“What?” William asked.
“Nothing. Really. Just remembering something.”
“So you two broke up?”
That was it? “You’re okay with this?”
“With what?”
I waved toward myself. “Me being gay.”
“Dude. That hurts. You think I’d care”—he glanced around, then lowered his voice—“where you stick your dick?”
I blinked. “Uh, yeah, guess I had thought that.”
“ThatI can get pissed about. We’re friends, man. I don’t care about that shit. I care about when you’re unhappy, though. What happened?”
I dropped my head and sighed. “I fucked up.”
“Figured. Any more details you want to share?”
I shook my head. “No, no point in it. He needed me to be stronger than I am.”
William pursed his lips. “Stronger than you are, or stronger than you think you are?”
I snorted. “You sound like him.”
“Like this guy alrea— Wait, the nineteen-year-old was a guy?”
I nodded.
“Fuck.” He wiped a hand down his face. “Jesus, I remember myself at nineteen. Not that I’m trying to be up in your sex life, but shit. I dunno. Somehow, I’m more impressed you’re banging a guy that young instead of a girl.”
“Was,” I corrected him.
“Right. So what’re you going to do about it?”
“What can I do? He ended it. I won’t harass him.”
William laughed, then signaled our waitress over.
“What else I can get you two?” she asked, all smiles and pink cheeks when William winked her way.
“Two whiskeys, neat, please, hon.”
“You got it.”
I raised a brow. A bit early for drinking, but then again, I wasn’t sleeping anyway. Each miserable hour in the day was the same. So what the fuck ever.
He waited until our drinks were brought, then said, “Since you’re new at relationships, I’m gonna give you a quick lesson in breakup etiquette.”
I waved him on. “By all means.”
“It’s not harassment, for one thing. After a breakup, all social rules are on a bit of a rocky slope, if you will. As long as the words ‘never want to see you again’ or ‘come near me and I’ll call the police’ weren’t used, then you’re good. The longer you wait, the worse it’ll be. If you want him back, you’ve got to prove it.”
“Okay. Well, of course I want him back. What should I do? Go marching across campus with a boom box on my shoulder?”
“Old-school. I like it, but would he? Do something meaningful. Do something maybe only you and he will understand the significance of.”
