“Okay, so that one was a little funny, but no, I called to tell you that I didn’t know you hadn’t told Will you agreed to move in with me. I mentioned it to Eli, who told Shaw, who asked Will about it, and poof, your secret is out.”
I frowned. That was an indirect route if I’d ever heard one. “I didn’t purposefully try to keep it from him. I just didn’t think about telling him.”
“Good. I feel better. Anyway, Will, Jameson, and I are going to come down tomorrow and help you move.”
“You guys don’t have to do that.”
“Fuck, Carson. You are so difficult. We know we don’t have to; we want to. You have to load your truck and the U-Haul, drive it into the city, unload some at the storage and the rest at my place. Are you Superman? You can do all that by yourself?”
He had a point… “There’s this group of college kids who help with odd jobs. They do last-minute stuff. I was going to call them today.”
“Nice eye candy, I’m sure, but we’re cheap.”
“I wasn’t… I’m not… That’s not why I was going to use them.”
“Well, that’s a shame. Anyway, we’ll be there at ten.”
“Sure…thanks. What’s up with the last name? You called me Carson,” I asked just as he said, “Gotta run,” then added, “I don’t know. It just came out. I need to get back to work. See you in the morning, okay?”
“Bye,” I replied right before Danny hung up, and I found myself disappointed the call had to end so soon.
Weird.
I got up early the next morning and went for doughnuts. I figured if they were coming to help, I should have something to give them. Then, for some reason, I felt stupid that I got them, which led me to being fucking pissed at myself for overthinking everything as if I couldn’t function. Second-guessing myself and stressing about every little thing was so unfamiliar to me. Everything felt like I was out of my element now, but there was no real reason to feel that way. It wasn’t as if I’d never had buddies over to help me with something. Maybe it was because these weren’t my friends; they were Will’s. Or maybe it was because it felt like everyone was coddling me since I’d been scared to come out.
I didn’t know, and I couldn’t make sense of my thoughts. Maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea to stop seeing my therapist.
I left the doughnuts on the counter. I’d already picked up the U-Haul last night. It was a trailer I just had to hook onto my truck. Time went by fairly quickly as I finished up last-minute stuff, and before I knew it, I saw Jameson’s car pulling up out front.
I turned so I didn’t look like a creeper watching them out the window. The door was already open. Will came in first, followed by Jameson and Danny. I wrapped an arm around Will’s shoulders and fucked up his hair, trying to act normal. “Hey, twerp. Thanks for coming over to help.”
“Stop it, fucker.” He jerked away.
“Your relationship always fascinates me because I don’t have brothers,” Jameson told us, and it was such a Jameson thing to say. I was pretty sure I saw my brother melt, which was weird as hell. Why did he melt over that? Because Jameson was quirky?
“I wouldn’t base too much on us,” Will replied. “We’re probably not normal.”
“Well, I am.” I pointed to Will. “He’s probably not.”
“Be nice, or we won’t help you,” Will replied. He had a point.
I rubbed the back of my neck, my gaze flickering over to Danny. “Hey.”
“What’s up?”
“I, um…got doughnuts.”
“That was nice of you,” Jameson replied. Will was already going for the box.
“Did you get me a maple bar? You know I love them, and you guys used to always try and eat them before I could when we were kids.” Way to remind me I was a dickhead, baby bro. Thanks a lot.
“I got two and I don’t plan on eating any, so unless anyone else wants one, they’re both yours.”
“This is why you’re my favorite.” Will opened the box.
Danny nudged my arm. “I like sprinkles. Did you get me sprinkles?”
“Adults specifically look for sprinkle doughnuts? I thought that was for kids.”
“Ha-ha. Very funny. I see sprinkles in the box, though. I bet you secretly like them. It’s okay, Carson. I won’t tell your secret.”
“I’m not embarrassed to like sprinkles. I just don’t. Somehow, I had a feeling you might. And also, there might be a Mountain Dew in my fridge, tainting things.”
“You got me a Mountain Dew?” Danny pretended to swoon. “My hero!”
I rolled my eyes, chuckling, before glancing at Will and Jameson to see they were both watching us. Will’s face was pinched in confusion. “What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” Jameson said.
“Yeah, nothing,” Will added, and damned if my hand didn’t go back to my neck, rubbing it the way I did when I was uncomfortable.
“Don’t be strange. Otherwise, I’m going to eat your maple bars.”
“You will do no such thing!” He plucked them both out of the box and ran away with them, making us laugh.
We stood around in the kitchen for a few minutes, stuffing our faces. Jameson chose an apple fritter, Danny his sprinkles, and I got lemon-filled. There were drinks in the fridge, and I’d gotten a Mountain Dew specifically for Danny. I was trying to work on the whole being-a-nice-guy thing.
When we were done, Danny clapped his hands together and said, “Let’s do this!”
“I separated everything.” I showed them what went in the back of my truck and what belonged toward the front or back of the U-Haul, so it would be easier at the storage unit, before taking the rest to Danny’s apartment.
Everyone jumped in and got to work. Danny lingered close to me, helping with things I needed another person for. We laughed and talked about random things as we got shit done. Sometimes it was all of us, but others there were conversations just between Danny and me. He made me laugh, and I didn’t feel like…I didn’t know, as if he tried to be careful around me, like he thought I would break. I knew Will wanted to be supportive, but sometimes, with him or even Jameson, I felt like they walked on eggshells around me. Danny didn’t.
We made quick work of everything. I wasn’t the kind of guy who had a lot of stuff.
We were almost finished when Danny was helping Jameson with something and Will made his way over to me. “How’s it going, big bro?”
“Not bad. How’s it going, little bro?”
He shrugged. The serious expression on his face told me I probably wasn’t going to want to discuss whatever he planned to say. “Listen…I know this has to be tough for you—shit being strained with Nolan and Brad, uprooting and moving, a new job. I just want… I know I’m your baby brother and all, but I want you to know I’m proud of you. You said I had opportunities you didn’t because of the pressure Dad put on you, and I can see that. I’m glad you’re keeping your options open now, is all, and no matter what, I always have your back.”
Not gonna lie, I was filled with both gratitude and discomfort. It meant the world to me that he was in my corner, but…