“Who is?”
We hop in my car and I push the Start button. The car is one of the few luxuries I’ve bought myself.
“This is nice, Nantes. An Audi?”
“Yeah. I know. It’s pretentious but I had to have it.”
“That checks out. You were always into cars, and if I remember, you really wanted an Audi.”
“Crazy that you remember that.”
“I remember everything.”
“Me too.”
“God, we suck. I can’t believe we lost touch the way we did with as close as we were.”
“Going to college in different places made it hard.”
“I should’ve gone to UW with you, but I had that scholarship opportunity. I couldn’t really pass that up.”
“Water under the bridge, Van. We’re together now.”
“Yeah.”
I put the car in reverse and back out of my garage, then make my way to the front of the property. Before long, I’m on the open road leading to the highway and back to Madison.
“Have you been to Chicago?” Van asks.
“Several times, but always for work. Conferences and stuff like that. I’ve never had time to just explore the city. In fact, I was gonna go for Pride a few years ago, but I got called into the hospital and couldn’t get out in time.”
“Pride is a blast.”
I glance at him. “You go to Pride?”
“I have gay friends, Nan. Several, in fact. Even if I didn’t, I’d probably still go. I love a good party.”
“I’m jealous. I’ve heard Chicago has a great one. I’ve been to Milwaukee’s here and it’s good too.”
“Boystown is wild during Pride. My friends dragged me to some gay bars and we danced till we couldn’t anymore. The cool thing about Pride is it brings so many different kinds of people out and together, you know? It’s how the world should always be.”
“Maybe I can make it out there for it next year.”
“Hell yeah. You can stay with me.”
I don’t think the Vanian I knew in high school would have been so comfortable going to a gay bar, but it’s nice to know his perspective has changed with age.
“Do you go out a lot now?” he asks.
“No, I’m still kind of a homebody, but I’ve been pushing myself to get involved in the queer community more. If I ever want to find what Deo has, I’ll have to leave my house.”
“He’s really in love, isn’t he?”
“Completely. And as far as I can tell, Balt is equally smitten. It’s inspiring.”
“You want that? Settling down and all that stuff?”
I shrug as I merge onto the freeway. “I don’t know. I guess I want intimacy and I want to matter to someone, but I’m not sure how traditional it looks. I don’t want kids, I know that.”
