Fire and Freedom - Book One of the Café Latte Trilogy

Chapter Nineteen - Jasper

She blushed and ducked her head a little. "Well, thank you."

Harper looked great as well, in a charcoal grey jumper and tight jeans, having smoothed his hair down slightly. "And you look beautiful too," I told him.

"Well, I tried," he winked, and I led them through to the living room. I found that Bonnie, one of our cats, had made her way into the group and Tom was sitting on the floor with her.

"She's adorable," he cooed, stroking the tip of her chin which I knew she loved.

"You're not getting one - you're moving out in a few months," Jenny said firmly, and then turned back to my father and resumed their previous conversation. "Honestly, the Kawasaki may have a smaller engine but it's such a good ride. Trust me, it's amazing."

"Still on about that bike?" Harper asked, sitting on the sofa next to her. "You've already got two - what do you need a third for?"

Jenny clutched her chest in mock-heartbreak. "How dare you, sir? They are my children - oh, no offence, sweetheart," she told Tom.

"Mum, Dad, you remember Raven," I introduced Raven, who was smiling politely.

"Yes, of course," Mum smiled back at her, and then turned to Harper. "Although I don't believe we've met - you must be Edward, or Harper?"

"Harper," Harper replied, chuckling slightly and adding, "Trust me, when you meet Edward you'll see that it's difficult to get us mixed up."

Raven sighed. "What did he decide on in the end? The purple or the blue?"

"Purple," everyone chorused, myself included.

Dad frowned. "Purple what? I'm lost."

"Dress," Raven explained. "We were trying to get him to make a decision for hours. He can be so bad at choosing between dresses before a show, let alone real life. Sometimes Gary, who owns the club he works at, lies to him and says a show starts at eight if it starts at nine, because then he'll be ready on time."

"Oh," Dad's confusion cleared. "He's the drag queen. I'm with you now."

"Yes, he was at the Pride parade," Mum nodded hastily. "He was quite beautiful, I almost felt jealous I wasn't that feminine."

Harper laughed. "We'll be sure to tell him you think so; he thinks he looks too broad."

"He is rather well-built for an effeminate gay," Raven mused. "Maybe he just needs a bigger breastplate to balance it out. I don't think he can go in for shoulder-reducing surgery."

"Don't go into surgery with Edward around," Harper said firmly. "You remember what happened last time that happened? He will be very annoyed if you tell that story."

"Oh God, yes," Jenny sighed.

"Why, what happened?" I asked, suddenly curious; I'd never heard much about Edward's life, except that it was difficult for him to be himself at college. The doorbell rang, interrupting Harper who was about to protest against the story being told.

"Don't trouble yourselves," he said politely, smiling at my mother. "If it's Edward, and he's in drag. He'll want me to check his eyelashes."

He disappeared from sight, and my mother muttered to my father, "Isn't he a nice man?"

"What happened with surgery?" I asked Jenny quickly. "Quick, before Harper gets back."

"He went to get a few things done," Jenny explained, and then laughed. "But when he got all the marks drawn on his face, he got scared and ran out of the hospital with the marks on his face - only wearing the hospital gown. He won't let us mention anything about surgery now."