Breezy considered for a very long time.“She has great hair.”
Phil waited, but nothing more came.“Is that it?”
“She was nice?”
“What about Chloe?”
“She wanted to work with kids, which is pretty cool.Her stories about university were so interesting.”
“Uh-huh.And Vanessa?”
“My parents loved her.And I liked her outfits.She had a great eye for fashion.”He thought briefly and then added, “Also, she always told me where to take her out for dinner and stuff.That made it a lot easier.”
Phil decided not to ask about the fourth girl.He couldn’t remember her name anyway.Breezy’s answers about the first three revealed the underlying theme.
He debated finding a subtle way to ask, but then remembered who he was talking to.“Okay, so how was the sex?”
Breezy choked on his beer.His face went bright red, and his voice went up an octave.“Fine.”
“Bud,” Phil said, trying to find a kind way to phrase this.“If you were really into any of them, it would have been better than ‘fine.’”
“I’m just not into…that,” Breezy said.
“What?”
“Sex.”
Phil blinked.He thought he’d finally found his footing in the slippery eddies of sexuality, but he had no response ready for this situation.
Thankfully, Breezy went right on talking before Phil could say anything.“I’m not a passionate guy.I’m pretty easygoing.Sex is fine.It can be fun.But I don’t get all that intense about it.”He drank more beer.“Dating is… I don’t do it forsex.I like meeting people, you know?Being alone sucks.And I’ll have to get married and start a family someday.”
“You will?”
“Well, yeah,” Breezy said as if it ought to be obvious.“That’s what people do.”
Phil tabled the questions that had sprung up in the back of his mind about sexuality, sex drive, and identity.“Okay,” he said.“Where to start.First of all, you’re barely twenty-two.”
“So?”
“I know some hockey players marry young, but you don’t have to.If you’re struggling with dating and you don’t really know why… This is probably bad life advice, but go out.Hook up.Meet people without thinking about forever.Maybe take some time to figure out if marriage and kids is even what you want.”
Breezy looked over at him with wide eyes.“You think so?”
“Yeah,” Phil said.“It sounds as though whatever you’re doing right now isn’t working for you, and it isn’t working for the girls you date, so why not try something different?”
“Try…not dating.”
“Yeah.And try finding someone you like yourself, maybe?I mean, your parents liked Vanessa.Luca liked Amélie.Who do you like?”
After finishing his beer, Breezy took a deep breath.“And, um, the sex thing?Should I be worried about it?Am I…bad?”
“Youarean easygoing guy,” Phil said, wishing desperately he’d gotten a stronger drink.“I like that about you.Makes you a great teammate.You’re also someone who puts in the hours and practices his ass off.If sex is important to you, you can practice that, too, if you have a partner who wants the same things.If you don’t want to, you don’t have to.No one’s forcing you to have sex any particular way, or at all, and if they are, tell me whose kneecaps I’m taking out with a hockey stick.”
“Really?”Breezy met his eyes for the first time, and he looked so honestly hopeful Phil found himself reaching out to pat his shoulder.
“Really,” Phil promised.“Hell, we have a physically strenuous job.When I get home after, I’m not thinkingyou know what would be great right now?Super athletic marathon sex.Sometimes simple is best.”Simple with Ben was better than anything complicated Phil had tried before he had a handle on what he liked.
As if his strings had been cut, Breezy relaxed into the couch.He turned wide, pleading eyes on Phil.“Can I have another beer?”
