||Wattys 2022 Shortlist||
Kian Advani was a closeted queer in his high school. Always in denial of his true feelings and emotions. So much so that he did everything to blend in with the rest of the straight crowd. But that didn't mean he wasn't att...
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Kian found Audrey sitting at the kitchen counter in her baggy shirt and a pair of cotton shorts. That was her go to wear on a lazy Sunday morning but not at 7 am specifically. Freshly showered and dressed just in his sweatpants, Kian definitely did not expect to see her this early in the morning and not sitting on the couch in her last night's dress, hungover badly. So, it was new.
He pulled on a tee from the pile of folded clothes, collected from the balcony before heading into the kitchen. Audrey never did the laundry, nor did she prepare breakfast and definitely did not fold clothes. The smell of coffee and pancakes were a surprise too.
Did I wake up in the wrong household? He thought. Weird.
"When did you return?" Kian asked, filling himself a creamy cup of coffee. He had planned to make breakfast for Enzo but Audrey did it for him.
"I had a fight with the girls so I came back home last night." She shrugged, playing fruit ninja on her phone and sliding the plate of pancakes towards Kian.
"Okay, but what's with being domestic all of a sudden." Kian pulled the phone from her hands and turned her face towards himself, gauging her mood. "Did something happen at the party? Did Jackie-"
"Oh God, Kian! Can you stop obsessing over my situation with Jackie? I'm fine. We didn't fuck and I'm never going to." Audrey, huffed out a frustrated breath and then shoved a slice of pancake dipped richly in the blueberry syrup into her mouth. "Can't I help my roommate with daily chores given he had an eventful night?"
Her lips tipped upward in a smirk as she tossed Enzo's black leather jacket at him. "You sly fox. You were getting laid on my back while asking me not to sleep with my crush. Some twisted best friend you are."
"Hey-hey, can you stop announcing it to the whole town?" Kian panicked in realization that the person in question was sleeping across the hall and could most probably hear their conversation if he woke up. With the kind of luck Kian had, he couldn't take a chance.
"Why?" She started on the top of her lungs but when Kian glared at her she settled for a hushed sound. "Why are you behaving like you're still in the closet? Everyone in the neighborhood knows about our preferences. Unless, there's a girl in your bed. It's a girl, isn't it?"
Kian rolled his eyes, taking a sip of his coffee and rubbing his forehead. "First of all, it's not a girl and second of all, no one got laid last night. I was simply helping a friend."
"And that help led you both to your bedroom, cuddling like a couple?" Audrey raised a brow, tipping her head toward his room. That shit eating grin was still plastered on her lips. "I never saw that happening before."
"It was Enzo." Kian clipped, with his jaw tightening and eyes full of wary.
Audrey went silent, her eyes wide and her lips lost their playfulness. She knew about Enzo. That first year when he joined UCLA and began his new life in California, he had gone off the hook real bad. It started with a haze of smoke and drunken nights with girls he never stayed the morning after. Nothing helped though.
