Upside Down(42)

Hennessy barked out a laugh. “And it’s not even over yet.”

“We may need to modify the rating system. I have a feeling ten isn’t going to be high enough. Though it might depend if the date includes dinner. There is a slight chance it could go horribly wrong, though I’m highly doubtful it will.”

“There’s a small Hungarian restaurant just a block or two from my place. The owner is a little old guy who talks really loud and he has the best laugh, and the food is amazing.”

I sighed dramatically and threw my hands up and spoke to a more or less empty park. “Okay, folks, thanks for trying, but the contest is over. All the points have been awarded, the votes have been counted, and we have a winner.”

He grinned at me. “Did I win?”

“Hell yes, you did, motherfucker.”

He laughed, long and loud, then slung his arm around my shoulders, and we began to walk back to the main road. “So there is a downside to us being on the same page,” I said. “And I probably should tell you this now so you have enough time to bail. But Angus said if things went well with us today that he wants to meet you.”

“That’s okay, because Michael said the same thing.”

Oh. “So um, are we doing the meet the friends thing? Because I will need some warning time to get my head around that and possibly enough time to get some Xanax, because my nervous rambling would possibly go nuclear, and under Spanish Inquisition circumstances, that won’t end well. Just so you know. Too many questions and the ‘you hurt him and I’ll kill you’ intimidation speech and I will freak the fuck out and you’ll probably need to call an ambulance for me while your friends call the Intervention TV show people for you, and it will be a total disaster.”

Hennessy gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze. “I promise I won’t let him. He knows, anyway.”

“He knows what?”

He stopped walking, let his arm fall from around my shoulder, and faced me. “That things are different with you. Even from early on, he said he could tell I was already invested. That I’d found an asexual book lover for a boyfriend and that it was different this time.”

The butterflies in my chest flooded my throat. “Boyfriend?”

Hennessy let out a laugh and ran his hand through his hair. “Well, I… I um… I’m not terribly opposed to the idea.”

“Me either,” I whispered.

He beamed. “Then yeah, I think we should do the friend-meeting thing.”

“Okay,” I said, trying not to overthink actually meeting his friends. “Um, what about family?” Then I realise how that sounded. “I mean, do you have any? Not that we have to do the meeting the family thing. I think friends is more than enough for me not to freak the fuck out over, but I’ve never even asked you about your family. Or your tattoo. Or why the hell you went to Nepal. God.” I put my hand to my forehead. “Way to ruin everything, Jordan.”

“You didn’t ruin anything.” He squeezed my hand. “Yes, I have family. My folks live up on the Gold Coast, and I have two sisters, Siobhan and Saffron. Both older; both live in Melbourne. We’re all kind of busy, but we talk on the phone all the time and we see each other for a week at Christmas.”

“Siobhan and Saffron,” I repeated. “And Hennessy. Did your parents write the book on How To Give Your Kids Cool Names?”

He chuckled. “We got a lot of shit at school, actually.”

I made a face. “Oh, sorry.”

“That’s okay. What about your family?”

“I don’t speak to them. I haven’t since they wouldn’t have a gay kid, and I couldn’t be not gay, so that was that.”

Hennessy stopped, his face drained, and he put his hand on my arm. “Oh my God, Jordan. I didn’t know. Sorry.”

“I was eighteen and living on my own at uni anyway, so it wasn’t like I had to add the label of homeless to freshly orphaned. But I’d rather cut all ties with those arseholes than spend years begging for them to love me, ya know?”

He nodded. “Yeah. But Jesus. I’m so sorry they did that.”

I shrugged. “I’m sorry too, but I’m okay. I knew they’d never accept me, so it wasn’t some huge shock. I kind of expected it, to be honest. I’m stronger because of them, and in a roundabout way, they taught me to stand up for myself. Plus, I have a brother in Angus, and a sister in Merry. I made my own family, and they’re so much better.”

He blew out a breath and studied me for a long second. “You’re amazing.”

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “And if you’re thinking I’m headed for some kind of breakdown because I use humour and sarcasm as a defence mechanism, you’d be wrong. I’ve always been a nonsensical rambler, ever since I could talk, and I was funny long before my parents were bigoted arseholes.”

Hennessy gave me a small smile. “You’re still amazing.

“Not really, but you wanna know what I really am?”

He nodded.

“Hungry. And you mentioned food.”

He smiled, more genuinely this time. Then he put his arm around my shoulder again and we began walking to the bus stop.





Chapter Ten





Hennessy