Page 19 of Lime Gelatin and Other Monsters
“Really? Cats don’t eat peas,” Kyle said on a snort even as he placed a pea on the china saucer.
Ellie sniffed the pea, ate it daintily, then stared right at him and mewed.
“Another?” Kyle carefully separated out another pea for her, which she promptly devoured. “You are quite the princess, aren’t you?”
Vikash was watching Ellie, something odd lurking behind his eyes. “She belonged to one of my old boyfriends. He was going to open the door and let her go, so I claimed her.”
Wait…what?“That’s horrible. I hate people who think pets are disposable,” Kyle spoke carefully since his brain had suddenly filled with sand. “Boyfriend?”
“Yes.” Vikash didn’t look away from the cat, a tiny hitch in his voice all Kyle needed to know on the subject.
“So you’re bi.” Kyle tilted his head to meet his partner’s gaze. “Hey. Look at me. I think you know me enough by now. I’m not one of those people who have a problem with it.”
Vikash nodded, though now his attention went to his food, that subtle shift in his shoulders letting Kyle know he wasn’t happy.
“This is really good. All of it,” Kyle said to fill the awkward silence. “Really, I’m impressed. I can’t cook worth shit. I love this red one esp—”
“Kyle…”
He put his fork down, both palms flat on the table. “Look. Someone, maybe a lot of someones, weren’t so nice about it. Maybe they were assholes about it. Do I look like them?”
“No.” Vikash managed half of his serene statue smile. “You’re too short.”
“Damn right. Hey!” At least he’d gotten Vikash’s smile to expand to a whole one.
“It’s been a deal breaker. More than once.”
“I’m not gonna say I understand.” Kyle went back to eating so he wouldn’t look like he was being confrontational. “Because I can’t say that if I’m not you, right? But I’m not clueless. I hear the stupid shit people say. That no one’s really bi. That you’re just a greedy slut. That you’re either really gay and in denial or really straight and playing around.”
Vikash made a strangled sound that was definitely not a laugh, his eyes closed and his jaw too tight.Nice, Kyle. You made it so much better.
“Kash…I’m not one of those people. I don’t think any of that crap.”
Another nod, another tight smile, and Vikash went back to eating. A full five minutes went by before he murmured, “You gave me a nickname.”
“Yeah. It kinda blurted out.”
“It’s fine. Certainly better than Kirby.”
“Funny guy. But you don’t call me that.”
Vikash glanced up without raising his head. “I’m saving it. For when I really want to irritate you.”
Kyle sputtered and huffed, then ruined the bluster with a huge grin. In that moment, an ice dam broke upstream and something warmer crept into Vikash’s steady blue gaze. Through the remainder of dinner and second and third beers, Kyle learned more about Vikash than he had all week. In Vikash-esque fits and starts, with Kyle pulling and tugging like a world-class angler, he talked about his family—three sisters, two younger, cardiologist mom, professor dad. He admitted to a degree in music theory, explained his decision to attend the police academy as something more important than an academic life and mentioned the last boyfriend who had left him for not ‘committing to being gay’.
Being fair-minded, Kyle offered as much as he received, without the extra prompting. He even scored one of those choking laughs when he told Vikash about his two much older brothers panicking when they found five-year-old Kyle on the floor amid the dogs, happily sharing their kibble.
“They were all set to call for an ambulance,” Kyle said as he sat stone still to let Ellie sniff him. “When Mom came home, she couldn’t stop laughing at them. It took her half an hour to calm Conner down and explain to him that it was gross, but wouldn’t hurt me.”
“You remember?”
“No.” Kyle shook his head on a laugh. “But that’s the kind of story that got repeated just about every holiday.”
“Pictures?”
“No. At least not of that.” Kyle finished his beer, the question of whether it was his third or fourth niggling at him. “Holy crow. It’s later than I thought. Lemme help you clean up, at least, before I call it a night.”
Vikash ruined the fluid rise from his chair with a tiny stagger.Ha! I’m not the only one who lost track.Whistling softly, ridiculously pleased with himself for all the breakthroughs that evening, Kyle snagged dishes and carefully avoided tripping over Ellie on his way to the kitchen.
