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I told them the whole story as concisely as I could, from loving Eden forever to his discovery that I was a sex worker and my snap decision to leave San Francisco. I also told them we’d finally gotten together on that road trip, and how it was absolutely perfect, until it wasn’t.
“I don’t know what to do,” I muttered. “I thought all my dreams had finally come true, but then my brother showed up and Eden acted like he was ashamed of being with me. That hurt so much that I just bailed.”
Darwin pushed his dark, overgrown hair out of his eyes and asked, “Has Eden tried to contact you?”
“He left me a bunch of messages, but I haven’t listened to them yet.”
Josh asked, “What are you waiting for?”
“I’m afraid of what I’ll hear. Maybe he’s going to tell me it was all a mistake, and that we can’t be together. Or maybe he’ll pick his friendship with Casey over his relationship with me. If so, I just don’t know how I’ll deal with that.”
“I get it,” Darwin said gently. “As long as you don’t listen to those messages, you can’t get hurt more.”
“Something like that.”
He paused for a moment before saying, “Maybe you should send Eden a message, though. If he and your brother treat you like a kid, prove them wrong. If you respond calmly and just say, ‘I need some time,’ that shows you’re handling this like a mature adult.”
“You’re right,” I said. “The last thing I want is for either Eden or Casey to think I’m sulking and hiding from them.”
I took my phone from the pocket of my jeans and composed a text for Eden, which said: I wanted to let you know I’m staying with my friends Josh and Darwin in San Francisco. The way you responded to Casey really upset me, and I thought the best thing to do was to remove myself from that situation. I’m not ready to listen to your messages yet, but I’ll talk to you when you get back to SF.
I read it to my friends and asked, “What do you think?”
Josh said, “Perfect,” and Darwin nodded in agreement, so I sent it.
Before I could put away the phone, a message popped up from Eden: Thanks for checking in, I was worried. We definitely need to talk, and I’ll come find you as soon as I’m back in SF.
I read it out loud, then sighed and put my phone on the nightstand. “I guess that’s it until he comes back. His truck should be fixed on Tuesday, so we’ll probably get to talk face-to-face on Wednesday.”
Josh asked me, “What will you do in the meantime?”
“I’m going to work on getting my life in order. I’m always complaining about not being treated like an adult, so it might help if I acted like one. The first thing I need is a job. You both know I was a sex worker, but I’m not going back to that line of work.”
Darwin glanced at me. “Can I ask why not? Feel free to tell me it’s none of my business.”
“I’m choosing Eden over that line of work. I can’t do something illegal and expect him to be okay with it. We’re still a couple, even though we’ve hit this temporary snag, so that job has to go.”
“I actually know someplace that’s hiring,” Josh said, as he pulled his phone from the pocket of his gray hoodie. “It’s a sex shop, and the guy who owns it is really nice. Nana’s in there all the time, usually buying tons of lube and condoms, so she can give them to every gay man she meets. The shop owner always treats her like a queen.” He glanced at me over the top of his Clark Kent-style glasses and added, “Assuming you’d want to work someplace like that.”
“Sounds great to me.”
Josh sent the owner a text and got a reply almost immediately. He asked me, “Can you do an interview this afternoon at three?”
“Yeah, definitely. Should I try to put together a resumé beforehand?”
Josh shook his head and sent another text. “I told him Nana, Darwin, and I can all vouch for you, so the interview’s pretty much just a formality.”
“Thank you. That’s amazing.”
“It’s a fun place,” Darwin said. “You’ll like it.”
After a moment, I admitted, “There’s something else I’ve been thinking about for a long time, and that’s going back to school. What would I have to do to sign up for some classes?”
Josh turned to his phone again while Darwin told me, “The cheapest, easiest route is to start off at the local junior college. They’re in the middle of the semester, but the next one starts in January, which is right around the corner.”
Josh handed me his phone, which had San Francisco City College’s website on the screen. I asked, “How do I know which classes to take?”
