Chapter Three
“So, how did the big interview go?” Meg asked the moment Eliot sat down at his desk. He hadn’t thought anyone knew about it other than himself and Ben, but this was an office full of professional gossips.
Eliot sighed. He thought he had the basis for a good article, but he couldn’t stop thinking about how he’d behaved.
“You know how I flirt when I’m nervous?” he asked. Meg didn’t necessarily know him well, but that was often one of the first things people noticed about him.
“Yeah, like a weird defense mechanism,” Meg said. “As if you’re going to confuse people into leaving you alone.”
“Yeah, well, I spent the whole interview making an ass of myself. He must think I’m an idiot now.”
Meg raised an eyebrow. “Well… did he respond?”
“Yes!” Eliot said. “Which is so much worse. He’s so attractive and he flirted back and it just spiraled all the way out of control and I can never face him again. I’m so glad I won’t have to.”
“I don’t actually see the problem. He’s hot, and you got to have a little fun with him while you did your job.” She shrugged.
Eliot sighed again. That was true, and it had been fun when he hadn’t been worrying about everything he said or every expression he made.
Also, Danny was definitely hot. Not necessarily Eliot’s type, but objectively, gorgeous. Now that he was out, he really would have guys flocking to him.
“See? I’m right,” Meg said. “He probably barely noticed it was weird. He might even have liked it.”
Eliot wrinkled his nose at the thought. Danny was definitely attractive, but this was a man who was proud of getting up at five a.m., on purpose, and then doing crap like running and eating breakfast.
Not to mention that he knew he was attractive. Everything about him, from his effortlessly messy sun-bleached hair and perfect amount of manly stubble to his size-too-small t-shirt that showed off every line and curve of his muscles, proved that he knew it.
“I don’t want him to like it,” Eliot said. “He’s too…”
“Are you gonna hit me if I say cocky?” Meg asked, grinning.
Eliot narrowed his eyes at her. “No, but only because you’d hit me back and I’m delicate. Also… you’re not wrong.”
Danny was both cocky in the traditional sense, and exactly the kind of guy the magazine celebrated. Even though he was gay, he was still classically masculine. He was a sports star, for a start. The pinnacle of a male power fantasy.
Of course, Eliot had seen another side to him today—one that was lonely, and regretful, and a little sad—but he’d also seen the goddamnmansionhe lived in, and he knew that if anyone could walk away unscathed from coming out, it would be him.
His feelings were, at best, complicated.
It was good that Danny was coming out. More famous people being open about their sexuality was a net good for everyone. It was also sad that he hadn’t been able to live openly up to this point. Eliot couldn’t imagine doing the same.
There was just a part of him that bristled when he was around jocks. He hadn’t been in high school for almost a decade, but he still remembered what it was like. He remembered all the shit kids who’d grown up to be like Danny had given him.
The fact that some percentage of them were probably doing it because they were gay, too, and they couldn’t stand that one person might get away with it when they knew they couldn’t, didn’t change the torture they’d put him through.
Eliot hesitated to feeltoosorry for Danny. His struggles were just as real, but they involved less bruises.
“Of course he is.” Meg shrugged again. “But he’s earned it. He’s good at what he does. I wouldn’t kick him out of bed, or anything.”
“He’s gay,” Eliot pointed out.
“Okay, in an alternative universe where I’m a gay man, I wouldn’t kick him out of bed. You know what I mean. You’re being harsh ‘cause he plays sports and you actively hate sports.”
Eliot opened his mouth to object, but he knew Meg was right.
He was judging Danny based on things other people had done. That wasn’t entirely fair.
His phone vibrating saved him from having to come up with a clever response that wouldn’t be admitting defeat. Just because Meg was right, didn’t mean Eliot had to let her win.
