Between Boyfriends by Michael Salvatore Read Free Book Online Page A

was shocking.
    “Lindsay!” Flynn scolded. “Don’t say the J-word.”
    “Steven, I’m sorry,” Lindsay said. “But it has to be said. This is not the first time you’ve freaked out since Jack broke up with you. It’s becoming a pattern. So before it gets out of hand and you waste any more time hurting yourself you have to admit if your reaction to Frank’s tardy response is a result of your split with Jack.”
    An odd thing happened when Lindsay spoke sense; it caused those listening to pause. But within that pause was quite a bit of action. First the listener had to remind himself that it was indeed Lindsay speaking. Then he had to repeat his comment silently, ignore the surprise that his comment included not one figure skating term, process his comment, ignore the surprise that his comment actually contained sense, and articulate a response. After a few moments the pause was over.
    “This isn’t about Jack,” I said.
    “Are you sure, hon?” Flynn asked.
    I looked at my three closest friends—Flynn, Lindsay, and Gus—and realized I had to be honest. And I knew there was no reason why I shouldn’t be. They chose to be in my life and I chose to let them stay. They had to take the good with the bad, since they knew that I had done and would continue to do the same for them.
    “It’s not about Jack, it’s about me,” I said. “I’m really tired of looking for someone, but I’m not ready to give up. I’m scared that I don’t know the difference between some jerk who throws his number at me just so he can get laid and a nice guy who would like to get to know me on a deeper level.”
    I could tell from the looks on their faces that such honesty was not what they’d thought they’d hear when they were summoned to Starbucks. But I could also tell from their expressions that I had hit upon a shared truth. They understood me, which is exactly what friends are supposed to do.
    “You have to let go and let gay,” Lindsay said.
    “What?” I responded.
    “Let go of everything that is holding you down and be your gay self,” Lindsay explained. “Let go of your impatience to find your soul mate, your preconceived notion that every new guy you meet will be your soul mate….”
    “And Jack,” Flynn finished. “You have to let him go too, Steve. Not only Jack himself, but what the two of you shared. For a while you had perfect. And now you don’t. That doesn’t mean you’re never going to have perfect again. It just means that perfect now means something a little bit different than it did when you were with Jack and now you have to figure out what perfect means to you.”
    I looked at my friends again, closer this time and without the Pity Party eyes. It was then that the light dawned on me.
    “Did you all swallow Dr. Phil pills with your Viagra this morning?” I queried.
    “A bit too sappy?” Flynn asked.
    “It was fine up until the perfect part,” I said.
    “I thought that was a bit over the top myself,” Gus remarked. “But I’m British. ‘Thank you’ is considered over the top in some parts of the U.K.”
    “I stand by everything I said,” Lindsay declared. “You’re handsome, you’re hot, Flynn tells me you’re hung. If I were you I’d be freaking out why loser boy didn’t return my phone call. But remember, I saw him too and I don’t think he’s worth pining over.”
    “That’s ’cause you were on a Dick Button rampage,” I said, reminding Lindsay.
    “Again?” asked Flynn and Gus, once again in unison.
    Lindsay’s face scrunched up the way it did when he was about to do some incredibly difficult jump on the ice. He looked like he was going to do a triple-triple combination, but instead he just banged his fist on the table.
    “That man just annoys the shit out of me! I’d love to take his two Olympic medals and shove ’em—”
    “Thanks, guys,” I said politely, shutting Lindsay up.
    “For what?” Flynn asked as a representative for the group.
    “For