“Fine.” This time he did get the message. He might have wanted to pass it off as indifference, but I could tell I’d pissed him off. He was the one to end things, not the recipient of his attentions, who should have been uttering prayerful thanks for being selected in the first place.
The thing was I wanted what Tim and Cris had, and it was obvious I wouldn’t get that from Charles.
Of course the other boys noticed things were cool between us. Charles called me again.
“I’m not asking you for a date,” he said before I could utter a word.
“We never dated. We just fucked.”
He was silent for a moment, then said, “I—Okay, let’s forget that. How do we explain it? Your boys may be dumb as a box of rocks, but mine were aware you were coming to visit.”
“My boys aren’t dumb,” I snapped. “What makes you think I’d want them to know what a dope I was?”
Again he was silent.
“Let me give it some thought, and I’ll get back to you.”
He slammed the phone down—how rude.