Page 42 of Strictly Curious
He nodded in understanding.
“Now tell your friends we’ll be ready to meet them soon. I need to clean up a little first.”
“Yeah, not a problem.” Garrett pulled out his phone and sent a text message to them.
I grabbed a fresh shirt and headed into the bathroom to get cleaned up. I put on some fresh deodorant and splashed water on my face. My eyes were a little bloodshot, thanks to my binge drinking earlier in the day.
Garrett sat on the edge of my bed, fidgeting with his phone again when I came back from the bathroom. He looked up and then quickly stood, shoving his phone into his pocket and walking over to me. He tugged on the edge of my Twenty-One Pilots band T-shirt. I liked their music so much that he always found it amusing.
“Shut up,” I teased as I shoved his shoulder. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah, I’m ready whenever you are.” I turned my face when he tried to lean in and kiss me again. He frowned and huffed, but I wasn’t ready to give in to him, though I let him hold my hand to the front door. He let me go when he opened it and headed to the car. Public places and all of that…
The ride to the pizza place, a mom and pop restaurant called ‘Pizzazz’, was awkward and quiet. I let Garrett drive, and I shifted in my seat as I watched the scenery breeze by outside the window. I was probably fine to drive, but it wasn’t good to tempt things. We were still only nineteen after all and my ankle was still a little sore.
When we pulled up and Garrett killed the engine, neither of us made a move to get out of the car. It was warming up quickly without the AC pumping cool air through the space and I could feel a fine sheen of sweat form on my back. Garrett cleared his throat, hands shifting on the steering wheel before he turned to look at me.
“I do think you’ll like them,” he said softly.
“I don’t doubt it. Just wanted it to be my choice.”
His eyes pinched closed, and I knew I was continuing to make him feel terrible about that. He should feel bad about it.
“I’m sorry.”
“I know. Let’s just go inside. It’s too hot outside to keep sitting here.” I had no clue if he believed I knew he was genuine in his apology. I would make it up to him later when I was a little less pissed.
The blast of cold air from the air conditioning that hit us when we walked through the front doors of the restaurant was welcome. I looked forward to fall and cooler temperatures. I did like summer, but the heat was miserable.
Garrett quickly spotted his friends, waving to them as he weaved between chairs and tables in the little restaurant. It felt like sit down pizza places were something you didn’t see all that often. It was easier to have things delivered than to go somewhere and eat it.
The floors were distressed wood, and the tables looked to be made of a similar material with comfortable looking chairs around them. The tables were all round, so it would be easier to place a pizza in the middle where people could reach in and grab a piece.
Jacob stood to greet Garrett, giving him a friendly hug. Who I assumed was his boyfriend stood beside him and waited for Garrett to hug him as well. Jacob was objectively attractive, with short light brown hair with loose curls, a lot like Garrett’s. His boyfriend was about the same height as him, but had darker hair that was a little longer, tucking it behind his ears. He was slightly more tan than Jacob, but was just as good looking and I briefly wondered about all the good-looking people Garrett surrounded himself with. Was it intentional or coincidental? I was confident in my appearance, but some of his friends put me to shame.
Not to be rude, I raised my hand in an awkward wave. “Hi, I’m Tyler.” I introduced myself. Jacob and his boyfriend exchanged a look and then gave me warm smiles.
The boyfriend extended a hand. “Hi, Tyler. I’m Anthony. Everyone just calls me Tony. It’s nice to meet the infamous stepbrother.”
My face fell and Anthony noticed. He dropped my hand and looked at Jacob. “Did I say something wrong?”
“It’s fine,” I said. “It’s nice to meet you too.” It wasn’t fair to drag these two into our argument. They were trying to treat us to a nice dinner, and I needed to let it go. They seemed really nice. My trust of people who seemed nice was a little broken at the moment thanks to Toby and that stupid article.
“So we ordered a cheese pizza and a pepperoni pizza while we were waiting on you guys. I hope that’s okay?” Jacob asked.
“Yeah. We’ll eat just about anything.” Garrett answered as he pulled out a chair and sat at the table. I sat down next to him, probably closer than was necessary, but this was kind of like a weird double date, right? I had pushed for him to let me explore this with him, yet we hadn’t defined exactly what it was we were doing.
Was it weird to say I wanted to date my stepbrother?
Garrett
Theheavenlysmellofgarlic and melted cheese hit my nose as two piping hot pizzas were placed on raised trays on the table. The server also dropped some nice plates instead of cheap paper plates. We’d never been here before, mostly because it was new, but also because we rarely went out to eat.
I grabbed a plate and quickly helped myself to a slice of pepperoni and watched as Tyler delicately took a slice of the cheese. He set it on his plate as he reached for the shaker of red pepper flakes. He shook a small amount over his slice, then picked it up and took a bite. The cheese trailed from the bite to his chin as he pulled it away from his mouth and I chuckled as his eyes widened. He wiped at the ardent piece of cheese before looking at me. “Oh, my God. This is really good pizza.”
“Yeah? This place just opened. It’s owned by a couple who are big supporters of the LGBTQ community, which is a plus,” Jacob explained as he pointed to the pride flag hanging on the back wall I hadn’t noticed when we first walked in.
It wasn’t something I normally sought, but I knew supporting LGBTQ businesses was really important to some people. I probably needed to make more of an effort than I did. I didn’t need to hide my sexuality from Tyler anymore, and it was probably about time to tell my parents as well. However, that was more tricky with Tyler being my current partner.
