A Different Slice

24 - Silence (Kieran)

Kieran cross-checked his phone against the contents of his fridge and counter. He had clamato juice, a local hot sauce, pickles, pickled beans, Worcestershire sauce, and vodka. Much to his brother's dismay, he'd even fried up a pack of bacon and had a few crispy slices tucked away in a container for Naomi. After visiting Brinny, he'd stopped by the gelato shop for a pint of the flavour Naomi loved, and he had a frozen pizza in the freezer in case she got hungry. He'd covered as many bases as she would tonight before arriving.

As he shut the fridge, Jake chopped up vegetables beside the sink.

"If you put the energy you do into impressing women into your career, you could start your own business and be quite successful. You wouldn't be stuck here living with me."

"Growing sick of me?" Kieran asked with a laugh.

"No, however, I imagine after two years you'd want more. You used to."

Kieran shrugged. As much as his brother's rules and particularities annoyed him, he was the only tie left to his family and the only person who'd believed in him through the mess in Kingston. This wasn't what he'd imagined four years ago, but that life had been stolen. Chasing his old dreams was like tempting fate, and the idea of living alone saddened him, so he stuck with Jake.

"I invited Naomi because I want more with her."

Jake frowned and forced his knife into a piece of celery. "Are you sure that's what she wants? Friendships are as important, if not more, than romantic relationships."

"I plan to ask her if she seems ready."

"Prepare for both answers. Some friendships can withstand one-sided attraction, and others can't. It's stressful to lose what you'd considered a genuine connection that didn't need romantic or sexual feelings to be valid."

"You said that when we were at Naomi's place too."

"I did."

"Who was it?"

Instead of answering, Jake placed the cut celery in a bowl and pushed it aside. Then he grabbed an orange pepper to wash. "A few friends in high school. Another after I graduated."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know." Kieran tried to recall who it might have been, but his brother kept his social life as far from home as possible, so Kieran didn't always know his friends.

Jake set the pepper on a new cutting board. "I wasn't interested in broadcasting it. It's easier to avoid when you're not forced to spend extended time with hoards of people. They assume everyone must desire sex or love and can't comprehend why you'd want neither."

Suddenly, it hit Kieran like a gust of glacial wind to the face. "You're asexual and aromantic," he muttered to himself.

Jake chuckled and smiled in a self-satisfied way. "I was wondering when you'd piece it together."

"Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"In our family?" He snorted and extracted the stem and seeds from the pepper. "It would be unthinkable. I would have been accused of being a sadist, intentionally withholding grandchildren out of spite."

"But to me?" Kieran didn't care about having nieces and nephews and respected people's rights to choose their futures.

Jake shrugged and halved the pepper. "You had enough on your plate, and it only affects me, so it didn't seem necessary to share."

"But I'd bug you about you finding someone, which must have been annoying."

If Jake was peeved, his neutral expression hid it. "You've had much worse lobbed at you."