“It’s the great escape, around here.”He plunged back into the trunk.
Pittsburgh was the nearest city to us growing up, even though we’d been on the West Virginia side of the border.But that wasn’t why I lived there.“Moved back after Dad died.”
He was quiet except for the clanging of hangers for a second.Then he stood up, a mostly wrinkle-free white button-down in hand.“Sorry about that, man.Sucks.I almost texted you when I heard.Unblocked your number and everything.”
“You had me blocked?”I had no idea why, but the thought made me smile.
“Obviously, oh my god.Hold this.”He threw the shirt at me and started unbuttoning the whiskey-stained pink one.
“So you wouldn’t have known if I’d texted you anyhow,” I prodded.
“No.Well, at first, yes.But after about a month, Toni made me block you.It gave me a spiteful kind of peace.”
“How is Toni?”
“Oh, she fucked her way through all the girls at home and moved onto greener pastures in Cincy.”He untucked the shirt and pulled it off, leaving him half-naked in the darkening parking lot.
He used to have one of those effortlessly decent bodies like an adult film twink, but he’d muscled up and acquired some chiseled lines since.He must’ve waxed his chest or something, but his smooth belly featured a dark, thin trail of hair that thickened up as it dipped beneath his belt.But the hottest part by far was the massive tattoo on his left lower ribs and belly: a black linework lion’s head wearing a watercolor-style flower crown.
“Still a little gay, huh?”he asked.
I realized I’d been staring and flushed.“Sorry.Nice ink, though.”
“Thanks.”He smiled smugly.“Really, not a single guy since me?”
“I was never single for long, so I didn’t date much.”Any time I’d been single, I’d been going through it, anyhow.
Still, I’d considered hookups a few times.Kissed a guy or two in a club while drunk.Installed Grindr, then uninstalled it the next day.Not because I felt like it was wrong or bad or dirty or anything, just because I felt like…I don’t know.
Like a little gay wasn’t gay enough, and I’d betrayed that side of me anyhow.I should stay in my fucking lane.
“Yeah, not like you ever struggled for a date.”He rolled his eyes again, but it was playful this time.“So you’re bi?Pan?I always kinda wondered.”
“I don’t know what I am,” I admitted, for the first time in my entire life, out loud.
He shrugged.“Whatever, babe.You do you.Labels are supposed to make people feel seen, not boxed in.”
“I used to think I was Diego-sexual,” I said with a laugh.
His mouth fell open, but his eyes were smiling.“Bitch, did you just say that?”
“What?”I held up both hands.
“Did you just imply that I’m the only man to ever get you hard?”
“To be fair, it never took all that much to—”
“Shh.This is my moment; don’t take it!”
“I did just imply that, yes.”I chuckled.Was absolutely untrue, but he clearly knew that as well as I did.Whatever made him happy.
“Okay.Okay, that makes up for a lot of the shit; for real, though.”He was smiling brightly now, buttoning up his new shirt.“Thanks for that.”
“That’s better than the multiple apologies?”
“Fuck yes!”He was cackling now as he tucked in his shirt and nodded to the trunk.
I reached up and shut it, and we started walking back toward the building.But slowly.
