I pity straight men because their environments of toxic masculinity never allow them to be truly themselves around their male friends, and it fucks them up so royally that when they have a friendship with a straight woman and she allows them both to be vulnerable with each other he doesnt understand that it’s just a healthy friendship and not heteroerotic tension
CHAPTER 5: Girl I’m Gonna Miss You
Brunch was lovely. They ate on the rooftop, overlooking the bustling streets of Paris that Jamie and Dani were content to ignore given each other’s company along with Hannah’s and Owen’s. Dani and Jamie ate more than their fill, loathe to leave any of Owen’s cooking behind.
“I think the Wingraves’ new cook is afraid of spices,” Dani whined.
Hannah laughed, covering her mouth.
“I mean it! Let me put it to you this way. Owen, if you were a dish, you’d be something like this crepe–understated, but with flavor that bursts with love and a hint of something that makes you always want another bite. This new cook? She’s Wonderbread. I mean, she thinks salt gives a dish a punch.”
Owen chuckled into his champagne flute. “It’s nice to be missed.”
“I’m not sure someone who still can’t brew a proper cup of tea should point fingers,” Hannah challenged.
“She’s in training,” Jamie teased as she took Dani’s hand in hers to kiss it. She took a drag from her cigarette, making Dani jealous of the little cancer stick.
Dani sat up and began to protest that her tea was just fine, but quickly deflated back into her seat. They were right. Her tea tasted like ruined boiled water. Somehow.
“So, anyway” Dani interrupted the laughter that was still going at her expense. “Owen, I have a favor to ask.”
Owen tilted his head. “What is it, Rambo?”
Dani rolled her eyes at the nickname. “That was one time.”
“You accosted me, woman.”
“I thought you were that Peter creep!”
“Which is ridiculous. I’m much better looking. Besides, after you knew that I wasn’t Peter, you put the fire poker down and punched me in the shoulder.”
“You scared me!”
“I’m delicate!”
“Oi! It’s what you get for leaping out on innocent Americans, mate” Jamie chimed in as she winked at Dani.
Dani chuckled. “Anyway, I’m serious. I want to ask you something,” she said. “You know my dad passed away when I was young, and my mom and I aren’t exactly close. So, I was wondering if you would be the one to walk me down the aisle.”
Hannah held her hand over her heart. “Oh, what a lovely idea,” she said and smiled at Owen.
Placing his champagne flute on the table, Owen reached for Dani’s hand. She grasped it as he said, “Of course aisle do it.”
“He’s got the dad jokes down,” Jamie snorted.
Dani grinned as she squeezed his hand. Her eyes began to water when she saw Owen’s glistening. “Oh my god, come here,” she said. She stood from her chair and walked around the table to give him a hug.
Owen kissed the top of her head as they parted. He eyed Jamie. “Does that mean I owe you ‘the shovel talk’?”
Jamie arched her brows. “If I ever break this woman’s heart you have my full permission to do me in. But that leaves one more question.” Her eyes found Hannah. “Will you walk with me, Hannah? You’re the closest thing I have to family. You’ve taken care of me; told me off when I needed it. I can’t think of a soul that’s more fit for the job.”
Hannah’s hands reached across the table to take Jamie’s. “I would love to.”
“Great, because we have another favor to ask you both,” Dani said with a grin.
Hannah and Owen exchanged curious looks. “What is it?” Hannah asked.
“Will you be our maid-of-honor and best man, too? We want you to stand with us at the altar, not just walk us to it.”
Owen looked as if he were contemplating the matter. “Just one question: do I get to pick the dress?”
Hannah shoved his shoulder. “He means ‘yes’.”
“Gender norms be damned. You can wear whatever you like, so long as the Mrs. approves,” Jamie smirked as she tilted her head toward Dani. The au pair’s stomach performed a pleasant, nervous flip at the word Mrs. coming from Jamie’s lips.
“Right,” Jamie said, “I think we’d better raise our glasses.”
Owen was first to do so. “To the brides.”
“To all of us,” Dani said as she raised hers.
“To family,” Hannah said.
They smiled warmly at one another. “To family,” each of them echoed as their glasses clinked together.
***
“This is really stupid,” Jamie said, seething at the airport gate. She sounded downright pissed– like that time Miles ruined a rose bush in the Wingraves’ garden.
“I know, but it’s just a few weeks,” Dani said for the thousandth time. She looked at her phone, making sure her own flight was on time, trying to distract herself from their inevitable parting. That, and she found herself oddly attracted to Jamie when the gardener was angry, which wasn’t making this any easier.
“Exactly! A few weeks–not to mention hundreds of dollars–for me to go back to Vermont and then end up right back here.”
“So don’t go,” Dani shrugged.
“I’m telling you, Dani, it’s–” She stopped, giving Dani a perplexed look. “Wait, that didn’t take very much convincing.”
“Well, how important can making sure we have a finished floor in the shop be?” Dani tried to joke.
“If I could trust the contractor to keep his word, but he acts like work is poison. I’d do it myself if the landlord would let me. But, no, he hires a bloke his son went to school with. And if the floors aren’t finished, the walls won’t be finished. We have to have the shop ready. We can’t miss the peak holidays, and–”
Dani broke Jamie’s rambling (that she had already heard a dozen times before on the subject) with a searing kiss. She held Jamie close, nuzzling their noses together as she tried to calm her future wife by stroking her back and rubbing her sides. “I know. And I know you don’t want to leave. I really don’t want you to go back either, but we have so many more years together. We’re getting married,” she said, letting her awe at the notion reveal itself in her voice. “We have our whole lives together to look forward to.” She breathed deeply, trying to hear the words for herself as she repeated the mantra. “We have so many more years together.”
“I’d like it known, right now, that I never want to live on separate sides of the world again.”
“I second that,” Dani agreed and kissed her. She let her bottom lip brush against Jamie’s slowly, savoring the magnetic pull she felt there. Jamie quickly captured it between hers, gently nibbling it and then letting their lips mingle once more before deepening the kiss to the point that it became somewhat indecent considering the public setting.
“You could come back with me,” Jamie suggested after a moment.
Dani knew Jamie wasn’t serious–that she was stalling their parting– but she reminded Jamie of the contract with the Wingraves.
“Henry wouldn’t care,” Jamie protested.
“I know, but we get that bonus if I finish. It’ll practically pay for the reception dinner. Besides, we can do this. A few weeks and then we’re married,” she said, lacing their fingers together and holding Jamie’s hands in hers at their sides. She swung them idly as she let a dopey-in-love grin show itself on her lips. “No more video calls and no more falling asleep with our phones on our pillows. We’ll get married, go on our honeymoon, and before we know it, we’ll be together in Vermont.”
“At Christmas,” Jamie smiled at last. “A white Christmas in Vermont.”
“Snow will be nice,” Dani said as she kissed Jamie’s temple, letting her nose be tickled by brown curly locks as she inhaled Jamie’s scent in an attempt to savor it just a little while longer. She held them together, rocking their weight back and forth to soothe them both.
“Snuggled up with a cup of tea and a book and my wife,” Jamie sighed happily at their shared daydream. Dani felt Jamie’s shoulders relax. “Okay. It’s just a few weeks.”
“Just a few weeks.”
NOTE:
Thank you so much for reading! Don’t worry, just because they’re apart
doesn’t mean they won’t have some fun before the wedding ;)
Any likes and/or reblogs are super lovely! Thanks again, and love to you all. ^__^
Also, don’t forget I’m open to prompts to insert if/when I can :D
It’s occurred to me that there isn’t currently a gender neutral term for ones sibling, would it be a good idea to have one? Here are a few ideas for some:
1. Theyster - like sister
2. Thero - like brother
Whichever is preffered for said person
sometimes i look at a white trans person and i can tell they’ve just never spoken/listened to a black trans person before
I once wrote a short story about a trans boy and his bully and it was a Body Swap story and I never finished it because it just seemed too cruel to force the trans boy back into his original body after having experienced life in a dmab body but also felt cruel to essentially force the other boy to become trans and I just abandoned it. It also felt like I was always dangerously close to the “man trapped in a woman’s body” idea, which I really wanted to avoid
Bby if you don’t like what I post idk bc I don’t it for you. I do it for the girls,gays,and theys…and the monster fuckers 😌😌💖
My birthday’s in a few months and I’m terrified bc birthday time means coming out time, and coming out time might lead to disappointment time
Sidenote: omnisexual is inerchangeable with omniromantic, and if you use the song in anything, credit me would ya???
OHHHHHHHHHH
WHO LIKES ALL GENDERS, MIGHT HAVE PREFERENCES TOO?
OM NI SEXUALS!!!
THE LIKE ALL, (LIKE PAN, BUT NOT GENDERBLIND) CREW!!!
OM NI SEXUALS!!!
IF ALL GENDER ATTRACTION BE SOMETHING YOU FEEL,
OM NI SEXUALS!!!
AND SOMETIMES OR ALL TIMES SOME HAVE MORE APEAL,
OM NI SEXUALS!!!
READY???
RAISE OUR FLAG HIGH!!!
MARCH ON WITH PRIDE!!!
OUT OR CLOSETED!!!
WE’RE ALL VALID!!!
Hope you liked the song!!!
