30 Like Sugar | Chapter Thirty

Jared traveled to his sister's place with Darnell during the holiday, and her family welcomed them with open arms. Universities usually closed earlier than most high schools and middle schools, so Batya had come to pick them up from the airport after she had picked her kids up from school, and Jared and Darnell met her husband later that evening when he got back from work. It had been a little awkward for Batya to explain who these new uncles they had never heard of before came from, but the kids adjusted to their presence, easing up to Jared and Darnell — well, mostly to Darnell.

Jared had never been great with children, but thankfully his sister's kids weren't too young. She had her two boys who were twins and had blond hair, which they had inherited from their dad. They were mostly on her phone or outside with the other kids in the neighborhood. And there was her eight-year-old daughter that had her dark hair like her, and she hung around Darnell a lot more than she tagged around Jared for pocket change. Maybe it was because Darnell was younger and 'prettier' than him like she put it. No hard feeling, however. Jared liked catching up with his sister.

It was currently around four P.M. on a Saturday evening and Darnell had been dragged to — Adha — the young girl's room to play around with her toys and look at the books she had. Jared was sitting by the kitchen island as his sister worked on prepping the ingredients to make dinner. Her husband worked long hours as a lawyer, and she had more flexible hours working in communications — mostly ad campaigns and the like — so she had more than enough time to prepare food that took a lot of time to make.

Their house was a compact duplex in a quiet neighborhood. It seemed kid-friendly, judging from the number of kids that rung the bell during the past few days Jared and Darnell had been there. They always asked for Batya's kids. Batya's boys were out playing soccer in a nearby field as they spoke.

"I'm sorry about Adha," Batya said, rolling her eyes and making Jared laugh as they heard the little girl yelling over Darnell's voice. Whatever game they were playing was noisy.

"What's there to be sorry about?" Jared shrugged watching his sister transfer a pot from the stove burner to the counter. Batya removed the mittens she was wearing before walking over and pulling out the seat beside her brother.

"She's keeping you away from your boyfriend," she said, taking a seat before folding her hands and resting her elbows on the marble surface of the island. Jared gave her a small smile, shrugging again. That was true. Adha had sort of monopolized Darnell. She came to their room most nights to ask Darnell to come and sleep with her in hers. Jared wouldn't lie and say it wasn't annoying at times, but he did like that Darnell was getting along with his niece.

"It's alright, I have him for the rest of whenever," Jared muttered, bringing the glass of juice he had poured for himself half an hour ago to his lips. His sister brought her hand to his cup, weaning it from his hand before taking her sip herself. Jared chuckled, making his sister raise a brow at him. His mother used to do that — taking food from her kids halfway into them eating it. Speaking of her, Jared was going to meet her next week at the retirement home she had been staying in for the past three or so years.

"I'm glad you don't mind. She doesn't have a lot of friends," Batya admitted in a small voice after she dropped the glass of juice. "Kids her age are cruel, you know," Batya said, sighing as Jared gave her a forced smile. He was almost fifty years old, but he was sympathetic. People in his family weren't very attractive. Maybe you escaped the 'ugly' gene and ended up looking quite average, or some miracle happened, and you just got the right mix of features from the family gene pool. Adha was young, but you could already tell she didn't get the good end of the stick, and she was already having a hard time in school because of it. She was a strong-willed girl though, and Jared was sure she would grow up without letting the bullying feed her with lies. He hadn't turned out so great himself, but he wished her the best.

"Come over more often," she said with a smile. "And bring Darnell with you whenever you come over if you can," Batya added, making Jared laughed. His sister liked Darnell a lot. He was soft spoken and nice to her children, and they shared similar interests like sewing and reading romance novels. During the past week, they talked a lot while Jared worked on his computer for the most part. The holiday was great so far. Darnell followed Batya to pick up the kids from school, buy groceries and he also followed her to the book club meeting she had the other day.

"I'm serious," his sister said, folding her hands. Her hair was tied back with a rubber band and she was in leggings and a loose long-sleeved top. "They're like two peas in a pod. I'm sure Adha will be heartbroken when you two leave next week."

At that exact moment, Darnell and Adha walked into the kitchen. Adha was holding up her big old computer and Darnell was looming behind her. It seemed that Batya was a believer in passing on shitty old electronics to her kids. That laptop looked at least six years old, and you could hear the cooling fan from a mile away.

"What are you two doing?" Jared's sister asked her daughter as she and Darnell settled down on the dining table a small distance away.

"A dress up game," she said, not taking her eyes off her screen, and Darnell just nodded in confirmation.

"Mom," the eight-year-old called in a high-pitched voice.

"Hmm?" Batya said, looking over at her.

"Darnell can sew," she said, finally looking up from her screen. "He's going to take Carly's measurements and sew her clothes," she said, showing off a grin that exposed her missing teeth. "That's why I'm creating looks. He's going to make what I'm making the girls here wear," she said before returning her gaze to her screen to give it her full focus. Darnell held his mouth with his hand, stopping himself from laughing, and Jared did the same. Batya looked amused, but she played along.

"I'll tell him our P.O. box, so he can mail the clothes to us," she said before getting up from her seat. It was a little late now, and her sons would be back from playing soccer any minute now.

Adha grinned, nodding her head and making her shoulder-length hair bounce. The boys were back a few minutes later, and they chatted with their mother and uncle as dinner was being prepared. They asked Jared if he could help him do their math homework, and he agreed, making the boys run to their rooms to get their books. When they got back, they sat at the kitchen island with Jared and did homework.

Batya's husband got back home soon after, and he went to sit across from Jared on the kitchen island. He was a blonde man with piercing green eyes and a soft-spoken voice. He talked to Jared about the news, his job, and the volunteering he was doing at the synagogue. Batya was still very much religious, and so was her family. Jared felt her husband was a good man. He seemed to love Jared's sister and his children dearly.

After they had dinner everyone went to their rooms to retire for the night. Jared went to bed alone because Adha was still in possession of Darnell. He had taken a shower, answered a few work emails before retiring to bed. Somewhere along the line, the door to the room he was supposed to have been sharing with Darnell creaked open, and the young man walked in, throwing a smile Jared's way as he turned on the lights. His brown eyes looked exhausted, and his hair was a mess. There was a high chance that Adha had played with it.

After a while of looking at each other, Darnell finally got some words out. "I escaped," he said, and Jared couldn't help chuckling as he shook his head. Darnell took off his clothes, making Jared's eyes flicker to the bed when his face filled with warmth at the sight of the man's body. He hadn't slept with Darnell in ages, so maybe that's why he was getting excited. Darnell didn't seem to notice the change in Jared and just took a towel before disappearing into the adjoining bathroom.

Jared looked around the room. It was clearly decorated in his sister's taste. Mostly deep browns and plain furniture. His eyes kept flickering to the bathroom door, wondering if he should wait for Darnell. He wondered if it would it be strange to just sit there in anticipation. What if Darnell didn't have the same thing in mind as him? He shook his head, reaching out for his phone that was on his bedside table. He unlocked it and went through his emails again. He needed a distraction and silently cursed himself for being so excited.

Finally, the sound of the shower stopped, and the door creaked open. Darnell walked out with a towel draped over his shoulders. He moved around the room, heading to the drawer. Jared thought that was an indication that he was getting dressed. He looked away, feeling a bit disappointed, but he didn't say anything.

"Jared." The sound of his name made him look up. His face got hot when he saw what Darnell was holding. The little mouth gag that Darnell had thrown into their box when they were packing up. It was in the second box of toys Jared received from Austin. He had said they'd need it because they wouldn't want to make so much noise around kids. He had said it with his teasing smile and a little laugh, and Jared had assumed he had been joking, but apparently not.

"Your sister's room is right next to ours," the younger man continued saying as he approached the bed and slipped under the covers beside Jared. "So, we have to be quiet. I'll wear this, but you'll just have to restrain yourself—"

Jared shut up Darnell's rambling by reaching to cup his face before kissing him on the lips. The little gag fell from Darnell's hands before he reached out to hold on to Jared, kissing the man just as hard. Darnell rolled on his back, and Jared hovered over him, pulling away from the kiss to brush hair out of Darnell's face.

"How about we just kiss and shut each other up?" Jared asked, and Darnell chuckled before nodding.

There was something endearing about the clumsy way they made love that night, with Darnell's legs wrapped around Jared's waist, and both of them trying their best to stay quiet as they moved under the covers.

Happiness, love, and confidence were still fresh and new in Jared's mental make-up. Sometimes something would make those new feelings re-curl and let bad emotions take over, but they never went away for too long, and they usually came back with a stronger presence. There was a time Jared couldn't say he was happy, couldn't dream of being in love, and would laugh if someone implied that he was confident. But he had all those things now. He had love with Darnell. He had found happiness with him and his family, and the younger man had helped him find the confidence he had been looking for all his life.

It's like Darnell had tipped some sugar into Jared's bitter coffee, so much so that it became so sweet that it stung.

Darnell was the sugar in his life, and Jared couldn't thank circumstances enough for throwing them into each other's paths.

THE END.