Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82250 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82250 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Hayden approaches and hands me my drink.
“Hey, man,” he says with as big a smile as I imagine he can make. “What’s up, Derek?”
I glare at him and shake my head.
Derek glances around. He looks like an animal caught in a trap, trying to find a way out.
“Can you guys help me?” he asks. “I just need to get out of here.”
A tear falls from his other eye, down his face.
“I don’t want them to see me cry,” he adds.
Hayden’s expression shifts from playful to serious in an instant, and he stumbles forward, spilling both our drinks and falling onto me.
“What the fuck?” I ask.
He moans as he presses his palms against the bar, grasping around awkwardly like he’s as wasted as the guy we saw being dragged home by his buddies.
Then it hits me.
Clever, Hayden.
I wink at Derek, and his eyes light up, suggesting he gets what’s going on.
I wrap my arm around Hayden and help him up, putting his arm over my shoulder.
“We’d better get him home,” I tell Derek, who wraps Hayden’s other arm around him.
We guide him through the bar, past Luke and his buddies.
“Where are we going? Why are we leaving?” Hayden slurs in an all-too-convincing voice.
He stumbles. Groans. And it takes us a bit of effort to get him out of the bar.
Once we’re halfway down the block to Metropolis, I say, “You can cut the act now.”
“Who’s acting?” he teases as he glances behind us to make sure the coast is clear.
“That was really good,” I acknowledge. “I’d give you the Academy Award.”
“I’ve taken a few acting classes,” he says with pride.
As we turn to Derek, I see the tears are falling one after the other. That’s how I feel right now. I’m doing a better job of keeping it inside, but I’ve had all day to get my shit together.
I step between them and wrap my arm around Derek.
“I think we need to have a guys’ night,” I say. “What do you think about that?”
Derek nods.
We head back to the condo and order pizza and Chinese. When they arrive, we take the food and a bottle of Chardonnay I had in the fridge into my room and turn on Mean Girls, which I have on DVR in case I ever need a good pick-me-up.
“I met him on Scruff a few weeks ago,” Derek says before taking another large gulp from his glass of Chardonnay. He sits on my bed with his legs folded, the containers of General Tso’s and sesame chicken open on top of the box of pizza that is set between us. Hayden lies at the foot of the bed, stretched out, chopsticks in hand as he devours some sesame chicken and fried rice from a bowl.
“I thought things were heading somewhere, but he told me I’m not relationship material,” Derek continues. “I’m young, and he just can’t see me that way. Maybe he’s right.”
“That’s such bullshit,” Hayden says. I notice the Chinese food is gone, so I remove the containers and open the pizza box, retrieving a slice.
Hayden and Derek race to get their own slices. It’s like we haven’t eaten in months. Probably true because I bet we’ve all been starving a little to look good for the strip-off.
“I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” Derek says. “Why don’t you tell us about you and Travis? That’s a much happier story.”
My eyes water. “Not all that great, actually.”
“Really?” he asks. “For a fake relationship, things didn’t look all that fake at the fundraiser.”
“So, that’s what all that was about,” Hayden says.
Now that we’re on the subject, I start at the beginning, explaining what really happened that day at the fundraiser. I tell him about what we thought we were getting into. What I realized I was getting into. And how I had to call things off.
“I told him we can still be friends,” I say, “but I’m really not sure I can even do that.”
“What do you mean?” Hayden asks.
“It’s how I am. I know every time I’m around him, I’ll be wishing we could be something more. Something we can’t be. And that’s not fair to him.”
“So, you calling it off?”
“I made a commitment to help him. I’m not going to leave him hanging when his entire future depends on me pretending to be with him. I know it’s going to hurt…a lot. Knowing I care so much, and he just…he’s missing a good lay. Because I really like him…a fucking lot. More than I’ve ever liked anybody else. I don’t know how to turn this off.”
“This is the worst night ever,” Derek says. “We need to get on Grindr right now.”
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his cell.
“I don’t think that’s the solution,” Hayden says.
“Easy for the guy who’s getting laid constantly to say,” Derek retorts.