“Trouble!” bellows the heavily bearded barman when he sees Drix. “How you been?”
“Oh, you know, raising hell and breaking hearts,” shrugs Drix. The barman’s eyes go bleary and he gives Drix a long, soppy look. He either doesn’t notice or he ignores it completely.
We get our drinks and as we work our way to a table in the corner of the room, a girl with more piercings than I know how to count stops us.
“Oh my God.” She looks from Jess to Drix. “DoubleTrouble!”
“What’s with Trouble?” asks Jess as soon as we’re out of earshot.
“It’s a long and very boring story,” trills Drix, “so don’t say I didn’t warn you; it’s what my ex called me. The relationship didn’t last for shit, but the name he gave me stuck.”
“Relationship? You? Are you kidding?” says Jess.
“Well, I’m using the term loosely, obviously. But kind of. It was one of those things that started out hotter than hell and burned out pretty quick. He was nice. We’re still friends.”
“Nice?” Jess looks agog. “Must have been some kind of guy. Let me guess, chaotic bi?” He turns to me conspiratorially and explains, “Drix’s ultimate fantasy has always been bringing a chaotic bi guy to heel.”
“Not chaotic, just bi and um, excuse me, chaotic bi wasn’t even half the fantasy. I wanted a bi guy whothinkshe’s straight and I wanted to show him the light. And by light, I mean I wanted to teach him everything there is to know about taking a dick in the ass. Come on. You know that about me, Jess.”
I burst out laughing. “Chaotic or not, your bi guy sure did know his shit when he named you.”
Jessie laughs too, raises his glass, and formally christens Drix, “Trouble.”
“Anyway. That’s old news. I don’t want one chaotic bi anymore. Finding that is almost as easy as tripping over my dong.” Jessie shakes his head and sighs loudly. Trouble flicks his eyes up at the bartender and then gives us a look that sayssee?“I like a challenge, so I’ve updated the fantasy. You’ve got to dream big, you know? I wanttwobi guys who think they’re straight now. I want them to be masc as hell. I want them to bebluntinstruments. And I want to get hold of them and sink my claws into them and I want towake themthe fuck up.” He flicks his hair back and forth to punctuate the last four of five words of the sentence.
Jess and I both laugh, half-nervous for any straight guy Trouble encounters and half-impressed by the sheer audacity of him.
“So,” he says curtly, “enough about me, what about you?” He waves in our general direction as if he’s conjuring a spell. “What exactly is all this? Is it real or just something fun to give the ‘rents a spike in their blood pressure?”
I’m suddenly unsure what to say. It wasn’t like this with Gould. I’ve known him most of my life. I felt like that was my place to talk. This is different. I hold eye contact with Trouble for as long as I can, then I look down at my hands.
“Dunno what it is,” says Jessie at last, “but it’s real.” He takes my hand under the table and looks down at me, eyes softening to big glossy pools. “And I’m happy.”
“Happy? You?Happy?” Trouble looks shocked as shit but he looks at me and gives me a smile just like his mom’s. “Jesus take the wheel -Jessie Lewis is happy.”
We have the best time over the next few days. Trouble skips class and spends all his time with us. The three of us get along like a house on fire.
“I just can’t believe you let me meet him without any warning,” I say several times, much to the amusement of both Trouble and Jess.
“But Blue, if I warned you I’d have missed the look on your face the first time you saw him.”
“It’s only because you look so much alike. I-I wasn’t expecting it, that’s all.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, admit it, you’re more attracted to me than you are to him.” Trouble sidles up to me and tries to perch himself on my lap. “Don’t stress about it, baby, you’re only human.”
Jessie comes bolting over and manhandles him away from me. “No touching, you little shit. He’s mine.”
“Ooooh,he’s mine. How very Eric Northman of you,” drawls Trouble. “Iloveit.”
“It’s a True Blood reference,” Jess explains to me out of the corner of his mouth, “he’s based at least half his personality on that show.”
“Half?Are you kidding? Jesus, I need to amp it up. I’m failing big time if that’s what you think.”
It’s like this between us until it’s time for us to leave.
“You should move to LA,” I say when I hug him goodbye. He’s all kinds of crazy and he’s completely impossible but he’s also the best. Not only that, Jessie looks so carefree when he’s around. His eyes are bright and he lets himself be silly. I’ve never seen him like this, and I want to, especially since things with his mom have been a bit weird since the zoom call.
She called him twice yesterday and so far she’s called three times today. After the third time, his shoulders drop, and he doesn’t make eye contact with me for a long time.
