Page 6 of The Broposal

“I’ll think about it,” Kenny said, rubbing his arm.

“So, howareyou and Jackie?” Tatiana asked. A bit forward, but I was curious, too. Jackie couldn’t have been happy that Kenny came back for us, but his flushed cheeks, sweaty forehead, and overall glowing aura implied they might have… Let’s just say they may have put that backpack to use.

“We had a really good talk actually.” Kenny smiled. A hesitant,but genuine smile. I made a note to myself to ask him about that later. “Anyway, I’m starving.”

“I’ve never been hungrier in my life,” Leti said, the back of their hand raised to their forehead in a show of drama.

“Food’s on me,” Tatiana offered, and I had to admit I was relieved.

After getting burgers and chili con carne at Blakes, we sat outside to eat. Being as hungry as I was, I started scarfing down my chili as soon as I sat down. Midbite, I vaguely noticed Tatiana laughing about how I sat next to Kenny instead of her, my “date,” even if we were broken up now. I was too into my chili to care, but Kenny turned his head and gave me a little smile that would look subtle to anyone who didn’t spend practically twenty-four-seven with the dude. To me, though, that smile belonged on the face of the universal chaos gremlin mascot. Which meant a prank was coming, but because this particular smile was directed at me, it must have meant I was supposed to be in on it.

His eyes flickered down to my lips, and his tongue peeked at the corner of his mouth, as if licking something from it.

“You have something on your…” Kenny reached out and gently wiped some chili off the edge of my mouth. His thumb lingered on my lip for just a moment before he stuck it in his own mouth and sucked on it, his eyes never leaving mine.

I almost didn’t think anything of it until I saw Tatiana and Leti glance at each other like they’d just walked in on us raw dogging it.

It wasn’t that I didn’t know a gesture like that would usuallybe reserved for someone who’d have gladly put more than my chili in their mouth, but this wasme and Kenny. I was straight, and Kenny was in love with Jackie. Therefore, the gesture at this moment must have had a different motivation than what Tatiana’s and Leti’s scandalized faces implied.

“You sure Jackie wasn’t right about y’all being boyfriends?” Tatiana bit back a smile.

Kenny threw an arm around my shoulder, taking my hand in his other hand and kissing it dramatically. The warmth from his finger lingered on my mouth, and the heat from his lips clung to my palm. “I mean, he’s myhusband, so no, she’s dead wrong.”

Then it made sense. The gremlin smile, the thumb sucking, the hand kiss… Kenny was making a joke.

“I can see it.” Tatiana giggled. “Y’all are so cute!”

Then they all burst out laughing, but I wasn’t one to laugh at a joke without being sure of the punchline. First I had to make sure I was laughing at the right thing.

“It’s funny because I’m straight.” My words came off deadpan, but I’d meant it as a question. The only alternative I could think of would be that Kenny was laughing at the concept of anyone being attracted to me, which was so not Kenny.

Since no one disagreed and I now understood the joke, I laughed along with the rest of them.

Kenny always seemed to laugh hardest when Jackie wasn’t around, and the way the two of us laughed when we were alone was unrivaled. I didn’t even know what we were laughing about anymore as we stumbled up the stairs to our apartment. Kenny had always said my laugh was contagious, but his wasn’t any better. It was as if our laughs put us in a vicious cycle, alternatingbetween noise-complaint-worthy cackling to silently wheezing and seal-clapping to make up for the lack of volume.

At that moment, it didn’t matter that I’d gotten fired or fought with Jackie. I’d forgotten about all of it, and the only thing on my radar was thatlaugh.

When Kenny laughed hard enough, he’d throw himself on the nearest person, or the floor or wall, if there was no one close enough. Today (and most days) I was the nearest person, which made climbing the steps a bit of a struggle.

I pushed Kenny away when we got to the top and wiped a joyful tear from my eye. Three stray cats were waiting for me outside the door.

“You need to stop feeding the strays.” Kenny laughed, but I knew he wasn’t being serious. Even though I didn’t have a cat of my own, I bought food for the neighborhood cats. I opened the apartment door, careful not to let them in, since my emotional support dog Luna didn’t like cats, and grabbed three bowls to fill with kitty kibble and some treats to set outside. I squatted and scratched the calico’s and black one’s heads. The third was new-ish and hadn’t warmed up to me enough for pets yet.

“Ten bucks says she’ll let me pet her by next weekend,” I said as I went inside.

“Bet, that little one is vicious,” Kenny said, still laughing. I put on my dishwashing gloves and started rinsing the dishes Kenny had left in the sink from his dinner. “I love your little gloves,” Kenny said as he slumped down on the couch.

I just sighed. There was no way I’d tell him I didn’t actuallylikedoing the dishes. The texture of the food gunk made me want to gag, so the gloves helped. But Kenny hated dishes more than I did, and his executive dysfunction was way worse, so I was the dishes guy.

“Hey, so… I need to talk to you about something.” Kenny had stopped laughing, the contagious smile wiped from his face completely. His voice was shaky enough to spike my heart rate. Had Jackie said something about me? Did he find out I got fired? Was he moving out?

“What is it, bro?”

Kenny ran a hand through his messy black hair. Luna, being an expert in emotional support, hopped up on the spot next to him, resting her head in his lap. She may have beenmydog, but Kenny was the one she followed around everywhere. She didn’t even have the decency topretendto like me more. Maybe I was just more of a cat person, and Kenny had a way with dogs. Well, my dog.

He let out an unsteady breath as he patted the brown Lab’s back with one hand and chewed on his nails with the other.

I didn’t sit with Kenny and Luna once I finished the dishes. If I sat, that would mean the conversation was serious, and a serious conversation couldn’t have a good outcome. I didn’t do well with serious. I never knew how to act when people got emotional.

---