Page 48 of True Blue

I chuckle, turning on my side to snuggle into Bentley and hitch my leg up over his. “Maybe we should make one for Bentley.”

A sly grin creeps onto her face as she lowers herself back down, hiding her chest from view again. “Muffin?” she tests.

“Honeybun?” I counter.

“Beefcake.” She chortles and I smile, watching her.

“Why are these all food based?” Bentley grumbles, face stormy as he stares up at the ceiling.

“You’re a growing boy,” I say, patting his taut stomach.

Janette snorts. “If I’m sunshine, I could call you ‘my moon.’” Her sarcastic tone makes her thoughts on that known but does nothing to stop the smile from splitting Bentley’s lips.

He tips his head toward her. “I wouldn’t be against it.”

Her eyes narrow on him. “Not going to happen.” He shrugs but continues smiling at her.

“Maybe we should know more about you, Bent. Tell us your life story.” I shuffle closer and Janette laughs when his head flips over toward me, looking wary.

She presses in closer to him, tangling her leg with both of ours and wrapping her arm around his chest. “Yeah, spill all your secrets.”

“What about you two? Why do I have to share first?” He glances between us, reaching up to brush some haphazard curls off Janette’s forehead.

“We grew up together. We already know most of each other’s history.” She shrugs, and I watch Bentley’s face grow pensive, eyes going back to the ceiling above us.

“Does that bother you?” I stroke small circles across his stomach as I ask.

“No,” he hums, pulling an arm up and tucking it under his head. “Just going to have to catch up.” He shrugs.

“How long have you known you’re bi?” Janette asks.

I bark out a laugh, looking over at her curious face. “Into the thick of it then? Not going to start with something easy like favorite color first, Blue?” I wink when she glares over at me.

“It’s okay, sunshine. I can already guess yours.” Bentley tucks his chin in to look down at Janette on his chest. “I figured it out a couple years ago.” We both settle in, staring up at him as he tells his story. “I had only dated or wanted girls for most of high school, but my parents took me on a trip to Rio before my junior year. They usually work on our ‘vacations,’ so I’m pretty used to being on my own for hours in a new city. This guy was in the lobby of our hotel and saw me looking at a map on my phone to try to figure out where I wanted to go. He offered to show me around and I knew the moment I saw him that I wasn’t totally straight. We spent the day just wandering aroundthe tourist sites and hanging out. He knew the city and showed me his favorite food spots. Nothing really happened between us other than having a nice day out, but after that, I branched out, exploring my sexuality more.”

Janette nods. “That’s sweet that he showed you around for the day. I’ve never really gone on a vacation with my mom. Usually, she leaves me at home when she travels for her campaigns.”

Bentley brings his arm down around her back, hugging her against him. “What about you, Axe? How’d you find out?”

I look past Janette, taking a breath. “I think I've always known I felt the same way about boys as I was supposed to feel about girls. To be honest, I thought everyone did. My first kiss was with a boy on my pop warner football team in middle school. We were sitting in the back of the bus after a game and joking around and he just leaned forward and kissed me.” I smile at the memory, remember how much my heart hammered in my chest. “It was nothing special, just pressing his lips against mine, but he pulled back really fast with this terrified look on his face. I smiled before he cocked back and punched me in the face. I was so surprised, I didn’t even hit back, even when he stood up and called me the f-slur so that all the other boys could hear.” I look over at Bentley and Janette who each have frozen, horror-stricken faces. “I never felt ashamed for it after that or anything. He ended up telling the coach I was starting fights when he wasn’t around, and a couple of the other kids backed him up. I got kicked off the team, and they spread the rumor that I was gay around school. I never denied it, so I ended up being the first one openly out in our year which kind of sucked in middle school.” I shrug, thinking back on it. “But once we got to the high school, most people didn’t care anymore and there were enough out people in the grades above ours, so it got a lot easier.”

A pause passes once I finish and then Bentley leans down and kisses the top of my head.

“I didn’t know that,” Janette whispers, green eyes misty across from me.

I shake my head. “It was a few months after you moved.”

Her eyes pinch and she reaches for my hand, gripping onto me. I rub my thumb back and forth over the back of her hand, trying to soothe the look in her eyes. She laughs, the sound still a little off kilter. “See,” she says looking up at Bentley. “Looks like there’s still some secrets about him we can learn together.”

Bentley smiles, eyes still a little sad as he looks over at her. “You could probably just ask Mira for some stories from our childhood. She’d probably be more than happy to embarrass me in front of you.”

Janette laughs, but it’s not quite comfortable, lips tense at the edges.

“Oh, fuck,” Bentley says, face going blank before he sits up, jostling the two of us out of the way as he climbs out of the bed.

Janette sits up, letting the comforter fall to her hips as she watches him grab his phone out of his discarded pants and check his messages. He glances over at us, pausing to drag his eyes over Janette and me.

“What’s wrong?” she asks, snapping his attention back up to her face.

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