Page 48 of Just A Little Love

“I didn’t have much of a childhood because of my brain. That’s why I’m not good with people. I don’t know what to say or do and then it gets weird.”

“If I promise not to get weird, will you tell me what you do?”

“Okay, pretend you have a gigantic puzzle with countless tiny pieces. These pieces are itty-bitty pieces of stuff about our bodies, like how our genes work, what proteins do, how different chemicals are used in our bodies, whatever. Now, imagine that you have a super-smart computer. This computer can help you put all those puzzle pieces together and make sense of them. So, in bioinformatics and computational biology, we use these super-smart computers to figure out how our bodies work. We look at all the tiny pieces of information and find patterns or clues that can help us understand things like why people get sick or how to make new medicines.”

“That sounds cool! I thought you were like twenty?”

“Papa, Rory thinks I’m twenty!” Jakob shouted down the hall? Reed’s responding laugh joined Jakob’s. They were contagious, and Anders and I couldn’t help but join in. “Nope. I finished high school and college when I was 15, and got my PhD when I was 23. I’m 28 now.”

“Your parents must be so proud!” Jakob made a noncommittal noise, but didn’t respond.

“How are things going with you and Uncle Gabe?” Jakob deftly changed the subject, but I didn’t call him out on it because now I had confirmed that there was more to the story.

“We're good, thanks. I’m kinda sad he’s going out of town, but he promised to be back by the party,” I answered.

“How did you meet? I asked Papa, and he didn’t know.”

Anders, with a twinkle in his eyes, propped his chin on his hand and said, “Yes, Rory, I’d love to know too.”

“I needed an architect for my house to help with some structural stuff, and he was the one I found.” I felt good about this answer, since it was the absolute truth. “One thing led to another, and here we are.” Slightly less truthful, but definitely not a lie.

“I’m so glad you found each other. Uncle Gabe said it wasn’t the right time to date anyone, but he always seemed sad, ya know? I told him there was a forever little out there for him. Do you want to get married and have babies?”

“Ha! I don’t mind that Daddy works hard to get me pregnant, but I sure as hell wouldn’t want it to work.” Jakob giggled and Anders snorted at my joke. I entirely ignored the marriage comment.

Reed and Daddy emerged from the hallway they’d disappeared down early.

“Whoa…who’s getting pregnant out here?” Reed asked with a silly grin.

“Not me! I might be down for a pet, though. That’s enough responsibility for me.” Daddy came directly over, slipped an arm around me, and gave a brief hug.

“This was one of those things we should've talked about, but I’m sure glad to hear we are on the same page,” Daddy said.

Did it really matter? Our agreement ended in a couple of weeks. We agreed to reevaluate, but nothing significant had changed. With Daddy leaving the country, it proved his point that he didn't have time for a little full-time.

Future me problems will be handled in the future.

“Bunny, are you about ready to go?”

“Yep. We got everything decided. Jakob, do you want to contact Owen? He might think it was strange if Anders or I did it.”

“Yeah, I will. He’ll have a ton of questions, though. He always wants his stuff to be perfect, like it was at the New Year party.”

“Why don’t you contact him and then see if he’d be willing to speak with me? I’m going to go home and put our plans on aspreadsheet so we’ll know the supplies we need for the stations.” Anders paused for a moment before he continued. “I’m sorry. I'm taking over here and not even a member of the club.”

“Hey! You're our special guest, and you have to come with Rory. I mean, if you don’t have plans with your boyfriend. Or maybe you can stop by if you do?” Jakob grasped Anders’ hands and danced around a little. “I feel weird that you’re helping plan a party, but you aren’t part of the club. It doesn’t seem fair, either.” Jakob nodded his head emphatically while he spoke. I could see he struggled to maintain his big headspace.

“I can’t make any promises about the party, but I’ll try.” Anders said, while he reached over and squeezed Jakob’s hand. Jakob glowed at the contact and did a quick butt wiggle. Anders laughed and told him it was the best happy dance he’d seen all day. Jakob’s shy, returning smile made us all sigh.

Before we left, Anders suggested we all join a group chat in case of party emergencies. Jakob’s happy flush when Anders asked him to join in a group chat was a sweetheart move. They were both such kind people. Jakob’s sweetness and Anders’s helpfulness felt so rare in the world.

We said our goodbyes at the door and headed outside when our Uber pulled up. Daddy insisted we drop off Anders first to make sure that he got home okay. Our stop was second. After Anders got out of the car, Daddy held my hand all the way home.

It was perfect

Chapter 27

Rory

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