Page 50 of Two Marlboros

I hurried away from there, and Nathan followed shortly after. I returned to where I had been up to that point with Steve, although he was no longer there; perhaps he had been enjoying the show from afar. Nathan stared at me with the same shocked expression as just before, the drink in his hand gathering dust.

“You’ve been drinking.”

“Steve offered me something.”

“No, Alan, I’m serious. Are you drunk?”

“Not at all. I can still count and say my name.”

He chuckled, but continued to look at me with a half smile, staring at me as if I were a mysterious creature.

“I’m speechless.”

“I can see that.”

He looked at me again and I looked at him, still, his eyes so wide that he didn’t even blink.

“Really, I’m amazed. I didn’t think you ... I mean ...”

“Am I or am I not your boyfriend for tonight?”

So, I slipped his drink from his hands, without any resistance from him.

“Yes, but ... No, wait, what are you doing?”

He snatched it from my hands in a flash, then looked furtively around.

“Isn’t that what boyfriends do? They drink from the same glass, suck from the same straw...”

“Not me!”

I put my arm around his neck, but he flinched with a sudden jerk. I put on a sorry face.

“But didn’t you want the whole campus to know you have a boyfriend?”

“No!”

I took the glass back from his hands before it hit the ground.

“And I had already spread the word...”

He went pale. I shook the glass a little and tasted the drink, avoiding drinking from the straw. He took it out of my hand so suddenly that I tugged.

“And don’t drink anymore! You’re kidding, right?”

I assumed the expression of someone who has made a bona fide mischief. Those surprised eyes and that barely gaping mouth of someone who doesn’t know how to justify himself.

“Alan, fucking tell me this is a joke. Please. I’m begging you.”

“I’m sorry...”

If he hadn’t fainted, it was a miracle. A hint of healthy remorse pricked my conscience; so, I no longer held back that laughter I tried to keep and burst out laughing in his face.

“Sorry. Just kidding.”

He stamped five fingers on my arm so quickly that I didn’t even feel the pain. Not right away, at least.

“Does that sound like a joke to you? You’re a jerk!”

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