Flesh & Blood by A. E. Dooland

Author:A. E. Dooland
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay, queer, family, lesbian, genderqueer, transgender, ftm, trans guy, nonbinary, transmasculine
Publisher: A. E. Dooland

NINETEEN

Mr Dejanovic’s heavy brow was low over his eyes, and Mrs Dejanovic had a settling hand on his arm, as if she was worried he might leap out of his chair at any second. Both of them looked like they’d aged about ten years in the space of a minute.

Well, now they know, I thought, there's nothing more I can do. I braced for their reaction.

It didn’t come. Something was wrong; their eyes weren’t glancing down me. When people found out about me, their eyes always travelled down my body, looking for evidence. The Dejanovics weren’t appraising me like that. They were just staring. And it didn’t last for longer than a couple of seconds before it was over.

Mr Dejanovic seemed a bit confused about why we were all looking at me, and then turned sharply back at Andrej. “Let me get this straight,” he said, “you stole her boyfriend’s computer and punched him out, and you’re surprised that Briana wants the police to press charges against you? You’re surprised she doesn’t invite you to a dinner? What’s in your head, boy? Stop carrying on like a two-year-old and go upstairs, I can’t be bothered with your nonsense now.” He looked across at me. “Sorry,” he said neutrally, and then very pointedly went back to eating.

Wait... Wait a second, he thought that by ‘she’, Andrej meant Bree? Really...? Oh my god, I was about to breathe an enormous, heaving sigh of relief when Andrej swung his head around to me again and the breath caught in my throat. He wasn't done.

“’Him’,” he repeated, his lip curling on the word as he said to his dad, “You’re not serious, are you? As if Bree could find a real man that would voluntarily spend more than 15 minutes alone with her.”

If I hadn't been so petrified Andrej was going to succeed in outing me, I would have had a go at him over that. Bree started to do it herself, but Mr Dejanovic talked over her and cut her off. “You want to insult him now, boy? Just because he doesn’t punch you back, that makes him ‘not a real man’? That doesn’t make him ‘not a real man’, that makes him an adult. Only little boys try to solve problems with their fists.” When Andrej went to say something else, thankfully Mr Dejanovic cut him off with, “No! Go on, go upstairs! Now!”

Before Andrej could leave, Mrs Dejanovic put her hand on her husband’s arm again and said something softly in Serbian. When he shook his head and made a gruff noise, she switched to English. “But there’s plenty of food, Dragi,” she said. “We can just get another chair for him.”

“What?” Bree piped up, echoing my thoughts exactly. “You’re not going to let him stay and eat the food I cooked after he was really mean to me, are you?”

Her mum didn’t look impressed. “Maybe Andrej would be nicer to you if you were nicer to him, Briana.”

Andrej smirked at Bree.

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