Page 40 of Common Goal
“But you’re telling me?”
Eric’s brow furrowed. “Should I not have?”
Oh god. Kyle was being a douche. “No! No, I’m glad you told me. I’m...flattered. That you felt you could trust me. You can, you know. Trust me. I won’t tell anyone.”
“I appreciate that. I want to tell everyone soon. But for now... I just wanted to tellsomeone. If that makes sense.”
“It does! Totally. And I’m honored. But it doesn’t really answer my question about why you’re thinking about sex a lot lately.”
“Right. That wasn’t what I meant.” Eric laughed uneasily. “It’s more that I’ve been thinking about maybe, you know, dating. Men, I mean. But I don’t really know how.”
“How? Like...you don’t know how to have sexy times with a man?”
“I don’t even know how to find a man to have sexy times with.”
Kyle grinned broadly. “I’m no expert—actually, that’s a lie. I totally am—but I think you could probably walk into a gay bar and walk out with, like, five very willing men. You’ve seen yourself, right?”
Eric shook his head, but he was smiling. “Do I whistle or something to announce my presence?”
“Yes. Or, if you can do one of those hog calls?”
“Oh god,” Eric said, laughing. “Yuck.”
“I mean, you asked how to pick up men. Don’t blame me if you don’t like how it works.”
“If,” Eric said, still laughing, “you think of any actually useful advice for the forty-one-year-old divorcé who is looking to meet a nice man, please let me know.”
“Are you looking for someone to date or just, like, trade blowjobs?”
Eric’s whole face turned pink, which was incredible to witness. “I don’t know. Date, I guess. Trading, um—that sounds so...transactional.”
“It is, I suppose. But it also kinda rules.”
“I don’t think I could do that. I’ve never been one for hookups. I like to know the person first.”
“That’s cool. You’re not alone there. I’m sure we could find you a nice man to have dinner with.”
“We?”
“Yeah. Sure. I want to help you.” This was a terrible idea, but Kyle was going all in. “We should go out together. See what your type is, and then take it from there.”
“Um.”
“It doesn’t have to be, like, aclub. It could be a bar like the Kingfisher—butnotthe Kingfisher, please god—and we’ll get a drink and have a little look around.”
He watched Eric’s face carefully. Eric didn’t look repulsed by this idea, so that was a win. “When you saytake it from there...”
Kyle held up his hands. “No pressure to do anything. I’m just suggesting a super casual outing where we do some low-key ogling. It’s an easy, safe first step.”
Eric seemed to consider this. “Okay.”
“Awesome!” Kyle was getting excited about this now. “This is great for me too, because I need to get myself out there.”
“So, when do you want to do this?”
Kyle drummed his fingers against his lips. “I’m working tomorrow night. I could do Sunday...”
“I’ve got a game on Sunday. I’m free Monday.”
