“How long has this been going on?” Julio asks, glancing betweenus.
“About since when you last saw me,” Ireply.
I’m worried about any negative attention or slight they might make to Ty, but Julio says, “A lot of guys come through here, so I can assure you, I’ve seen itall.”
“Oh yes, we have,” Martin adds, and I don’t doubt it. Their attitude about it makes me feel more relaxed, especially as I see Ty and Eric easingup.
Julio glances around us before saying, “You know what? We could all use a shot right aboutnow.”
“Yes, that sounds like a great idea,” Ty says quickly, and Julio and Martin head to the bar to nab some as we recover from what surely was a shock to all oursystems.
“Well…” Ty says. “That wasawkward.”
“Right?” Ericasks.
“Maybe in the future, we need to be the ones to put others on the spot,” Tysays.
“What do you mean?” Iask.
“Like…that’s my dad and my best friend, and they’re dating. What? You got a problem with it?” He tenses up, showing his guns like he’s ready to kick some ass, and Eric and I are in stitches over theact.
“They’ll be so confused, they won’t know how to react,” headds.
“Damn right they will be,” Ericsays.
“I’m just saying. There’s gotta be an easier way of going about this coming-out-to-peopleshit.”
“It is like that, isn’tit?”
“What?”
“Coming out, in general,” Eric replies. “I don’t just come out as gay once to you or your mom or my family or friends. I have to decide if I’m going to talk about my boyfriend to an Uber driver or my hairstylist or any number of people I might interact with in a day. And some people think it’s weird, and some people don’t think twice about it. Same with this…” He scrunches up his face. “Obviously that’s a lot more acceptable these days, especially with the people I typically interact with, but you get what I mean. Not necessarily always an easy way to bring it up, but people either are going to get with it ornot.”
“That actually makes a lot of sense,” Tysays.
“Huh, it really does,” Ifollow.
For a second Ty tilts his head one way, then the other. “Though it’s still weird, you have toadmit…”
“Oh, most definitely,” Eric adds with a laugh. “But we’re getting pretty good at handlingweird.”
Julio and Martin approach, shots in hand, and as Ty takes one, he says, “A toast toweird?”
“I like where this is going…” Martin says as he passes a shot tome.
We all toast and down the shots, and Ty chants, “Shots, shots,shots!”
I catch Eric looking at me, and despite everything that just happened, he’s beaming atme.
We are really damn good at handlingweird.
24
Eric
After we geta few drinks in us, we hit the dance floor with Julio and Martin. I keep more of a distance from Jesse than I would if it were just the two of us, something that proves especially difficult for me as Jesse bops about in that gray speedo. The way it fits that ass…the way it displays those muscular thighs of his…the way his entire body looks in that is just…damn. If that wasn’t bad enough, he keeps ogling me the way he does when we’refucking.
When we’re makinglove.
