Page 250 of Untouchable

Parker remains quiet, feeling self-conscious and insecure around Gil. But once Harp leaves, it’s simply too awkward to sit in silence with Gil.

“The garlic bread is really good,” Parker says, a little meekly.

"Gil made it,” Harp says from the pantry. “Which is really saying something. He went to the Parker James School for the Culinary Arts."

“Oh no,” Parker says, making a face. “That’s terrible. I can barely boil water. The microwave is my best friend.”

Gil makes a disgusted little noise. "I'm at least a little more proficient than that," he says. "Thanks, Harp."

Parker can feel the conversation faltering again, and he wonders if this is perhaps just what Gil is like—someone who is never happy enough, someone always looking for a way the world has wronged him.

Parker’s certainly had more than enough experience with those kind of people.

He smiles blandly.

“Well, thank god I have Harp, I guess,” he says. “Otherwise I probably would have starved to death on accident somehow.”

* * *

Harp makesit back to the table quickly. Apparently they can't keep up even a short conversation without Gil making things awkward.

Christ, what was it like when I was out getting distracted?Harp wonders. Probably torturous for Parker, he realizes.

Gil's only fun when you dish it right back out to him, and Harp can see that it'll be a long time until Parker feels comfortable being funny around his brother.

When Harp gets back to the table, though, things seem to take on a more even keel. He takes over the conversation, directing it to topics that he knows are safe and that either Gil or Parker can expand upon at length. First he gets Gil talking about the creative writing volunteer work he'd done back in Florida, before he'd moved to Portland. Then he gets Parker off on a tangent that he knows is entertaining, a story he'd alluded to about a road trip with Mindy that he'd never fully explained.

By the end of dinner all three of them are laughing—and perhaps it helps that Harp has made sure to keep everyone's wine glass full—and although the silences are full of cautious and pointed looks, at least the night feels less like a disaster than he'd planned on.

* * *

Parker feels slightly morecomfortable by the end of dinner. Of course, by then, he’s thoroughly drunk, but he’s not sure if Harp even realizes it, because for once, Parker isn’t climbing all over him, begging for sex. It’s been a while since he was wine drunk, and tonight it makes him feel safe and sleepy, cocooned away from whatever Gil may or may not think about him.

When dinner ends, Parker insists on washing up since they cooked, and he busies himself scrubbing all the pots and utensils within an inch of their lives so he doesn’t have to panic about filling up any lulls in the conversation.

"So, uh, Parker said you guys watch movies on your laptop. I brought my whole Jarmusch DVD collection if you want to fire something up," Gil offers.

"Shit," Harp says. "We could. I managed to force Parker to sit through most of 'Stranger Than Paradise' one time." Parker smiles to himself as he remembers trying so hard—and failing so hard—to pay attention to the movie.

"God, I love that movie," Gil says wistfully.

"Did you bring, uh, what's the urban samurai movie called?" Harp says.

"’Ghost Dog.’ Hell yeah I did."

"D'you wanna watch a movie with us, Parker? I promise it's not in black and white this time," Harp says with a smile.

Parker smiles a little apprehensively.

“Ghost Dogs? Is that like… an action movie?” he asks, allowing himself to get his hopes up a bit.

"Um kind of," Gil says, rolling his eyes. “Forest Whitaker plays a modern samurai who works as a hitman. It's kind of like... Wu Tang meets Kurosawa."

"I think you'll like it," Harp says. "It's kind of gentle in a way."

“No dogs die, right?” Parker says, glancing at Harp. He’s only half-joking.

"Um a dog definitely dies," Gil says, frowning. "Is that seriously a dealbreaker for you?"

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