Page 73 of Something Like Forever
Corey frowned. “Not evenme?”
“We didn’t know each otherthat well.”
“I guessnot.” Corey started kicking his feet back and forth, a smile slowlybuilding. “Do you remember the petting zoo?”
“Huh?”
“It wasmy birthday. I had just turned thirteen and my mom made a big dealout of it, so the whole family had to be there. Including mysister. She dragged you along.”
“Yeah!”Tim said. “The details are hazy, but I think I remember. Seemsweird though. Why take a teenager to a pettingzoo?”
“Becausethat’s what I asked for.” Corey laughed and shook his head. “Solame! I was going through a phase where I wanted to be aveterinarian, and I thought some hands-on experience wouldhelp.”
“CoreyTanaka, Petting Zoo M.D.!”
“Shutup! My sister teased me enough about it. She hated being there. Doyou remember? She was in such a bad mood that it was bringing medown, but you were cool. You bought a ton of those pellets to feedthe animals. Your pockets were stuffed. The rest of my familydidn’t go into the pen with me. Mom tried until the llama scaredher off.” Corey grinned at the memory, before looking over at him.“Don’t laugh at this next part. Or go ahead, because it is prettydumb, but I remember watching a goat eat out of your hand andthinking how I would be willing to do the same.”
“Sorry,” Tim said, tryingto hold back a smile and failing. “Could you repeat that last part?I didn’t quite hear you.”
“I wanted to be your goat!” Corey said,laughing at himself. “I know how crazy that sounds, butyoudohave really nice hands.”
“Well,thanks.”
“Noproblem. I was just figuring myself out at the time. You weren’tthe only thing that helped me realize that I’m gay, but it was abig piece of the puzzle.”
“You helped me too,” Timadmitted.
Corey perked up. “Really?How?”
“I’dnever had a guy try to kiss me before.”
“I didn’t try!” Coreyprotested.
“No, butyou offered, and those words haunted me. Do you remember them?”When Corey shook his head, Tim spoke the words aloud. “You can kissme if you want.”
“I said that?”
“Those exact words.Yes.”
Corey thought about it andnodded. “Sounds like my style. No tact at all. ‘Hey, if you wantme, come and get it!’ How did that help you?”
“Likeyou said, it was another piece of the puzzle. When Ben showed up inmy life, I started wishing he would say the samething.”
“And did he?”
Tim smiled. “We didn’t doa lot of talking. We pretty much went from zero to a hundred andtwenty.”
“Details?”
“I’msaving those for my next interview,” Tim joked, but his expressiongrew serious. “Hey, do you mind if I ask you something? Why’d youtell your sister about me? Just before I moved to Texas, she showedup at my place to make peace or give me hell. I’m not sure there’sa difference in her mind. One of the last things she said was thatyou were right about me, like you had told her that I’mgay.”
Corey grimaced. “Youmentioned that your first night here. Did I causetrouble?”
“Kindof. You had to know that would mess with me.”
“Notreally! I didn’t struggle with coming out. Believe it or not, I wastrying to help. You guys had broken up, and she was ranting aboutall her dumb plans for revenge. I liked you. A lot. I didn’t wanther to mess with you, so I thought if she knew the real reason youdumped her, that she wouldn’t take it so personally. I wanted herto leave you alone.”
“I didn’t break up withher because of my sexuality,” Tim said. “I hadn’t figured it out bythen.”
