A fair point. “Okay, well, I lied, like I said. But Daniel was cool about it. He agreed to maintain the fiction, at least through Thanksgiving, so I wouldn’t get grilled by my family about being an asshole. But, uh, thingsevolved.”
“Evolved. Sure. As things tend to do. And did you meanthisThanksgiving, or next? Because I’m pretty sure that ship sailed two weeksago.”
My cheeks heated. “Well. Like I said. Thingsevolved. It… we…” I cleared my throat. “You’re sure this is betweenus?”
“Pinky swear,” he said, holding up his hand palm-out like he was pledging an oath. It was so reminiscent of Daniel’s misguided efforts at pinky swears, I felt tears come to my eyes. I was just thatsappy.
“Well, it turns out that Daniel’s interested in me. Physically. He’s never been with a guybefore.”
“He’s attracted toyou.”
I sighed. “It… would seem so.Yeah.”
Parker snorted. “You sound apologetic about it. Who are you apologizingto?”
“I don’t know. To Daniel, I guess.” Was the alcohol hitting mealready?
“Apologizing for being too attractive.” Parker nodded. “Logical.”
“What? That’s not what Isaid!”
Parker smirked. “So you’re apologizing because youcoercedhim into being your fake boyfriend, you slydog.”
“No!” I sat up straighter, faintly outraged. “I would never. It was his idea, notmine!”
“Oh. So you coerced him intohooking upwith you. Say no more.” Parker mimed zipping hislips.
“Parker, for fuck’s sake! You know I didn’t. I didn’t doanyof those things. I’m not apologetic in the firstplace!”
He nodded slowly, grinning. “Right. Because whatever his sexuality is, was, or becomes, it’s nothing to be sorry about. And whatever happened was his choice as much asyours.”
I scowled. “I… I guess that’s true.” It felt weird to think about it that way. On some level, I guess I did feel like this was my fault. I’d been the idiot who stood up in Goode’s Diner and proclaimed ustogether, after all. But I’d offered to rectify that. I’d offered to stage a break up time and time again. Everythingafterthe diner had really been kind of a dualeffort.
Or a dual cluster-fuck, depending on how you looked atit.
“So!” Parker’s eyes gleamed. “You're both attracted, you hang out, you're friends. Youevolved.Does that mean you havesex?”
I hesitated. We hadn’t technically gone beyond frottage,but…
“In some form oranother?”
Inodded.
“So, you’retogether.”
“We’re friends with benefits,” I saidmiserably.
“Oh, Jesus fucking Christ.” Parker rolled his eyes. I shot him a look, and he explained, “If there were ever a term to be stricken from the collective vocabulary of theworld,it’s that one. Friends aren’t attracted to each other, Julian. Not consistently, anyway. Not to the point where you have sex multiple times. If you’re hooking up with someone who’s your friend, it means one or both of you lack the balls to say what you’re reallyfeeling.”
I trailed my finger on the countertop. “Yeah,well.”
“Sorry,” Parker said, blowing out a breath. “I get overexcited. This is a subject that’s near and dear to myheart.”
“Don’t be sorry. What you said was sadlyaccurate.”
Parker poured me another drink and I took it withouthesitation.
“And Daniel’s got secrets,” I said, setting the glass back down. “He doesn’t talk about where he’s from, he doesn’t talk about what he does for a living, he doesn’t talk about the future.” I ticked these crimes off on my fingers. “We talk about all kinds of stuff—we can argue and be silly, I can ramble about shit and the thinks it’s cute. But he won’t volunteer about his past atall.”
