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Chapter Thirty-One: Bridge:

-Two Weeks Earlier-

Lenard opened his eyes and saw Lucy and Jared staring at him.

“Okay… so?” Lucy asked. Lenard blinked with a blank expression on his face.

“Huh?” he asked. At that moment, the front door opened.

“I’m home!” Tai called. Everyone turned to see him standing in the doorway to the kitchen. He eyed Lucy and Jared rather confused.

“Oh,” he said. “I didn’t expect guests over this morning.” Lenard lowered his head as Lucy grinned.

“Did you know that Lenny here’s trans?” she asked. Lenard lowered his head, wanting to disappear into the floor.

“Yeah,” Tai said, nodding. “I already knew.”

“I see,” Lucy said. Minutes later, Tai joined them at the table. He had his arm around Lenard’s shoulders.

“So how long have you two know each other?” Lucy asked.

“Since near the end of high school,” he said Lenard couldn’t get what was happening. They don’t hate me? I’m not a freak to him? He didn’t know to react.

“So how did you meet?” Jared asked.

“A house party,” Tai said. “I had moved to California a month earlier. I had broken up with my boyfriend at the time. I didn’t know why I was at the party.”

“I was meeting a friend,” Lenard said. “Or… I was supposed to meet them.”

“I wanted to go home,” Tai said. “On my way, I saw Lenny outside, drinking coke and looking lost. He looked like a boy at first glance. Mmm. I thought he was hot.”

Lenard turned his head. “What?”

Tai smiled, shaking his head. “So I walked over and made the first move. He didn’t seem to know how to react.

“‘What’s wrong?’ I asked. Lenny wouldn’t talk, but I didn’t give up. After about ten minutes, we got to talking. He turned out to be a chill guy.”

“Wait,” Lenard said. “You though I was hot?”

“Yeah.”

Lenard raise an eyebrow. “Are you serious?”

“Yes,” Tai said.

“I see,” Lucy said. “Are you…” She pointed between the two men with a cat-like grin. Lenard’s face turned bright red.

“Oh, no, no!” he yelped. Tai rubbed the back of his head.

“Nah, man,” he said. The goth woman raised an eyebrow.

“Such a shame,” she said. “Do you two want to be together?” Tai coughed as he cleared his throat. Lenard looked away, blushing. Jared nudged his wife in the side.

“Cut it out,” he whispered.

“Uh… Did you know I was a bit put off when I learned that Lenard was a girl?” Tai blurted out. Everyone stared at him intrigued. He pressed his hand to his forehead.

“It kind of slipped out from one of my friends,” Tai said. “It felt out of place because Lenny looked like a skinny dude with long blonde hair.”

“So how did your friend know that Lenny was a girl at the time?” Lucy asked.

“He had been in the high school longer than I have,” he said. “My friend pulled me aside and said, ‘Dude, that’s a chick.’ I kind of avoided Lenny for a couple of weeks after that. But after high school graduation, we became best of friends.”

“I even followed him out to New York for college,” Lenard said.

“Mmm,” Lucy said. “That’s a nice little story.” That distraction did little to deter her from her plans of playing cupid. For now, they would enjoy this impromptu morning visit until they had to depart for work. Tai rose to his feet.

“Would anyone like some coffee?” he asked.

“Sure,” Lucy said. “I would love that.” She smiled as Tai got to work with the coffee pot on the counter behind him.