Page 102 of Pride High

“Because we haven’t done more!”

Anthony tilted his head to one side with an expression that said,How dumb do you think I am?

“Seriously!”

He seemed to reconsider her before taking a deep breath. “Omar is a good guy. No matter how quickly things happened in the beginning, that doesn’t mean you’re obligated to do themagain. He’s not a creep, okay? That’s not why he likes you.”

“In the beginning?” Silvia repeated.

Anthony glared. “You know exactly what I mean!”

She stared him right in the eye without malice until his expression softened.

“The blowjob?” he said, sounding genuinely confused.

Her mouth opened and shut a few times before she managed to get any words out. “He said that I gave him a blowjob?”

“I don’t know,” Anthony muttered, returning his attention to the stereo. “Probably not. I must be confused.”

Silvia squeezed in front of him, so he’d be forced to look at her. “Did he say it or not?”

“He must have been talking about some other girl.”

She considered the possibility and shook her head. “He told me that he hadn’t done anything with anyone else. I was his first kiss. Or did he lie about that too?”

“He’s not a liar!” Anthony growled.

Silvia pulled back in disbelief. “You think I am though.”

Anthony licked his lips. “I don’t know.”

She stared at him a moment longer before walking around the counter to the rest of the store, intentionally putting a barrier between them. “No matter what you believe,” she said, “I’ve never done that with anyone. Ever.” Her arms were folded over her tummy protectively. She didn’t say anything else.

Only when she heard a clattering sound did she turn around. Anthony was on the ground, picking up the pieces of a shattered plastic case. His face was crimson red and his hands were trembling.

“Are you okay?” Silvia asked.

“You were telling the truth?” he asked, sounding choked as he stood. “You haven’t done more with him? I have to know. It’s important.”

She nodded in confusion.

“I’ve gotta go.” Anthony marched for the front door.

She called out to him, wanting to know what was up, but he didn’t seem to hear her. Even when she walked outside just in time to see him rolling away on his bike, Anthony seemed to be lost in another world. Silvia watched as he disappeared around a corner and wondered what the hell had just happened.

— ——

Anthony’s mind was racing just as fast as his bike. He kept replaying the conversation with Silvia while trying to make sense of it, reaching the same conclusion each time. And he didn’t like it one bit.

Ricky.

Why else would Omar lie about getting a blowjob? Maybe he’d made it all up. That was possible. And yet, it didn’t fit with the trip to the clinic. Omar had been genuinely worried that he’d caught an STD. AIDS in particular, which many people still thought of as a gay disease. Anthony remembered how weird he had acted when answering the doctor’s questions.

If a dude slept with another dude, would he get a different test than if he’d slept with a woman?

Why else would Omar ask that unless it applied to his situation? Mere days after he’d been assigned a certain partner in journalism class.

Ricky fucking Nishikawa!

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