I narrowed my eyes at him as I finished cleaning up and leaned against the counter-top. “Be honest. You’re gonna miss my baking more than me, aren’t you?”
Brady gasped, pressing a palm against his chest as his eyes twinkled in amusement. “You wound me. Of course, I’ll miss you more than your double chocolate, absolutely delicious cookies.”
I grinned at him, shaking my head. “Yep, sounds legit. Will you be staying awhile? The cookies will be ready in half an hour.”
Brady gave me a thumbs up. “I’ll go check on Aanya and Jenny, see how they’re doing.”
“Sure thing.” As part of his volunteer duties, Brady had to check in on us once in a while and make sure we were all doing well since all of us had some or the other shit to deal with. It had been a year since I’d escaped my hell and I felt like I was finally at a place where I could stand up on my own without needing the help of Mama D’s community. Though that didn’t mean I wouldn’t miss them, and I was glad they wouldn’t be too far away from my new place. I owed everything to them and I knew there would still be times when I’d need their support. Mama D has drilled it into my head that I could ask her for help at any time and I believed her.
As I was pulling out the trays and placing them into the cooling racks, Brady stumbled into the room, eyes wide and cheeks flushed. I was immediately beside him, grabbing his arm. “What’s wrong?”
“Did you…” He swallowed hard before continuing, “Did you know that Jenny and Aanya are…”
“Dating?” I asked when he didn’t continue.
His cheeks flushed darker and he managed to roll his eyes before replying, “That looked more than dating to me.”
It was then that I caught what he’d been trying to say and I started laughing at his slightly horrified, slightly aroused look. Poor guy.
“I’ll make sure to tell them to close their door when they’re at it,” I said with a chuckle once I managed to stop laughing. “Did they see you?”
Brady shook his head vehemently, “I opened my mouth to call out to them, then my eyes fell on...on what they were doing and I whirled around and ran back here.”
“Aw, poor you. Sit down, I’ll make some tea and then we’ll eat some soft, melted choco-chip cookies.”
Brady brightened as if someone had flipped a light on inside him and clapped his hands, completely forgetting his earlier embarrassment. “Perfect.”
Putting the kettle on, I turned to face him. “Will you visit me at my new place?”
Brady smiled softly at me, “Of course, I will. But I’ll visit as friend-Brady, not volunteer-Brady. I don’t think you need him anymore, sweetie-pie.”
His words warmed my heart and I smiled. I knew I was up for this new chapter in my life, but it still felt good to have someone else confirm it. “Thanks. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Well, duh,” was his genius reply. Despite being such a warm and loving person, he lost all cool when the emotions were pointed in his direction. He was adorable.
Shaking my head, I poured the tea in two cups, his with a dash of cream and sugar like he preferred. I plated some still-gooey and warm cookies and took the whole thing to the tiny dining table Brady sat at.
As we ate, we talked about the cafe. His cafe was his second baby, the first being his annoyingly cheerful dog, Cherry. He’d discovered Voice Out from one of his part-time employees, and now he only employed kids under the NGO’s care and spent all his free time helping out Mama D. Back when I’d first met him, I’d asked him why he helped out at the NGO when he had nothing to gain, especially since he was already so busy running his cafe. He’d just smiled at me and told me that he did it because he knew not everyone in the community got acceptance as easily as he had from his parents, and he hoped to give that love and acceptance to kids who hadn’t been lucky enough. It was at that moment that I’d realized we were going to be the best of friends.
After we’d finished our tea and almost all of the cookies, Jenny and Aanya drifted into the kitchen, probably following the warm cookie fragrance.
“Oh, hey Brady!” Jenny smiled as she spotted Brady, giving him a half hug.
Brady barely stopped himself from choking on his cookie and sputtered, coughing as he tried to dislodge the piece of cookie he’d swallowed.
I bit my lip to keep from smiling and looked at Jenny cheekily. “Maybe lock your door next time before you go at it, huh?”
“Oh,” Aanya said as Jenny’s face turned beet red. Spotting the cookies, Jenny rushed towards them.
“Did you make cookies? You did! Thank you! Okay, now I’m gonna go die of embarrassment. After I finish eating the cookies.” Jenny blabbered, before grabbing a few cookies and dragging a stupefied Aanya out of the room behind her.
We stared at each other for a few seconds before bursting out laughing. God, I was going to miss them so much.
3 | Scott
The bell rang as I was setting up the table and I checked my watch. Seemed like Luke was a punctual guy. Straightening up my shirt and running a hand through my hair, I made my way to the door. I knew Luke had asked for this dinner because he wanted his friend’s opinion, on the room and maybe on me, too. Honestly, I didn’t fault him for that. From what I’d observed when we met, he wasn’t the type to trust someone easily. And if meeting his friend made him feel comfortable with trusting me, sharing an apartment with me, then I had no problem meeting her. Plus, Angie Grace was the writer of my favorite column, so meeting her was going to be a pleasure anyway.
My eyes fell on Luke the moment I opened the door and I gave him a soft smile. He was dressed much like the last time we’d met, except his jumper was a baby blue color instead of gray. I smiled at the woman I presumed was Angie, who observed me with a blank face as I stepped back to let them in. I took a moment to process the fact that Angie looked nothing like I’d expected her to. Where I’d expected a bubbly, cheerful woman, Angie gave out a definite ‘stay the fuck away from me’ vibe.
Closing the door, I turned around to face them. “Can I get you anything to drink? Water, wine, beer?”
“Um, water would be fine,” Luke said and I could see that the ease he’d found on his last visit was gone and he was back to his nervous self.
“Beer for me, thanks.” Angie glanced around the room as she spoke and I hoped she found the place good enough for her friend. It wasn’t a huge place, but it was in the nice part of Boston, so I counted that as a plus. I’d bought it two years ago from the money I’d received from my godfather and I loved the place. The living room was just big enough to entertain a few friends without it getting cramped, not that I did much entertaining. My favorite part of the room was the electric furnace and the deep, mahogany couch I’d invested in because of its comfortable, huge size. I could easily fall asleep on it while reading without the fear of an aching back in the morning. I really hoped Luke and Angie liked the place as much as I did.
I grabbed two bottles of water and a beer out of the refrigerator, handing them out to Luke and Angie.
“Um, you can check out the room while I serve dinner, if you want?”