“So, you’re going to start hooking up with guys now?”
“I didn’t say that.”
Then what are you saying?I asked myself.Do you even know?
“I think you’ve lost me, dude,” he said. “By the way, it’s official now.”
“What’s official?”
“You’ve had a homosexual experience.”
“The two times we tongue-wrestled before that wasn’t enough?”
“Nope. It doesn’t count as a homosexual experience unless you reach orgasm. Not according to the experts.”
“Not this again.”
“Don’t you want to think that what we did was normal?”
Only Erik De Ruiter would turn the hottest experience of our lives into a science project.
"Look," I said, "let’s not get off track here. What I’m saying is I do wish something like that had happened before, but I only want to hook up withyou.”
“How sweet.”
He stood up, expressionless, like he’d had enough of this conversation, and headed to the door. I scrambled to stop him.
“What do you mean ‘how sweet’?”
“I’m glad you’re not mad. I’m glad you don’t regret it. And I’m glad you can come to grips with what we did.”
“And…?”
“And what?”
“We’re gonna do this again, aren’t we?”
He shrugged, like he wouldn’t say no but also had no intention of committing.
“You’re gonna play that game, huh?” I asked. “Do all Canadians do this?”
“What does this have to do with Canadians?”
“Being difficult. All of you are pains in the ass. I was just asking an honest question. And I wouldn’t have had to ask that question if you’d answered the first one.”
“No.”
I didn’t hear that. Like, I heard the word, but it totally didn’t register with me. I don’t mind telling you that no one ever says that word to me. Why the hell did Erik De Ruiter have to go and be the first?
“Okay,” I said, “I’ll pretend you didn’t just say that.”
“Why not? It won’t change the answer.”
All right, this kid had been a pain in the ass before, but now he was really testing my patience. I couldn’t snap at him, though. If I did, he would really play hardball.
“I know you wanted that to happen,” I said. “Don’t deny it. I’m not saying I wanted it. I’m just willing to accept that it did, that I really loved it, and I’m coming back for more.”
“It’s not happening, Kayden.”
