Greg pointed like a teacher in class. “Yes, you in the back row, giving your classmate a hand job.”
Ethan blushed. Yes, he had done that. “So, for the record, you’re not straight?”
He shook his head. “I wish I came as hard with girls as I do with you.”
That was the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to Ethan, despite the graphicness. A warm feeling spread through him.
“I’m sorry about the party, Ethan. I liked your pose, for the record.”
Ethan gave a hearty laugh. At the time, his drunken self thought had it was sexy.
“It’s going to take some time,” Greg said. He turned Ethan to face him. “This is all really new for me. It’s going to be a huge change. I have a reputation for being a bit of a ladies’ man. And it’s not even true.”
Ethan sat up. “It’s not?”
Greg wavered. “Before you, I was a virgin.”
“What?!” Ethan’s eyes nearly fell out of his head. “But you’re a fraternislut. You had a threesome your freshman year.”
“I got a little wild when I got to school. I tried to suppress being gay, thought if I screwed around with girls, I’d forget about it. And what can I say? Girls like me.” Ethan smacked his chest. “I got drunk with these senior girls, and they both gave me slobs. So not a threesome technically.”
“Technically.” That was still two more girls than Ethan had hooked up with ever.
“But see, everyone thinks that I’m a player, even though I haven’t gotten with any girls since then.” Greg quickly added, “By choice. I could’ve gotten with lots of girls. As stated previously, girls like me.”
Ethan smacked his chest again. “Why are they still calling you a player?”
“Because it stuck freshman year. That’s my reputation, whether I like it or not. And honestly, I liked it. It gave me this air of coolness whenever I walked into a party or into my frat house. I already had this built-in public persona. So I never corrected anyone.”
“And you still don’t.”
Greg had no comment.
Ethan tangled his fingers in Greg’s hair and traced the outline of that famous smirk. “Sahil isn’t your roommate. You lied.”
Greg gave him a puppy-dog look. “I didn’t want to fool around in the house. It’s too risky.”
Ethan’s fingers traveled down to Greg’s broad, mountain-range shoulders. “I think your brothers will be cooler with this, with us, than you think. Sahil was really accepting when I told him I was gay. He high-fived me.”
“It’s different. You’re not his frat brother. It’s a different culture up there.”
“Things are changing. They won’t all react like your big brother, the one who…you know.”
Greg’s shoulders tensed up. Ethan knew not to push, but he had just given himself to Greg. He believed he had a right to the truth.
“You really liked him, didn’t you?”
Greg nodded at the blankets. “His name was Mason. It wasn’t some out-of-nowhere event. There was buildup. I know he felt it.” He heaved out a sigh. Ethan could tell unearthing this memory was tough. “I don’t know what I expected the next morning, but it wasn’t being told to shut the fuck up. I didn’t expect to get cut out of his life. Maybe he was right, though. Maybe some stuff should stay private.”
Ethan heart fell a few notches. “Like us?”
“I don’t know, Folly. I’m still figuring this shit out.” Greg tried to spoon him, but Ethan pulled away.
He sat up. “Aren’t you tired of being two different Gregs?”
“Are you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
