Page 30 of The Barkeep and the Bro

And that made me think about the busy day Mitch and I had with the flight attendants. All of the unintentional touching of our bodies maneuvering around the bar. Feeling what might’ve been a boner poke me but was most likely a pen. A very large novelty pen. The warmth of his body on mine when I reached for the beer glass. I kept thinking about that afternoon throughout the week—and getting hard in response. I didn’t think Amos would appreciate hearing that I jerked off in his newly remodeled shower.

While thinking about my boss. Aka Ellie’s freaking father.

What the hell was up with me? I wasn’t interested in dudes. Sure, I was comfortable enough with myself to appreciate when a man was attractive. But this was something different. This wasn’t an objective “oh, yeah, he’s a good-looking guy.” This was a full-body reaction to being near one man in particular and wanting to experience all of his...manliness.

“Charlie.” Amos snapped his fingers in my face.

“What?” I focused back on reality. Mitch and his manliness were nowhere to be found.

“I want you to meet my friends.” Amos gestured to three guys our age and made introductions. They all worked as teachers at South Rock High School.

“It’s a pleasure,” I said. “I didn’t know teachers liked to party.”

“Oh, you ain’t seen nothing yet. The chalkboard erasers aren’t the only things we like to bang.” Amos threw his arm around me and led us all inside.

Appropriately enough, a remix of an Adele song blasted through the speakers. The place was a railroad design—narrow but long. At the back was the main event, a big dance floor with colorful lights flashing around the space. It was empty for now, but I’d been out enough times to know it would be packed later in the night.

Our group congregated in the back bar, behind the dance floor. There was Julian, who taught French and radiated sophistication. Chase taught chemistry, and his thick glasses and shy demeanor reminded me of a NASA scientist landing an astronaut on the moon. And Everett, a tall and birdlike redhead, taught drama and seemed to have a flair for it. I kept using their names so I could remember them better. Everett got the first round. The guys all got Mai Tais on Amos’s recommendation while I stuck with beer.

I quickly learned that the four of them had something else in common besides teaching at the same school.

“We have no game,” Amos declared over his Mai Tai. He returned to the table after trying to talk to a guy who gave him the brutally icy shoulder.

“Speak for yourself,” Chase said.

“I’ve seen you try and flirt, so Icanspeak for you,” Amos snapped back. “I thought that guy was giving me the look.”

“What look?” Everett asked.

Amos attempted to demonstrate said look.

“Are you having a seizure or a stroke?” Everett struck me as someone who didn’t keep his honest opinion to himself.

“You know the look. They give you the eye, and it’s like a tractor beam. I thought he was giving me the tractor beam eye.” Amos slumped onto his stool.

I glanced across the room at the guy in question, and he had his back to us—his body language crystal clear. That dog would not hunt.

“Same old story,” Chase said.

“Are we not catches?” Amos slapped his hand on the table. “We look good. We have pensions.”

“I say this objectively, but you four are good-looking guys.” See, I could say that and not feel anything the way I felt when I thought about He Who Must Not Be Named (Or Else I Get Hard).

They were a good-looking quartet.

“Aren’t you guys glad I brought him?” Amos said to the group.

Speaking of tractor beam eyes, I felt a guy to my right trying that move with me. He kept looking at me. Even though I was a newbie at a gay bar, I had enough sense not to return the look and give him the wrong idea.

“Hey, maybe you could help us,” Chase said, fixing his glasses on his face.

I pointed to myself. “Me?”

Chase walked around me like he was giving a lecture. “So in gay culture, frankly, a guy like you—straight, athletic—is thought of as the ideal. How has your experience been with ladies? You seem like you have no problem in that area.”

“I do all right.” Before Serena stomped on my heart and left me out in the bitter cold, I had a decent track record with the opposite sex. I charmed them and left them happy.

I had no idea where this conversation was going, though. Amos shot me a look like he was just as confused.

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