Page 27 of Rat Park
“Hold off on the compliments until you taste it,” Dominic said when Flor thanked him, but Flor took him by surprise with a quick hug anyway, almost making Dominic drop the cake.
Dominic’s own birthday passed quietly a mere month after that, but it was not the painful kind of silence.
**********
The car rumbled under them as Cat tapped along to whoever was wailing about love on the radio.
“Girls are gonna be happy I brought you along,” Catalina teased as they headed once more towards the south tip.
Dominic rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on.”
“Hey, Dom,” Catalina imitated in a high-pitched voice, dragging out his name.
Dominic laughed, shaking his head. “Hmm, now that you mention it, Ihaveheard that tone before. Where…oh, yeah, I think Jack uses it with you all the time.” Jack worked at one of the shelters, a good-looking, dapper man that had perpetual moon-eyes for Cat.
“Oh, please.”
“Funny how you’ve mentioned your husband to him.”
“I have a ring,” Cat said, taking her hand off the wheel to wave it obnoxiously in front of Dominic’s face.
He laughed, turning his head away. “Mhm. Sure.”
“What about you then, Mister? You got a girl?”
Just like that, Dominic tensed. It was easy to loosen up around Cat, an almost unconscious reflex to her easy banter and bright smiles. Sometimes, he wasn’t even aware he was doing it until it was too late.
“You don’t have to tell me,” Cat assured after the long pause. Dominic took a subtle, bracing breath.
“Not one to have girlfriends, actually.”
“What, the perpetual bachelor?” Cat teased. There was another moment of silence.
“No, I mean. Girls aren’t really my thing.”
Cat threw him a quick, startled look before wincing dramatically. “Oh, shit. I did that thing Flor hates, where I assume everything is, and I quote, ‘drearily heteronormative’.”
Dominic snorted, some of the tension in his shoulders draining.
“Sorry. Guys, then? Anyone banging on your door?”
“No banging. Fuck, I mean—”
Cat laughed loudly as Dominic covered his face with one hand, laughing along. Just like that, the air around them relaxed completely.
“You know,” Cat said as they settled down, “I know the cutest guy in admissions—”
“Please, for the love of God…”
“What? What? Can’t I help you out?”
“Cat. Would I actually get along with this guy, or is the only thing we have in common being gay?”
There was a pause. “I’m going to shut up now,” Cat said.
Dominic laughed. Sometimes, she reminded him starkly of Flor. “Well, I’m not going to complain aboutthat.”
Cat smacked him lightly before turning up the volume of the music and singing along loudly. Dominic rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face.
