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Chapter Ten
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Rome, June 19, 1991
Dear Eater,
Summer in Rome isn’t as fun as you’d think it would be. There’s no one to hang out with. Everyone I knew from Jordan or Libya is back in the States, and Sarah is so depressed and angry that she’s not with Mike that she’s no fun at all. (I know! Who would’ve ever imagined she’d be calling Knoxville ‘home’ and begging to go back?) She refuses to go to clubs or go dancing. Hell, I have to blackmail her into going shopping with me. Can you spell boring?
I’m pretty cranky about everything myself. The Italian language doesn’t seem nearly as beautiful as it did earlier this month, and the Pantheon pales in comparison to the Sunsphere. I want to be there with you and not here with my sister who’s whining about every goddamn thing under the sun.
And then there’s the situation with my parents. They keep fighting, and I think it’s about me, but I’m not going to ask. Dad’s been weird about me calling you at all. I heard him asking Mom if she was sure you weren’t a pervert. But don’t worry, I’ll call you on your birthday as soon as my dad leaves for work, so around 2 or 3a.m. on the 5th, okay? Sorry it won’t technically still be your birthday.
Hopefully my next letter won’t be so fucking bitter and grumpy, but I just had to tell someone. I don’t know what I’d do without you in my life. You’re the only person who knows the real me. Even Leslie doesn’t get to see who I really am. Only you. And you love me anyway. It’s more than I ever expected to get from someone. True unconditional love. You’re the only person in my whole life who gives that to me. And for that, and for so much more, I love you. And I love the Sunsphere.
Thank God it’s not Rome. Seriously, Peter, just thank God.
Love,
Adam
P.S. I’m enclosing some communist leaflets. Educate yourself, young man. Communism is good. Democracy is bad. It’s amazing the things you can learn just walking down the street in Bella Roma.
The Fourth ofJuly celebration at Robert and Barry’s place was small, at least compared to the party Adam and I had attended back in December.
Sean, the brother of Adam’s ex, Marcus, wasn’t there. He’d gone to Paris for the summer, and I was relieved. In fact, a lot of their friends from the Christmas party were away, or simply hadn’t been invited. It was a lot less crowded in Barry and Robert’s house with just our group from Tilt-a-Whirl and a few of Barry’s friends from his day job at the university library.
There was a huge strawberry cake for my birthday with my name across the top in white icing. There were boxes of firecrackers, sparklers, and Roman candles for us to set off later once the sun had gone down. And there was beer, Zimas, and sangria—but not for me. No puking on my birthday.
Robert and Barry were making a nice spread for lunch and entertaining Barry’s coworkers in the kitchen, while the Tilt-a-Whirl gang sat around the couch stuffing in chips and salsa.
Minty wore his purple tutu and was, as usual, all drama and makeup. I lounged next to him on the sofa drinking a pink Snapple while Windy sat at his other side. Daniel perched next to me on the arm of the sofa with a beer in his hand, looking tan and happy in a pair of khaki shorts paired with an old REO Speedwagon T-shirt.
The temptation to put my hand on his knee was pretty strong, but I settled for admiring the swirl of hair along his calves and the golden flecks of it over his kneecaps. Across from us, Antonio perched on the coffee table, gobbling up the chips and rolling his eyes at Minty.
“I’m so in love,” Minty moaned. “I’m serious. I’m sick with it. I can’t sleep at night.”
The ticket-taker from the movies who’d been his “forever love” was already several crushes ago.
“Where’d you meet this guy?” I asked, tugging at my cherry-red Calvin Klein knit shirt. Robert had given it to me as a birthday gift, along with a gift certificate to Foxx Photo worth forty dollars.
Daniel groaned. “Don’t encourage him.”
“At work,” Minty whispered melodramatically. “But it’s not an office romance. Don’t worry. He’s a customer.”
“Oh.” I tilted my head. “You have a job?”
“Do you think the guys who tap my ass at Tilt-a-Whirl pay my tuition? Of course I have a job.”
“He works at Nature’s Foodway,” Windy told me. “And his latest crush is a straight married dude whose wife just had a kid.”
“Pfft.” Minty blew that off. “I can fix the straight part. My ass has magical properties. One plow and that woman will be on her way to being the ex.”
Daniel leaned over to whisper, “This is why Minty needs a keeper.”
“He’s so hot.” Minty fanned himself.
“He has ababy,” Antonio said.
