Page 46 of Wingmen

“He might.”

Elliot scoffed. He tried to get Dustin’s hand off his arm again, but Dustin held on and said, “Do they not teach you this in school?”

“Inschool?They teachyouthis in school?”

“No, but that was fifteen years ago. Things are totally different now.”

“Dog, the only thing I learned in school was when a little old lady from the church came down and told us all not to have sex because we’d make Jesus cry or whatever.”

He crossed himself because his mom wouldn’t have liked him saying that.

Dustin stared at him for another moment, then shut his eyes as something apparently dawned on him. “Right,” he said. He opened his eyes. “Florida.”

Elliot glared. Now he was shitting on Florida?

“Did they even teach you how to use condoms?” said Dustin.

“What do you think?”

Dustin’s eyebrows shot up. “No?But youusethem, right?”

“I mean… When it happens.”

“When ithappens?”

Elliot shrugged his arm out of Dustin’s hand. How the fuck had they ended up here? Discussingcondomswith Dustin Bennet.

“So where did you learn what youdoknow?” said Dustin.

“I dunno. My Uncle Salvador. Diego. Reef–”

“Reef?!” Dustin looked horrified. “You got your sex education fromReef Okafor?”

Elliot remembered the text Reef had sent on the day he found out about Arsenault, and his limbs went weirdly numb.

“Reef pulls a lot of bops,” he mumbled, and kept walking. He felt sick and wanted this conversation to be over.

“Don’t say ‘bops’,” Dustin called after him. “Please don’t ever say ‘bops’, that word is awful. And actually, you know what, while we’re here –hey!” The shout echoed off the bridge, and Elliot stopped in his tracks. He turned around.

“I don’t like your language,” said Dustin.

Elliot glared. “Excuseme?”

“Your shitty fucking language. I’ve been looking it up. Your Spanish bullshit.”

Spanish bullshit.

“Oh, I gotcha.” Elliot shoved his hands in his pockets. “You don’t like being called ‘grandpa’? What do you prefer? I got plenty more.”

“No, I actually don’t give a shit about that,” said Dustin. “The shit you say about women. It’s gross and it needs to stop.”

Elliot scoffed. “Why do you care?”

“Come on. Are you kidding me?”

They stood glaring at each other in the walkway under the bridge. A footstep fell behind Elliot, and he moved aside to letsomeone pass. He watched Dustin do the same and they both stood looking at each other until her footsteps had faded.

“You don’t actually think that’s okay, right?” said Dustin.