Once Taylor smoothed things over with Marina, she had somehow convinced him to buy her an entire outfit, a pajama set, and some slippers because it was her “big day.” Taylor couldn’t possibly say no to her. He finally understood why Pancek was so whipped for his kids.
* * *
Once they got back to the house, Marina called her mom from the hospital and Gretchen was able to get off work early to show Marina “the ropes to womanhood.” Marina’s words, not his. That girl was the funniest kid he knew. She was like his mini-best friend
Taylor had some downtime since he had the entire rest of the day free, so he decided to give Douglas a call. He invited Taylor over to play some video games, which meant he wanted Taylor to come over and watch him play video games because Taylor sucked at any game besides hockey.
Thirty minutes later Taylor knocked on Douglas’ door before just walking in. Douglas had a death wish because he never locked his front door. “Hey Dougie. I brought beer,” he said, lifting a 12 pack. He placed it down onthe kitchen island and removed two from the box.
He and Douglas slumped down onto his couch while he turned on an NBA game. Taylor honestly had no idea how basketball even worked.
“You’re gonna have to show me how this works,” Taylor laughed.
“I’m going to spread a rumor online that you are an old man in a nineteen-year-old’s body.”
Taylor snorted. “At least I’m still in my teens, you fucker.”
After two rounds of Taylor being absolutely demolished in NBA 2k, Douglas asked Taylor if he wanted to go get something to eat. “You mind if I go across the hall and invite Armstrong? I feel bad for the poor little fella. I’m like his only friend,” he joked. Douglas had the weirdest way of joking. Like he would tell jokes for his own pleasure and just hope other people found them funny too. Taylor wondered if Fletcher had any other friends besides the guys on the team. He’d never brought up any friends from Florida during any of their conversations.
He laughed. “Sure, man. I don’t care.”
Douglas hopped up and walked over to Fletcher’s place. Taylor had no issue. Really. He was glad he talked to Dr. Browne about it because he had done a lot of experimenting since then. And by experimenting, he meant watching a little bit of gay porn to see if it made his dick hard.
He started out by watching straight porn, which was fine. The control variable, he decided. He switched over to lesbian porn, which was also fine. A placebo variable, if you would even call it that. It yielded results that were consistent with the control variable. And then it came time to test the independent variable. He clicked on the highest rated video. Pretty textbook video of a really buff guy and a skinnier dude. Taylor watchedit for a few seconds, but something about it made him feel off. Like there was too much of a power imbalance between the two. And then, Taylor had decided that he didn’t like the way the skinnier guy was acting so… desperate? The cherry on top was when the smaller one called the older one a whiny “daddy.”
Nope. Not gay, Taylor concluded. Too weird.
Douglas came back a few moments later and Fletcher followed.
“Alright guys. Where are we eating?” Douglas asked. Taylor shrugged and looked at Fletcher, who also just shrugged.
“Whatever you and Piers want is fine with me,” Fletcher had said.
“Okay Piers. What are we thinking?” Douglas rubbed his hands together eagerly.
“I really don’t care. Can you two just pick something and I’ll drive?” Taylor offered, with an edge of impatience in his tone.
They headed downstairs and found Taylor’s truck in the guest parking lot. Douglas sat in the passenger seat and Fletcher slid in back. “How old is this thing anyways?” Fletcher asked him as Taylor pulled out onto the street. His eyes flickered to Fletcher in the rearview mirror. Fletcher must have sensed it because he met Taylor’s gaze at the same time. Taylor quickly peeled his eyes back onto the road.
“She’s an ‘03.” Taylor gulped. “I bought her when I turned sixteen and fixed her up.”
“How’s the mileage?” Douglas asked.
“Not bad. Eighteen miles per gallon on a good day.”
Douglas shrugged. “Not bad for an old lady. Wait, is the truck older than you? I was born in ‘03.”
“Yeah, I mean I guess so. I never really thought about that. My dad drove an ‘03 Tacoma so I thought it would be cool todrive one, too.”
Douglas patted Taylor’s leg. “That’s pretty cool, man. I’m sure he’d be proud of you for not aspiring to drive a sports car like I do. My pops calls my Audi a ‘flashy-bling-bling car.’”
Taylor smiled at him and chuckled.
“Where are we eating, Dougie?” he asked him.
“Let’s get some Mediterranean food,” Fletcher called out from the backseat. Taylor’s eyes flickered to Fletcher in the rearview mirror, but Fletcher had his gaze fixed staring out the window.
“Fuck yeah. Hey, is there a Cava in Seattle?” Douglas asked as he pulled out his phone to check.
