handleyourshit | Duplicity Inbox

She shakes her head.

"He's around, but we don't... Talk. Much. Have you?"

"Not about the party. But I've been working a lot, we haven't had a chance to sit and talk lately." Rosita isn't the only one who throws herself into work to deal with emotions sometimes.

"He's still around, so he's okay."

He's not the sort of man that can be found if he doesn't want to be. They all share that.

"I just wanted us to have some fun."

"And it was fun," he says, insists even. He doesn't want her doubting that for a moment. "We all just relaxed for a minute. Think about how rare that is."

The insistence at least lets her smile - at least lets her see what will happen if she admits:

"I liked it. I really liked it. That's okay?"

"I did too," he says with a little laugh. "Does it change anything between you and me? You're my best friend, Ro. The best I've ever had. I never thought I'd be as comfortable with any friend as I am with you."

"Of course it does. It changes some of our weekend plans."

She bounces her eyebrows when she says it, but she also nudges his knee with her foot.

"I want it to stay that way. It's important to me."

"I'd change some of my weekend plans to do that with you two again," he admits with a little grin. "Which I guess answers my question about how you're feeling about it all."

"I love beautiful men."

And she understands Jesus does too, and that's fine; they can, apparently, work around that.

There's also this, which she admits to the currents drawing patterns in the surface of the water: "It's better when you love each other."

Jesus grins at her, but there's something soft in his eyes. "Have you told him that yet?"

"Stop it, I was talking about you," she huffs at him, but she doesn't splash him this time even if she also doesn't look up.

She will run under this water, Jesus.

"You know I love you, too." He doesn't splash her either, but he does reach out, tug her over. "You're the only family I've ever had."

She lets him, and she's quick to throw an arm around him, to snug them up close to one another, grip tight on his shoulder.

"I'm not happy that's true," she admits, because he deserves more. "But you're stuck with me now."

"I want to do Thanksgiving again," he says, very quietly. K is gone. K was the reason he went last year, but he has family here still. People still here he wants to celebrate. "Can we do that? Please?"

"That depends. Have you gotten better at cooking?" she teases, but she doesn't leave it time to sting.

"Yeah. Yeah, we're gonna do that. I think it'll be good for everyone."

"I can make stew," he protests. Everyone in their world makes stew to the best of their ability.

"I'll bring ice cream cake just to prove I can be creative."

"So can I," she throws back.

"Maybe we can talk Carver into it this year."

"Yeah I think I already have," he smirks. "But...I don't think we should have it at Broken Hollow. In case he wants to come home somewhere quiet partway through."

"I'd worried about that. About people."

He relaxes around them sometimes now, but she's under no illusions about how hard that is for him.

"He didn't like coming to my party, and now things are - worse."

"I was there a couple days ago. Things aren't worse," he tells her gently. "He relaxed with you. With us."

"I just want things to be okay."

Her people to be okay.

"I took him food last year. I was too drunk to remember what happened, but he was confused." Probably because she was drunk.

"Why would he be confused? Did you tell him why you were bringing him food?"

So many problems could be solved by talking, and no one from their world--except Jesus--is willing to do it.

"No."

Don't you judge her.

"We'd barely talked at all. And... I could barely talk at that point. I just handed him this plate full of rock hard rolls and three different casseroles and then I staggered the fuck off. Like a champ."

He laughs. "You're such a mess when you're drunk. You're lucky there's no pot here, you'll never see me as a mess." Because he is messy when he's high.

"I think he gets it now though. No explanations necessary."

"I might be a mess, but I'm a hot mess," she throws back, smirking.

It's nice to get to do that again. To let her guard down and not have to always be ready to fight for her life.

"I'm gonna offer a contract to Vanessa, too. I don't know if she'll take it, but if they want to stay together, I don't want them to have to lose each other right now too."

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