Bizarre Love Triangle (lgbtq+)

10 IMPROVING

"You have a sister?" Noel asked.

I squinted my eyes.

"Yes, I have three sisters. Have – have I never told you?"

"I don't think you have. You don't talk about your family that often."

"Sounds like me," I laughed forced to cover up my discomfort.

"Can you tell me something about them?"

I waited a moment, then said: "Yes. Okay, my oldest sister, Bethany, is 24 and works for Exxon Mobil and eh – don't look at me that way, I hate the fact too. And then there's Alison, two and a half years younger than me and Victoria, she is eleven. No, twelve. Her birthday was in April."

"What are your parents' names?"

"Karen and Michael."

Noel laughed. "You have the most American names. I can't even believe you're telling the truth."

"Oh, I am. My dad owns three guns, too. And a MAGA-hat!"

Noel seemed frightened and amused at the same time.

"And who is coming to visit?"

"That would be Betty."

"The oldest one?"

I nodded.

"Are you happy she's coming here?"

"I don't know. I think it's gonna be mostly weird."

A week later, I picked up my big sister from the airport. When she saw me, a smile grew a bit hesitantly on her face.

"Hi, little sister, how are you?"

"I'm fine, how are you? How was the flight?"

"Yeah, fine, nothing special."

The drive back to the apartment - I had borrowed Noel's car - was, like I had expected, very weird. Betty talked about the family and how the grandparents were holding up. We went grocery shopping and she surprised me for the first time that weekend – and it was not going to be the last time.

"I think we're out of milk. Do you eat cereal for breakfast or anything – just to know how much we'll be needing."

"No milk for me, I'm trying to be vegan."

"Oh, wow, I didn't know!"

"No biggie, I started reading articles about the meat and dairy industry after Christmas when you didn't want to eat the turkey and then I watched this documentary on Netflix – "What the Health" – and I totally get you now. Sorry, we gave you such a hard time then."

I shrugged my shoulders even though that apology meant a lot. "It's okay."

Noel and I were both vegetarians which made it pretty easy to cook vegan for several days.

Noel and Betty were best friends from the first moment.

"Can you tell me something embarrassing about your sister? Something I can rub under her nose for the next ten years or so?"

"No, she can't," I answered for Betty.

"Party-pooper," he said sticking out his tongue. "Why did you decide to become a vegan, Betty?"

"Because of this do-gooder here," she pointed at me. "She inspired me to do better. Which is actually the reason I'm here."

She made a dramatic pause long enough for me to think of a thousand different scenarios of what's about to happen.

"I'm here for a job interview at Invenergy who develop and operate in renewable energies."

"Wow, that's great!" Noel exclaimed.

I didn't say anything at first. I didn't know what. I was confused and weirdly proud. Finally, I said: "Who's the do-gooder now, huh?"

"I know right? It's crazy. I never understood why you were angry at me for working at Exxon and how you got to be so passionate about the environment but know I understand. And again – I know I said it before – I'm really sorry, we always gave you such a hard time."

"What about the rest?" I asked, hesitantly, meaning the rest of the family.

Betty seemed sad. "Nothing really changed, to be honest. But I'm sure, one day they'll see. Not Dad, probably, but at least Ally and Vicky, I'm sure."

I showed her to my room.

"I love it!" Betty exclaimed. "Aw, these pictures are so cute. Who is she? Your girlfriend?" She asked, pointing at a picture of Elia and me from last winter. We had gone downtown to ice skate and Nasreen had taken a picture of us holding hands.

"No. That's Elia, one of my best friends."

"Oh, okay, sorry."

"Why do you apologize? I don't mind you asking."

"When not her, is there someone else you like?"

"I'm with Noel." It was the first time I told anybody. It wasn't hard to say.

"Oh, this Noel?" She pointed at the door.

I nodded.

"He's cute!" She grinned.

"I know," I said and smiled back.

The days went by faster than I had imagined. The job interview went very well apparently, and we said goodbye with the promise to see more of each other in the next years.