Page 171 of Hockey Bois
“Of course he did,” Brady said condescendingly.
“Shedid. Ask Terry!”
“And if I ask Jenna…?”
“Jenna is a dirty liar and doesn’t know anything about pigs, so her opinion doesn’t count. Also don’t change the subject! We’re having a heartfelt moment of understanding here, and I don’t care for you throwing my past failures in my face.”
“So you admit the pig won—”
Nick punched him in the arm.
Brady punched him back.
It was comforting that they could fall back into things so easily.
“You should be nice to me.” Nick pouted, really hamming it up. “You abandoned me.”
“Want me to make it up to you?” Brady offered, like it was something he’d been hoping to bring up the whole time.
Immediately Nick perked up. “Hard yes, but I feel like we’re about two necessary talking points away from that.”
Brady nodded grimly. “What’s the first one?”
“Are we dating?” And then in a rush he added, “We don’t have to send out public announcements or change our Facebook statuses or anything, butIneed to know. Between you and me and maybe a few people who won’t leave us alone until we admit it, are we a thing?”
“…did my sister talk to you? More than the Facebook post?”
“Don’t avoid the question,” he said dismissively. “Also on a completely unrelated topic, your phone password is probably garbage. What is it, 6891? 6868? Just 68?”
“I’m going to kill her,” Brady muttered under his breath.
“And change your password?”
“I think,” he said, pointedly ignoring Nick’s comments, “that yeah, we’re together. Assuming you want—”
“I want.”
Brady smiled affectionately at his eagerness. “Then we’re together. But, uh… I’d prefer not to broadcast that. I need time to… uh…”
“Ease into the idea of having a boyfriend?”
“Something like that,” he said. His eyes darted around the bar before he caught himself, and he seemed annoyed that he’d reflexively made sure no one was paying any attention to them. “Ineed to be comfortable with it before I can be comfortable withotherpeople knowing about it. And those other people maybenotbeing comfortable with it.”
Nick didn’t know if it was his place to ask, but if theywereboyfriends, maybe… “Is your family okay with…?”
Brady sighed through his nose. “My sister doesn’t care. I don’t think my parents care. They were pretty supportive during high school when they found out. My mom quit a church book club when some lady shared some rumor about me, and my dad likes to loudly say that his friend-from-work’s daughter is a lesbian and how he’d be okay with his kids being gay.”
“Your parents are now my favorite people in Pittsburgh.”
“You better watch your mouth, I’ll tell Lucy you said that.”
“I have never met this Lucy you speak of so clearly you’re trying to scare me.”
“Uh huh.”
“So would your family be cool if I like… come with you to Pittsburgh sometime?” Nick offered. “I still want to cash in that rain check from the drive back from Canada.”
Brady made a face. “Immediate family? Not an issue. More distant family like aunts, uncles, cousins, and all them…” He shrugged. “Don’t know. My parents didn’t talk to a few of them after… well,after, when they were offering ‘friendly advice.’ Lucy didn’t invite a whole branch of the family to her wedding.”
