Page 28 of Bull's Boy

I did something really dumb

Like… really dumb

LBF

Oh god, what did Ollie convince you to do? Dance on a table or something? Is there video evidence? Have Bull call Six. He’ll make Ollie delete it.

He chuckled breathlessly. God, he wished that was all it was. If he’d just gotten drunk and acted like an idiot, his morning might have been more physically painful from the hangover, but he’d probably not be having an existential crisis on whether he was gay now.

Malcolm

Worse

LBF

Okay spill. You’re really starting to scare me.

Rubbing at his face, he asked if they could talk on the phone, then felt even worse.

Malcolm

You’re probably super busy getting ready for the shower. It’s fine. We can talk when you get home.

He’d barely hit Send, and his phone was vibrating with an incoming call… an incomingvideocall.

Groaning, he answered, one arm thrown over his face.

“What are you doing? I can’t see you,” Dahlia said as soon as they connected. There was some noise in the background, music and a few other feminine voices, but it went quiet a second later.“Okay, I’m locked in Becca’s parents’ bathroom. Tell me what happened.”

He took a deep breath. He could do this. He wanted someone to talk to, and Dahlia was his best friend. She wouldn’t judge him. “I sucked Bull’s dick.”

She didn’t say anything for a long moment. Areallylong moment. Finally, “I’m sorry. I didn’t catch that. Can you uncover your face and repeat yourself? There’s no way I heard what I thought I did.”

He ripped his arm away and glared at his best friend, her face beautifully done up in dramatic makeup and hair curled into loose waves. “I said I sucked Bull’s dick!”

She rolled her lips inward, looking down at the floor.

“Are you… are you trying not to laugh?” He scrambled upright, indignant and a little hurt. “I’m serious!”

Shaking her head, she snorted, then cleared her throat and looked up at the phone. “I’m sorry. I just… I really thought my ears were messing with me when you said that the first time. Are you freaking out?”

“Of course I’m freaking out!”

She jerked the phone back, grimacing. “Whoa.”

He took another breath. “Sorry, I just… My whole life, I thought… and now I’m suddenly gay? Or bi. Or whatever. All because he was so nice and I wanted to do something nice for him and my brain was dumb and decided licking his dick was the best thank-you I could give him and now how am I supposed to ever look him in the eye again? I know what his dick tastes like, Lia!”

Without realizing it, he’d glanced away, panting and gesturing at his dim, empty apartment like she was across the room. When he refocused on the screen, she was staring at him with wide eyes, a hand covering her mouth.

“Please say something,” he whispered, bending his knees and wrapping his arm around his legs.

“I’m trying to decide what would be most helpful right now,” she said back, just as softly. “I don’t want to downplay your feelings, but one blowjob does nothaveto mean you’re queer. Lots of straight people experiment, and it doesn’t change their orientation.”

He knew that was true, but… it wasn’t how last night had felt.

What had happened between him and Bull had feltprofoundlylife-changing.

“Okay,” he said slowly. “But what if…”

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