AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Thrice,” Obie said. “He ended up in the hospitalthree times, and eventually just had to move all the way across town into my studio apartment, which is pretty much the size of that couch. I’m trying to change my hours, but I currently work nights, so we made it work, but Seth continued paying rent while that asshole contaminated the whole place. We had to pay for professional cleaners after the dumbass finally moved out. We willnotbe dealing with that again.”
Seth continued to look at the floor, but he nodded his head in agreement. Okay, so maybe Obie wasn't so bad. He was just looking out for his… okay, Frankie assumed at this point that they were at least dating.
“I’m really, really sorry that happened to you, Seth. But… do you think maybe we could take a breath and start over? Just give me one second,” Frankie said hefting the garment bag higher on his arm. He quickly dragged his things into the room with the open door, dropped his backpack and garment bag on the bed, and hustled back out to the main room.
Penelope and Obie seemed to be engaged in some sort of staring match while Seth looked like he was trying to melt into the floor.
“Okay. So… how about we start over. My name is Frankie. I use he/him pronouns, and I just returned – like literally an hour ago – from a year in Paris. I brought a bunch of treats back. I was hoping to share them with my new roommate. None of them have peanuts and I double checked for cross contamination in theChocolaterie, because I saw you had a peanut allergy in the posting. I didn’t see anything about mold and dust, but I’m hoping you are okay as long as we’re relatively clean.”
“We have to sweep, mop, and vacuum twice a week. I’m happy to do so for the first few weeks as you get settled in, but since the mess will be half, or… at least a third yours, we expect you to contribute as well,” Obie cut in.
Seth grimaced in what Frankie was now positive was shame, but he didn’t contradict Obie. He just nodded again, tears still shining in his eyes.
“We’ll also ask that you only sit on the furniture in here with clean clothes on, and after you have guests over we ask you to wipe down the furniture. It’s all vinyl, so there are wet wipes in the end table you can use.”
Frankie felt his anxiety ratcheting up again. How had none of this been in the listing? Also, how had Penelope not known any of this? Then again, as he gazed over at poor Seth, who seemed to be attempting to curl in on himself, he could assume Penelope’s experience had been very different the last time she’d been here. Before he could comment, or accept the terms of living here, Penelope chimed in.
“Okay, that is all incredibly good to know. If there’s any way we could get that all in writing – like just on a sheet of paper or in an email – I’m sure Frankie is more than willing to make concessions. He just needs to understand what is expected of him. And, Seth?” she called gently and Seth turned to look at her, wariness evident in the creases next to his eyes. “We’re not mad at you, Seth. Everything’s okay. While it probably would have been good to know all of this up front and… perhaps Obie doesn’t have the best bedside manner… it’s all going to be okay. Frankie would never put your life in danger if he chooses to stay here. This is a lot, but I would just like to emphasize again, we’re not mad, right?” Penelope quickly glanced at Frankie, and he nodded his head emphatically.
Seth worried his lip between his bottom teeth for a moment and then sort of sagged, his shoulders hunching in and his head drooping.
“I… I know that I should have told you this when you were here, Penelope. I’m sorry… You can of course look for somewhere else to live, Frankie. You already paid your first month’s rent, so you’re welcome to stay while you look for something else.”
He turned to look sadly at Penelope. “You were just so nice when you came over. And the way you described Frankie, and all the adventures he was having… I thought it would be so cool to have a fun roommate, but… then my allergy shots stopped being as effective, and I regressed and things just kept getting worse. I’ve barely been able to leave the house this spring and I just really can’t lose my home again. But, you’re right. I should have said something earlier, I just didn’t know how to tell you and… and I’m so sorry.” Seth burst into tears. Obie gathered him up in his arms, pulling his head down nearly a foot to land on his broad shoulder.
That was when Frankie spotted the wedding band on Obie’s hand. A quick glance at Seth’s other hand confirmed they were wearing matching bands. Before Frankie could stop himself, he blurted out, “Oh, you’re married?”
Seth lifted his head and a small smile, the first of the evening, graced his lips. He was rather attractive when he smiled. Still a little tall and gangly, and he clearly hadn’t seen the sun in quite a while, but his smile softened some of his hard edges. “We are, yes. I know we’re pretty young, I only just turned 25, but my startup tech job doesn’t provide good health insurance, and Obie’s job does. On top of that, our families are pretty traditional, and kept trying to set us up with people from our Jewish community that we weren't interested in, and—”
“And we love each other, more than anyone, or anything else on this planet,” Obie said assertively and Seth practically melted, but this time in a positive way. He looked at Obie like he’d hung the stars just for him.
“And… because we love each other,” Seth agreed sweetly. “Our schedules are still so disparate it didn’t make sense for Obie to give up the studio he owns above his tattoo shop, but it really is small. He’s trying to hire some more staff, and then he’ll have more regular working hours and… maybe he’ll move in here, but I know that’s a violation of the lease, so we can discuss the issue later.”
“That’s totally fine with me, Seth, don’t worry about it. I can tell Obie would be much happier if he could be here with you, looking out for you, and all those rules are fine too. Like Lopi said, maybe just write them down so I don’t forget but, it’s all good. And Obie? It really is nice to meet you.”
Obie looked Frankie up and down and slowly wrapped an arm around Seth’s waist, leaning slightly into his side. “It’s nice to meet you as well, Frankie. And you too, Penelope.”
Both siblings smiled and Obie and Seth finally seemed to relax. Frankie offered to go change and take a shower before they sat down for more meeting and greeting. Penelope said she was going to get going.
By the time Frankie emerged, freshly scrubbed of contaminants, and wearing clean clothes, Seth was curled up in Obie’s lap as if he wasn’t nearly eight inches taller. Frankie got a weird flash, like a memory but of something that had never happened, of him curled up in Diego’s lap the same way. They didn’t have nearly the same height difference, but he’d always wondered how things would work with their height difference, like spooning all night, casually cuddling on the couch, or perhaps muchlesscasually fucking in certain positions. He had of course hooked up with people who were much shorter, and they managed to make it work, but he wasn’t as sure about something long-term.
With just one glance at the couple, that particular checkbox in his head for reasons he and Diego shouldn’t date checked right off.
Date? What the hell was he thinking? Maybe fuck. Maybe they could fuck, Frankie could get it out of his system, and move on. And stop having stupid thoughts like if their height difference mattered or not.
Frankie threw himself down on the couch, startling Seth who had been dozing in Obie’s lap. They slowly began to get to know each other, discussing things like food, work, and hobbies. Frankie admitted he was looking for a job and was sort of hoping to start his own business, or own his own shop one day.
Surprisingly, Obie offered to discuss strategy with him, and he admitted he kept a pulse on real estate in the city, since he was considering expanding to a second location. Frankie admitted he was nowhere close to that step, but he might take him up on the offer one day. Once again, his thoughts sprang to Diego. They hadn’t talked about it in a while, but did Diego still want to own his own store? Some sort of queer safe space?
He decided to ask him, but the day of Diego’s graduation felt a little too aggressive to inquire about future life plans. Instead, Frankie held onto the question all through the weekend, which was full of official university festivities as well as a few informal gatherings with Diego’s friends.
The ceremony was boring, because all graduation ceremonies were, but the keynote speaker was inspiring and Frankie allowed his mind to wander to what the heckhewas going to do withhislife. While an MBA was almost a guarantee that Diego would get a good job, a BS in Business was nothing to scoff at either. Frankie just needed to figure out what he wanted aside from the man strolling purposefully across the stage in one of the gorgeous button downs Frankie had bought him in France. Well, he was wearing a graduation robe over top of it, but Frankie knew it was there.
After the ceremony, they met to take pictures with some of their friends. Chris and Dustin lined up along with a few of Diego’s other fraternity brothers and a slew of members from the Rainbow Club, including Jamie and Lila. They had apparently broken up the previous summer, a fact Frankie had missed since Diego was the only one he’d really kept up with while in France, but they were incredibly cordial and each agreed to bring their new partners to dinner later that evening.
While Frankie had many friends in college, he’d never had a singular friend group, or a solid community. Sitting at dinner, Frankie could almost imagine that all these peoplewerehis community. With Diego.
Frankie reached out to a few more mutual friends who had graduated the year before with him and they met up for lunch at a local diner the next day. The food was delicious, but the coffee was awful.
