Page 86 of A Matter of Time

“Why?”

“It just won’t make sense to you is all.”

“Because?”

“Because you’ve always been gay.”

I moved away from him, looking at his profile in the dark.

“You’re the first and only man I have ever been in bed with.”

“I know.”

“It’s something, lemme tell you.”

I let out a long breath. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

“Stupid question. It’s all I want.”

“How come?”

“’Cause being in bed with you…it’s different.”

“How different?”

“Like I always figured it was supposed to feel,” he said, staring into my eyes. I felt a tremor run through me and curl my toes. “I didn’t know it would be like this.”

I rolled over and buried my face in the pillow.

“What’re you doing?”

“I have a confession,” I said my voice muffled.

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” he asked, yanking the pillow away so he could hear me.

“I left the apartment today.”

“You what?”

“I left,” I said, turning my face to look at him, smiling lazily. “With your mother.”

“What?” He looked confused.

I just stared at him until he got it.

“Oh shit,” he groaned suddenly, hands in his hair, lying back on his pillow. “It’s Friday. I forgot all about… Oh fuck me,” he half yelled before he reached out and pulled me over on top of him. His hands went to my face, his fingers smoothing over my eyebrows, pushing the hair out of my eyes. “I’m so sorry, J. Did she give you the third degree and tell you⁠—”

“She was an angel,” I told him, sliding my hand across his chest, just wanting to touch him. “She made me an omelet for lunch, and then we talked for hours before she took me for pie.”

He reached out and turned on the light on the nightstand.

“What?”

“I wanna see your face.”

I smiled down at him. “Are you okay?”

“She fed you?”