“That so?” Zayd gave the guy a once-over. “In all fairness, so do I because you were too far back for me to see it.”
Heath grinned. “Asshole.”
“There’s no need for you to get involved,” the guy told Zayd, who quirked an eyebrow.
“Oh, but there is. You see, I own this place, so yeah, there’s a big need for me to get involved. Now, get your homophobic ass out of my establishment, thank you very much. In case the rainbow flags out front weren’t enough of an indication for ya, let me spell it out. This is a queer-friendly place, and anyone who has a problem with that can go get their drinks somewhere else.”
“I’m leaving,” the guy said as if it was a newsworthy announcement. “And I won’t be coming back, so you just lost a valuable customer.”
“Dude, you’ve been here for two hours and bought exactly one beer. Plus, you’re an asshole, so not exactly what I’d call valuable. Pretty sure we’ll survive without you. And you may wanna consider moving to a different city if gays bother you so much. This is San Francisco, my man. We don’t tolerate people shitting on queer folks here.”
The guy opened his mouth, his face turning red, then maybe realized he wasn’t in the best position to start a fight and closed it again. Without another word, he stalked out the door.
“Jesus,” I breathed out. “I’ve been bi for literally five minutes and already encountered my first homophobic asshole. That must be some kind of record, right?”
Heath’s eyes widened, and then he snorted, which quickly became a full-belly laugh. He had to hold himself with one hand as he laughed till the tears streamed down his face. I just chuckled along, not quite sure why he thought it so funny but glad he did.
Zayd slapped me on the back. “Good job, my man.”
“Thanks for steppin’ in.”
He shrugged. “Not the first time. Won’t be the last either. Comes with the territory.”
He walked off, leaving Heath and me alone. His laughter died, and his eyes met mine. “You okay?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well, let me think. You did just casually come out after having your first kiss with a guy and dealing with instant homophobia.”
“Now that you mention it, maybe I should freak out.”
He grinned. “You’re not fazed by all this?”
“I told you, I’ve been surrounded by gay and bi men. I’ve dealt with guys like that before. Now granted, the coming out part was new…and so was the kiss.”
Heath’s expression softened. “So I’ll ask again. You okay?”
“Yes, I promise.”
“That was a good kiss.”
My heart swelled in my chest. “Yeah?”
“You don’t agree?”
He was insecure. Funny how I’d never realized that before, but his sassy attitude was him masking his insecurity. “Ten out of ten would do again.”
His face lit up like a bonfire. “Same.”
“But maybe someplace a little less public.”
“Was that you trying to wrangle an invitation out of me to take you back to my place?”
Wait, what? “No! I mean, not that I wouldn’t want to stop by, but I wasn’t… That wasn’t what I…” He grinned again, and I stopped. “You were teasing me.”
“You’re so fun to get a rise out of, Sergeant Grumpy.”
I winced. “Do you really need to call me that?”
