Page 45 of The Shots You Take

There was another long silence and then Riley said, “Isthatwhy you’re here then?”

Adam threw his hands up. “Jesus, Riles. No. Would you stop?”

“Stop what?”

“Stop trying to make it seem like I’m here for selfish reasons.” Even as Adam was saying it, a voice inside his head asked,“Aren’t you?”

“I’m not,” Adam said firmly, both to Riley and to the voice.

Riley looked away.

Lucky entered the kitchen, tail wagging, and Adam welcomed the distraction. He crouched and reached out a hand. Lucky immediately pressed his head against it, so Adam scratched his ears.

“You have a lovely home, Lucky. Did you choose the wallpaper in the living room?”

Riley huffed.

“It’s very fancy,” Adam continued, ignoring him. “When I lived with your dad he had aGladiatorposter in his room.”

“You can’t prove that,” Riley said.

Adam smiled. “If only we had smartphones back then. I’d have so much evidence.” To Lucky he said, “It wasframed.”

“We hadcameras, and it was just one of those cheap poster frames.”

“As if I knew how to use a camera. Anyway, Lucky, your dad used to be pretty tacky.”

“No, he used to be horny for Russell Crowe. But who wasn’tback then? Also, that poster was only up for a few months. I can’t believe you even remember that.”

Adam stood. “Was it? Why’d you get rid of it?”

Riley glared at him. “I guess it didn’t work out between us.”

Adam laughed. He’d missed Riley’s sense of humor: dry, a little mean, and lightning quick. Adam had always been the chatterbox, and Riley had always been able to slice through Adam’s noise with a cutting remark that would make Adam howl with laughter.

Riley was smiling too, that same bemused little tilt of his lips that he used to always get whenever he made Adam laugh. It was like he didn’t understand what Adam was laughing at, and that would only make Adam laugh more.

“Anyway, you were the one who always wanted to watch that movie,” Riley said. “Although that makes a lot more sense now.”

“I watched it for purely heterosexual reasons!”

“Thereareno heterosexual reasons to watchGladiator, Shep.”

Something bounced inside Adam’s chest at the nickname. It was the first time all week that Riley had used it without it sounding like a weapon. It was friendly and comfortable.

“There totally are,” Adam argued. “It’s a classy movie about history.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I’m serious!”

Truthfully, Adam hadn’t thought much about the movies he’d liked when he was younger, and whether or not he’d been attracted to the actors in them. He could say with certainty that he’d liked sharing a couch with Riley for two and a half hours while they watchedGladiatortogether. He’d liked how Riley usually fell asleep against him in the middle of it. The DVD they’d owned reliably froze about two hours into the movie, and what Riley didn’t know was how long Adamwould stare at the image of a blurry horse, being careful not to wake his friend. He’d loved having the weight of Riley’s head against his shoulder, or sometimes even on his thigh, and the soft sounds Riley would make while sleeping peacefully.

God, Adam had been stupid. How could he not have realized how in love he’d been?

Riley’s smile faded, as if he was realizing how relaxed he was being with Adam and he didn’t like it. He folded his arms again. Adam tried to think of a way to make him smile again, but at that moment the phone rang.

Like, an actual phone that was attached to the wall. It had acord. It waspink.

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