out a breath. "My fantasy team is dying a slow death thanks to this motherfucking game."
Jasper throws me a shit eating grin. "Mine is performing handsomely. Sucks to be you."
My phone beeps. A text from Kara. I shake my head. "Nope, it does not. My girlfriend is asking me when I want her to be here so we can go on our date this afternoon. It decidedly does not suck to be me."
There's a freeze in the room between us as I mention Kara. He coughs to cover it up. "Yeah, whatever."
I turn to him. "Okay, what gives? Why are you being such a dick lately?"
He takes a drink from his beer, quiet and introspective in a way I hardly ever see him. It worries me, I've known him for a long time, and when he gets like this, it doesn't end well. "I'm happy for you, I truly am, because I do know how much you've struggled. I'm just going through my own shit, ya know?"
"No, I don't. You haven't told any of us about it, so we're all trying to figure out what the fuck's going on. If you want me to stay here and talk to you about whatever it is, tell me. I'll cancel with Kara. I love her and want to spend time with her, but you're one of my best friends, Jasper. You've seen me through more than anyone besides Barrett. You fuckin' matter to me."
His face, which was stone cold at the start, has morphed into something I can't quite explain. I've never seen him cry, but he appears to be on the verge of it right now. "My grandfather..." he starts.
Son of a bitch. His grandfather is the worst person I know. He raised Jasper after Jasper's parents were killed in a plane crash when he was four. He barely even remembers them. "What did that bastard say?"
