He might complain about his friends more than not, but I know what it really is. His own way of showing how much he cares about them. No one complains or talks aboutsomething as much as he talks about them if they don’t actually love it.
“Are you jealous?” I ask, lifting my eyes up from my notepad like I know he hates.
“Jealous?Of them?” He asks as if it’s the most asinine thing he’s ever heard. “Of course not. I’m doing perfectly fine in that department, thank you very much.”
This makes me smile. He’s mentioned to me before how he’d met someone. A client he’s helping design the tech for a new fitness studio in the area. I’ve had plenty of patients come through my doors knowingly queer but he is the first to discover this through his time with me. Knowing I’m a safe place for him to land while he works through this always makes my therapist’s heart smile.
“I’m glad to hear that. You’re being safe, right? Using protection and all of that?”
“Yes, mom,” he groans. “You’re just as bad as Margaret.”
“Hey, I only want to make sure my patients are well taken care of. That’s all.”
“What about you?” he shoots back. The question catches me off guard.
“What about me?”
“Areyouwell taken care of?” He lifts his brows at me and smirks.
“My personal life is none of your business.”
“Why? You ask me about my personal life all the time,” he scoffs.
“I’m your psychiatrist. It’s myjobto ask you about your personal life.”
“I bet you’re being taken care of by that man who was in here a few weeks ago. The one who looks like a Captain America rip-off. There was definitely something going on there.” He nods his head and frames his chinwith his thumb and index finger. “Big time sex vibes coming from you two the last time I was here.”
“Why is everyone suddenly so concerned about my sex life?” I cry out.
Between him and Rae my entire morning feels like it’s been surrounded by the topic of if I’ve recently gotten laid or not. And the fact that Ihaven’tis becoming more and more apparent.
“Who else is concerned about your sex life? Is it Captain America? You know, it’s good to have open conversations about past sexual partners with new ones. Shows a healthy level of communication and emotional stability.”
“‘A healthy level of communication and emotional stability?’” I ask, piquing my voice up. “Who the hell are you and what did you do with Conrad?”
“I couldn’t sleep one night so I did some light reading online. I’m trying this whole ‘improve myself for the sake of other people’ thing, you know.”
“And your light reading was what, some medical journal on relationships?” I ask.
“No, actually, a blog I stumbled across about being in a queer relationship. I like mine, a lot, and I’d really like to not fuck it up. I figured some research into the topic would do me some good.”
My brows push together and I pout, giving him the classic puppy dog eyes look. “Conrad, that is the sweetest thing ever!”
“Stop,” he deflects, suddenly regretting his decision to tell me about the blog he read. “Now yousoundlike Margaret.”
“You know, I’d like to meet her one day. I think she and I would get along swimmingly.”
“Oh, you’d get along well with all of them which is whatterrifies me,” he scoffs. “Wait, weren’t we talking about you and your sex life with Captain America?”
“I don’t have a sex life with Captain America,” I deny because technically, I don’t. Not yet at least.
“Isn’t he your patient? There has to be some sort of ethical issue around sleeping with your patient.”
“First, he’s not my patient anymore but that’s also none of your business. And second, as I’ve said, I’m not sleeping with him. So let’s leave it at that.”
He scowls at me from across the room, sinking deeper into the blue velvet couch I sprang for when I rented the space. “Someone’s grumpy when it’s been awhile.”
“Says the guy who came to me because he’s tired of people callinghimgrumpy,” I rebuke.
