I knew the moment that Eric laid eyes on Ava. His body went rigid. He was nervous about how to proceed. Ava must have also recognized his discomfort because she made a real effort to ignore him. Since I knew both of them so well, I could tell how anxious each was. I took the lead in normalizing the moment. At least I tried to.
"Take a seat, Eric." I pointed to the couch. I pet Ava's head on my way to my chair. She settled quietly on her pet bed. My touch was the only thing she needed to calm her. Eric was another story. There was an awkward silence hanging in the air.
"Soooo, how did you two meet?" I sat there in a moment of stunned silence. Then I started laughing. I couldn't help it. His goofy comment was all I needed to release my anxiety. It reminded me that this wasn't a dangerous meeting; it was my friend. I truly relaxed in my seat and could enjoy the moment.
"Can I get you a beer, dude? I have some blonde ale and a few IPAs."
"I'll take an IPA." He, too, was starting to relax. I got his drink and came back to hand it to him.
"What do you want to play?" I asked him. Eric and I had been friends since we were children. One of our favorite past times is playing board games. We enjoyed video games together too, but board games had a special place in our hearts. We played a board game nearly every time we hung out at each other's homes.
"How about the classics? We never got to Oregon Trail last time."
"Sounds good to me. Pet, you think you can find the game in the closet?" I turned to Ava. She nodded and got up from her bed. I watched her walk out of the room, trying to assess how she felt about what I had just asked of her and the specific word choices I had made. Ava seemed perfectly alright with everything. As time went on, I was getting more confident.
Halfway through our board game, it felt like all of the trepidation had left the room. Ava was happily sitting beside me on the floor. Eric and I were engrossed in our board game on the coffee table. We were all comfortable and, more importantly, happy to be in each other's company.
"Ah shit, I have to head out. My mom needs a ride from the mechanics." Eric checked the time on his phone.
"How is she doing?" I got up to walk him to the door.
"Good, still working her butt off. Sometimes I want to force her to take time off. Later Ava." He gave me a brief hug and waved at Ava before heading out. I watched him drive down our road, then closed the door to bring Ava and me back to our desired seclusion. I turned around. Ava perked up, seeing my attention on her.
"You were such a good girl, sweetheart." I praised her. She smiled at me. I sat down on the floor next to the coffee table again. Ava watched me from her pet bed. I reached out my hand and ushered her over to me. She happily crawled into my lap. She made me smile when she wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me.
"I'm really glad we invited him." Her voice was quiet. I put my hand on the back of her head. I was glad too. It proved that we could still live openly with at least select people. I hadn't realized how fearful I was of living such a secretive lifestyle until I was comfortably playing games with my friend and Ava at my side. It was the first time we interacted as a couple with someone who wasn't involved in the lifestyle. We had acceptance, which is all anyone wants from life.
"It was nice to know we can hang out without judgments." She snuggled into my neck like a kitten looking to take a nap.
