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“Take your time, Charlie. You’ll know when it’s time to tell him. Tell me, how did you even meet Brady? I don’t think it was through Voice Out because I would know if that was the case.”
I blushed slightly, thankful that Brady wasn’t here to tell his version of the story. But then, as if I’d summoned him by thinking about him, Brady walked up beside us, taking a seat on the arm of my chair. “What’s up, peeps? Ready to go to the meet?”
“Yep. I was just asking Charlie how the two of you met,” Jo said, and I winced internally at the look of absolute delight on Brady’s face.
His green eyes twinkled with wicked joy as he grinned. “Oooh, that’s a great story. How about I tell you on the way?”
I sighed, resigned to my fate as I followed the two of them outside. Even as I bitched about it, I knew I’d be happy to deal with anything as long as I got to keep Brady with me.
The support group was more like a friendly gathering, and I hadn’t expected to enjoy it as much as I did. I’d already met Jo and Blue—who I now knew was gender non-conforming—and there were just two other members to the group, Mae, who was agender, and Mellow, who was polygender. I knew this because it was how they’d each introduced themselves, along with their pronouns. Following their lead, I’d done the same.
It was surprising how different all of us were and yet how similar. While Mae had long hair dyed into the rainbow colors, dark eyes that looked like they hid all the secrets of the world, Blue had short, spiky blue hair—true to zir name—and an easy smile that lit up zir face every few minutes. Mellow was the quietest of us all, content to sit and listen as everyone talked. Mellow had long brown hair tied in a ponytail, and M’s fingers were stained with paint, telling me M was an artist. They seemed to be shy, and though this was our first meeting, I hoped I’d be able to befriend M. I’d like to know someone I could talk art with.
Brady played the host, asking questions and basically leading the conversations whenever there was a lull. Two hours passed so quickly that I didn’t even realize it, and I knew as soon as everyone left that I would be coming back every month. Talking to these people, I’d felt like I finally had someone who understood exactly what it was like to be me. Brady sympathized, but not in the same way since his experience was completely different than mine. We’d swapped numbers before they left, and I was looking forward to becoming friends with all of them.
“So, what did you think?” Brady asked as we made our way to my car.
“I thought that they were all awesome. Also, I’d like to come with you every weekend. I know the support group is only once a month, but I want to participate in the self-defense class and maybe volunteer whatever help I can.”
Brady stopped walking suddenly before turning to look at me with wide eyes. “Really?”
My brows scrunched up in confusion at the obvious surprise in Brady’s voice. “Um, yeah. Why do you look so surprised?”
Brady shook his head before giving me a wide smile. “Sorry, I keep forgetting how amazing you are. I’d love it if you came here with me every weekend.”
I shook my head. I was just trying to do something nice, just like he was. That didn’t make me amazing. That made me human.
As we got into the car, Brady turned to me with a soft smile and said, “The reason I was surprised is none of my exes ever understood how much Voice Out means to me. They’d get annoyed if I started talking about one of the kids or about something that happened. And here you are, wanting to work with me. It just surprised me. As I said, I keep forgetting how unique and special you are and how lucky I am that you decided to stalk me.”
I flushed, feeling so many things all at once that I didn’t know what to say. In the end, I rolled my eyes at him as I started the car. “I wasnotstalking you.”
Brady shrugged, and I knew he’d be telling everyone who asked that’s how we met. Strangely, the thought didn’t annoy me all that much.
16
Brady
Icouldn’tstopfidgetingin my chair as we all waited for Luke and Scott to arrive.
A week ago, Scott had told us he planned on asking Luke to marry him on their weekend trip. So of course, being the awesome people we were, we planned a surprise engagement party for the two of them.
They believed they were coming here to have dinner and celebrate with me and Angie. What they didn’t know was that Mama D, her husband Ryan, Charlie and Scott’s best friend, and his wife were also here to celebrate their big day with them.
“Why are they taking so long?” I hissed, making Charlie chuckle. We were seated in a private booth at our usual pub. It was where Rohan, one of the other volunteers at Voice Out, performed as Rowena Sequins. Though it didn’t look like she had a show on tonight.
The pub was pretty full, with all kinds of people milling about. My favorite thing about the pub was its inclusivity. No one batted an eye if you were a drag queen or a leather daddy. As long as you were respectful to everyone else, you had a place here.
“Maybe they’re in the honeymoon phase already,” Ryan said, waggling his brows, while Mama D shook her head at him.
“Or maybe Luke doesn’t want to come because someone decided a pub would be the best place to celebrate.” Angie spoke up, staring pointedly my way.
I shrugged. “We all know he needs a gentle nudge sometimes to get out of his comfort zone. Or a kick in the ass.”
“Oh, is that so?” Luke’s voice came from behind me. I turned around to grin at him as everyone scrambled to shout ‘congratulations’ at the same time. I wasn’t sure how they managed to butcher it up so badly, but they did.
Luke didn’t seem to mind, though, because he just grinned at us as his eyes filled with what I hoped were happy tears, and he leaned back against Scott’s chest as if seeking support. I shot up off my chair and pulled Luke into a hug. He squeezed me tightly, and I pressed a kiss on his cheek before pulling away. “When you’re looking for a best man, remember that it was me who told you to give Scott a shot,” I said, holding on to his hand as I looked at him.
His face shone with happiness, and that made me happier than he could imagine. Ever since the day I’d met him, I’d wanted nothing but to keep Luke safe and make him happy. He was like a younger brother to me, and I was so fucking glad that he was finally getting the happy ending he deserved. God knew he’d paid enough.
