Page 45 of The War Revision
Realizing belatedly that I haven’t answered Jordie’s question, I snap my eyes to him. “I don’t know.”
I follow Russel, feeling my brother behind me.
Mel quickly goes to his boyfriend asking him if he’s okay.
Russel sighs. “Cole went to see his family.” He sounds as gloomy as he looks. Cole is going to see his family again? That doesn’t sound good.
“Fuck,” Mel and I say at the same time.
“What’s with you?” Jordie is talking to me. I try to shield my emotions but my brother knows me too well.
“I am a little pissed. But also frustrated. Worried. Kind of blindsided,” I tell him honestly.
“All those things at once?” He sounds incredulous.
“I can feel more than one thing at a time. Fuckyouverymuch.”
“The more important question is: why there’s a huge-ass pink cross on your door?” Mel says. It was a long sleepless night. I had a lot of time on my hands.
“Or a papaya-looking car in the parking lot,” Jordie adds.
“The cross is to keep the Devil away, obviously,” I say distractedly, too absorbed by the look on Cole’s face. Apart from angry he seemed so…alone.
“The papaya car is Cole’s,” Russel explains to Jordie. “You couldn’t have chosen a worse time, man,” he tells me.
“Why? What happened?” I sound agitated, and he must read the worry in my eyes because he gives me an answer.
“Cole’s relationship with his family is…complicated.”
“I know they didn’t like it when he came out to them.” Russel looks surprised by my knowledge of it, but he just nods.
“He comes from a very old-fashioned, old-money family. They kicked him out when he told them. Completely cut him off.”
What? I tried to remember Cole’s exact words, butkicked him outweren’t the ones he used.
“Parents can be so fucked up!” Mel mumbles, and Russel grabs his hand. We could form a damn club.
“A few months back, his father contacted him out of the blue. Cole was wary, but it’s still his family and he feels a responsibility toward them.”
“They asked him a favor,” I say, remembering his words from yesterday.
“Yes.” Russel frowns at me. “How do you know?”
“He told me. What’s the favor?”
“He told you?” Jordie sounds surprised.
“Yes,” I answer irritably. I turn to Russel once again. When the big guy hesitates, I add a please. Everybody is looking at me weirdly, but I don’t care. I want to know what made Cole look that upset.
“They asked him to go to some gathering with them and be nice to a woman.”
“Why?” Jordie’s words mirror my confusion.
“The woman, Liza, is the daughter of a senator. Cole’s father wants to close some kind of deal with him.”
“And buttering up the senator’s daughter will help with it,” Mel finishes. Russel must have talked about it to him before.
“Okay. There has to be more. Cole looked distressed a few minutes ago,” Jordie says.
