Page 74 of A Dark Fall
“Yep. Still a total prick then?”
“Some things in life are constant,” I mutter.
“So, who’s the guy? Someone new?” Nick asks, curious. “Got Ben’s knickers in a twist seeing you with him, looks like.” He sounds pleased by this.
When I turn to look over at Jake again, he’s bent over, staring through the glass door of the oven.
“New, yes. I’ll tell you when I see you next,” I promise. “Listen, can you do me a favor though? Call Mum back and tell her I’m fine. I can’t go into this with her right now. It’ll end up about Ben, and I don’t want to go there. Not tonight.”
“Sure, I’ll call her back,” he says. “Oh, before I forget, are you free Saturday? To come through? There’s someone I want you to meet.” His tone is almost shy, and it shifts my attention immediately from Ben to Nick.
“Oh my god, you’ve not met someone,” I gasp.
He makes that same groaning noise again. “Are you busy or not?” I practically feel him squirm down the phone.
“Tell me.”
“Oh, for Christ’s sake, Al. You sound like Mum, you know?” he groans impatiently.
Sensitive. It’s not normally a tone I hear from him about his love life. Yes, this is serious all right.
“Yes, I’m free. What time?”
“Come over about 4:00 p.m.? I’ll book a table somewhere for the three of us. We can meet up with Seb later. Cleo and Tom, who you’ve met before, are up from Brighton.”
“At least tell me his name, Nicholas.” I’m grinning like an idiot.
“Jin,” he sighs, but his voice is warm when he says the name.
“Jin ...?” I giggle childishly. “Like the drink?”
“No, Jin, like the hot piece of ass you’ll be meeting on Saturday.”
I burst out laughing. I really shouldn’t take anything away from the significance of this though; my man-whore brother finally mentioning someone of importance to me is huge. It isn’t a part of his life he flaunts loudly. Not because he’s ashamed, but because Mum and Dad still didn’t know he prefers men to women. Mainly because Tash and I have been quietly holding onto this massive truth for him for the past ten years since a tearful, nervous coming-out on his twenty-first.
“Okay, I’m going now, Alex,” Nick groans. “See you Saturday.”
“Can’t wait to meet him.”
“Goodbye ...” he mutters.
“Bye, and Nick, remember to call Mum for me!” I squeeze in before he hangs up. I turn around to find Jake staring at me from a few feet away.
“Nick. Your brother?” he asks, looking as though he hopes he didn’t misremember.
I nod. “Yes. He’s met someone. This is big. I’m meeting them on Saturday.” It’s automatic, the use of the gender-neutral pronoun. Years of practice so as not to inadvertently spill his secret to anyone. I don’t particularly want to keep it from Jake though, and I suppose I’m also curious to know whether there’s any prejudice there. So, I add, “Meetinghim, I mean. His boyfriend.” It sounds strange coming from my mouth. Nick has a boyfriend. I almost want to squeal with excitement at what this might mean.
Jake’s eyes widen a fraction, but he smiles warmly, nodding. Something eases inside me.
“This is almost done, if you wanna sit down.”
“Oh, I want to sit down. I’m utterly famished.” I pick up my wineglass and go to take a seat at the dining table, which he’s set with black fabric place mats, water, and contemporary cutlery.
Jake brings the wine over and tops my glass up again before setting the bottle in the center.
“Have I mentioned I’m so impressed?” I say, looking up at him.
“Let’s wait until you’ve tasted it, yeah?” He smiles.