AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Titters broke out and some real laughter as well.
“Nothing’s a hundred-percent, across-the-board accurate for all people. That’s what makes human beings so fascinating to study. We’re all different.” Donnie sighed and looked at the clock. “And we’re out of time. We’ll talk next class about the chapter you were supposed to read for today. I got off topic again it seems. Apologies.”
I sat back, stunned, and confused. I didn’t think Psych 110 was the right forum for this kind of discussion. I was pretty sure the frat boys on the other side of the room werenotgoing to heed Donnie’s warning that this wasn’t permission to pressure their girlfriends for raw access. I wasn’t even convinced they were smart enough to see how, by pressuring them, they’d be engaging in the same behavior many people got angry at gay men for: deciding that pleasure was worth the risk.
“You hear that?” Minty whispered in my ear as soon as class was over and everyone else was putting away their stuff. “Wanting jizz up my ass is normal, natural, and evolutionarily sound.”
“That’snotwhat he said,” I muttered, following him from the room and out into the autumn sunshine.
“Yes, he did.”
“Okay, he kind of did, but HIV changes that.”
“He said itdidn’tchange it, actually.”
“Minty,” I said, grabbing his arm. “Please, don’t do anything dangerous.”
He batted his eyes. “You and Daniel,my God. You’re always so worried about whether I’m using condoms. I am, all right. Mostly. Almost every time.”
“What isalmost every time?”
“Every time,” he corrected. “Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself.”
“I don’t think you can,” I muttered as he skipped away, purple tutu shimmering in the breeze, and his black leggings showing off his slim legs and pert ass.
I had to get to my next class, and then I was going to need to hustle to the UC to keep an eye on Minty as he performedCream My Faceagain.
I didn’t know what I’d do if that asshole Kyle, or guys like him, showed up and tried to cause trouble, but at least I could run for help if need be. The UC usually had a security guard or two drifting around. Usually.
I hurried on to class, Donnie Huggins’s words circling around in my brain, mixing with the words Daniel had whispered in my ear as we’d made love the prior Friday.
I wanna be that close to you. Joined together, skin-on-skin…
As I opened the door to the Humanities building, I wondered how much more satisfied we’d be if we could have that. If wecouldget close enough. I thought of the intimacy in those photographs of my uncle taken by Harold, lovers before HIV ever came around. How much closer they’d been able to be, what had it been like for them to love like they did, and to be able to express it—skin-on-skin.
I plopped down in my usual chair near the front of the class with a sigh. It didn’t matter, did it?
I’d never know.
***
Cream My Facewas already going by the time I was able to hike across campus to the UC. Next to the sign proclaiming this a “Performance Pièce de Résistance,” Minty was laying on his back, facing the sky.
He’d changed his clothes since I saw him last. Now he wore a dress. A pink, lacy dress that was open in a V over his pale chest, exposing his skinny ribs and collarbones. The frothy skirt of it came down to his ankles, and he wore ballet slippers on his feet.
His toes were pointed.
His blue eyes were closed.
He was covered already in melted white cream. It was a warm day. Sticky whiteness congealed on his face, dripped over his lips, and slid down his cheeks and into his hair.
A crowd had gathered. Mainly girls and some art students smoking their clove cigarettes, a few sketching Minty in their drawing pads. But there were some random guys too. Including Mo, sitting off to the side with his lunch, watching with cool eyes. My stomach knotted up at the sight of him, but worse, there was that Kyle guy, too. He was alone this time, standing with his arms crossed over his chest, and staring at Minty with murder on his face. My heart skipped and then started to race.
There was a big enough crowd, though. Surely nothing bad would happen? But why Minty felt like he needed to do this again, knowing that he was drawing attention to himself, the kind of attention that resulted in shit like that encounter with Kyle in the bathroom last time, I didn’t know.
And yet, I was captivated, too.
Minty looked beautiful and debauched. Filthy and elegant. Masculine and feminine.
