Page 9 of Our Bright Christmas Town
He shrugged. “Didn’t want you to outshine me completely.”
“As if,” I said, and this was—uh. Flirting. Or was it just Ashby’s version of an ego boost, to help me find some guy who wasn’t him?
“Let me get a picture of you two,” my mum said brightly. Right, yeah, we weren’t alone.
“Mum.” My groan probably made me sound like a huffy teenager. Childhood patterns were hard to shake. “It’s just a night out.”
“It’s my darling boys looking good together. Humour me.” She waved us towards the Christmas tree in the living room, phone out.
Shelly, who’d followed me down, smirked like the cat who’d snuck into the dairy farm. “Sosweet,” she cooed. “It’s like a wholesome Christmas catalogue.”
I could leave something squishy under her pillow. It had been a while since I’d done that.
“Needs more tinsel,” was Ashby’s verdict as he stepped into place next to me. He smelled good. Just a standard olfactory response—neural pathways triggered, basic chemistry.
“The tree?” I asked.
“Our Christmas catalogue.” He slung an arm around my shoulders. “Even if you think tinsel is a nasty holiday parasite.”
I grinned at him, and he smiled back, something soft in his brown eyes. It waylaid my answer, and by the time I finally had one—‘It’s a super-spreader with a high glitter load’—my mum lowered her phone. “Lovely,” she announced.
I hadn’t even noticed her snapping a picture, too caught up in Ashby. Jesus, Iwasa Christmas card come to life.
While Ashby inspected the photos, I put on my shoes and a jacket, foregoing a hat so as not to ruin my hair. Ashby’s van always needed a few minutes to heat up, but I’d be all right.
Outside, a slight dusting of frost coated the ground, sparkling under the streetlights. Pretty. We made our way towards his van, almost there before either of us broke the pleasant winter calm.
“You know,” he said, “I’m a bit surprised you already told your mum and sister.”
“About how I’m bi?” I asked and continued once he’d nodded. “I knew it’d be fine, so why hide it? I’m not ashamed or anything.”
He slid me a brief look, unreadable in the gloomy night. “It took me half a year to tell anyone, you know?”
“Yeah, but you were sixteen.” I still remembered how nervous he’d been. I’d been stretched out on his bed like usual, waiting for him to put a movie on, and instead, he’d sat down on his desk chair, hands tucked between his thighs and shoulders hunched in as he said,‘Hey, uh, there’s something you should know.’
“Yeah.” Another look that lingered for a beat longer. “I guess I was.”
His tone was layered in something almost wistful, and I wasn’t sure why it made tension knot in my stomach. Maybe because this, tonight, was my chance to see if there was more to us than I’d always assumed.
Hopefully, it wouldn’t end with him chatting up his next boyfriend while I pretended not to care.
“Your nine o’clock,”Ashby said. “Sparkly blue top.” His subtle emphasis on ‘sparkly’ suggested a hint of ridicule.
I glanced to my right without much enthusiasm. This was pretty much how the last twenty minutes had gone—Ashby and I leaning back against the counter, him pointing out blokes who supposedly showed an interest, and me pretending to care at least a little. Multicoloured lights drenched the space in a dreamlike glow, and a throbbing bass line from the next-door dance floor thrummed in my chest.
“Your other nine o’clock,” he said drily.
Right. I turned my head and identified the guy, kept nursing my pint while avoiding eye contact. The sparkly top truly was very sparkly, shimmering each time he moved. Nothing wrong with that, but he wasn’t who I wanted. I shook my head. “Not my type.”
Ashby took a sip of his cider. “You’ve said that about every single guy so far.”
“I’m selective.”
“Sure you’re not hung up on Dom after all?” Ashby asked with a grin. There was an odd tilt to it, though, like a part of him actually meant it. And seriously.Seriously.
“I live with Dom,” I said, voice pitched to carry over the music. “He likes to cook naked when he’s drunk, and trust me, there is no part of me that wants to see that up close.”
Ashby’s laugh curled around me, seeped into my chest and lit me up. “All right, thanks for the image.”
