So you’d rather sabotage your friendship yourself now by avoiding him than take a chance you might get hurt again. It… it killed me.”Įven now, my stomach felt weirdly hollow and achy in a way that had nothing to do with the sugar I’d eaten. In fact, the reason he’d been acting all squirrelly and weird back then was because he was going to offer to set me up with someone else so he could be free to keep doing whatever half-assed dating thing he’s been doing with Jenn. “Last fall, I got this silly idea in my head that Dunn had romantic feelings for me, and he didn’t. I chewed a bite of sandwich, swallowed, and placed it down on the paper wrapping. It’s unkind and very, very untrue.” I licked some chicken off my thumb and pushed half the sandwich and the plate back toward Carter. I unwrapped the sandwich and picked up half. “I can see how you came to this logical conclusion about Little Johnson.” Truly, he sounds enraged.” Carter nodded sagely.

And then this morning he said the thing about talking.” “So what exactly did he say about your com-frot, then, that got you so doom and gloom?” “To state the obvious,” Carter continued, “snaking your drain and buying you a sandwich to save you from imminent hypoglycemia are not the actions of a man who’s pissed off because your unbridled lust ruined your friendship… nor, indeed, the actions of a man who feels like your friendship’s been ruined at all.” It was from Thelma’s Sandwich Shack, the only place in town that made their chicken salad without covering it in mayo, just the way I liked it. “Oh.” I stared at the sandwich, and tears filled my eyes. Important Reasons for Having Mirrors in Elevators

And if he won’t open the door, use the key above the jamb once I’m gone.’ And FYI, that was before he threatened me with his Magnum-sized Squarebill.” After you disappeared, Dunn told me, and I quote, ‘Tucker’s down there eating cookies, and he’ll make himself sick and shaky. In an attempt to change the subject, I pointed at the plate. Heck, my own parents were enough to teach me that.” They hadn’t disowned me or anything dramatic, but they hadn’t exactly joined Cindy Ann’s PFLAG chapter either. I’ve volunteered with enough kids to know that.

Being queer might be easier in an accepting town like Licking Thicket than in most places around, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Or that things would be all sunshine and rainbows if he did come out as bisexual. Or that, deep down, he’s not upset that I took advantage of him and it made things weird between us. “But that doesn’t mean he wants it to keep happening.

Fools by Lucy Lennox