Page 8 of Romance Languages

“Maybe, maybe. I just report on what I see,” I said with all the seriousness of a news journalist.

“That one about touching the doorframe is really spot on. I never realized it, but yeah, most of my guy students love jumping up and trying to touch it. I’m secretly rooting for them.”

“The junior associates in my office do it, too,” Ethan said.

“Jules gave me that idea.”

“She’s a keeper,” Greg said.

“She’s a he. Jules is Julian.” I felt myself blush a little, for some unknown reason.

“Oh. Huh. The way you talk about him, he sounded like a girl you were into.” Greg wiped garlic bread across his plate.

“What?” Okay, now I was blushinga lot. “What are you guys talking about?”

“You’re always like ‘Jules this’ and ‘Jules that.’ ‘Jules had this great idea’ or ‘Jules helped me with that.’ I can deduce that you spend a lot of time together.” Ethan’s crazy memory and lawyering skills were not to be fucked with. I pitied all opposing counsel.

“That’s because our classrooms are across the hall from each other. We both teach foreign languages.”

“Helping each other learn a new tongue?” Greg cocked a giddy eyebrow.

I didn’t know why the back of my neck was suddenly hot…and why Greg’s joke about tongue made my mind go to an interesting place for a second. I flipped him the bird.

“Son, what did we tell you about flipping off your parents?”

I flipped him off with both hands.

“Ethan, can you send your husband to the doghouse?” I got up for seconds, grateful the kitchen wall could provide some separation.

Jules was a good friend who helped me find my way at South Rock. Maybe I did talk about him in the same way I might have talked about a crush, but only because he was an interesting person that I enjoyed being around. I wouldn’t let Greg corrupt our friendship.

“Just because you’re gay doesn’t mean everyone’s gay,” I said when I returned.

“Don’t be homophobic.” Greg sucker swatted me in the gut.

“Don’t be heterophobic.” I smacked him back.

“Heterophobic isn’t a word, dipshit.” He smacked me again in the gut, making me double over. So much for being older and more mature.

“Is this how you discipline your students?”

“No, just underclassmen who step out of line.”

Some things never changed.

“Hey!” Ethan jumped between us. “Can we try to remember that we’re adults? Hands to ourselves.”

Greg and I got back in our seats. He was smiling and having fun. And I should have been, too. Why did his joking about Julian strike a nerve with me?

“Just for that, you both can clean up.”

* * *

After dinner,I manned the sink while Greg loaded the dishwasher. Ethan was adamant that we clean off and pre-wash all dishes before loading. Something about extending the life of a dishwasher.

“I was kidding back there. You know that, right?” Greg was good at picking up on when something really affected me.

“I guess.” I didn’t fully believe him.

---