Page 22 of Floodgates

“Yes, I know.” I chuckled. It was nice to see a relationship that worked. All those years ago, Matt had decided after his second date with the sportscaster that he was going to keep the man, and it had been smooth sailing for them from the start. My sometimes obnoxious, decidedly jaded best friend had fallen hard and fast. What was perfect was that Eric Harmon felt the same way about him.

“Why are we here again?” he whined at me. “I wanted to go to Castaway and have the white-peach sangria. Why aren’t we there?”

“Because that’s a gay club,” I reminded him.

He made a circle with his index finger to indicate us both. “We’re gay, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“But Courtney’s not,” I reminded him, “and neither is Ira.”

“Why do I care?”

“C’mon, Matt.”

“What? Ira never cared.”

“Which makes him a really good sport and us a bunch of selfish pricks.”

“How’s that?”

“We’re shitty wingmen. None of us helped him get laid.”

Matt’s face crumpled in disgust. “He never wanted to get laid; he was shopping for a wife. Do you not remember going through those online profiles with him?”

“We’re still crappy friends.”

“Who are crappy friends?” Eric asked as he returned, passing Matt his cosmo and me my third mojito.

“Thank you, sir.” I beamed at him.

“Anytime, Trace,” he said, flashing me a smile back.

“And we’re crappy friends,” I informed him. “To Ira.”

“Oh, yeah, because we never went out with him to a straight club to pick up women,” Eric stated, nodding. “I know.”

“You’ve thought about this too?”

“Sure,” Eric answered his boyfriend. “He was always so great about going out with us when we used to do that. That’s why we have to make sure to get Courtney to like us.”

“It’s so nice that we’re on the same page.” I grinned at him.

“Why do I care about Courtney?” Matt asked Eric and me.

“Because we want her to like us,” I explained to him. “Courtney’s bringing her girlfriends with her tonight, and we’re trying to make a good impression and make them comfortable, so that’s why we’re here. If Courtney’s friends don’t like us, then they will take Courtney and Ira away, and we will never see them again. Do you understand?”

“What part of that do you think I don’t understand?” he snapped flippantly.

“Well, then, be nice,” Eric instructed him. “Those girls have to have a good time. They have to want to hang out with us.”

“Everyone wants to hang out with us—we’re fabulous.”

I groaned, and Eric smacked Matt in the back of the head.

“What was that for?”

“We’re really not fabulous,” I reminded him. “We’re all kinds of boring, and our circle is only five people counting Ira and Courtney.”

“Can that be right?”