“Hey, baby, don’t talk about yourself that way. I don’t care if you’re as big as a house. To me, you’re the most beautiful thing in the world.” Smooch, smooch, smooch.
Worse than dumb, Emmett found such stories insulting; they denied his lived reality, presenting a view of the world so untainted by bias and hate they may as well be shelved in the fantasy section.
He sucked in his gut and squeezed in to take his seat against the wall, embarrassed that he had to push the table out a couple of inches.
Aaron kindly pretended not to notice. “How’ve you been?”
“Good. I’m glad we could do this.”
“Me too.”
“How are things at the museum?”
“Busy, really busy. We’re getting ready to launch a new teen docent program for the summer.”
“Amazing.”
“It’s great. The kids get some work experience, and we get to exploit their free labor.”
“Child labor. Even better.”
Aaron laughed, making Emmett blush.
“No, but that’s so cool. Man, I wish I…” Emmett trailed off, reluctant to tank the mood with his career woes so early in the evening.
A waitress came by for their drink orders. Aaron ordered a craft beer and Emmett a cocktail he couldn’t afford, gin and apricot and whatever the fuck orgeat was.
“So what’ve you been up to lately?” Aaron said once the waitress left, casting an eye over the menu.
Emmett faltered. Even if he were allowed to discuss the clinical trial, Aaron was the last person he’d want to know he was on it. “Just work. You know. And I volunteer a few days a week. With an organization called Future Makers.”
“I know Future Makers. They’re our partner at the museum.”
“Right, of course.”
Breezing over his failed interview, Emmett talked a while about his tutoring experience, how classroom teaching, it turned out, just wasn’tthe right fit.
“I get it,” Aaron said. “Honestly nothing sounds worse than being stuck in a classroom full of asshole teenagers all day.”
Emmett smiled, almost teary with appreciation after a couple of strong cocktails.
The conversation took a turn toward the reminiscent—their grad school professors, former classmates and what they were up to now, the perfect strangeness of that time of their lives.
Finally the waitress returned with their entrées. “I’ve got the cheeseburger,” she said, setting it in front of Emmett.
“Oop, that’s here,” Aaron said.
She rerouted the burger to Aaron and gave Emmett the chicken salad, his ears pink as he thanked her.
They ate, Emmett measuring every bite and the speed at which he ate it, careful not to clear his plate too fast.
“So, I have to confess something,” Aaron said through a mouthful of burger.
“Oh yeah?”
“I didn’t invite you here just to reconnect, although it’s been great catching up. There’s a position opening up in my department. My education manager’s having a baby, and she’s leaving to be a full-time mom. Fucking straight women, am I right?”
Eww, Emmett thought, but pushed it aside. “An education manager?”
