Page 12 of Just A Little Fling

Nico

That’s the one!

Babbo

It’s been a while, but it’s been good every time I’ve gone. I’m out of town for a few days. Gonna let me see you when I get back?

Nico

Always.

Babbo

At some point, are you going to give me your name?

Nico

No thanks.

* * *

The sun was nowhere near up when I let myself in through the kitchen door. I took the precaution of taking my shoes off on the porch, just in case they were noisy on the hardwood floor, but it didn’t matter anyway because my brother was standing at the coffee maker fixing himself a cup.Goddammit. Luca wore scrubs and had blond hair that fell in annoyingly perfect waves and a tall, muscled body that he spent too much time in the gym staring at. We didn’t resemble each other in a single feature. Our parents swore no one was adopted, but they were probably lying.

“Late night or early morning?” My brother’s blurry eyes were filled with curiosity and a smidgen of judgment.

“What difference does it make?”

“None to me,” he answered with a shrug. “Ma was looking for you last night, so I’m sure she’ll be up early.”

“If I’m lucky, I’ll be long gone before she gets—” The sharp rap on the back of my head interrupted that thought.

I schooled my features before turning around and facing the tiny dynamo who ruled our house with a fist in a velvet glove. I was absurdly proud of myself for remembering the Thatcher nickname from history class, but I wasn’t dumb enough to share it with either of them. My brother would roll his eyes, and Ma would tell me I was wasting my time when I could be in college studying something like history.

“Sorry you didn’t get lucky this morning.” She paused to take in my outfit before continuing, “Or maybe you did?”

“Ew, gross, Ma. I’m not going to talk about my sex life with you or him.”

“Your brother always shares information about his relationships with me.” That gross pronouncement came with a pat on the cheek to one of the golden twins. My brother’s twin, Leo, would be around here somewhere because they were always together. BFFs and joined at the hip in pursuit of perfection. Copy and Paste.

“What relationship? Last I checked, being on a first-name basis with the cafeteria cashier didn’t usually lead to wedding bells.” I smirked.

“I’m not going to fight with a toddler.” Luca sniffed in his incredibly annoying, haughty tone that made me want to punch him. I’d need a damn chair to do it, but I was willing to put in the effort. Or, go lower for less work and more pain. Option two sounded better.

“Boys, that’s enough. Luca, get your coffee and go to work. You can fight with your brother later. Where’s Leo?”

“In the shower,” Luca answered with a mouthful of bagel. He saw my look of revulsion and opened his mouth to show me behind Ma’s back. Disgusting. I gave him a double-handed, single-finger response. He returned the gesture.

“Boys, please stop. Luca, I mean it. Go find somewhere else to be so I can talk to your brother.” Ma arranged herself at the kitchen table and pointed to a chair. “Sit down.”

There had never been a time when important conversations hadn’t happened at this table with its checkered plastic tablecloth. It’s where Ma told us she was starting chemo back when I was still in elementary school. When Dad lost his job, it was where he sat us down to say things would have to change. My parents found out I was gay here when I accidentally used the wrong pronouns for a date. And it’s where I told them I wasn’t going to college.

My brothers had known what they wanted to do since they came out of the womb. They’d taken all the biology classes they could in high school, then went to nursing school together, and now they’d started looking at becoming nurse practitioners. Always in lockstep with each other, there’d never been room for their short and pudgy younger brother who hated science but loved to organize people’s bookshelves.

“Ma, I need to change and get to work myself. I’ve got meetings on the calendar today, including one happening in less than two hours,” I said, stopping to check my phone. Nothing bothered me more than being unprepared for my job, and I needed to shower, change, and get to the office in time to review the file. Maybe the rest of my family didn’t take my job seriously, but I did.

And despite what they thought, I hadn’t gotten lucky. Babbo was ruining me for a good time. I’d gone to the club—dance, not kink—looking for a good time. There wasn’t one found, so I worked on upcoming projects at the office all night. At some point, I fell asleep on the office couch. Sad from every angle.

“I’m not going to make you late, but your dad and I haven’t heard anything about you signing up for classes,” she said in that stern voice, which every kid knew meant her patience was about gone. As frustrated as she was with me, I was just as frustrated with them. I internally counted to ten and tried to hide my annoyance.

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