Page 12 of Country Road Romance

“Paul, knock it off,” Jared said quietly.

Paul actually laughed a little at that, as if he found it funny that Jared was actually challenging him.

“Someone’s certainly changed their tune about Charlie Garrett. I’ve lost count of the number of times you’ve said something negative about West Virginia’s golden boy. What was it that you said about him that one time? ‘He’s just a hack actor that no one would give two shits about if he wasn’t blonde and muscular and looks like he stepped out of an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog?’ It was something like that.”

“I know that Jared has had a rather dubious attitude about my professional output,” Charlie said, "so unless you have something else you’d like to add to our conversation, I think there are a lot of other places in this bar you could be.”

Charlie felt a little warmth in his chest when he saw the admiring look that Jared gave him.

See? I can be selfless, too.

Paul, however, was one of those people who wasn’t easily discouraged from being an asshole.

“Let me give you a piece of advice, Charlie Garrett,” he said. “This guy right here is one of the most depressing people you’ll ever meet. He’s so busy finding reasons to be unhappy that he never bothers to look up and enjoy the world around him.” He gave a bitter little laugh. “Trust me. I spent a good amount ofmy time trying to get him to snap out of his misery, and he just didn’t want to do it.”

And with that he was gone.

“Don’t pay attention to what that asshole has to say,” Charlie said. “He was clearly just trying to get under your skin.”

If the strained look on Jared’s face was anything to go by, it had worked, and Charlie gave Paul what he hoped was a particularly venomous look.

Just try that again,he tried to say with just his eyes.

“I don’t want to talk about him, if that’s okay,” Jared said. “I didn’t come to the Stonewall to deal with my past.”

Charlie shrugged. He might have just met Jared today, but he could already tell that Jared wasn’t going to do anything he didn't want to.

As the night wore on more and more people came into the bar, and Charlie loved the feeling of being among other queer folks. Even as his eyes wandered across the room, however, his eyes kept finding their way back to Jared sitting beside him. He seemed to be withdrawing more and more into himself, and Charlie’s protective urge was getting stronger by the minute.

You’ve got to make your move, Charlie,he thought.If you don’t, the rest of this evening is going to be a bust, and neither you or Jared is going to be happy about that.

“I assume that they have drag shows here?” he asked.

Jared gave him a look that told him plainly that that was a very stupid (and very straight) question to ask.

“Charlie, it’s a gay bar. What do you think?”

“I don't know. You’ve sort of clammed up, so I figured I had to break the ice somehow.”

That managed to get a little bit of a smile out of Jared. Charlie felt a tightening in the region somewhere behind his heart.

“And what time is this drag show?” he asked.

Jared rolled his eyes but still looked at his watch.

“In fact, it’s about ready to start.” He jerked his head to the side. “It’s in that room over there.”

“Are we going to go, or are we just going to sit here drinking alone the whole night like a couple of sad old drunks?”

“I don’t know about you, but I sort of always saw myself as one of the old queens nursing a Manhattan at the bar in my old age.”

“Well, you’re not going to be nursing a drink tonight. You brought me here to have fun, and that’s just what we’re going to do. We’re going to havefun.”

A few minutes later they were right in front of the stage waiting for the show to start. All of a sudden the lights went down, the music went quiet, and then the most stunning drag queen that Charlie had ever seen came strutting out onto the stage.

“Hellooooo, Stonewall!” she shouted into the mic, her voice blaring out. “How y’all doin’ tonight?”

There were some cheers throughout the room, but that wasn’t good enough.

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