AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Peter, what do you think?” She turned to me.
I finished chewing before I spoke. “In my experience, friends don’t do that stuff together…not if they really arejust friends.”
“That’s crap,” Minty said. “Gay guys do it all the time. I’ve had sex with most of my friends.”
“I said inmyexperience.”
Minty huffed. “Your experience is invalid.”
“My experience is plenty valid.”
“Stop arguing,” Jennifer said. “This is about me.”
“Right,” I said. “Are you worried she didn’t want to do what you two did?”
“Oh, she wanted it last night. She wanted it so bad. She wassoakedwhen I was done with her.”
Minty spit out his bite of soy burger. “I can’t.” At first, I thought he meant he couldn’t eat the burger, and I empathized, but then he stood up and walked away with his tray.
“I had no idea he had so much internalized misogyny.” Jennifer mused as she watched him go. She didn’t sound hurt at least, just mystified. “I figured he’d be a feminist given the way he dresses.”
“I don’t know. He’s being a dick. Forget about him.” I watched Minty dump his tray and leave the cafeteria. Something wasn’t right with him, but if he didn’t want to talk, I wasn’t going to push it. I changed the topic back to the one at hand. “Anyway, so how are you feeling about all of this?”
“I don’t know. Excited, but also confused.” She bit her lip, looking worried. “Does this mean I’m gay?”
I shrugged, dunking another fry before eating it. “You could be bisexual. Or maybe you just wanted to experiment?”
She tapped her fork against her tray, thinking. “I don’t know if I could have agirlfriendor fall in love with Bernie. I mean, sex is one thing, but making a life with someone? That’s another. You may not know this, but I like penises. A lot.”
“Me too.”
Jennifer poked at her burger’s bun with the fork, putting holes all over the top. “What if I fell in love with Bernie? Would I never be allowed to have a penis again? That’s depressing.”
“I think there are strap-ons,” I offered.
“Could it be the same? Plastic versus flesh?”
“I don’t know.” Being a fan of penises myself, her worry made sense to me. “You won’t know if it matters until you try it.”
“Oh, God. Am I going to try it?”
“You should.”
“Do you think she’s thinking the same thing?” Jennifer’s eyes were pleading, as if I knew the answer and refused to tell her.
“Minty’s right about one thing. That’s a question to ask her.”
“And how do I do that? Just call her up and say, ‘Hey, so, are you worried that we’re gay now or something?’”
“Maybe it would be better to talk about it in person,” I suggested.
Lunch with Jennifer went on longer than I’d intended. We brainstormed and practiced various conversations. I played the role of Jennifer, and she played Bernie. Eventually she had to get to her next class, and we went our separate ways.
Later that evening, after studying for a few hours in the library, I came home to find our house quiet. There was a note from Mom and Dad saying they’d gone out to dinner with Mom’s agent. That meant I was on my own for food, but, in better news, I’d have all the privacy I could want for a long phone call with Daniel.
I flung open the cabinets and fridge. There weren’t many options. All right, a homemade pizza bagel would be just fine. After my carefully constructed bagel with Ragu and American cheese on top was heating in the toaster oven, I noticed an envelope addressed to me on the counter. The handwriting was familiar.
With a sinking sensation in my stomach, I tore it open:
