My turn to grimace.“When I was a little kid, sure.”
He glanced around the lobby, pointedly.
“Fine, whatever,” I snapped, more sullen than I really wanted to be.“What do you want?”
“We need to talk, Oli.”
I bit back my sigh.One of the reasons hooking up in the city was preferable, for all its accompanying inconveniences, was that it minimized the number of times you’d have to hear “We need to talk.”
“Fine.But coffee, first.”
We walked in silence, down the block and then turning.The cafe the sort of place you could imagine doing brisk business on a weekday morning, city folk detouring through to pick up their energy boost to kick-start the day.On Sunday, it seemed, the clientele segued to dog walkers.A row of silver bowls filled with water arrayed outside, being investigated by a golden retriever whose owner sipped from a takeout cup on the matching line of stools.
I could feel Flynn’s tension as he waited alongside me at the counter.An antsy, bubbling sort of shimmering energy, like the steam from the espresso machine.
He didn’t speak, though, until we were walking again.Drinks in hand; an almond bar - supposedly locally-made - wrapped in wax paper and stuffed carefully into my coat pocket.
We made it two blocks before my decision to simply wait him out expired.
“So?”
Flynn didn’t look at me, just kept stomping.“You were out of line last night.”
I sipped my Americano and waited.Figuring more would come, if I just left the space for it.
“You shouldn’t have...you weren’t supposed to...”His voice trailed off, frustration clear in his tone.
“You’re going to have to finish a sentence at some point, if you want me to respond to it,” I said, mildly.
Flynn twisted, suddenly.In front of me, so fast I tottered slightly; trying desperately to regain my balance and avoid slopping scalding coffee across my hand.As though his outstretched finger was something sharper, something far more deadly.
“You fucking know what I’m talking about, Oli!”It came out as a furious hiss.“You were out of line, with what you...did!”
I grit my teeth and forced down the matching ire I could feel building in my chest.“You didn’t like how I finished.”
He glowered at me.“That wasn’t part of the agreement.”
Shaking my head, I looked down at his still-pointing finger.Waited, until he grudgingly pulled his hand away.
“You and William have an agreement.Not me.”
Flynn’s scowl was almost impressive.“You knew what the game was, Oli, don’t play naive.”
“And you creamed your pants when I jerked off across your face.”I snorted, relishing the crass, blunt words and how much they felt like fists.“So, let’s not throw around ‘naive’ like there’s any shortage of self-deception here, okay?”
I pushed past him before Flynn could answer, continuing down the block toward the park I could see one street over.After a moment, I heard his steps as he caught me up.
My stomach clenched as I waited for his response.Only nothing came.Just that sense of barely-restrained anger alongside me.
I sat on a bench beneath skeletal trees, and waited.
“I thought I’d explained...everything,” Flynn said, eventually.“After the last time.”
“I think ‘explained everything’ is an overstatement,” I pointed out.“And if there were rules I was meant to be abiding by, you guys should’ve told me in the first place.”
A beat, and then he nodded.“Yeah, maybe.”
Something about his quick acquiescence deflated me.Enough, anyway, for the cold trickles of guilt to slip in.
