Taking my precious beer, I wandered back to the dining room, stood in a corner between the china cabinet and the wall, and drank.
“Hi, Bubba.”
I looked down at Mindy’s blonde head. “Hey, Min.”
“How are you? I heard you ended up dating that guy, Sean.” She smiled in that really genuine way she had. “Hey, good for Sean. I’d have chosen you over that other guy, Jonathan, any day.”
The flash of pain in my chest made me light-headed. I blew out a breath. “Yeah, well it didn’t work out.” I downed the rest of my half-full glass.
“Oh, I’m really sorry to hear that.” She kind of seemed to mean it. “But hey, I guess it’s better to know you’re gay, right?”
“Not gay! I’m bi.” The words seemed a long way away. “I guess.”
She smiled all the way to her eyes. “Oh.”
I tried to focus on her. “Hey, Mindy, do you want a beer?”
“Sure, Bubba.”
“Good. Would you get two?” I put my empty mug on the table.
For a second, she looked confused, then chuckled and walked into the kitchen. Her Levi’s fit her butt really tight. Almost as cute as Sean’s. Of course, he had those nice dangly bits in the front, and I reeeeealllllly liked those dangly bits.
She came back with two nice foamy mugs and handed me one. “Th-thanks, Minny, I mean Mindy.” I took a big swallow.
“You sure you want that, Bubba? I’ve never seen you drink much.”
I shook my head. “Never been dog poop before.”
“What? What dog?”
“The kind in the street like you forget to pick up with your little plastic bags.” I drank the rest of the beer in one long swallow. “Those bags are really handy for picking up poop like me. But people have to remember to use them, otherwise fancy, smart, scientist rich bitches get poop on their shoes.”
Mindy took hold of my arm, which was really nice. “Bubba, you should go to bed, and you’ll feel better in the morning. You’ve got classes tomorrow.”
“No classes. Too dumb for classes.”
“Come on, Bubba, I know that’s not true.” She gave me a thoughtful look. “You’re a really nice guy. And brave. The way you came out as bi and treated Sean…. A lot of my friends admired that. Me too.”
“You did?”
She nodded. “I guess it made me realize that being a big muscle man doesn’t make you dumb—anymore than my blonde hair makes me dumb.” She hauled on my arm.
“That was really a nice thing to say. You’re nice, Minny. Always thought sho-so.”
She pulled on me, and I pulled back. That made her fall on me, and I did what any straight guy with no brains would do. I kissed her.
For a second, her mouth was really warm and tasted like beer and salsa, and it was the wrongest tasting thing I ever tasted in my whole life of tasting things.
I pushed her back. “Sorry. Really sorry. So sorry.” And I turned, ran through the living room, barging into my brothers, and out into the night. The freezing cold night.
“Bubba, are you in there, man? Come on, open up. We haven’t seen you in two days.” The hammering on my door continued.
I flipped on my back and glowered at the ceiling. “Fuck off! Leave me alone!”
“No. Come on, let me in. Are you sick?”
“No.” Two nights before at the party, I had been. Fuck, I hit that air and thought I’d be dead of frostbite in five seconds. The shock made me puke, and I puked my guts out for a half hour, then sneaked in the mud room door, tiptoed into the kitchen, and managed to get to the bathroom on my floor before I barfed again.
Then I’d gone to bed. End of story.
“Bubba, I need to see for myself.”
I sighed. The only thing that got me off the bed was the fact that the voice hollering at me belonged to Jesse Knox, champion running back for the Badgers. If anybody in the house had a reason to act like a big deal, it was Jesse, but, in fact, he was the nicest and least-likely-to-get-in-your-face guy in ALA. He was also, wonder of wonders and freaking shocker of the year, gay. In fact, we’d come out the same weekend and for the same reason—freaking Poins.
Every bone and muscle creaked as I slid off the bed. Hell, I’d barely moved except to piss in two days, and I couldn’t remember if I’d had any food, but my stomach felt like it was eating itself. I crossed to the door, flipped the lock, and pulled it ajar, and then I went back to the bed and sat. I wasn’t up for being the frigging welcome wagon.
Jesse pushed open the door, but just stood there like he was a vampire and had to be invited in.
I caved first. “Okay, fuck, you can see I’m not sick.”
“Look pretty sick to me.”
I snorted. “Come on in and close the door.”
He did just that, planting his very beautiful ass on my study chair. He stared down into his lap while I stared at him. Typical Jesse. Not much of a talker.
I sighed. “You and Dobbs, huh?”
He looked up with a half grin. “Yeah. I guess some of the guys on the Badgers team aren’t too thrilled, but they can suck eggs.”
“Damn right. Fuck them.” I sighed. “So, you’re bisexual?”
“No. Gay. Just never wanted to give my folks any more grief, so I never came out. You?”
“Bi, I guess. Didn’t know it. Only ever wanted to date one guy.”
Jesse smiled, kind of soft. “Only takes one. If it’s the right one.”
“Yeah.” I shook my head. “Those Poins are really brainy, don’t ya think?” I glanced at Jesse. “You don’t mind Dobbs being so smart?”
Jesse laughed. “Smart mouth mostly.” But he said it really warm like. “But hell, Bubba, if you date a guy who’s just like you, where’s the fun and challenge in that?”
“Maybe for you. Not me.”
He leaned forward on his knees. “Is that what this is about? I heard a rumor.”
“Oh, so rumors travel both ways through that door.”
His turn to snort. “Want to tell me?” He actually looked up and met my eyes.
“I had a guy I liked. Didn’t work out. No big.”
“You mean two days of missed classes and one missed flag practice and trashing your body by not eating for those two days, is no big?”
I stroked the crease between my eyebrows. Shit my head hurt. “I didn’t feel well.”
“Yeah well, must be catching. That Poin Sean didn’t show either. For the practice, I mean. Don’t know about the classes.”
“He didn’t? Is he sick? Did somebody check on him? I mean he hasn’t missed once. He could be really bad.”
Jesse held up a hand. “Dobbs says he’s not sick. Just depressed and mooning around. Like you.”
I didn’t say anything. My heart leaped a little at that. But Sean would get over it. It was for the best. He’d figure that out pretty quick.
“You know what’s really bad?”
I gave him side-eye. “What?”
“Having two of our players, including the one required by the dean to be on the team, missing the week before we go to the semifinals. That’s bad. Tray’s about to have a cow.”