“Uh, no, no way. It was a bar fight. I was upset about something and took it out on a random guy. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.” No need to tell him about Frankie.
“Okay. Well, remind me never to get you mad. We all done stupid shit in our past.” He clapped me on the back. “Let’s get started on those bushes before Pops starts yellin’.”
Weak from relief at exposing my secret and finding that no one cared, I flashed him a smile. “I’m ready. Show me the way.”
By seven o’clock, I was dirty and sweaty and needed a shower like nobody’s business. I wiped my forehead of the worst of the moisture trickling down and caught a whiff of myself. “Ugh. I stink.”
“You put in a good day.” Lennie gave me a nudge as he walked past me to his locker. “And Pops liked your suggestion of grouping the plants and the bushes that grow in shade or sun together. We sold out of some we thought we’d havta dump.”
Warmed by the praise, I smiled at Lennie. “Thanks. I figured it made sense. One-stop shopping, ya know?”
“Yeah.” He pulled off his stained T-shirt, replacing it with a cleaner one. “I can’t wait to get home and shower, then go get some drinks with my boys.” With his dirty shirt stuffed in his gym bag, Lennie slammed his locker shut. “You got plans? Wanna come with us?”
My first thought was to say no. It seemed kinda fast, and I wanted to get home and tell Frankie all about my first day. Plus, I’d sworn off drinking. I wasn’t one of those happy drunks. Alcohol made me remember the bad, ugly shit, and I got angry. But Frankie was working late and wouldn’t be home till at least one in the morning. I wasn’t expected to sit home and jerk off, right?
“Yeah, that’d be cool. Where you guys go? In the city?”
“Fuck no. I ain’t paying twenty bucks a pop for drinks for a chance to talk to some snotty chick who don’t think I make enough money. We go to a place near my apartment in Brooklyn. Gimme your number, and I’ll text you the address.”
Smothering a smile, I closed my locker door and recited my number to Lennie, who carefully punched it into his phone with his rough fingers. They should only know how much that place Frankie dances at charges. When he once told me four hundred dollars a bottle, I almost lost my lunch.
“Sounds like a plan. I’m gonna go home and meet up witchu later.”
We bumped fists, and I walked out to my car. The sun was setting a fiery red, and I might’ve been surrounded by dumpsters and discarded crates, but it all looked beautiful to me. My phone buzzed, and I saw it was Frankie. I didn’t want to talk to him out here, so I hurried over to my car and got inside.
“Hey. I just finished.”
“How’d it go? I thought maybe you’d get a chance to text me during the day and let me know. I’ve been sitting here all afternoon thinking about you.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to snap at him not to put a leash around my neck. But that would hurt Frankie, and when I took that second, I recognized he wanted to know because he cared. Not because he didn’t trust me. Besides, that was the old me, the Aaron who didn’t stop to think what Frankie really wanted. The Aaron who took and never gave.
“I’m sorry, babe. It went really good. I worked my ass off, but they liked me. I think it’s gonna work out.”
“I knew you could do it. I’m so proud of you. And working with plants is what you love. So it’s a double win. Are you on your way home now?”
Even though I’d found my own place, it was an ugly, tiny studio where I had to fight the roaches for space.
“Yeah. I gotta shower and clean up. I stink.”
“Mmm, I wish I could be there to help wash your back…and other stuff. But I’m meeting Austin for dinner before I dance. He’s gonna show me pictures of the shelter he’s working on. He’s told me about it, and it sounds amazing.”
“I’ll bet,” I said lightly. I knew Austin still hated me and was waiting for me to slip up with Frankie. Austin’s boyfriend, Rhoades, was friendly enough, though, and seemed to have no opinion of me at all. I liked that. Rhoades didn’t let his boyfriend dictate who he should or shouldn’t like. “Must be nice to have unlimited money.”
“You know I don’t need all that. I like it when it’s you and me together, wherever we are. Money ain’t everything. Right?”
When he said things like that, it made me feel important. Like I was able to shed my old skin and step into a new one where no one cared about where I came from or who I was.
“Right. You and me against the world.” I knew Frankie wanted me to say I loved him like I’d done before. But this time I didn’t want to fuck up. I wanted it to mean something.
“I’ll see you later. I’m not gonna stay after, so I’ll be home around one thirty.”
“I might hang out after work with the guys, but I’ll be home when you get there.”
“I’m counting on it.”
I made itto Frankie’s in less than half an hour, but he was already gone. A shower had never felt so good, and I watched all the dirty water slide down the drain, satisfied I’d done an honest day’s work. I dressed in a long-sleeved sweater and jeans and towel-dried my hair, putting in some product to spike it up a bit.
The stuff he’d been working on still lay on the tabletop, but I couldn’t get annoyed at him leaving it there. It was his place, and he had no other space to work, so I ate the meatball parm sandwich he’d left me, sitting on the sofa, wishing I could have a beer.
My phone pinged, and I saw it was a text from Lennie.
Here’s the place. It’s called Pints on P. We’ll be there around 8:30.
K, I texted back.CU there.
I just agreed to spend my evening with a bunch of straight guys who like to drink. This could get interesting, or go very, very wrong.
