Page 29 of Coming Clean

Jeremy held up a hand. “No.It’s not like that. It’s—”

“No way! Connor’s your newman?”

“Not exactly. We weretalking and he brought up some of the crap he went through in theMarines. He looked sad, so I… I tried to comfort him.”

“Like with yourdick?”

Jeremy failed to suppresshis laughter. How could David be such an inappropriate ass andstill entertain him? “By saying something nice and putting a handon his shoulder.I thought he might get pissed off, but instead healmost kissed me. At least, I think he did.”

David studied Jeremy for afew moments. “I’m not going to ask for details on that. I reallywant to, but I’m not. What happened after he didn’t quite kissyou?”

Jeremy sighed. “He ran.Literally. He left so fast that he forgot his bag of cleaningsupplies.”

“And this is what you wantadvice about? Connor?”

Jeremy nodded. “I wanthim.”

“So let me get thisstraight—no pun intended. You want me to help you get together witha former Marine—you’ve never liked military guys, just in caseyou’ve forgotten—who’s in the closet and freaks out even when hedoesn’t kiss you?”

“Yes, that’sright.”

“Jer.” David'sdisappointment was palpable.

“I didn’t think you’dapprove, but—”

“Look, come with metonight. There’ll be plenty of hot ass at eighties night. Find aman to help you forget about Mr.Disaster-Waiting-To-Happen.”

Typical David. It was allabout a piece of ass to him. “Connor isn’t just some random hotguy.”

David goggled at him. “Holyfuck, you’ve fallen for him!”

“He’s not my usual type;you’re right about that. And clearly he’s not comfortable withwhatever is going on with us, but…” What could Jeremy say tojustify himself? He wasn’t even sure why this mattered somuch.

“Oh, Jeremy, what am Igoing to do with you? I’ve been saying you need to get laid forages, but this? Are you sure?”

Jeremy took a slow, deepbreath. “I am.” He was sure he was an idiot who was going to gethis heart broken. “At least it’ll be fodder for some fantasticallydepressing break-up poetry.”

David scowled. “That’s notfunny. And why does poetry have to all be depressinganyway?”

“It doesn’t.”

David raised his brow.“Name some cheerful poetry.”

“Dr. Seuss?”

David started to saysomething. He closed his mouth. Then he finally responded with,“Fine, you got me there. I was, however, referring to poetry foradults.”

“Must we divide literaturein such an ageist fashion?” Jeremy asked.

David simply flipped himoff.

“Are you going to help meor not?”

David shook his head. “Thisfeels way too much like high school.”

“You mean when I was tryingto like girls, and you were trying to set me up with men becausefor some reason you thought having a gay friend wascool?”

David gave an exaggeratedsigh. “I’ve told you a million times, it’s a great datingtechnique. Girls love gay guys.”