Page 30 of Chance's Choice
Charlie: Oh, come on! Really?! Delete that shit, @Josh. Also I’m glad you’re alive, @Chance. Beers soon?
Tony: LOL @Josh. @Spence had himself a forever boy the second I met him, we just didn’t know it yet. But @Chance, I told you so! I told you doing the auction would land you a boy you couldn’t resist.
He did, actually. As a budding romance writer, Tony decided months ago that the auction was my ticket to a happily ever after. And, while it’s too soon to call it, I’m starting to think that maybe he was onto something.
Chance: @Charlie Beers are a hell yeah. @Tony, you said it would be a meet-cute, but I have a plot twist for you!
I know I’m stirring the pot a bit, but he’s my best friend’s boy and I know he’ll bite.
Of course, so will the rest of the group. A flood of questions and demands to know what’s going on follow my teaser, but then my phone rings.
Spencer’s name flashes on my screen. I grin, press the green answer icon, and bring the phone to my ear.
“You’ve got to learn to type faster,” I taunt him by way of greeting.
“Shut up. Talking is faster. And ifanyoneshould get the scoop first, it should be me.”
I laugh. “Oh, really? Because I remember someone else not giving me first dibs at his good news.”
Spencer half-squawks, half-laughs. I can picture his mop of dark hair flying as he shakes his head in refutation. “Excuse you? You were there when I met him. You had a front row seat toourmeet-cute.”
Yeah, I think back with amusement,and I might have teased you mercilessly at the time, too.Its this thought that has me softening and confessing, “Kade was my high school best friend.”
“No way!” Spence sounds suitably surprised and impressed. Then he sobers. “Hang on, is this the one you came out to?”
As my best friend, we’ve discussed all sorts of things over the years, and coming out is obviously a deep and meaningful subject among them all. I’m not surprised that he remembers my story. Back when I met Spence -almost fifteen years ago now- the whole situation felt fresher, the hurt still somewhat close to the surface, even if I had privately forgiven Kade in my own head and acknowledged that we’d been kids unable to handle such big feelings at the time.
“Yeah,” I answer, “that’s the one.”
He’s quiet for a moment, his soft breaths over the phone line the only evidence that he’s still there. Eventually he asks, “And you’re okay?”
“I am,” I tell him truthfully. “It’s been a bit of a mindfuck, but…I didn’t realize how badly I missed him, y’know? Not until I held him in my arms and it hit me like a tonne of bricks.”
A vague hum of understanding follows. “So…you’re together now? Just like that?”
“I know it sounds crazy,” I tell him, “but, yeah. In some ways it feels like the last twenty years didn’t happen. That we were just apart for a few weeks or something.”
Another hum. “And he’s a Little? What are the chances?”
“I know, right?” I can’t help laughing a little in my own bewildered delight. “It’s like we were always sorightfor each other.”
Spencer sighs. “It sounds great on paper, but-”
“It’s fast,” I finish for him.
“Hey, it’s not like I can talk: Tony and I moved fast, too. And we didn’t have a history like you guys.”
I appreciate that he’s being understanding and supportive, even while he’s clearly concerned for me. For all the shit I give him, this is why he’s my best friend. He gets me. We’ve got each other’s backs.
“But it’s that same history that’s got you worried, right?” I ask him.
“Ding-ding-ding!” Spencer replies, sounding every bit the animated voice actor that he is, “Got it in one!”
I can’t help smiling. “It’s that same history that makes this feel right,” I insist. “And I think we can be happy, Spence. I really do. He’s spent two decades beating himself up over the way we went our separate ways and if that doesn’t show how much he actually cares, I don’t know what does.”
“Okay, okay,” I can picture my best friend holding his hands up in surrender, “I believe you. And there’s no such thing as no risk of heartbreak when it comes to relationships, whether you’ve got history or just met, I guess.”
“No, there’s not,” I agree, feeling another wave of affection for my best friend. He’s always been one of the calmest, most rational people I’ve ever known. I hadn’t realized just how much I needed his unspoken backing until just now.
