He gave me a pointed look.“Too soon, Oli, too soon.”
I flashed him my most winning smile as I followed him inside.
#
For all we’d been ateach other’s throats, very nearly, just hours earlier, sitting at the bar with Flynn and teasing him about his drink preferences felt oddly easy.Then again, his outraged reaction after I branded him a soft city boy for insisting on a low-calorie mixer was too good to ignore.
“It tastes just the same, so why have more sugar?”
I figured the flush across his cheekbones was down to the teasing, since we were still only a few sips into our first round.
“Oh no, not sugar!”I threw my hands up to my face, pantomiming horror.
Flynn glared at me, then flicked the straw out of his glass into my face.
I laughed as I wiped myself with a napkin.“Fine, fine.Your drink is perfectly acceptable, and not at all a fey betrayal of your manly, country roots.”
He grinned, as he took another sip.“Yeah, right.We’re both perfect examples of old-fashioned masculinity, aren’t we.”
“Speak for yourself,” I mock-protested, puffing up my chest.
Flynn chuckled.“So, when did you know?”
I took a gulp of my beer.“Know what?”
He tilted his head, just slightly.A tiny gesture, but it was enough.
“Oh, that.”
“That,” Flynn agreed, widening his eyes just briefly.
“Not while we were...hanging out,” I said, slowly.Thinking about the timelines as I did so, about the gradual shift from those first inklings you’re different, to the grudging but inevitable realization of just what that difference is.Flynn knew, as well as I did, that it wasn’t a “you wake up and suddenly you’re gay” discovery.
“I mean, we were pretty damn young, then.”
I nodded agreement.“I guess I was fourteen, when it first started hitting me.And then the couple of years of denial, of course.”
He laughed.“Of course.”
I smiled around the mouth of the bottle.Swallowed, setting my drink down again.“How about you?”
Flynn grimaced.“Started realizing earlier, but I made up for that early-mover advantage by the denial lasting longer.”
“Too busy acing all those exams and preparing for your big escape, I’m sure.”
“Something like that,” he said, dryly.
“And your parents...”
Another laugh.“Not a clue.Or, if they do, they’ve decided it’s easier, or better, or just generally preferable on balance not to bring it up.”
“Ignorance is bliss,” I said.“When did you realize you wanted to leave?”
He flashed me a look.“When did you decide you were going to stay?”
I shook my head, rueful.“How did we get onto something this deep, so quickly?”
“I mean, possibly the only two gay guys from home?”Flynn shrugged.“What else are we going to talk about?”
