Page 34 of Road Trip

“Is he okay?” Luke yelled. “Did they crash the car? Holy shit, they didn’t crash the car, did they?”

“Let me listen!” Charlie said. “Are you okay, Jacob?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I just wanted to talk or something, I guess. Maybe ask you some stuff. Can you get rid of Luke?”

“He’s fine,” Charlie told Luke. “It’s about college. Hold on,Jacob. I’ll go outside where I can hear you without this doofus interrupting. Oof.” I wasn’t certain what theoofmeant, but knowing Luke I would have put my money on a pillow to the face. Then I didn’t hear anything much at all except some muffled sounds, and Charlie said, “I’m outside.”

“It’s not about college,” I said, watching an old man on a wheelie walker shuffle his way slowly down the sidewalk.

“Okay,” Charlie said. “What’s going on?”

Charlie was a year older than me and the smartest guy I knew, and he was gay. I didn’t remember him ever coming out. Just, he’d always known, which meant the rest of the family had always known as well. When we were kids, Charlie had told me that when he grew up he was going to marry Spider-Man. I didn’t remember anyone saying anything negative about it. I mostly remembered being excited that I’d get to meet the Avengers at the wedding.

“Me and Matt hooked up,” I blurted out. “Last night.”

“You and Matt?” Charlie asked and then said, “What?”

“We hooked up,” I said. “A couple of days ago he came out to me, and then last night we fooled around some.”

“What do you mean?” Charlie asked. “Because I’m a member of the gayest fraternity at Lassiter, and sometimes the lines get a little blurred between ‘vaguely homoerotic displays of masculinity and questionable couch wrestling’ and ‘their tongues were down each other’s throats.’”

“The tongues and the throats,” I said. “And also, frotting.”

Charlie was silent.

“That means?—”

“I know what it means, Jacob! Holyshit!”

He sounded almost angry, and Charlienevergot angry. “Charlie, are you okay?”

“I cannot believe you two right now!” he exclaimed. “You’ve been gay for half a minute and you’ve already got more action than I have in my whole life!”

“Uh…”

“Oh my god. Don’t be gay, Jacob. All men are bastards.”

I blinked at the sun-soaked street. “What?”

He sighed heavily into his phone. “Sorry. I don’t mean that. Well, I mean the part about all men being bastards. But of course you can be gay.”

“I think I’m bi, actually.”

“I’m very happy for you,” Charlie said, but he didn’t sound very happy. “And thank you for trusting me enough to tell me.”

“Areyouokay, Charlie?”

He made a frustrated noise. “The guy from the party? The one I made out with?”

“Tanner.”

“He ghosted me.”

“Tanner did?” I didn’t know the guy really well, even though our high school was only small. He’d always seemed like a decent guy, and I’d never suspected he was gay. Maybe he was a closeted dickhead as well.

“Yeah.” Charlie snorted. “Well, he never called me. Does that even count as ghosting? It’s just—ugh.”

He sounded so disappointed that I wished I was there to cheer him up. “Maybe something happened. Like he was in a horrific accident or something.”

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