Page 29 of Fish Out of Water

“Which one was she?” Jake asked.

“The one you bumped into.”

“Oh, yeah, she seemed nice. Way more chill than her boyfriend.”

Robbie took a step closer. He didn’t look annoyed at all, maybe because they were talking about someone he actuallycared about for once. “If you ever have the pleasure of meeting her without Ricky hanging on her arm, you’ll like her a lot. She was actually my prom date in high school.”

Jake raised his eyebrows, and Robbie blushed slightly.

“I didn’t want to be the only guy bringing another boy to prom. It just felt…”

“Exposing.”

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t go to prom, so I can’t really make fun of you for that,” Jake said. “I wasn’t out publicly in high school, and I hated the idea of dragging some poor girl along with me as my beard. Besides, my sister was the one who was big on school dances. I didn’t wanna be Alex’s little brother the whole time.”

“Your sister sounds like fun.”

Jake narrowed his eyes. “She is.”

“No, I mean it.” Robbie slipped his gloves on, adjusting the fingers until they fit comfortably on his hands. “I’d love to meet her someday.”

Jake couldn’t help the little wrinkle in his nose. “Yeah, well, we’ll see about that. My family likes to keep to themselves, so I doubt she’d be interested in mingling with someone so… conspicuous.”

They began to walk along the beach together, stabbing at trash and taking care not to disturb the sea life beneath their shoes.

“It’s nice to have that luxury.”

“You’d know a thing or two about luxury.” Jake smirked.

“You know what I meant.” Robbie’s tone was solemn, and just as quickly as it appeared, Jake’s smirk faded.

“Yeah, I know.” He took a deep breath. “So tell me, Robbie, what do you do around here for fun?”

“Well, there’s the bar, which you’ll never be allowed entrance into again, and the theater, and a restaurant?—”

“No, I meant you specifically. What doyoudo for fun?”

Robbie looked up, the slight surprise in his expression telling. “Mostly this,” he said, holding up a soggy candy box at the end of his poker.

“I don’t know why I would’ve expected a different answer,” Jake muttered before trying again. “What about, like, on the weekends?”

“You already know I’m out here.”

“When you’re not out here, you dolt. What do you do then?”

Robbie paused for a moment. It was not intended to be a hard question, but Jake may as well have asked him for the answer to how the universe was created. “Well, I work. And I enjoy cooking.”

“At home.”

“Yep.”

“Do you ever go out? To Grayland, or…”

Robbie smiled. “Ah, so you heard about the gay bar there. No, I don’t go there very often. That sort of place isn’t really my speed.”

“Yet you’re still looking to date. Do you even try?”