“Coveywill be down in a minute. He kept bouncingaroundand driving everyone crazy, so we sent him to his room.”
The morethingschange.Coveynever did have the ability to sit still forverylong. I kind of thought he’d outgrow that. I heard a rumor that he might be moving back to Burlington, but then nothing came of it. Not that it’s a big surprise. Burlington is great, but it’s notveryexciting, especially to someone who’s spent the last several years travelingaroundEurope.
“Um… how arethings?”I see herexactlyonce a year unless we bump into each other in the grocery store parking lot. Mymomsends her a plate full of her favorite cookies for her birthday.
Weird considering there was a time when this had been my second household, Covey’s parents practically my own family. Some weeks, I probably saw them more than my own parents.
“Mom, do you know where the—”Covey comes to a halt when he sees me, eyes wide. He’sexactlyhow Irememberhim. Scratch that. He’sexactlyhow Irememberhim, but with more muscle. It’s hard to see with him in a pair of navy sweats and a Green Mountain Ballet Company sweatshirt, but it’s there. His dark hair is cut short and slicked down.
“Covey, look who’s here?”
“Hey,Aidan.”He gives me a shy wave that I return.
“How dare you keep this from me? I knew you had someone coming, but if I’d known it wasAidan? Well!”Shethrows her hands up into the air.“I knew this would happen.”I’m back to being completely lost. Hopefully, Covey can bail me out of this situation. It’s been a long time, but he used to be great at that.
“Mom, can I borrowAidanfor a minute? We’ll be right back.”He grabs my arm, not waiting for a response, and drags me up the stairs toward hisbedroom.
“What are we doing?”I whisper. He doesn’t answer, just shoves me into hisbedroomand slams the door. Iwaitin silence, watchingas he leans against hisbedroomdoor. Or, at least it used to be his bedroom. The posters and piles of books are gone, and in their place is a cozy guestbedroom, with lots of lacy ruffles and a sewing machine on the desk in the corner.
“Okay, so here’s the thing.”Covey starts pacing back and forth, making me dizzy. I drop onto the bed andwait. It’s been years, but I know what this is. I’mwatchinghim come up with his next outrageous idea. He’s known for them. Whatever it is, I’m going to say no, but I’m too curious to leave before I hear the pitch.“Mymomthinks I’m datingsomeone. And, I might have told her that I invited that person over tonight.”
And suddenly, so many things make sense, but also, what? “Why does your mom think you’re seeing someone?”
“She was giving me all sorts of crap over the summer about how I was wasting my life,blah,blah, I’d never findsomeone,blah,blah. The best days were behind me.”He stops and stares at me.“I thought if I said I wasseeingsomeone, I could buy a little bit of time. I figured by the time we got to meet-the-parents stage, I could either say we broke up or…”
“Or, you’d be seeing someone?”
He winces. “Yeah, that.”
“Now what?”
CHAPTER 3
COVEY
“Iguess I’ll go out there and tell my mom she was mistaken.” I didn’t expect her to be so excited by the idea of Aidan being my mysterious lover. We were like brothers growing up. He came on every family vacation and essentially lived at our house half the time. The other half, I lived at his.
A picture begins to form in my mind. The image of our moms sitting on the back porch, imagining our futures together while we played on swing sets and staged sword fights. Aidan’s appearance at the front door made her dreams come true, which makes what I have to do even worse.
“It won’t be a big deal.” I’m not sure who I’m trying to convince.
“Which part? That I’m not your boyfriend or that you made one up?”
Those can’t be my only options. Maybe there’s a secrettrap door in my bedroom that I don’t know about? Perhaps one that connects to an alternate dimension?
“I don’t know.” I sink to the floor. Despite the changes in décor, this room is still familiar. How many times did I sit here over the years, contemplating my future? I guess this is what they mean when they say life comes full circle. “I’ll probably tell them that my boyfriend isn’t going to make it tonight.” Maybe I can fake a call that he’s stuck at work. “Then next week I’ll tell them that he’s relocating for work and that we decided against long-distance.” It’s the best solution I’ve come up with so far. A nice, amicable split that leaves me sad, but not inconsolable. Enough for a hint of sympathy without anyone feeling the need to check on me constantly.
“You think they’ll buy that?”
My mom’s already suspicious. All she needs is the tiniest crack, and she’ll break the whole thing wide open. “Probably not. Although…”
I look over at Aidan. He looks exactly how I remember him, even with shorter hair and a bit of muscle. It’s impossible not to think back on all the times we sat in this very room, talking about nothing and everything, often in the same conversation. It’s the exact positions we were in when I choked out the words to tell him I’m gay, terrified he’d walk out and never speak to me again. Instead, he wrapped his arms around me and told me I was his best friend in the whole world. He sat right next to me when I told my parents, just like I sat next to him shortly after when he told his parents he’s bisexual.
“Although what?”
“Maybe you could help me out.”
Aidan sighs, the same sound of exasperation that I recognize from our teenage years. He wrings his hands, gaze fixed on me. “How, Covey? I can’t find you a boyfriend. If Iknew a good-looking, eligible man, I’d be dating him myself.”
