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“I know.” Patrick nodded.
A harsh knock rapped three times against the door.
“Two-minute warning,” Simone called.
“Roger!” Patrick yelled. He pulled off his T-shirt and began to unbutton his jeans, and at the sight of that body, Will once again felt his brain hit shuffle.
“Tell me,” he said, taking a seat on the end of the sofa. “Please. Tell me what happened. What was going on with you?” Under slightly different circumstances he might have felt guilty about asking such a loaded question while he was fully dressed and Patrick stood before him in his underwear, but hey, time was of the essence.
“That night,” Patrick began. “In my hotel room…”
“Did I push you?” Will asked. “Make you do something you didn’t want to?”
“The opposite.” Patrick shook out the neatly pressed pair of suit pants and stepped into them. “I have never, in my life, trusted somebody the way I trust you. Never felt so seen or understood.”
“Then I really don’t get it.”
Patrick threw on a white shirt.
“I was afraid,” he said, focusing first on the buttons and then the cuffs. Finally, when he felt ready, he looked at Will. “I was afraid that being so deeply known would make it harder to hide who I am from the rest of the world. That I wouldn’t even want to anymore. Because being with you is the first time in years that I’ve felt really myself. And actually liked myself. How could I go back to the way things were after that? Shut myself away after finally breathing clean air?”
Patrick donned his black jacket, and then began to fiddle with the black bow tie in his hands.
“Let me,” said Will, standing and taking it from him. He looped the fabric around Patrick’s neck. “I’m sorry, too,” he added.
“For what?” Patrick asked, his eyes fixed somewhere over Will’s shoulder.
“That day on set. I knew you weren’t ready to come out, that it would mean all kinds of trouble for your career, but I got so insecure that I put pressure on you anyway. It was very unchic of me. I should have known better.”
Will stepped back, inspecting the job he had done on Patrick’s bow tie.
“Not bad,” he decided.
The door clicked open.
“We are leaving,” said Simone. “Now.” She vanished from the doorway, clearly confident that Patrick would follow.
“Looks like we’re out of minutes,” said Will.
Patrick smiled sadly. “Wasn’t that always our problem?”
“Hey, guys…” Audra edged into view in the hallway outside, one hand covering her eyes, the other splayed out in front of her as she inched forward blindly. “Simone says we need to get going…” She parted the fingers obscuring her view and sighed. “I thought you might be fucking,” she said, not bothering to hide her disappointment. “Come on!”
They all exited the suite in a flurry of activity, and Will allowed himself to be swept along in the tide of people, Simone’s edict that he stay behind all but forgotten.
A limousine awaited them in the courtyard, and Will and Patrick piled into the back after Audra, Hector, Corey, and Simone.
“I feel like I’m on my way to prom!” Audra said. “Champagne, anyone?”
“Will, I have to tell you something,” said Patrick. “Actually…all of you.”
“You’re gay,” said Audra. “We know, sweetie. We already did this, remember?”
“It’s not about me,” said Patrick. “It’s about Captain Kismet.”
“What is it?” asked Will, thinking that if he never heard the name Captain buggerfucking Kismet ever again, it would be too soon.
“It’s the reason I was out in Venice,” Patrick said. “The Omega Issue. I found it, Will. And get this…” He took one of the glasses of champagne that Audra was passing around the back for the car, and held it out in front of him. “They were gay, too.”
