giving
me shit all the way to the hospital, again .” Steve shrugs
just as Abe’s little silver hatchback pulls up and parks behind
Jack’s ute. “Hey, mate! Get over here. These morons are just
going.”
Jack’s eyes
widen for the briefest of moments before he breaks into a grin
broad enough to show the majority of his teeth. Steve told Johanna,
of course, that he’d been going out with Abe, but he hadn’t hurried
to tell anybody else. “You going rock climbing with the vampire , Akira-san?”
Steve nods and
looks at Jack. “Mate, I know what you did, you know.”
Jack gives him a
wide-eyed, rather wounded sort of look and blows away a droning
blowfly with one hand. “Whatever do you mean?”
“ You’ve been thinking all these years that I’m not straight—I
like girls, but that doesn’t make me straight—but I’d never
actually admit it because of fucking Swanston. So you use the
birthday dare as an opportunity to make me figure it out.” He
shrugs and stands. “You’re right. I’m a probably bit of a fag.
Thank you for being a conniving arsehole of a good friend. Now fuck
off, because I’m going on a date. Second date. Or third—no,
fourth. Do I count Feeders as the first? Is it our fifth, now? And
yes, I’m packing condoms and epinephrine, so don’t lie awake at
night worrying over my health, right?”
He opens the
driver’s-side door and waves at Abe as he heads up the driveway.
He’s dressed as well as he can for a day in the bush: bright white
runners, crisp jeans and a long pale-blue T-shirt under his
trenchcoat. Sunglasses and a broad, floppy hat shadow his face; a
cooler bag rests under his arm. Not exactly great for rock
climbing, but Steve will get Abe there eventually, because that’s
what friends are for. “You ready, man?”
Abe nods and
looks askance at Phil, Jack and Greg, all grinning like evil,
possessed schoolchildren. “Uh…”
“ Ignore them,” Steve says as he slides behind the wheel and
slams the door shut. Abe stands still for a moment before following
suit, closing the passenger door just as the grinning trio on both
sides of the fence burst into ridiculous, cackling laughter. “I
just told them I’m dating you and blew their tiny minds. And Jack
wants me to embroider the fucking Lord’s Prayer for the next dare,
which he thinks is just hilarious. We’re stuck listening to
talkback from here to eternity, because seriously, like fuck. So.”
He turns the key in the ignition, which starts both the motor and a
radio presenter droning on about thrips. “What are your thoughts on
gardening?”
Abe’s eyes
widen. “ What ?”
“ Okay, no thoughts on gardening—”
“ Dating?”
Steve pulls out
of the drive and onto the road. “Feeders, game day, abseiling, the
day you took me into your office to photocopy the action plan,
today. I’m pretty sure that if you were a girl, they’d be
dates—it’s really not different with a guy, right?”
Abe takes off
his sunglasses and hat and gives Steve a desperate, horrified look.
“But, you, uh—”
“ So
we don’t kiss,” Steve says. “Plenty of other things we can be
doing. Like dancing. Want to go out tonight and dance? I’m sure
it’s much more fun when you’re not wanting to rub out your own
eyeballs.”
It seems to take
Abe a long minute to blink, swallow, rub his hands against his
knees. “Don’t you want to be dating someone to whom you’re not
allergic?”
It’s cute that
he cares so much, Steve thinks, but he seems to be missing the
point. They’re not friends. They’re two guys attracted to the other
and trying to figure out how to be around the other without one of
them dying from want of breath, and why deny that just because it’s
difficult? Why waste time pretending that Abe doesn’t want to fuck
Steve and Steve doesn’t want to let him do it? Why waste another
breath on the delusion that Steve wouldn’t gladly park the car,
jump on his lap and kiss him if he could? He
me shit all the way to the hospital, again .” Steve shrugs
just as Abe’s little silver hatchback pulls up and parks behind
Jack’s ute. “Hey, mate! Get over here. These morons are just
going.”
Jack’s eyes
widen for the briefest of moments before he breaks into a grin
broad enough to show the majority of his teeth. Steve told Johanna,
of course, that he’d been going out with Abe, but he hadn’t hurried
to tell anybody else. “You going rock climbing with the vampire , Akira-san?”
Steve nods and
looks at Jack. “Mate, I know what you did, you know.”
Jack gives him a
wide-eyed, rather wounded sort of look and blows away a droning
blowfly with one hand. “Whatever do you mean?”
“ You’ve been thinking all these years that I’m not straight—I
like girls, but that doesn’t make me straight—but I’d never
actually admit it because of fucking Swanston. So you use the
birthday dare as an opportunity to make me figure it out.” He
shrugs and stands. “You’re right. I’m a probably bit of a fag.
Thank you for being a conniving arsehole of a good friend. Now fuck
off, because I’m going on a date. Second date. Or third—no,
fourth. Do I count Feeders as the first? Is it our fifth, now? And
yes, I’m packing condoms and epinephrine, so don’t lie awake at
night worrying over my health, right?”
He opens the
driver’s-side door and waves at Abe as he heads up the driveway.
He’s dressed as well as he can for a day in the bush: bright white
runners, crisp jeans and a long pale-blue T-shirt under his
trenchcoat. Sunglasses and a broad, floppy hat shadow his face; a
cooler bag rests under his arm. Not exactly great for rock
climbing, but Steve will get Abe there eventually, because that’s
what friends are for. “You ready, man?”
Abe nods and
looks askance at Phil, Jack and Greg, all grinning like evil,
possessed schoolchildren. “Uh…”
“ Ignore them,” Steve says as he slides behind the wheel and
slams the door shut. Abe stands still for a moment before following
suit, closing the passenger door just as the grinning trio on both
sides of the fence burst into ridiculous, cackling laughter. “I
just told them I’m dating you and blew their tiny minds. And Jack
wants me to embroider the fucking Lord’s Prayer for the next dare,
which he thinks is just hilarious. We’re stuck listening to
talkback from here to eternity, because seriously, like fuck. So.”
He turns the key in the ignition, which starts both the motor and a
radio presenter droning on about thrips. “What are your thoughts on
gardening?”
Abe’s eyes
widen. “ What ?”
“ Okay, no thoughts on gardening—”
“ Dating?”
Steve pulls out
of the drive and onto the road. “Feeders, game day, abseiling, the
day you took me into your office to photocopy the action plan,
today. I’m pretty sure that if you were a girl, they’d be
dates—it’s really not different with a guy, right?”
Abe takes off
his sunglasses and hat and gives Steve a desperate, horrified look.
“But, you, uh—”
“ So
we don’t kiss,” Steve says. “Plenty of other things we can be
doing. Like dancing. Want to go out tonight and dance? I’m sure
it’s much more fun when you’re not wanting to rub out your own
eyeballs.”
It seems to take
Abe a long minute to blink, swallow, rub his hands against his
knees. “Don’t you want to be dating someone to whom you’re not
allergic?”
It’s cute that
he cares so much, Steve thinks, but he seems to be missing the
point. They’re not friends. They’re two guys attracted to the other
and trying to figure out how to be around the other without one of
them dying from want of breath, and why deny that just because it’s
difficult? Why waste time pretending that Abe doesn’t want to fuck
Steve and Steve doesn’t want to let him do it? Why waste another
breath on the delusion that Steve wouldn’t gladly park the car,
jump on his lap and kiss him if he could? He
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