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“Cheeky monkey.” Avery put him down and grabbed a nearby tennis ball, throwing it for him. Ares chased after it, tripping every so often over his big feet. It didn’t stop him for long.
“I want more from him than he’s willing to give,” Lake said, shrugging. He put aside the beetroot seeds, figuring they had enough, and picked up the red capsicum seed packet. Ares dropped the ball at his knees, and he threw it again. They’d been doing it all morning, and Lake wondered if there was going to be a point where he got tired and went to sleep? How much energy did he have?
“There’s something he won’t give you?” Avery asked dryly. He held out a hand, and Lake poured some of the seeds into it. “I’m not sure I believe you. You’ve seen the way he looks at you, right?”
Yes, Lake had seen it. But somehow it didn’t seem to matter, because they were still stuck in this weird impasse. “We’re doing all the things that dating people do,” Lake said, picking clumps of dirt from under his fingernails, “but the second that some kind of label for it comes up, he clams up.”
“If you’re getting all the things a boyfriend does, why does it need a label? Are you bothered by it not having one?” Avery asked. He picked up his garden shovel and moved the soil over the hole he had put some of the seeds into.
“No?” Lake absently pushed the seeds around his palm. “Yes. Is that stupid?”
“Wanting to define something isn’t stupid.” Avery sat back on his heels and studied their assortment of pots. “It seems weird that he’s doing everythingbutgiving you the label?”
“I want to introduce him as my boyfriend. Is that juvenile?” Itfeltjuvenile when he said it, but that didn’t change the fact that it was what he wanted. He was in love with the guy, heknewhe was, and all he wanted to do was show him off to the world with a giant neon sign that said, “Back off, he’s mine.”
“No?” Though Avery didn’t look sure either, which did not help Lake.
“How do you introduce Zach and Felix?” he asked curiously.
“I… don’t?” Avery blinked, staring down at the plant in his hands in confusion. “I don’t,” he repeated, almost to himself. Ares nudged him, and he absently patted his head. “We haven’t… done anything where I’ve had to introduce them?”
Lake raised an eyebrow. “This is supposed to bemyrealisation conversation, not yours.”
Avery shook himself. “Right. Sorry. Okay. Labels.” He shrugged helplessly. “I am probably the worst person to come to for relationship advice. If you want something, then tell him?” He stood and wiped his hands on his jeans. “Let’s get the dog pool out for Ares. At this point, I’d give him one of my shoes just to tire him out.”
“Okay,” Lake said, standing and following his brother. “And I did that,” Lake pointed out. He and Grady had agreed to be friends and then reneged on the exact same day. Not exactly a raging success. Well, it was a success,becausehell yes,sex with Grady, but not a success in terms of sticking to their “just friends” plan.
“You can’t force someone to want something that they don’t want,” Avery said. He opened the shed door and grabbed out the half-seashell pool that Lake knew was for young kids too but worked just as well for dogs. “But it sounds like hedoeswant all of that? I mean, he’s doing all the boyfriend things? You guys went on a double date, right? How did that go?”
“It was great.” Lake had enjoyed seeing Will again because he hadn’t seen nearly enough of him, or Peyton, in the last year since Peyton had left the military. And holding hands with Grady in public had been… an experience. Maybe holding hands wasn’t that big a deal, but it hadfeltlike a big deal to Lake. He loved any experience that involved having his hands anywhere near Grady and vice versa.
“But then turning around and saying he doesn’t want it? Sounds confusing.” Avery placed the seashell pool under the tap and turned it on. Ares dove into the pool and then sat under the tap, the water hitting his back. Lake could have sworn he was smiling at them.
“I get parts of it,” Lake said. “The only two serious relationships he’s ever had both cheated on him. One he was engaged to, and they cheated on him with a woman, and they got that woman pregnant. The other one was last December and cheated on him with another guy.”
Avery grimaced. “Ouch. Okay, yeah, I can see where the problem is.”
“Yes, so can I,” Lake said, frustrated. Hedidunderstand. Hits like that would be devastating, and both of those men needed to be run over with a semi. He ran a hand through his hair and then scowled when he remembered his hands were covered in dirt and dog slobber. “But what am I supposed todoabout it? I’ve told him that I’m not them, and just because he’s the first guy that I’ve been with, that doesn’t mean I’m not serious. But he’s only hearing what he wants to hear.”
“Trust is hard. Getting betrayed like that would make it even harder. Especially if he was engaged to one of them. That’s supposed to have the promise of forever.”
“I know that! We might only have been sleeping together a few weeks, but I thought we werefriends.He should be able to trust me. And if he doesn’t trust me, then what are we even doing?”
“Are you in love with him?” Avery asked. He turned the tap off, and since Ares was already scraping around and rolling in the water, he just left it where it was.
Lake didn’t even hesitate, didn’t know where the words came from, but he knew that with absolute certainty they were true. “Yes.”
Avery’s frown was sad. “Then I guess all you can do is keep trying?”
“Don’t look at me like that. It makes me feel pathetic.”
“You’re not pathetic. Love is a good look on you.”
“Funny.”
Avery flicked his wet hands at Lake, spraying water on him. “Just tell him how you feel. What’s the worst that could happen?”
“Gee, I don’t know? He could freak the fuck out and leave me?”
