The Forgotten Prince by Julian Kennedy

Author:Julian Kennedy [Kennedy, Julian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-08-31T16:00:00+00:00

How’s Marco?

CHAPTER 18

Ashlin

“It’s only a couple more days, you act like it’s the end of the world. It’s Monday, I leave in two days.” She takes a sip from a freshly made batch of sweet tea.

Dans darts a glance down at their phone, rattling out a hasty reply to someone, thinking, then sending another text. My palms go clammy, but I direct my attention back to my mom. “I was just reaffirming how long you were staying. I meant it literally how I said it, Mom.”

She nods and says, “How’s that taste? Sweet enough?” She directs it at Dans.

Their voice sounds exhausted and awkward as they look up from their phone. “Me? Sorry, a friend’s in a bit of a, uh, jam. No, I’m good, thanks. Uh, it tastes good. This is actually my first sweet tea experience.”

“Stop it! Really?” My mom is a living meme, and she’s clutching her authentic pearls. “Well, I suppose that’s because Little Miss Real Estate agent hasn’t been to visit in ages. Maybe she would have brought you along. Too bad about your cousin's wedding. She would have had a nice time, Ashlin. And Tanya would have loved to see you all. She’s going to make the perfect bride.” Her chest makes an attempt to swell with pride, but it falls short and she just looks at me, nearly as drained as Dans.

It takes all my energy to bite back an acerbic response. “It’s they, Mom.” My eyes flit over to Dans. They’re already in their pajamas, black baggy bottoms, and a gray tank top, and they have an extremely worried look on their face. I glare at my mom. “They, remember? We talked about this.”

Dans sighs, eyes still on me. I can tell they’re trying to decide whether they should smile or not. “It’s fine, Ash.” They look at my mom. “It’s easy to forget.”

My mom looks like a glitchy android trying to reboot. “Right. They. I forgot, Dannie, and I apologize.”

“No worries,” they say, taking another sip of the sweet tea and peeling off a chunk of a lemon poppyseed muffin. We’re having breakfast for lunch, what we could scrounge up from our last shopping trip. My mom insisted on helping so she made muffins, crowing that we had to make lemon poppyseed since I had the mix already. Dans and I made eggs and bacon while the muffins finished baking.

They sigh, eyes cast downward. Then, they hold up the muffin and wink. I groan, and swat them in the arm, suppressing a laugh. I’d made the mistake of telling Dans about my dream, and they still give me shit about it. They call them sex muffins. Thank God my mom is focused on her own plate.

I look at them and sigh, mouthing, “Thank you.” I know it’s hard for Dans to be misgendered. And they will usually tell someone what’s what. But my mom’s staying here and it’s their first time meeting her. If we have tension now, the rest of her visit will be awful, and then the next time we see her, then the rest of our lives.

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