Chapter 14 - One good day, part 3 - Making love
"Now. Let's get real. If you tell me that the two of you are seriously only friends, I will apologize to you, Nate, if I offended you. But you have to be bloody special friends if Rick lets you call him anything other than Rick."
He raised one finger and pointed it at me. "That man is fussier about what names people call him than anyone I've met. It's like weird OCD, or in his case, fetish, I think."
He raised his second finger.
"Second, he is not that considerate to his friends that he would bring them as plus one on something like this. Party, club, or festival, sure, I could see that, but meeting like this, it's just not his style. We are closer to him than his late parents, and he introduced us to enough boyfriends and fuckbuddies I care to count, but he never brought one friend to my house. Especially not since Sheila was born. That man has too much respect for that. So, you could maybe be best friends if..."
He raised his third finger.
"The way you two steal glances at each other, it's obvious that you fucked. And the way you are acting makes me confident enough to say this all in front of you both."
We looked at each other. Nate smiled and turned to Ben. "It's true."
"What the fuck are you two doing?" Courtney whispered.
"I don't know. It just happened."
"What about Ashley?" asked Courtney judgingly.
"We don't know," I said. I felt like a teenager in front of loving parents that are giving me shit for something wrong I did.
"How real is this here?" Ben asked, looking sternly at Nate
"Very." He said seriously
"Are you bi or closeted?"
"For most of my life, I thought I was asexual, to be honest."
Ben looked at Courtney in bewilderment, she shook her head, and oddly for her, she was quiet most of the time. Typically, Courtney is the one giving me shit, and Ben is the steady, firm one that listens, and when speaking, I shake with guilt. Now they just gave me an uncomfortable switch, and I didn't know what to feel like.
"How do..." his voice went quiet when we heard noises getting closer. Kid chatters and steps down the stairs.
"Don't tell Peter yet; it would break his heart."
"Dora would be fine but let's not go there right now," said Courtney.
Sheila ran down first, and behind her was Peter, with Dora holding her baby Brian. I hadn't seen that little guy since he was born when I went to the hospital to look at him. He was so small. Sheila grabbed Ben by the leg, and he raised her.
"Do you want to meet uncle Rick?" Dora asked that little chubby face with big blue eyes. He looked at her and touched her nose. He was funny.
"Do you want to hold him?" she looked at me.
"Sure, come here, buddy." Honestly, three years ago, when I first held Sheila, I was afraid to touch that little person, but now seeing her grow, I felt fine taking little Brian in my arms and flying with him from the stairs like he was a plane. He chuckled, and his moms and Peter went, "Rick!"
"Sure, fine, don't worry, I won't break him, I promise." I was saying to his round chuckling face.
Sheila asked for some sweets, and Ben told her she had just woken up and could have some later. So Peter took her to the kitchen to get her a drink, and the rest of us sat talking in the living room.
I played with Brian's feet and arms and moved them into soft music in the background. I couldn't help but look at Nate. He had this dreamy, happy smile as he was looking at us.
Dora leaned to Courtney and kissed her softly, then whispered something.
"Yeah, but Ben doesn't want to say anything to Peter yet."
"You think he seriously doesn't know?"
"If Peter knew, he would probably throw him out." They were whispering, but in a way that Ben, me, and Nate could hear them, and they didn't care. I rolled my eyes and grinned at Nate. He smiled and looked again at the little guy in my lap.
"Why?"
"I will tell you later. Just believe me for now, baby."
Dora went to Nate and sat next to him. "Do you want to hold him?"
"Can I?"
"Sure."
"Here," I told him softly and handed him this little bundle of joy. Nate took it awkwardly, and Dora corrected him a little, softly whispering to Brian, "Say hi to Nate." Seeing his relaxed mother's face, Brian calmed pretty quickly and looked at Nate. Nate seemed to be holding the most fragile treasure, looking humbly into his face.
"Hi, little buddy." He took his little hand and moved it slightly. When Brian's little fingers squeezed his thumb, Nate's eyes looked as if he was going to cry.
"Thank you." Nate looked at Dora and gently gave him back. "If you excuse me for one moment." He stood up and went to the bar. "Does anyone want something to drink?" He asked softly while he was pouring water for himself out of the jug.
We looked at each other in confusion. It was somehow emotional for him. Girls looked at me for an explanation, but I didn't have any. Then Ben stood up and walked up to him. That big black tower looked huge next to anyone, even my 6.2ft Nate. It was fascinating to see. They stood there for some time talking, but I couldn't hear a word.
Dora sat Brian in her lap and looked at them.
"Nate seems like a decent guy." She said quietly