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Hannah, of course, tosses her arms in the air with a toothy grin. “Like my Daddy and Fungus!” she exclaims.
I laugh despite the shift in mood. “Yeah, sort of.”
“What does ‘sort of’ mean?” Taylor asks, jabbing my arm with his fork. “And why the fuck am I just hearing this now?”
“Language, pendejo. There are children here.” I slap him on the back of his head, massaging the spot where he poked me.
Hannah shrugs around a mouthful of food. “Fungus says fuck all the time.”
“Hannah!” Matty gapes at his daughter before sending a scowl to his husband, who just bites back a grin.
Exhaling slowly, I meet Devon’s gaze from where he’s watching me across the table. “Sort of means what it means. We’re like, together and shit. Yeah?”
“Together as in like, together together?” Salem quips. “Horizontally together?”
I toss her a glare. “Yeah. Horizontally. Sometimes vertically. However you wanna put it.”
Devon’s bottom lip twitches, the metal ring twisting when he tongues it with glittering eyes.
“Dude,” Taylor gasps, throwing his arms around my shoulders. “Holy shit, are you coming out to us right now?!”
“What the hell? No, I’m…” Wait. Well, fuck me. I guess that’s what I’m doing. “Fine, yeah. Whatever. Get off me.”
Instead of letting go, my best friend squeezes tighter. “I’m so happy for you, man, but you know you could have told me sooner that you like di—”
“Taylor,” Matty scolds before Tay can finish his sentence. Meanwhile, Salem and Hannah seem to be losing their shit.
“I didn’t know I did until…” I gesture at Devon, who looks smug as shit and still hasn’t said a word, by the way. But the heat in his eyes as he stares at me is making my stomach flip.
Huck reaches across the table and claps me on the shoulder. “Welcome to the club, man.”
“Way to steal my thunder, jackass,” Xed laughs, getting to his feet. “Matty and I have something to announce, too.”
We all watch him reach into his pocket to pull out a folded piece of paper. When he opens it up and drops it in the middle of the table, a moment of shocked silence follows before Hannah throws her arms up again. “I’m gonna be a big sister!”
“Oh my fucking god!” Salem squeals, reaching for the sonogram, but Taylor snatches it first.
“Xed’s pregnant?” he shouts, looking at the photo of an ultrasound before I yank it out of his hands.
“No,” Xed starts, smirking when his husband mutters, “not for lack of trying” under his breath. “We found a surrogate. She’s about three months along.”
Getting up from my seat, I round the table to pull him in for a tight hug. “Congratulations, motherfucker. Holy shit, I’m so proud of you!”
“Can we tone down the language, please?” Matty groans, though he looks ecstatic. Everyone else follows suit, even Devon, offering hugs and fist-bumps to the parents-to-be while Hannah bounces in her seat. Of course, she wants a little sister. Matty says it would be cool to have a son, and Xed’s just elated to have another baby.
As I watch everyone chatter excitedly in this moment, it really starts to hit me how… grown up all of us are. Matty and Xed are expanding their family, Salem and Logan have their relationships. Taylor’s going to marry Huck eventually. When he pulls his head out of his ass.
Then there’s me… and Devon.
I catch his gaze again across the table. A small smile pulls at his mouth, whiskey eyes regarding me warmly. He still has a mask in place, though, and I'm dying to see it drop.
Everyone continues to eat and talk, the conversation shifting into discussions of baby showers. All the while, Dev and I study each other, only participating when we’re directly asked to. There’s a question somewhere in his stare, one he’s asking, but I just can’t quite grasp what it is.
I can see it in the slow perusal he gives me, taking in my lips, my throat, my chest where my heart’s currently pounding. Then back up to my face. When my brows furrow slightly in confusion, his lids shudder, expression flattening out.
And when he leaves the table, excusing himself without anyone but me really noticing, I don’t follow. Mostly because I’m… stuck.
Uncertain of what I want in life, what I want from him, and no possible time right now to figure it out.