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“C’mon, let’s dance this anger out,” Windy said, dragging him toward the staircase. “We’ll get the bartender to put on some tunes early for us.”
I watched them disappear below. Antonio went back to staring at the rings in the wooden bar, and Barry tossed Minty and Windy’s empty Jolly Zimas into the giant trash can behind the bar.
I replayed the fight in my head. If I hadn’t been so stunned when Minty told me off, I’d have asked him why he was here at Tilt-a-Whirl instead of supporting the “best person in the world.”
I sat up straighter. There were a lot of things I’d done wrong, but maybe there was still one thing I could do right. “I’m sorry I caused trouble.” I slid two dollars to Barry over the bar.
Barry shrugged and slid them back. “Hissy fits are part of the scene, Puker. Someone had to throw one. If it wasn’t going to be you or Daniel, I guess Minty had to take up the slack.”
Antonio leaned close, whisper-yelling in my ear, “Hearts aren’t sausages. You don’t eat them and vomit. But, dude, the thing is, hearts aren’t food. Unless you’re an Akita and you’re on the loose.”
I stared at him and then looked at Barry.
“Dumbass,” Barry said, shaking his head. “After he peaks he’ll be fine. Probably. Unless he dies.”
“Unless hedies?”
“Gullible, Peter.” Barry popped an eyebrow. “Look it up. You’ll see your picture.”
Antonio said more coherently, “But my point isdon’t worry, okay? Daniel will forgive you, and Minty will too, and you’ll go on to break more hearts. Live long and prosper. Cock-a-doodle-doo all day.”
“Holy crap, what did youtake?” I asked.
“Beauty. I took beauty.”
“He took stupid,” Barry scolded.
I stuck around long enough to ensure Barry had Antonio under control, but not long enough for Renée to emerge from the back and smother me in her perfume and questions. I didn’t want to rehash what had happened for her benefit.
Minty was right about me. The desire to learn a better way to be a gay man was what brought me to Tilt-a-Whirl in the first place, and I still had a long way to go.
Stepping out into the night, I straightened my shoulders and walked to my car. If I wanted to begin my transformation into a decent person, I knew one place to start.
I had a phone call to make.
***
Back home, Ideleted two messages from Adam letting me know he’d arrived in Atlanta okay, and then I headed upstairs.
My bedroom was less tidy than it should’ve been, what with my clothes all over the floor and the sheets still off the bed. I flung open my filing cabinet drawers and pinned my summer photos back up on the board. I shoved the photo of Adam in a drawer, replacing it with one of the pictures Daniel had taken of me early in the summer at Carl Cowan Park.
I stared at the young man in that shot. He looked kind and wry and a little nervous. Daniel saw me like that—or he had seen me that way before I ruined everything. The longer I stared at the picture, the more I saw.ThatPeter hadn’t known he’d make friends with Minty and Windy, get to know Antonio, get roofied with GHB, and kiss Daniel McPeak in Nashville.
That Peter didn’t have a clue.
I found the slip of paper with Daniel’s phone number on it and stuffed it in my pocket. It was only nine-thirty. Plenty early to call.
Back in the kitchen, my fingers shook as I dialed. Sinking to the floor, I sat with my back against the wall and listened through the rings.
“You’ve reached Daniel. Leave a message.”
There was a small pause, and I tried to formulate words compelling enough to make him want to call me back.
“If it’s an emergency, you can reach me at my mother’s house. That number is…”
I scrambled for a pen and paper to get the number down. I hung up and quickly dialed his mother’s before I lost my nerve.
“Hello?” The voice sounded young, quite young.
