Page 20 of Crossed Sticks

LUCA: I am, and damn proud of it.

HARPER: You should be. Have you been over there a lot?

LUCA: We used to go at least once a year, but I haven’t gone as often since I started college. What’s your favorite place you’ve been?

HARPER: Germany. So beautiful, and there’s culture and history everywhere you look.

LUCA: Aha! You do like history. You knew the Cuban Missile Crisis wasn’t about a bunch of boners.

HARPER: LOL. Busted.

LUCA: LOL. Who’s your favorite Ninja Turtle?

HARPER: Gotta be Leonardo. Mature, disciplined, and he has the best weapons. You?

LUCA: Great choice. Mine’s Raphael. Marches to his own drummer, and he’s always ready to defend his friends and deliver a good smackdown when needed.

HARPER: Oops. Don’t Raphael and Leo butt heads a lot?

LUCA: Sometimes. Good thing we’re not them. :)

HARPER: For sure.

We kept it light. Snarky comments found their way into arguments about the best ice cream flavor—cookie dough for Harper and rocky road for me. I got brave enough to ask something I’d been wondering about.

LUCA: Do you have a preference?

HARPER: About what?

LUCA: Top, bottom, or vers? Something else? Not all guys even like to fuck, and I’m curious.

Silence. No typing bubbles. No sign of life at all. I was concocting some asinine I-had-you-going text when the bubbles finally appeared. What I’d asked was not an unusual question for two guys having sex together, and I hoped he wasn’t about to say something like “TTYL.”

HARPER: I’ve always done one but I’m desperate to do the other. What about you?

Which means fucking what? He’sdesperatebut won’t tell me what he needs? I racked my brain trying to remember if he’d said something before, and no, he hadn’t. He’d told me how much he enjoyed what we did in the coffee shop, so I pondered that. Did “desperate to do the other” mean he was used to bottoming but wanted to top? Or that he always topped but really wanted to get fucked? Like, for real fucked, in the ass. I growled in frustration because there was no way to tell what answer he wanted from me. It was an important question because I really didn’t like getting fucked, and I loved topping. Then I considered how easy it would’ve been for him to ask to fuck my thighs in the bathroom if he’d really wanted that, so I gambled.

LUCA: I’m a top. I guess I could be vers for the right guy, but I really prefer topping.

I held my breath and waited for his reply.

HARPER: I’d love to be your bottom. I’ve been trapped into topping for a long time, but I’d really like to bottom.

I’d guessed correctly, then. Thank God.

LUCA: Give me the chance, buddy, and I’ll make it worth your wait.

HARPER: I’ll hold you to that. Thank you.

Thank you?Harper was one of the hottest specimens of masculinity I’d ever seen, and I’d be thrilled to fuck him silly whenever he gave me half a chance.

While I fantasized about being inside him, Harper returned us to more mundane topics. Something we wanted to do before we got too old? Me, skydiving; Harper, whitewater rafting. We made each other promise to go along for the adventures, and my heart tripped over itself. Too bad we wouldn’t be together long enough to experience things like that.

HARPER: Do you realize it’s 12:30? I messaged you 2 hours ago.

LUCA: Seriously? I’ve enjoyed it so much I didn’t notice.

HARPER: I didn’t either, just happened to look at the time. I’d love to talk all night, but the day’s catching up with me. One last question before we go?

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