It Takes Two | ✓

Chapter 12

"That rule only exists to keep her in her place," Sophie said. "But she's better than us. We all know it. She deserved that carrot more than I did. She appreciated it more than I would have. I like a lot of things, but not one of them brings me as much joy as that dog just got from that piece of carrot."

"Oh God, I'm going to have an existential crisis," Bee said.

"Listen, it's fine," Sophie said. "I envy her, but it's a good thing. If I could access that kind of pure, uncut pleasure from eating anything and everything I'd just get incredibly fat, achieve nothing, and die young."

Bee sighed. "That's the dream."

Alice silently picked up the remote and turned the TV back on.

#

Trist returned home an hour later, made brief eye contact with Gabe, then continued on past them towards his room.

Gabe followed him and then hesitated in the doorway. "Can we talk?"

Trist sent him a tired look and then pulled his shirt off over his head. "Don't you think we've talked enough for one day? Hell, for one lifetime."

Gabe aimed his eyes slightly to the side of Trist.. "Please, Trist."

"I'm not stopping you."

This wasn't going the way Gabe had hoped, but it would have to do. "There's something you don't like about me. Or at least didn't, but I don't know... I kind of get the feeling that it's still there."

Trist's pants dropped to the ground and he kicked them in the direction of the hamper. "There really isn't."

Gabe pressed his lips together in an annoyed line and aimed his eyes a little further from Trist's body. He could still see enough out of the corner of his eye for it to be a distraction, though. He wondered if Trist was doing it on purpose. "Trist, I saw the way you looked at me that first night and then just walked away without saying anything. That was something."

"Uh huh," Trist said as he pulled on a clean pair of shorts. "So why are we having this conversation? What are you hoping to get out of this?"

Gabe looked at Trist properly now, though he kept his eyes fixed on his face. "I want you to tell me what your problem with me is."

"And then what? What are you going to do with that information?"

"I don't know. Maybe if I know I can figure out some way to sort out this hostility you have towards me."

"Right. Okay." Trist twisted the shirt he was holding, but he didn't put it on. "There is one thing I dislike about you. Do you know what it is?"

"If I knew I wouldn't be asking."

"It's that you come in here and say hey, you know how you've been a total asshole to me since the moment we met, for absolutely no apparent reason? And then you don't follow that up with, well, fuck you for that. No, you want to know what you can do to fix it. Stop putting up with other people's bullshit, Gabe."

"Fine, that's what you want? Fuck you, Trist." Gabe turned around and left the room.

Gabe didn't want to go back to the living room, especially since the others had probably overheard some of that, so he went to take a shower instead. Standing under the spray of the water, he could half convince himself he wasn't crying.

Fucking Trist. Gabe had wanted so badly for him to be good and kind and better than this, but every time Gabe started to get his hopes up Trist had to go and ruin it.

But maybe that was Gabe's fault. Maybe he was just projecting the things he wanted onto Trist and ignoring every time Trist tried to show him who he really was.