Page 6 of Stand By Me

"Then you can stay single." Carina clinked their glasses together. "Ifyou're going to be as happy about it as I am. Otherwise, I heard it gets miserable."

The thing was, Mario wished he could be as happy as she was, being single. His life would definitely be easier. But he'd always dreamed of a happy, stable relationship, like the one his parents had. Not getting it, ever… His stomach rolled at the mere thought.

"It is miserable." Andie hooked her chin on Mario's shoulder. "We need to find ourselves some boyfriends."

She moved like she was going to slid out of the booth and literally go looking right now, so Mario pulled her back against his side.

"Okay, Cupid, let's just stay here for the night," he told her, pushing a glass of water towards her.

Andie drank half of it before turning to him with her Bambi eyes.

"Only if you promise to take your chance with Clay."

"I don't know—"

"If you're choosing between being miserable and a chance at not being miserable, is it really a choice?" Carina cut in.

Mario frowned as he downed his shot, not sure if he understood her. Maybe he was too tipsy for this conversation.

"Come on." Andie jostled him again. "Promise me."

He cleared his throat against the burn of alcohol.

"Fine," he said once he was sure his voice wouldn't be too raspy. "I promise."

Maybe taking one more chance wasn't going to be so bad.

Maybe.

CHAPTER THREE

If Clay were to run into someone at the Smithsonian, he'd expect it to be Jake, not Mario de Silva.

He remembered a scrawny, black-haired kid covered in freckles who was always there at their house after school, glued to Ben's side and throwing apologetic looks his way whenever Ben was particularly mean to Clay, as if he was somehow the one responsible for it.

Clay also remembered the same kid seeking him out one day to ask about his experience with coming out, because he'd been thinking about doing the same thing. The boy had been scared but determined, and he'd stared at Clay as if he had all the answers Mario might need, which, sadly, couldn't have been further from the truth.

But today… Today Clay saw a guy he wanted to take out for drinks, maybe a date or two, try that normal people stuff he kept hearing about. Back in Switzerland, he'd never gone past the second date stage, mostly sticking to one-night stands or booty calls, on occasion. He was technically there for an assignment and though Jake kept telling him he was allowed to get out there and have fun, Clay couldn't imagine trying for anything serious.

And all that time, he hadn't realized how much he'd put his life on hold until he'd come back home.

It wasn't like he hadn't known it was going to be a requirement, of course. He'd taken that under advisement when he was considering the offer to accompany Jake to Switzerland. But it was quite different to look back on it now and see how everyone else had moved on. Some of his colleagues and friends were in decade-long relationships, some of them were divorced, but most had at least one serious, long-term relationship under their belts. Meanwhile, Clay's record was a year and a half, back before he'd left the States.

A few months ago, he'd promised himself to try getting back out there, especially after Jake reunited with Troy, came out, and started living his life. But Clay had gotten busy with readjusting to the life in DC, trying to reconnect with family, visiting friends, searching for a job… He'd put away quite a lot of money during all these years, on top of everything he'd sent back home, and that allowed him to flounder for a while, but not forever.

He couldn't be happier to be back in the saddle now, so maybe with the job issue taken care of, it was time to finally give dating a serious try.

Hold up, he told himself later that night, staring at the ceiling.You don't know if he's even interested in one drink, let alone dating.

Mario was young and hot, and probably in high demand among the gay population of Washington, DC. He might also be in a relationship already.

If things were different, Clay would ask Ben about it, but… no such luck.

He'd thought—hoped—that once his brother grew out of being a sullen teenager, he would stop hating Clay so much, but it seemed like the opposite happened, instead. Nothing Clay did was ever okay. When he dropped by Mom's house to visit them, his brother would say it wasn't often enough, but when he showed up more frequently, he'd hear he was trying too hard. Clay had even considered not showing up at all anymore, but he didn't come back to DC to lose what little he had left of his family.

Even if all he really had left was Mom.

Pushing thoughts of Ben aside, he wondered if Jake might know Mario well enough to give Clay some info. They weren't working in the same departments, though, so that was unlikely, judging from the number of employees the museum had.

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