A Simple Life: Chapter 61 (Patreon)

There in my washroom I stand with Winona’s strong arms around me.  Gradually I relax into the embrace, lightly resting my head on her shoulder, and at that point she hugs me even harder.

“It hurts extra bad when it’s someone close.”  She whispers.  “The blame, the shame.  Not wanting to be seen as a problem or a victim.  Not wanting the attention.  Thinking it was just a misunderstanding.  Thinking that maybe if you’d done something different it wouldn’t have happened.  Thinking that maybe you deserved it somehow.”  She kisses my head.  “It’s not your fault.”

I look up at her, touched by the insight of her words.  “You?”

She shakes her head.  “Russell.  They always find the quiet ones.”

“Russell?”

She nods.  “His first girlfriend.”

“G-Girlfriend?”

“It happens.  You never hear about it but it happens more than you know.”  She says.  “He was such a big guy nobody even suspected.  Not even me.”  Her face twitches as an old pain resurfaces.  “Not even me.”  After a tense moment she blinks the memory from her vision and focuses on me again, her features softening once more.  “You’re not alone Avery.  When you’re ready to talk I’ll be here.”  She pets my hair and strokes my cheeks and dips down so that she can look into my eyes.  “Okay?”

I nod.

“Okay?”  She gently probes.  “Okay?”

“Okay.”  I whisper.

“Okay.”  She smiles a warm smile.  Stepping back she smooths out my shirt.  “You’re with me now Sprout.  You don’t gotta be afraid of nobody no more.”  She turns us so that we faced the mirror, her arm around my shoulders.  She stands tall and squeezes me to her side.  “Damn do we look good or what.”

“Yeah.”  I say, my spirits lifted by her caring words.  And despite my ugly shiner she didn’t look at me any differently.

“You still up for this?”  She asks.  “I could make up something.  We could just hang out if you want.”

“No!”  I say.  “I w-wouldn’t miss this f-for anything.”

“That’s my guy.”  She gives me a shake and a hard couple of pats to my chest.  With a deep breath and a nod she lets me go and leaves the room.  Immediately she and Brayden are back at it again.

“Enjoy yourselves?”  Brayden says, his voice dripping with insinuation.

“Damn right.  Hey, you guys got any breath mints or something?”

“Breath mi…?  Awww, nasty!”

Winona chuckles.  “You want that kiss now.”

“NO!”

“Come here you.”

“Get away from me!”

I giggle as I listen to the pair of them spar.  Though I felt less ashamed of it I reapply the concealer anyway, just to avoid the questions.  I wanted tonight to be all about Winona’s game, I knew what this meant to her.

Unsurprisingly Briar is the first to show up.  When I open the door for her I find her dripping wet in a bright yellow rain coat with an equally bright smile on her face.

“Hello Althea.”  She chirps cheerfully as she steps in.

“He he he!  Hi.”

Brayden was suddenly right behind me.  Reaching past me he offers his hand. “Hey.  I’m Brayden.”

“Oh!”  She unslings a satchel and then wipes her hands on her soggy pants then shakes his hand.  “Briar.”

“You’re right”  He slaps my shoulder.  “She’s cute.”

“Oh!”  Briar blushes and so do I.

“Th-This is m-my roommate.  H-He’ll be in the living room.”  I give him a look.  “Quietly.”  I take her coat and hang it for her.

“Hey Briar.”  Winona greets her as she approaches the table.  “Did you walk or something?”

“Yep.”  She says.  “Oooo!  You got the Master’s edition set!  Nice.”

“Huh?  Oh, yeah.”  Winona takes up one of the large black and green tomes sitting behind the screen.  Opening the front cover she says.  “Number 61 of a hundred.”

Briar positively fawns over the book, praising the feel of the pages, the quality of the binding and cover, and the richness of the art.  Winona was in her nerdy glory to have someone as into this stuff as she was.  Brayden attempts to interject himself into the conversation but the pair of them were off and running speaking in a language only they understood.

Cain and Riley were the next to show.  When I open the door my ears are left ringing as Riley exclaims.  “Happy Game Day!”  Held in front of her was a long plastic container.  “I brought cup cakes and brownies!”

“And pizza.”  Cain says from behind her, a stack of two huge pizza boxes in his hands topped by a pair of six packs of soda.  “I hope you all are hungry.”

“We are!”  Brayden calls.

“Y-You didn’t h-have to.”  I say.  “I h-have snacks.”

“Never enough.”  Riley winks.  Attracted by the sound of other female voices Riley hurries past me to join the chatter.

Cain steps in and passes me the boxes.  “She insisted.”

“It’s c-cool.”  I grin.

From the entry way Cain steps into the living room.  “Bray.”

“Hey man.”

While hardly friends the pair of them knew each other from school and start up a polite conversation.  I hover near the peripheries and play the host, busying myself with bringing out plates and glasses and opening up the cupcakes to lay out near the other snacks and starting the kettle for a pot of tea.  All the while though I listen to the others talking and laughing and joking around and soak in their upbeat energy.  When was the last time this apartment sounded like this?  Had it ever?

And fashionably late, as usual, Kayla is the last to roll in.  When I open the door she flips up her shades and open her arms.  “Eyyy pal.”

“Hi Kayla.”

We hug.  Keeping her voice low she says.  “So what happened?”

“Happened?”

“After the party.”  She pokes my belly.  “You and Winnie.  She wouldn’t tell.”

I smile bashfully and shrug.  “Nothin.”

“I know that smile.”  She pinches my cheek.  “You dog.”   She hugs me again.  “I’m so happy for you both.”

“Thank you.”

“If she gets to be too much you let me know, okay?  I can talk to her.”

“I w-will.”  I say.  “Thank you for b-being my best friend Kayla.  You r-really mean a lot to me.”

“Awww!  Oh my God, of course Avery.  You mah boy.  You know that.”

“Sorry.”  I say with a sheepish grin. “I’m just feeling k-kinda…blessed right now.  I-I’ve never had p-people over like this.  Everyone’s so h-happy.  It’s n-nice.”

She pokes my chest.  “Didn’t I say that people would like you if you just let them in?”

“Yeah.”

“And your Gramps.”

“Yeah.”

“Sometimes we actually know what we’re talking about.”

“Yeah.”

“KAYLA!”  Cries Riley so loudly that I wondered if we’d be getting complaints later.  “Get in here!  Save me from the geeks!”

“Too late for that Riley.”  Winona laughs.  “You’re one of us now!  Bwa ha ha ha!”

With the party assembled the group gathers around the table, initially eating pizza and chatting about what kind of characters they were each going to make.  I cannot help but smirk as, now that Kayla was here, Brayden had clammed up completely.  Three times I notice him try to muster the nerve to initiate something with her and three times I watch him back down again.  Poor guy.  I always knew he lusted after her but I never realized just how bad he had it for my bestie.  On the other end Kayla is oblivious to it as she was too busy trying to hit on Briar, who in turn was way too caught up talking about FoF to notice the flirtations as anything more than friendly chit chat.  The whole thing was actually kinda hilarious to watch.  More than once Winona and I glance at each other and share a chuckle.  It all culminates when Brayden finally gives up and sparks up a joint.

“Oh!”  Briar says right away.  “I didn’t realize this was a smoking place.”

“T-Technically it’s not.”  I say.

“I’m sorry.  Mmf.”  Briar’s nose crinkles and twitches like a bunny’s.  “Sorry…I can’t stay if…”

Kayla swoops to the rescue.  “Brayden was just taking it outside.”  She glares at him.  “Weren’t you Brayden?”

Brayden, joint hanging from his lips, stares at Kayla a moment.  I cringe as I expect the next words out of his mouth to be ‘fuck you’.  Instead, my wise cracking roomie who had so recently claimed that he never simps, nods and quietly excuses himself to the balcony.

“Thank you Mr. Brayden.  I appreciate it.”  Briar calls as the balcony door slides closed.  She then turns back to us, a tiny woman with a humongous smile.  She claps her hands and rubs them then dumps her dice bag out in front of her.  “Alright!  Let’s roll some characters!”

Chapter 62