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“Ah, my last check-up was about four months ago. I had one random hook-up about three months ago?” He gave me an apologetic grimace. “No one since Linden.”
“And you wore protection?”
“Yes.”
The woman smiled. “Which of you bottomed?”
I put my hand up, and Keats sighed.
He really wasn’t taking this whole thing well. I slid my hand into his and his grip was immediately tight.
“Are you on PrEP or any?—”
I shook my head. “No.”
“And how long have you two been having sex?”
“Uh, two weeks?” I answered, looking at Keats.
He nodded. “Yeah.”
“No other sexual partners in this time?”
We both shook our heads. “No,” I replied. “We’re exclusive,” I said, trying to smile for Keats.
His returning smile fell flat.
She gave me a sympathetic nod. “Baptism of fire, huh?”
“Yeah, apparently.”
“Okay, let’s start with you, Linden.”
Swabs, samples, and bloods taken, then it was Keats’ turn. He was polite and accommodating to the clinician, not that I expected him not to be. But he was standoffish with me.
No, not standoffish.
Scared?
I wasn’t sure.
He was different.
When we were done with the blood tests, the clinician looked at the HIV rapid tests and gave us a reassuring smile. “Immediate screenings are negative,” she said. “For both of you.”
I sighed with relief, and Keats pressed the heel of his hand to his stomach and let out a huge breath. “Thank you.”
She explained that while it was a good indication of our prior status, it was perhaps too early to detect anything from tonight. But if one of us was positive prior, at least we’d know. She reminded us, any rapid results weren’t a conclusive finding, and we wouldn’t know full results until all swab and blood test results were in. That could take a while.
I nodded, because I knew this. “Yes, thank you.”
But she eyed Keats. “Are you okay?”
He nodded quickly, then swallowed hard. “I just, uh...” He let out a rush of breath. “Positives can take a few months to show up, right? And I had that random hook-up three months ago, so if my results come back positive, could that mean I infected Linden? Because god?—”
He was about to freak out, so I took his hand and squeezed. “Hey. My ex also cheated on me, remember?”
The clinician studied us both but spoke to Keats first. “You said you used protection with the random hook-up three months ago.”
