One of my peers, a family friend

“There’s a young woman here. She claims to have been your neighbor for much of your childhood. And maybe you’re one and only trusted confidant,” my Uncle Nathan replies, explaining to me what was supposed to be a surprise. Guess I was beaten to the punch.

“Roxanne,” I blurted out.

My uncle only smiles while he gestures for the door. “Come in,” he says. I follow him into the front door. In the foyer, he rolls my suitcases over to one side. “You must be hungry, Charles.”

“Starving, actually,” I say, not really interested in food. My head turns back and forth, my eyes peeled for the sight of Roxanne. Uncle Nathan leads me to a spacious kitchen, which I remember wasn’t so spacious because of all the bodies that would fill this space whenever my side of the family was over at his Villa. Seated at an adjacent table, that was long enough to sit about twelve of my family members, is a lone girl eating a meal. When she sees me, she waves.

I make a beeline to where she is sitting and take a seat next to her. “What are you doing here?” I ask, a little anger in my delivery.

“She’s part of the family, too, Charles. Roxanne is welcome here,” Uncle Nathan raises his voice to call out to me

Roxanne places a hand on mine and reassures me, “Don’t worry, big brother. I only told him that you were making your way here to spend the summer. I didn’t tell him about your plans with you-know-what. I just thought it would be fun to spend the summer with him too. Plus, you know I’m only into girls.” Her explanation starts off with a normal volume, but as she reiterates my plans to me, vaguely if I might add, her voice becomes a whisper. She reminds me that last year, she came out to me. That was when I told her of my interest in using X-Change, which gradually led to the reason I’m at this villa this summer.

“You two were always close as kids, but now that you two are adults now, something tells me you’ve grown closer,” Uncle Nathan comments. “I think it’s cute. You two aren’t related at all, but Roxanne, you’ve more or less been adopted into our extended family. Technically, I can see you two getting married if that’s a possibility.”

“Sorry, Uncle Nathan,” Roxanne interjects, “I’m actually into girls, so totally not a possibility.”

Uncle Nathan shrugs and turns the question towards me. “How about you, Charles? Get a Valentine this year?”

I shake my head, but seeing Roxanne giggling right beside me makes me think I’ve shaken my head in a way that I’m disappointed with my answer. “No,” I simply say. Internally, I’m glad he doesn’t know about my idea of taking X-Change so that he could be my Valentine. This has me thinking if I should spring the plan on him now or when we are in a more private setting. And Roxanne seems to be waiting for that time when we are both hot, young women.

For the time being, Uncle Nathan comes to the table to give me some lunch. I quietly eat it while he and Roxanne chat about family stuff and some random stuff and seldom ask me anything while my mouth is full. Once I’m finished, he takes me upstairs with my suitcase, not once commenting on how light they are.