The Kinsey Scale Read online

  “But all my friends smoke. What’s she want me to do? Smoke it in some dark alley and get arrested, or shot, or something?”

  Will’s mouth twitched, and he lifted his textbook in front of his face.

  “I highly doubt you’re going to get shot in McLean, Virginia. And no, don’t smoke pot in a dark alley, you dummy. Smoke it at one of your friends’ houses if you have to smoke it at all.”

  Doug stared glumly at his boots. “None of their parents let them either. I was hoping Mom would be cool, ’cause she’s cool about most stuff.”

  “Yeah, no. She’s not cool about drugs.”

  “And what about you?” Doug tightened his jaw. “Are you going to give me a lecture on the evils of marijuana?”

  “Nope. It’s your life, bro. Go easy. Don’t get stoned so much you can’t get your schoolwork done, and for God’s sake, smoke in a safe place. There must be somewhere you and your friends can go.”

  “I guess.” He opened his seltzer water and took a swig. “Yeah, okay.” He gave a small grin. “Thanks for not getting on my case.”

  “No problem. So what else is going on?”

  “Nothing. Oh, but I got Halo Wars 2 last week.”

  Eric wasn’t big into video games. “Oh? That’s good.”

  Will lowered his book. “No way, man. I’ve been looking for that!”

  Doug perked up. “Way. You haven’t played it?”

  “Not yet. But hey, I’ve got Destiny 2. You wanna play some?”

  “Sure.”

  Within minutes Doug and Will were sprawled on the rug, video game controllers in hand, while Eric called for a pizza delivery. He set down the phone and lounged on his bed. Then he picked up his math book and resumed studying, the sound of explosions and laughter in the background. It felt kind of cozy, hanging out like this.

  Chapter FIVE

  THE NEXT day the sun came out after a week of rain. Whistling a happy tune, Eric ran up the steps to the room after class. His spirits lifted another notch when he opened the door and saw Will prone on the bed.

  “Hey there, roomie.” Eric dropped his backpack, launched himself onto his own bed, and turned on his side to face Will. “What’s up?”

  Will mirrored Eric’s position so they could chat face-to-face. “Not much. Made it through my econ quiz. Oh, and I was thinking about your brother. Have you heard from him since yesterday?”

  “I sent him a text, and he sent me back a billion emojis. Typical Doug. He’s doing okay.”

  “That’s good. It’s cool the way you are with him.”

  Eric waved it off. “He’s kind of annoying at times, but—”

  “Naw, man. He’s lucky to have a brother like you. Me and my brother aren’t that close.”

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t know. We’ve always been into different things. He’s really into the church crap.”

  “Oh. Evangelical and all that?”

  “Totally. Trump and the whole bit. My parents too.”

  “Oh fuck. That’s tragic.” Eric stopped as a horrible thought occurred. “Unless… you’re not a Trump person, are you?”

  “Are you kidding? I’m insulted, man. But yeah, my brother has turned into a right-wing pod person.” Will winced. “I knew my parents were a lost cause, but it sucks about my brother. Haven’t even been interested in talking to him since the election. He’s too busy watching Fox News.”

  “Ugh. I’m sorry.”

  “Yeah. Let’s talk about something else. How’d you get into theater?”

  “I was a totally hyper kid, and my parents had to get me into something to use up all that energy. I loved dressing up too. So they put me into theater classes. I mean, obviously soccer wasn’t going to work for me.”

  “I don’t know why not. You have the legs for it.”

  Eric stared at Will, who had rolled onto his back and was checking out the ceiling. Was he flirting? They’d gotten so close Eric forgot sometimes he was supposed to be guarding himself from falling for his straight roommate. Will saying stuff like that didn’t help.

  “Have you been looking at my—oh, forget it. Not gonna go there.”

  “Where?”

  “Nowhere.” Eric sat up, wrapped his arms around his legs, and put his chin on his knees. “So,” he said brightly. “When’d you get started in music? Was that your parents’ idea or did you get into it all by yourself?”

  Will didn’t answer for a moment. He kept his eyes fixed on the ceiling, and his chest rose and fell as though he’d sighed or taken a deep breath. “My idea. The ’rents were too busy drinking and screaming at each other to care what I did. My dad had an old guitar sitting around, and I picked it up one day and started playing.”

  “Sucks about your parents.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Back to music. Have you recorded any of your songs?”

  “I started to, with my friend’s GarageBand, but never finished anything.”

  “You have to. Your songs are so good.”

  Will glanced at him. “Really?”

  “God, Will! Are you kidding me? I wish I could write lyrics like you. I—”

  Will sat up abruptly. “Let’s go play Frisbee in the quad.” He picked up some shorts and a T-shirt and headed to their bathroom.

  “Uh… okay.” Eric didn’t particularly enjoy Frisbee. He preferred running for his exercise. And playing Frisbee meant watching Will leap and catch and move his skimpily clad body around. He groaned inwardly and picked up his phone to send a text.

  The phone buzzed as he and Will were clattering down the dorm stairs.

  “Oh good,” he said when he checked the screen. “Jerry’s coming.”

  “Jerry plays Frisbee?”

  “No, he likes to watch all the hunky guys.” Like you.

  Will shoved the door open. “Yeah, right.”

  “Huh?”

  “It’s not all the guys, Eric.”

  “What?” Eric increased his stride to keep pace with Will, who was practically jogging down the sidewalk with a determined jut to his chin.

  “Y’all have a thing, right?” Will stared into the window of the humanities building.

  Eric looked in the window too to see what was so interesting—nothing—and opened his mouth to say that no, he and Jerry had been over since sophomore year. But he stopped himself.

  “We—well, yeah, we do have a thing.” He had no idea why he was lying, but Will had Jessie and Eric just… he needed to have Will think he wasn’t a total loser in that arena.

  “Thought so. S’cool, bro.” Will let fly with the Frisbee so hard it sailed to the middle of the quad and whacked some poor freshman in the back.

  A little later, Eric and Jerry lounged on the grass and watched as Will and some friends threw the Frisbee around.

  “Hotter than hot.” Jerry followed Will’s form as he leapt for the Frisbee while the others laughed.

  “Hmm.” Eric sat up. A girl with a blonde ponytail and long legs set off by lime green gym shorts had tackled Will to the ground to get the Frisbee from him. They engaged in a wrestling match that ended with Will flat on his back and her sitting astride him holding the Frisbee aloft in triumph. Will’s grin illuminated his face.

  “Hmm, indeed,” Jerry said. “Jessie better watch out.”

  Eric stood. “Let’s go. I wanna talk to you about something.” He waved at Will, who was sitting up, the smiling girl beside him. When Will gazed at Eric with a question on his face, Eric pointed at Jerry, then turned his back and followed Jerry out of the quad.

  “COME ON, Jerry. All I’m asking is for you to pretend to be my boyfriend.” Eric sat on his bed and watched Jerry primp.

  “God, Eric.” Jerry rolled his eyes as he leaned closer to the mirror to check out his hair.

  “Not all the time! Just in front of Will.”

  “Why’d you tell him we’re together in the first place?”

  “I don’t know. He asked me if we were going out, and….” He held up his h
ands. “Don’t ask me.”

  “Well, who am I supposed to ask? Why do you get yourself into these ridiculous situations?” Jerry arranged a few more strands of hair, ran his finger over an eyebrow, and stood back to survey himself in the mirror.

  “Oh, for God’s sake, you look gorgeous. As usual. And if you don’t get a move on, I’m going to be late for rehearsal.”

  Jerry turned to face Eric with his hands on his hips. “So what do I get out of being your pretend boyfriend in front of your roommate? This better not put a crimp in my social life.”

  “Free lattes? I’ll let you dress me up for Halloween? Blow jobs?”

  “God, don’t tempt me. Remind me again why we decided to stop having sex?”

  Eric gazed at Jerry’s lithe body and sighed. “Because we’re not boyfriends anymore, and I suck at ‘friends with benefits’ with you. We’re good like we are.”

  “Free lattes and I get to dress you for Halloween. This’ll be fun.”

  “So are you going to do it, then?”

  “Oh, all right. Send me a text whenever you need my pretend-boyfriend presence.”

  Eric leapt up and hugged Jerry. “Thanks! You’re the best.”

  “Of course I am.” Jerry turned for one last look in the mirror as they left the room.

  Chapter SIX

  ON SATURDAY morning Eric came out of the bathroom after showering and found Will still in bed. That was unusual. In the two months they’d been at school, Will had left to spend the weekend with Jessie either Friday night or Saturday morning at the latest, and he was rarely back before Sunday evening. Instead here he was, awake and appearing as though he had no plans to go anywhere. On top of that, he was reading a textbook… on Saturday. Show off.

  “What, no Jessie this weekend?” Eric toweled his hair and threw the towel on the floor.

  “Jeez, you ever hear of a hamper?”

  “No.” Despite his comeback, Eric picked up the towel and put it in his designated clothes hamper.

  “Jessie’s out of town.”

  “Ah, okay.” Eric pulled on a T-shirt and shorts. “Damn, I need caffeine. Going to the cafeteria?”

  “I guess.” Will closed the book with a snap, then raised his arms in a stretch.

  “Hey, forget the cafeteria. Let’s go out to breakfast! I’ll take you to my favorite coffee shop.”

  Eric had been intending to prepare for his audition for the spring musical and read a few chapters in his history textbook, but spending time with Will sounded like a lot more fun.

  “Starbucks?” Will drawled.

  “Never! Ever hear of Alekos?”

  “Nope.”

  “Shocking.” Eric averted his eyes when Will threw off his covers, but not before he caught a glimpse of Will’s banging chest. He turned and messed with the crap on his dresser. “It’s in Vienna. Been around forever. My parents used to go there when they were dating, so that’s how old it is. It’s open 24/7, perfect for the two a.m. munchies.”

  “Good to know. Lemme take a leak first.”

  “OH, HEY, you ever gone to this place?” Eric pointed at a storefront as they ambled down the sidewalk on their way to Alekos. They paused to check it out.

  “No. The Jam Station? What’s it do, sell jam?”

  “Very funny. It’s a music venue. And it has open-mic nights. Here’s the schedule… um, yeah. Open mic every Wednesday night. Me, Tyrone, and some other theater buds used to go last year and sing stuff.”

  “Wish I coulda heard that.” Will strolled on, and Eric followed.

  “You hear me every day, roomie, singing in the bathroom.”

  “Yep. And you sound awesome… for bathroom singing.” Will ducked Eric’s swat. “No, seriously. I mean, I saw you in Rent.”

  “You did?”

  “Uh-huh. And In the Heights and Les Miz. Your voice is insane, dude.”

  “Stop.” Eric preened a little as he opened the door to the coffee shop. “Behold. Alekos!” he proclaimed with a sweep of his arm.

  Will checked out the worn booths and over-the-top fixtures straight out of the 1970s. “Rad.”

  “You sound underwhelmed, but I assure you they have mediocre coffee and passable breakfasts.”

  “Cool.”

  Once they were seated, Eric leaned forward. He’d steered them past The Jam Station for a reason. He remembered how shocked he’d been when Will told him he was an economics major. “But why?” he’d asked, horrified.

  Will had given his lopsided smile. “Not everyone can be a star like you, Eric. Some of us need a day job.”

  Eric thought that was ridiculous. Every time Will sang, Eric was more convinced that Will should be a fulltime musician when they graduated.

  “Hey, back to The Jam Station. I think you should do one of their open mics.”

  “Oh, yeah?”

  “Yeah. I love your music. It’s so cool you compose--there’s no way I could do that. And your voice is so mellow. You’re megatalented.”

  “Please,” Will scoffed. He made a show of studying the menu.

  “I mean it! You—” The waitress approached to take their orders, but once she left, he touched Will’s hand to get his attention. “Like I said, you’re so talented that I think you should do something more than play in our room—not that I mind having a private concert.” Oops. His voice had dropped seductively, and there he went, flirting with his straight roomie again. Time to reel it back in. “So,” he finished briskly, “what do you say? Open mic next Wednesday?”

  “I… I’ll think about it.”

  “Great!”

  “So what’re you doing the rest of the day? Are you and Jerry getting together?”

  “Nope.” Hmm. He had to work on sounding more like a boyfriend. “Um… that is, probably not. He’s busy with some class project. Art majors, am I right?”

  “I guess.” The sun streamed through the window, and Will squinted. “Nice day. We should play some Frisbee when we get back.”

  Oy vey. Eric thought frantically of alternatives. “Maybe. But how about taking a drive?”

  “Where?”

  The waitress returned with their breakfasts, so Eric didn’t need to come up with an instant answer. He swallowed down a big bite and then straightened up as an idea struck him.

  “I know. Skyline Drive! You ever been there during the fall to see the leaves?”

  “The leaves? Dude.”

  “I mean it. They’re at their peak in October. Virginia’s fall leaves are legendary—much better than Georgia’s.” He ignored Will’s disbelieving laugh. “And Skyline Drive is beautiful this time of year.”

  A HALF hour later, they were in a long line of cars on I-66, crawling along at fifteen miles an hour.

  “Beautiful leaves, dude.”

  “Come on. You know Northern Virginia traffic. Wait till we get out to the country.”

  “If we ever do. That’s one thing I miss about the hick town I grew up in—no traffic.”

  Someone cut in front of them, and Eric resisted honking. DC area drivers were obnoxious enough. “Is that the only thing you miss?”

  “Pretty much. Well, and the woods and streams and stuff. I used to go hiking and camping out. Boy Scouts, man.”

  “Wow, Boy Scouts? I mean, talk about homophobes.” When Will didn’t reply, Eric said, “But if it was good for you, then okay.”

  “Yeah. They’re fucking homophobes. Kinda glad I didn’t know that when I was ten. Being in Boy Scouts was good for me. It got me out of the house and around some adults who had their shit together.”

  Eric remembered what Will had said about his parents drinking and fighting. It sucked that Will had to grow up in that environment. He impulsively put his hand over Will’s for a moment. “I’m glad you had something you loved.”

  “Uh, yeah.” Will’s voice sounded hoarse. After a moment he said, “Let’s listen to some music.”

  “Cool. Go into Spotify on my phone. I’ve got all kinds of playlists.”

  Wil
l picked up Eric’s phone and scrolled through it. He laughed. “Dude. You have a playlist named Disco?”

  “Need you even ask?” The traffic thinned as they got beyond Gainesville, and the country landscape began to work its charm. “Woohoo, what a gorgeous day!” He shimmied in his seat. “Let’s listen to disco!”

  “Oh, all right. If you insist.”

  Eric’s pleasure skyrocketed when Will turned out to know all the words and sang along with him to Donna Summer and all the rest.

  An hour and much disco singing later, they reached Thornton Gap and the entrance to Skyline Drive. The trees, with their red, gold, and orange leaves, made a colorful tapestry above the Shenandoah Valley below. They got out and contemplated the vista in silence. A blue, cloudless sky housed the bright sun, and a hint of fall chill lent a crispness to the air.

  “Okay,” Will eventually said. “You’re right. Virginia leaves beat Georgia leaves.”

  “Yesss.” Eric pumped his fist and then gazed around, soaking up more of the beauty.

  “Are there trails?”

  “Oh, uh, I don’t know. Probably.”

  Will squinted across the parking lot. “That looks like a map over there.”

  They strolled over and considered the trail map posted on the wooden signboard. Eric’s heart sank. Three-hour hikes? “Hey, let’s hit the bathroom here and then get onto the actual Skyline Drive. This is the entrance. And there’s a cool lodge about a half hour away where we can get some food.”

  Will laughed. “You and your food. Didn’t we eat like two hours ago? How about we hike for a while here and then go? That way we’ll work up an appetite.”

  Eric resigned himself to his fate. “Sure. But not three hours, okay?”

  “Of course not. Twenty minutes max.”

  He followed Will down the hiking trail. It was like walking in a tunnel of trees—birds twittering, bright leaves swaying—and the peacefulness soothed his soul. Will was right. Hiking was rad.

  After ten minutes of walking, Will stopped and stooped down. “I’ve heard there’s fossils here.” He scrabbled in the dirt, pulled out what looked like a rock, and rubbed the surface. “Aha.” He held it out.