My Brother's Best Friend - LGBT, boyXman

19

We returned to Ava's house in the middle of that afternoon.

David had been humming happily the entire way home, half-annoying me, half making me think how sweet he was.

“Where on earth have you two been?” Ave demanded as we stepped into the hallway. “I came home and you weren’t here.”

“We went to see the estate agent,” David said.

“Oh, right. And are you all sorted to move back to your apartment?”

“Well… Sort of.” David grinned.

“He bought a cottage, instead,” I told her. “And seven acres of land.”

“What?”

“Well…” David shrugged. “It was… an investment.” He grinned again, looking very pleased with himself.

“It was impulsive, is what it was,” I told him.

“Ah, well. Life’s for living.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Triss saw the picture and fell in love with it.”

“Looks like that’s not the only thing he loves,” Ava said, raising her eyebrows at me and smirking.

“What?” I asked, feeling myself start to blush.

“Jeez, it’s so obvious. You’re so in love with each other.”

I shot David an embarrassed glance, and was pleased to see he was also a little red in the cheeks.

He cleared his throat and flicked the kettle on, trying to compose himself.

Ava grinned at me.

You are dead. I mouthed to her, glaring.

She stuck her tongue out at me and giggled.

“I should…” I began quietly, trailing off when I realised I didn’t know what to say.

David made us each a mug of tea, before excusing himself and disappearing out into the garden.

“God, why did you say that?” I hissed, as soon as I heard the door close. “That was… Why?” I demanded.

“Someone needs to give you two a shove. It’s getting painful to watch.”

“It was mortifying,” I snapped. “Jesus, now he probably thinks I’m in love with him.”

“Well, you are,” Ava said.

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.”

“I am not in love with Dale, I am in love with David!” I shouted, feeling my temper rise.

I saw Ava's grin and started to frown, when I realised what I’d said.

“I mean… I’ve in love with David. No, Dale. No… Da- There are too many ‘D’ people in this situation.”

Ava laughed.

“Triss, you love David.”

I scowled at her.

“What’s wrong? He’s not your teacher anymore.”

I shrugged.

“He’s… old.” I ventured tentatively.

“He’s twenty six. That hardly makes him decrepit. He’s only seven years older than you.”

“He’s… divorced,” I said.

“Not a crime.”

“He’s… too blond.”

“Actually, I think he’s very clever,” Ava said, smirking.

“I meant, hair colour.”

“I know. I was teasing. God, Triss, you love the guy. Tell him. In case you didn’t realise, he bought you a house this morning.”

“In my defence, I did tell him not to,” I muttered.

I drained my mug and sighed.

“I’m going to go home and fetch some things.”

I went out to the back garden and saw David in one of the patio chairs, sipping his tea.

“Could you take back ho-… to Matt's, please? I want to fetch some things while he’s at work.”

He nodded and finished his tea, before standing up.

“Erm… What Ava said before… it doesn’t-”

“It’s alright, Triss,” David said quietly.

We got into his Beetle and drove to Matt's house.

His car wasn’t there when we arrived, which I was grateful for. I didn’t think I could handle another confrontation with him right now.

I let myself into the house with my key and went up to my bedroom.

“I have some spare boxes somewhere,” David said. “I didn’t use all of the ones I brought when I moved out of Karen’s house.”

He went into the spare bedroom to fetch them.

While I packed the clothes I’d left behind, David took his own boxes down to his Beetle.

I carefully stacked my old school books into a box and laid my three photo frames on top of them.

“What about the furniture?” I asked David when he came back inside. “I can’t afford new stuff.”

“I can,” David said. “I got some money in the settlement with Karen. Remember I said her father paid her to sign the divorce papers? Well, he gave me some for signing as well. I told him not to, but… Well, I have enough to get new furniture.”

“Sorry for being such a pain,” I mumbled.

“You’re not, Triss,” he said gently. “Come on. Grab those boxes, and let’s get out of here.”

We loaded my boxes into David’s car and got in.

“Where are we going?” I asked. “To Ava's, or… your place?”

“Our place.” David corrected me. “Well, we can go to Ava's for tonight, if you like, then go and buy some furniture tomorrow and move in. Some places in town promise same-day delivery for items to houses within a certain mile radius from the shop.”

“Could we stop off somewhere before we go back?” I asked.