him and waiting for the next question.
“It really doesn’t bother you?”
Bob shook his head and slumped down farther on the couch, picking up the Xbox controller and thumbing it on. “Nah. I grew up with four sisters, so I’m used to being the odd man out.”
Austin sat back on his heels, as Bob cycled past the introductory video for Portal and started a game. “Did you really just compare being a gay dude to being a girl?”
“Um, no. I compared being the one straight guy in a group of gay dudes to being the only guy in a group of girls. It’s an odd-man-out feeling, not an equivalency.”
It was easy to forget that Bob had a very sharp brain under the laid-back attitude and tendency to keep his mouth shut.
“You’re right,” Austin admitted, rewinding the words in his head.
“I know.”
“Also, modest.”
“Only because the girls like it.” Bob’s slow smile reminded Austin that his roommate had no trouble pulling female attention. “Besides, most of the time I don’t think about you guys being gay, unless you and Vinnie are doing that thing you do where you pretend like you’re not fucking every time he turns in a term paper.”
After a thoughtful moment, during which Austin attempted to pick his jaw up off the floor, Bob added, “Or if Rafi and Denny are fucking. Those boys get loud.”
“Jesus, Bob.”
“What, it’s not like you’re gay football players. That would be weird.” Bob scrunched up his nose, eyes glued to the TV. “Usually it just feels like I’m hanging out with rowers, like me. That always feels normal.”
Which was the point, Austin guessed, about Sean’s crew too. They were all rock geeks, and that didn’t feel weird to any of them, no matter who they were banging in their tents on those camping trips Sean kept mentioning like it hadn’t been driving Austin crazy not to be invited.
He couldn’t really blame Sean for not picking up on his hints. Austin had been the one to lay down the it’s just casual rules back in the beginning, but somehow in the past few weeks, he’d stopped spending most of his time with Sean thinking about Vinnie, and now had the Redheads-R-Us channel playing in his brain nonstop.
Since hints weren’t working, Austin gave in and made a blatant play for an invite.
“So, do outsiders ever get to come along on any of your nature jaunts?” he asked casually post-sex on a Sunday afternoon, his butt snugged up against Sean’s crotch, tugging the heavy arm draped over him until he could tangle their fingers together.
The cuddling thing had gotten to be a habit.
“Sure. Not the class trips, but when we go for fun sometimes. Why?”
The excitement that lit Sean up when Austin confessed he might possibly, maybe, be interested in tagging along sometime was enough to make Austin grin into the pillow.
Which was how he’d ended up lying to Vinnie and getting in way over his head on the edge of a wooded area as Sean parked behind a couple of cars in a layby that was nowhere near an actual campground.
“I think maybe we have different definitions of the word outdoors,” Austin said, his hand clutching his seat-belt buckle, as if keeping that buckle locked down would mean he didn’t have to get out of Sean’s crappy Subaru.
Ever.
The man in question laughed at him and got out of the car, unfolding himself to stand and stretch next to the open door, taking obnoxiously noisy snorts of air in through his nose.
“Ahh! Smell that fresh air.”
Austin locked his door.
They were camping.
Camping-camping.
Not the type of camping where you threw up a tent next to your car and the cinderblock building with the toilets and the showers was a short hike with a flashlight away at midnight after you finished your last beer around the campfire.
The knock on his window was too cheerful for words.
“Come on. You’re gonna love it. I promise.” Sean’s muffled voice reached through the glass and patted Austin on the head.
Austin glared at
“It really doesn’t bother you?”
Bob shook his head and slumped down farther on the couch, picking up the Xbox controller and thumbing it on. “Nah. I grew up with four sisters, so I’m used to being the odd man out.”
Austin sat back on his heels, as Bob cycled past the introductory video for Portal and started a game. “Did you really just compare being a gay dude to being a girl?”
“Um, no. I compared being the one straight guy in a group of gay dudes to being the only guy in a group of girls. It’s an odd-man-out feeling, not an equivalency.”
It was easy to forget that Bob had a very sharp brain under the laid-back attitude and tendency to keep his mouth shut.
“You’re right,” Austin admitted, rewinding the words in his head.
“I know.”
“Also, modest.”
“Only because the girls like it.” Bob’s slow smile reminded Austin that his roommate had no trouble pulling female attention. “Besides, most of the time I don’t think about you guys being gay, unless you and Vinnie are doing that thing you do where you pretend like you’re not fucking every time he turns in a term paper.”
After a thoughtful moment, during which Austin attempted to pick his jaw up off the floor, Bob added, “Or if Rafi and Denny are fucking. Those boys get loud.”
“Jesus, Bob.”
“What, it’s not like you’re gay football players. That would be weird.” Bob scrunched up his nose, eyes glued to the TV. “Usually it just feels like I’m hanging out with rowers, like me. That always feels normal.”
Which was the point, Austin guessed, about Sean’s crew too. They were all rock geeks, and that didn’t feel weird to any of them, no matter who they were banging in their tents on those camping trips Sean kept mentioning like it hadn’t been driving Austin crazy not to be invited.
He couldn’t really blame Sean for not picking up on his hints. Austin had been the one to lay down the it’s just casual rules back in the beginning, but somehow in the past few weeks, he’d stopped spending most of his time with Sean thinking about Vinnie, and now had the Redheads-R-Us channel playing in his brain nonstop.
Since hints weren’t working, Austin gave in and made a blatant play for an invite.
“So, do outsiders ever get to come along on any of your nature jaunts?” he asked casually post-sex on a Sunday afternoon, his butt snugged up against Sean’s crotch, tugging the heavy arm draped over him until he could tangle their fingers together.
The cuddling thing had gotten to be a habit.
“Sure. Not the class trips, but when we go for fun sometimes. Why?”
The excitement that lit Sean up when Austin confessed he might possibly, maybe, be interested in tagging along sometime was enough to make Austin grin into the pillow.
Which was how he’d ended up lying to Vinnie and getting in way over his head on the edge of a wooded area as Sean parked behind a couple of cars in a layby that was nowhere near an actual campground.
“I think maybe we have different definitions of the word outdoors,” Austin said, his hand clutching his seat-belt buckle, as if keeping that buckle locked down would mean he didn’t have to get out of Sean’s crappy Subaru.
Ever.
The man in question laughed at him and got out of the car, unfolding himself to stand and stretch next to the open door, taking obnoxiously noisy snorts of air in through his nose.
“Ahh! Smell that fresh air.”
Austin locked his door.
They were camping.
Camping-camping.
Not the type of camping where you threw up a tent next to your car and the cinderblock building with the toilets and the showers was a short hike with a flashlight away at midnight after you finished your last beer around the campfire.
The knock on his window was too cheerful for words.
“Come on. You’re gonna love it. I promise.” Sean’s muffled voice reached through the glass and patted Austin on the head.
Austin glared at
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