Page 58 of Getting It Twisted

“We . . . haven’t really talked about that.”

“I heard Sidney’s needs people.”

“Sidney’s?” I can’t for the life of me picture Nathan flipping burgers and taking orders. I have a hard enough time wrapping my head around his odd jobs on the road.

“What, he’s too fancy for a burger joint?” George sneers. “He doesn’t have a degree, so—”

“Neither do I,” I cut in.

“—it’s either that, drug-dealing, or whoring, but I assume he’s already tried the latter.” The mocking glint in his eyes makes my blood boil.

April slaps his arm. “That’s not it at all. Let’s look at it like this: What sort of stuff is he good at? People? Things? Animals?”

“I don’t know,” I say. “But even if he’d get a job, he can’t think straight when he’s living in that house.”

George shakes his head. “You can’t keep doing this, Daniel. He’s just using you and taking advantage of your kindness. That’s what people like him do.”

April’s black-painted nails pull at a thread in her cardigan, a thoughtful smile on her lips. “I don’t know. He didn’t seem so bad. He was funny.” She wiggles her eyebrows at me. “And cute as hell.”

George scoffs. “Yeah, yeah, we all know how hot he is. That ain’t even half the point, though it sure doesn’t help the situation. And this is all without even mentioning what he does to Daniel.”

“And what does he do to me exactly?”

George looks at me as if I’m the most gullible person in the world. “He hurt you, didn’t he? He left town and changed his number like he didn’t even know you. But I know you, and nothing you could have done would’ve warranted that.”

I’m not so sure anymore. The venomous look in Nathan’s eyes this morning spoke differently.

George sighs and points between the three of us. “Look. This is what he does; he drives wedges between people. He’d be rubbing his hands in delight right now if he heard our squabbling.”

“Fine,” I say. “Let’s hear the verdict, then.”

“I wouldn’t mind him moving in,” April says. “At least for a time.”

“Well, I would mind,” says George. “He’s not some homeless puppy, Daniel, and we sure as hell aren’t a shelter. And by the way, don’t think I’ve forgotten how you acted at the party.”

“HowIacted?”

“You stepped in front of him and toldmeoff. As if he wasn’t the one who started that shit in the first place! He doesn’t need your protection, Daniel.”

“Apparently he does, since you fucking hit him!”

“Don’t tell me he didn’t deserve it. He was begging for it, in fact.”

“It’s not up to you to decide what he deserves,” I growl.

“No? ’Cause that’syourjob?”

“Guys!” April yells over our raised voices. “Enough. Going by our house rules, we all have to agree about a new roommate. I’m sorry, Daniel. I do hope to see more of you though. You’ve been sobusylately.” She winks and gives me a sly look.

“Don’t count on it,” George says. “Now that Nathan’s back, Daniel won’t pay much attention to his other friends.”

Well, that went to shit.

If I can’t even find a place for Nathan to live in the short term, how can I hope to make him stay in the long term?

I need something—other than sex—that will root him in the here and now. Something to connect him to this town. To me. I need to make him remember the good times we shared here. And then hopefully he’ll realize it’s madness to live in his childhood home.

It’s a bit of a stretch, I do realize, but it’s what’s on my mind and keeps interrupting my attempts to practice my pencil drawing techniques. I’ve been so scatterbrained lately that I’ve neglected my art. Although I’ve banished it to hobby territory for now, it’s still one of the things—along with physical activity—that keeps me sane and level-headed.

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