Page 19 of Romance Languages

“So your plan was to find a boyfriend in the month leading up to your birthday and have him cash in your v-card?”

He nodded yes.

“But then what if you’re dating someone for what? Like three weeks, and then you have sex, and then you break up? How will that be anymore memorable?”

“Um.” He shrugged and a burp escaped his mouth. “I don’t know.”

“What if you start dating someone a week before your birthday? You’re just going to have sex with him?”

“It’ll be better than nothing.”

Julian deserved better than better than nothing. If he wanted to lose his virginity to someone he trusted and someone who knew him, that wasn’t going to happen with someone he met this month.

“I can help,” I said.

Julian looked at me as if I were crazy, then laughed when he assumed I was. “Funny.”

“I mean it.”

The idea gained steam in my head…as did the explicit image from before. Julian had been such a good friend; it was time I repaid the favor and gave him a helping hand.

“Yeah. I’m serious. I’ll help you check off those things before your birthday.”

“Seamus, you’re straight.”

“But I’m also someone you know and trust. I’ll make sure you have a good first time.”

Julian cocked his head and continued to give me the crazy stare. “But…you’re straight. Why would you want to have sex with another man?”

He had a point there. Watching my friend Greg turn from ladies man to dudecentric had made me a bit bicurious. What would it be like to have the hard, hairy body of a man entwined with mine? What would it be like to have those big, brown eyes stare at me inflamed with lust?

But this wasn’t about me, though. It was about being the right kind of friend and providing the right kind of friction. And if I happened to enjoy that friction, then so be it.

“Did you know I can bat righty and lefty? I’m right-handed, but I trained myself to bat left, too.”

Julian, totally drunk, bless him, held up his hands in front of his face to better comprehend.

“This is a little more involved than swinging a bat.”

I shrugged. Was it? Learning how to swing a bat correctly was a skill. Sex was something stupid people did all the time.

“It’ll be kinda weird, but everyone’s first time is always kinda weird. I’d rather you have it be weird with a friend than a stranger.”

“And when you say sex, you mean…”

“All of it. Everything on your list. Let’s run the bases.”

Julian stared at his beer bottle, then at me. He wasn’t trying to hide his confusion at all, which was adorable.

“Dude, I gotcha covered.” I might’ve fucked up other areas of my life, but I still knew how to be a solid friend. I could help Julian gain more confidence while scratching my bicurious itch. Win-win.

“Sure.” He grabbed his beer for a much-needed swig.

I clinked our bottles together. “That’s what friends are for.”

7

JULIAN

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