Page 31 of The Swap Masquerade

“Only the best thing ever! Our little Gavvy has met someone!” Curtis exclaimed.

“He has? You have? That’s awesome! But wait, then why do you look like someone kicked your puppy?”

“You’re right. He does. Hey, Gavin, come on. Talk to us. Tell us what’s going on.”

“I can’t. It’s too awful,” I mumbled from behind my hands.

Curtis tugged at my hands until I lowered them. When I looked up, he was right in front of me, his voice gentler than usual. “Gav, we’re your best friends. If you can’t talk to the two of us, who can you talk to?”

“He’s right. You’re family to us and we love you. If there’s something going on, we want to know about it, but you have to talk to us,” John added.

My shoulders slumped. I knew they wouldn’t give up until I’d spilled my entire story. I also knew they were only doing it because they loved me. “Fine, but it’s a long story and I don’t want the two of you looking at me while I tell it, so let’s keep working while we talk.”

They both moved quickly, grabbing the instructions and looking for the pieces they needed. I would have found the whole thing funny if I wasn’t about to tell them what a major idiot I’d been. I started at the beginning, explaining the swap masquerades I’d frequented over the years. They held back from asking questions, even though I could tell it was killing them. We’d get to those another day. Then I told them about the mystery man I’d met, although, I left out the more intimate details of our first encounter.

“Let me get this straight. Everyone shows up at these parties wearing masks. Therefore, you have no idea who you’re sleeping with?” There was no judgement in John’s question, only curiosity. Not that I would have expected either one of them to judge me. I knew them better than that.

“Well, yeah. That’s sort of the point. I don’t know who they are, but that also means they don’t know who I am. I get to be myself and have some fun without having to worry that I’ll run into someone I know.”

“Makes sense. It actually seems like the perfect solution for your situation.”

I nodded at Curtis. “It was for a long time.”

“I’m sensing a but in there somewhere,” John murmured as he screwed a metal bracket in place.

I sighed. “But…then I had that encounter with the man I told you about, the one in the teal mask. Afterwards, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. There’d been something there, some spark between us, only it was more than that. I felt a connection to him I’d never felt with anyone else.”

“What did you do?” Curtis had been listening intently but got back to work when he saw me looking. Or at least he pretended to. I wasn’t quite sure.

“I went to the very next party, hoping to see him there.”

John handed me the next piece for the section of crib I was working on. “And did you?”

I smiled at the memory of how awestruck he’d seemed that night, but my smile quickly faded as I remembered why. God, he’d been so fucking innocent. Took care of that though, didn’t you? I pushed the thought aside. I had to or I was never going to get through this. “Yeah. He was there and he looked amazing. I knew it was him because he was wearing the same teal-colored mask, but also because he’s like 6’3” with extremely broad shoulders and muscles for days. He stands out in a crowd, if you know what I mean.”

“Sounds yummy.” Curtis waggled his eyebrows at me.

John cleared his throat loudly. He looked pointedly at his husband then turned to me. “Please, continue.”

Curtis and I both chuckled. “Anyway, I went over to him and the two of us started talking. We ended up admitting we’d both gone to the party, hoping to see each other again.”

“Oh, wow!”

“Yeah. I was pretty glad to find out I wasn’t the only one who’d felt something that first night. We ended up spending the evening together, mostly walking around and watching the other guests.”

“You kinky boy,” Curtis whispered.

“Well, I do enjoy that occasionally, but it wasn’t just that. I’d gotten the impression the first time I’d met him that maybe he was new to the whole party scene, but I wasn’t sure how deep it ran. It wasn’t until the second party that he admitted he was a virgin.”

“You mean he’d never been with a guy?” John wrinkled his brow.

I shook my head. “He’d never been with anyone. Of course, I didn’t ask him why. That’s his business and he’s entitled to his privacy.”

“I agree. Although, I am curious what his situation is.”

“I was too.” I sifted through my memories, thinking back to when he’d told me how he truly felt about baseball and how worried he was about disappointing his father. That kind of pressure, along with the way most sports viewed homosexuality was enough to keep any young athlete from coming out of the closet. I was glad he hadn’t bowed down to peer pressure, forcing himself to sleep with a bunch of girls all so his cover wouldn’t get blown.

“Still, we had an incredible time. He was surprisingly easy to talk to and he had a great sense of humor. He kissed me and we ended up messing around a bit. I knew I wanted to see him again, but I also couldn’t stand the thought of him ending up with some strange man who’d happened to pull his keys out of a bowl. So, I talked him into getting together at a hotel instead. He seemed to like the idea, especially once I told him we could still wear our masks.” John and Curtis had both stopped working and were staring at me, not even trying to hide their fascination.

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