Not morally—I don’t give a shit about the morality of it, that’s between them. I mean thewhy.Why would a straight guy let his straight roommates use him like that?
Also, what are the rules? Because there are rules. Kit said so.
There are rules. And I want to know them.
Information is always worth having, and this specific information has been living rent free in my head for a week, and I am—well, I’m interested.
I light a second cigarette off the first, and watch the smoke go.
Interestedis the professional term.
Down badwould be the personal one.
* * *
Finn is the weakest link.
It’s not an insult. Finn’s just got the energy of someone who can’t keep a secret to save his life. You can see it when he starts a sentence and then stalls, or when he laughs at a joke nobody else heard, or when he spends too much time staring at Kit. He’s been doing all three for two weeks, and I’ve been keeping track.
So on a Wednesday night when the house is quiet and I can hear Finn’s keyboard from the hallway, I knock on his door.
“Yo.”
“Hey.” I lean against the doorframe. “Fill me in on the deal with Kit.”
A little bit of advice: questions give people an exit, statements don’t. You frame it like you’re just checking on something you already know, and they fold.
Finn’s hands freeze over the keys. “What do you mean?”
“You know exactly what I mean.”
“I really don’t—”
“I’ve already got the context, dude. I just want the specifics.”
His face does a high-speed reboot.
“Okay,” he says, “but first—and this isvery important—I’m not gay.”
I just look at him.
“Like, at all. I want that on the record.”
“Noted.”
“Because what I’m about to tell you could sound—”
“Dude.”
“Right. Okay.” He pulls out his phone. “I’m calling Grant.”
Grant shows up with his arms crossed, Miles right behind him. I grimace internally. Miles and I have a détente built on mutual avoidance, and this is a major deviation from protocol.
“You told him?!” Grant snaps, the second he steps inside the room.
“He already knew,” Finn says, defensive. “He just didn’t have the specifics.”
“You could’ve—”
