Who Wouldn't Want To Be Me

“WHAT?” was the response from his parents and Marc, but Jordan’s expression stayed stoic. A deep silence fell over the room, lasting far too long than was comfortable.

“Awkward,” I heard Jared speak under his breath, hardly loud enough for even me to hear, and in any other situation would have found it amusing, but not in this one.

“Jordan,” I whispered, and he shook his head before taking my hand and giving it a soft squeeze. It was probably his way of saying he didn’t think we should tell them yet, but I felt that awful feeling rising in my stomach again.

“I…is this true?” Linda asked, and Jordan nodded.

“Yeah, we have been for a while. Eric takes offense to us being happy I guess,” Jordan shot at his oldest brother, and after a few moments Linda seemed to recover.

“O-oh, well, um… I had no idea,” Henry stuttered, and I groaned internally. Why hadn’t Jordan just told them the truth?

“You guys are…?” Marc asked, and Jordan nodded.

“Why didn’t you guys tell me? How long has this been going on?” he demanded, and Jordan looked to me.

“About five months,” he replied.

“So you were together at the All Star game? You went all this time without even letting me know? Jesus we would have celebrated when you guys came and played!” he scolded us, and both of us stared at him in shock. This was definitely not the outburst I expected.

“R-really?” Jordan asked, and he rolled his eyes.

“Duh – you guys are happy, that’s what matters,” he insisted, and my heart went out to him – Marc was an amazing guy.

“Thanks Marc,” Jordan managed a small smile for him. Linda kept looking at me, and I had a gut feeling she knew something wasn’t quite right with this. The whole time Henry stayed quiet, and I finally managed to meet his gaze. He gave me a smile, and then shrugged.

“You’re just fine with this?” Eric demanded of his brother, who gave him a ridiculous look.
“Of course I am! We were all happy when you found Tanya, why should it be any different for them? They’re happy, they found somebody who they care about, of course I’m happy! Sure it’s not really what we expected, but that’s besides the point,” he argued, and Eric let out a huff, obviously having expected otherwise.

“Well, as long as you two are happy, that’s what matters,” Linda allowed, before clearing her throat awkwardly.

“But um, well Jordan you know the rules…” she trailed off, her face turning a little red.

“Really mom? We aren’t…” he said, but she shook her head, and finally Jared realized I looked a little confused, and then chuckled.

“We aren’t allowed to share a room with our… um… significant other… until we’re married,” he told me, and I nodded.

“Well, um, I’ll go see how the girls and the kids are,” Linda excused herself, and Eric soon followed. Henry stood up and walked over to us, and put a hand on each of our shoulders.

“As long as you two are happy, that’s all that I care about. Not what I expected Jord, but at least Cam’s good for you. And Cam, I’m glad to welcome you to the family, even if it’s in a way I didn’t expect,” he said, which made me smile.

“Thanks Henry,” I managed a whisper, and soon after he left and headed out to the field.

“I just can’t believe you guys didn’t tell me,” Marc huffed, and Jordan sighed.

“Can you blame us? Look at how Eric reacted, that’s why we didn’t want to tell you,” he insisted, and finally I couldn’t take it.

“That’s not the whole story,” I blurted, and Marc looked confused.

“Huh?”

“Cam, it’s okay,” Jordan insisted, but I shook my head and Jared put a hand on my shoulder.

“No, it’s not. I said it was okay to tell them,” I told him, and Marc looked like he wasn’t sure what to think.

“Um, you guys aren’t like, married or anything, are you? Or having a kid?” he asked, and we both began to laugh.

“No, nothing like that,” Jordan assured him, making Marc relax.

“Good, because I’d kill you guys if you went and got married without telling me,” he sighed.

“I’m a girl Marc,” I told him, and he began to laugh.

“Really? If you guys are having a kid it’s okay, I think that’s awesome,” he reassured us, and I nodded.

“I’m serious Marc – I’m a girl. I told Jordan it was okay to tell you guys, but he didn’t. I didn’t get a chance to tell Eric, so Jordan told him we were together, like earlier, and Jordan was sure he’d freak out so we haven’t got to tell him yet,” I explained. His eyes got wide and his jaw dropped a little.

“You’re shitting me,”

“No, she’s serious,” Jordan told him, and Marc sat back hard in his chair.