Page 76 of Roll With The Punches
Chapter Twenty
After making it to the bathroom, Jeff headed to the kitchen where the girls stood waiting on him. Then he’d taken his meds, wincing as he swallowed a pill or capsule at a time. All while Emma and Grace silently watched, wrapped in towels and both red-faced and looking guilty. Medicine now taken, Jeff leaned against the kitchen counter, feeling weak and shaky.
At some point, sooner rather than later, he’d have to call Brandon and tell him about this.
Neither girl had spoken yet—a first, if there ever was one.
He finally broke the silence. “Anything you’d like to tell me, Em?”
Her face reddened even more. “Not really,” she muttered.
“If I’d caught you out there doing the same thing with a boy, we’d be having thisexactsame conversation, so you might as well talk. I’m not the enemy here.”
He wasn’t so out of it that he didn’t know what he’d seen.
Two kids making out, hot and heavy, Grace well on her way to sliding into home, so to speak, at the rate they’d been going.
“Are you going to tell my parents?” Grace asked.
“That’s Brandon’s call, but I kind of think we have to, don’t you?” He had a thought. “Unless you think your parents are going to give you a hassle for being gay?”
“I’mnotgay,” Grace said.
He arched an eyebrow at her. “I’mnotstupid.”
“I’m bi, but I identify as queer.” Grace tipped her head toward Em. “She’s gay.”
Emma remained unusually quiet.
Save me from genius-level teens.“That still leaves the unanswered question—of all people, why didn’t you feel you could tellus? I get not telling Tracey and Pat. But the three of us aregay.Openlygay. Not just gay, but we’re openly polyamorous. You should have known we wouldn’t have a problem with you two dating. Considering you’re both extremely smart kids, you can’t claim ignorance as an excuse.Whydidn’t you tell us before now? Were you that worried about your mom?”
He left out listing the men’s other dynamic, because the girls didn’t need to know anything about that beyond what they already did.
He also felt more than a little hurt, personally, that they hadn’t felt they could confide in them.
The girls exchanged a guilty look…and everything suddenly fell into place.
“Oh.” He crossed his arms over his chest and tried not to let anger seep in. “This isn’t because of your mom, or because of us. This is because youknewwe wouldn’t let you guys sleep in the same bedroom like you have been, much less spend all that unsupervised alone time together.”
Grace finally nodded while Em studied her own feet.
But a few odd, stray things that he’d never thought much about before finally fell into completely new contexts. Comments Em or Grace had made, or unusual reactions to things the men had said in the past that now made total sense. Things like comments about dating boys.
“Exactly how long have you two been an item?”
Another guilty look exchanged. “Over a year,” Emma finally mumbled, not looking at him.
Jeff fully recognized that there was a societal double-standard. Two unrelated boys spending as much intimate time together as they had would instantly be labeled gay, regardless of whether or not they were.
Two girls?
Besties, natch. Nary a second thought given, much less suspicions about their sexuality.
Jeff himself was proof of that. The fact that it honestly had not crossed his mind to think the girls were romantically involved with each other made him feel like an utter idiot.
Jeff finally had to sit down. The room was starting to spin a little in an uncomfortable way he could no longer ignore. He pulled out one of the barstools at the breakfast counter and perched on it, heavily leaning against the counter for support.
“Okay. So here’s what we’re going to do. You two are going to go shower and get dressed. Separately, thank you very much. Grace, you can use the bathroom at the far end of the hall. Once you’re done, you can sit in the living room and watch TV or something. Maybe that horse has long left the barn, but until your father gives us a ruling to the contrary, I’m erring on the side of caution. While you do that, I’m going to call him—”
