“I get it. I’d like to be friends with you.” Rafe said it with such sincerity that Mac chose to believe him, even though lots of guys use the friends excuse to wheedle their way up to boyfriend status.Was that what I’m doing with Gideon?
Rafe waited with his phone. It was Mac’s cue.
“Right, sorry.” Mac gave him his number and returned to the beanbag chair.
“I like him!” Delia said. She turned to Mac, but that caused them to roll into each other. They laughed over the closeness and didn’t separate.
“He’s a nice guy.”
“And he got your digits.”
“He did. But I told him I just wanted to be friends.” Before Delia could chime in, he said, “Davis.”
“Davis was almost two months ago. He’s moved on. So should you!”
“I will. It’s a process.” Mac scoped out the party, searching for someone else to talk to, or talk about.
“This is another step in the process. And this step has a cute butt.” She nudged her head at Rafe walking away, into the kitchen, butt firmly on display.“My dating life is on hiatus at the moment.” Mac rolled away.
“Hiatus?” The word displeased her greatly. Mac’s love life seemed to be her newest cause to champion. “Mac, if I ask you something, will you promise not to get offended?”
“Sure.” Even though there was no way to promise that. She got serious for a moment, and if she was about to say she had a benign tumor, Mac was going to jump out the window.
“Are you hung up on Gideon? You guys have gotten along surprisingly well as roommates and are even friends. Which is great, but I don’t want you pausing your life for some fantasy. Gideon’s straight.”
“That’s what you think,” Mac blurted out in defense of his life choices.
Delia’s eyes bulged open. Mac bit his lip.
“I forgot to get you another cupcake.” He tried to stand up, but Delia pulled him down. The fire of earth-shattering gossip burned in her eyes.
“Start talking.”
There was no way he was getting around this one. Delia was a master in tunnel vision.
“What I tell you does not leave the beanbag chair. Does not.”
She nodded.
“Not even Seth. Especially not Seth.”
She nodded again and waved her hand to get him singing like a canary. Mac knew he was violating the ancient code of the gay-straight hookup, but he trusted Delia. She was a loyal friend.
And so in a whisper, Mac dished about his escapades with Gideon. Her mouth did not ungape. Her eyes did not unbulge. But to her credit, she didn’t respond with a sassy comment, or even a laugh. She got how serious this was to Mac.
“But please, you can’t tell anyone,” Mac said.
“I won’t. I promise.” She leaned back. She had just taken a huge bong hit of information, and the new information was working its way through her system. “I had no idea.”
“Neither did I.”
“You think he’s just experimenting?” She asked him.
“Yes.” Though that wasn’t the truth. The truth was that Mac didn’t know the truth. He didn’t want to know the final answer on Gideon’s sexuality, because that would mean a final answer on their relationship. Either option scared him. He liked this gray area they were playing in.
“So that’s why you don’t want to go on a date with the T-shirt guy with the cute butt.”
“That has nothing to do with it.”
