Page 27 of Starfish and Coffee
No garlic anywhere. That sucked.
“The chicken is mine, but the rest of that stuff I didn’t buy,” Matt said from his seat behind the bar as he watched Alex come back to the counter with his nonperishable goodies. “The other renters must have left it behind.”
“Eh, so what? They’re in unopened containers. What does it matter who bought them?” Alex set down the canned mushrooms and a jar of capers, then turned back to the stove to stir the pasta. “You sound like my brother. He freaks about shit like that too. I mean, what the fuck difference does it make? But he’d have dumped that stuff the second he got here.”
“So basically you two are polar opposites.”
“Pretty much, yeah,” Alex agreed. “We look alike, but that’s where it ends. He’s uptight, power hungry, and extremely driven. I’m a beach rat.”
Matt took a sip of whatever obscenely expensive liquor he was drinking as he watched Alex cook. “He’s straight. You’re gay.”
“Exactly.”
“Does he know you’re gay?”
Alex looked up from draining the mushrooms. “Fuck, no.”
“Why not?”
“Will doesn’t need anything else to freak out about.” Alex actually shuddered at the thought. “He’s already one drama away from medication.”
“Sounds like my mother.”
“Maybe we should hook them up.”
“Oh Christ.” Matt covered his face with his hand and cracked up. “You’d never want to do that to him. My mother’s a nightmare.”
“I’m inclined to believe you. I’ve seen your mom around, and even from a distance, she seems like a handful.” Alex smirked. “I guess it wouldn’t work out. Besides Will’s got a thing for Holly—big time.”
“Really?” Matt raised his eyebrows curiously. “Doesn’t he think you two are an item?”
“He thinks it’s more of a friends-with-benefits thing. He knows she had a boyfriend in Key West that she picked up on one of our fishing trips, so it’s obvious we’re not exclusive. She wouldn’t shut up about him—until he ended up dumping her for a local girl there. Then she was depressed for about four days and promptly forgot him. I guess it wasn’t true love after all.”
“But, you’re not friends with benefits?” Matt clarified, obviously stuck on that part. “It really is just a cover?”
“Yeah.” Alex turned back to stir the pot, embarrassed, because he knew that made him sound like an asshole. “It’s been a cover for a really long time now, and I know I gotta put an end to it. As soon as my brother graduates and doesn’t need me around to help with the bills, I’m ditching this place and moving to the Keys. He’ll be so caught up in climbing the corporate ladder he won’t give a shit if I’m queer. Holly’ll probably come with me, but at least we won’t be a couple. We can just be ourselves.”
“Why the Keys?”
“Sun, sand, and hot guys in Speedos,” Alex said as if it were obvious. “It’s utopia for gay beach bums.”
Matt laughed. “Do you own a Speedo?”
“Not traditional twinky Speedos, no, but I do own several suits designed to put certainfeatureson display,” Alex assured him with a sly smile. “I look good in them too.”
“You do wax.” Matt covered his eyes with his hand and cracked up. “I knew it.”
“Fuck, yes, I do. You think I’d go to Key West looking like a lost yeti?” Alex laughed with him. “Besides it makes my dick look bigger.”
It was amazing Matt didn’t drop off the stool he was laughing so hard. It was almost as if both of them had gone over the edge of sanity, and everything suddenly seemed funny simply because the situation they found themselves in was so insane.
“One day I’m gonna take you to Key West, and you won’t be laughing so hard. ’Cause, man, Key West is a fucking party. You’d love it.”
“Even the Speedos?”
Alex’s smile grew wider. “Especially the Speedos.”
Chapter Eight
