Page 27 of My First Time Fling

“Because I have eyes?” Mark said, rolling them as if to prove his point. “His face looks like it’s been stepped on.”

“Hush, you,” I said, as the dog and his owner approached. “Don’t let him hear you. You’ll ruin his self-esteem.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Mark said, as I crouched down to pet the dog.

“I hope you’re talking to me,” I said, glancing up at him, “and not this most perfect creature right here.” I turned to address the dog. “Don’t listen to him. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. You’re beautiful, and don’t you ever let anyone tell you different.”

The girl walking the dog was nice enough to let me pet him for a few minutes, but there comes a point where you have to stop, or you become that weird guy who obsesses too much over other people’s pets. Still, I couldn’t help looking wistfully after them as they walked away. Well, she walked. The dog waddled. Cutely.

“When’s your birthday?” Mark asked with a grin. “I feel like I want to get you a litter of bulldog puppies just to see what would happen. I think you might explode.”

“Please do.” I nodded vigorously, feeling considerably more awake than I had just minutes ago. I pulled on his arm for emphasis. “Glitter would come flying out of my body. That, or I’d just melt into a puddle of happiness.”

“Now that’s something I’d like to see,” Mark said.

“Well, look at you two lovebirds,” said a voice behind us. I turned, my heart sinking, to see Tanner standing on the sidewalk, staring at us.

He was wearing a peacoat, despite the fact that nothing about the day’s heat called for it, and carrying a briefcase, every inch the Chatham professor. He looked at us with—what was it? Ah, right: condescension. A look I’d seen a thousand times from him over the course of our relationship, but had only recently recognized for what it truly was.

“See, I knew you’d find someone, Jesse,” Tanner continued, his smile patronizing. “There was no need to get so upset when we broke things off. It’s been, what, two months? And you’ve already moved on. Kind of puts your histrionics in perspective, doesn’t it?”

“What? No, Tanner, Mark is—” My brain was just catching up to what Tanner was saying, but, as usual, he wasn’t letting me get a word in edgewise. I glanced at Mark, who looked confused, and then back at Tanner, who was already launching into another soliloquy, clearly enjoying holding court.

“I know you have a bit of a tendency to overreact to things,” he went on, “and I’ll admit, I found that charming about you. But I’m sure you see now that there was no reason for all that.” He turned to Mark, who was beginning to turn red in the face, and added, “I’m sure you’ve noticed that too, of course. But don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. And it does lend a certain, shall we say, passion, to the relationship? But you must already know that.”

“No, Tanner,” I tried again, painfully aware of how embarrassed Mark was next to me. “We’re not—”

“I just hope that this means you’ve finally moved past your senseless anger, Jesse, and that you’re able to stop holding onto something that just isn’t there anymore. Who knows, perhaps we can even be friends, someday. After all, as queer men, we need to stick together.”

“Tanner, we’re not dating!” My voice was louder than I’d intended, but I didn’t care. “Mark and I are just friends. He’s not even—look, it doesn’t matter. The point is, we’re not together. And also, we have to go.”

“Oh dear, I hope I haven’t offended you,” Tanner said, arching an eyebrow in Mark’s direction. He looked back at me and smiled, but something about it felt malicious. “The offered olive branch still stands, however. I really do think you would like Quentin, Jesse. You have so much in common.”

“I’m sure,” I said, trying to keep the pulsing knot of emotions I felt out of my voice. “See you around, Tanner.”

I turned on my heel and walked away, hoping Mark would follow me, but not willing to look back and see if he did. I wasn’t going to give Tanner the satisfaction of thinking I might be looking back at him.

“Jess, wait up!” Mark called when I was halfway down the block. I slowed my pace just enough to let him catch up, then picked it up again as he pulled even with me. I was too riled up to slow down for real.

“Sorry about that,” I said bitterly. “Tanner’s an asshole, but I didn’t expect him to be such a dick to someone he didn’t even know. He’s a TV host. I know he knows how to make people comfortable. He probably just wanted to embarrass you—and by extension, me. I swear I didn’t tell him we were dating or anything.”

“Embarrass me?” Mark gave me a strange look. “I wasn’t embarrassed.”

“Your face was the color of a fire truck.”

“Jess, I wasn’t embarrassed, I was angry.”

“What? Why?”

“Because hewasan asshole. You said it yourself.” Mark flexed his fingers in and out of fists a few times. “I think he was actually jealous, and trying to make me uncomfortable by flaunting his history with you. But frankly, fuck that. I hope heisjealous, and that he realizes how great you are and how dumb he was to lose you. You should have just told him we were together to see how he reacted.”

“Oh,” I said, unable to keep the surprise from my voice. “Well, thanks, I guess.”

Just then, my phone rang. I looked at Mark in panic.

“Get it,” he said. “It could be your mom again.”

But it wasn’t. It was Cam Starling, from the Sea Glass Inn. I brought the phone to my ear with a shaky hand, my heart in my throat. Was he calling to tell me the sale had gone through? I’d been hoping, since I hadn’t heard anything final, that maybe it hadn’t. But today was already the day from hell—getting more bad news would just be par for the course.

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