"That girl," Tyler said. "The one girl in the gang? You…you like her?"
Francis took a swig of coke and met his gaze. Tyler grinned. "Oh my God, you do like her."
"Am I that transparent?"
It was Tyler's turn to laugh while nodding. "Yeah."
Francis set his coke down and leaned back with a groan, rubbing his face.
"Oh my God." Tyler could hardly believe it. "You sound…really bad off."
"I am." Francis almost hid behind his hands. "I am…really bad off."
Tyler sat forward, excited to see him in the same condition as he was. Only there was sadness in his tone. "How bad off?"
"Extremely, extremely, bad, bad, off. Horrifically bad."
Tyler gasped once. "Wow. Did…something happen?"
Francis looked up then right for several seconds before whispering a reverent, "Yes."
Tyler grinned, shaking his head. "Oh my God. You…" He swiped his mouth, trying to remove the shit eating grin but it remained. He wanted to ask what happened, but they weren't a couple of teenage girls. They were teenage guys. What was the right thing to do? That was one thing Tyler didn't have knowledge in. What guys talk about when it came to girls, how far did you talk?
Francis stood and paced again. "I nearly did what men do."
Tyler followed his pacing while trying to figure out what that might mean to somebody like Francis. "What…men do?" Tyler decided to assume the best. "You mean sex?"
Francis spun and looked at him. "Very nearly." He nodded slowly. "I. Very nearly. Had. Sex. With. A…" Francis turned. "Not sex. And not a…" He turned back to Tyler, his red eyes brilliant and deeply troubled. He lowered his head. "Her. And made love, not sex." He shook his head, staring into space, seeming haunted. "She's the most…broken and beautiful angelic creature I have ever met." The final words were quiet, barely audible.
Tyler watched in awe as this man-being began to pace restlessly. He couldn't find words to speak. "What…I mean how far…or close did you get?"
Francis froze with his back to him.
"Sorry, that's none of my business."
"I kissed her. Everywhere."
Tyler's eyes widened. "Every…where? That's…that's it? That's a lot. Of…kissing."
Francis snorted, a sound of massive incredulity. "This wasn't just kissing. This was…" His head shook like his brain burned with the need to find the exact words. Tyler wanted to tell him there were no words for that stuff.
Francis looked at Tyler as though he finally figured that one out. "There are no words."
"I was…just thinking that."
"You've experienced this?" Francis rushed to sit and leaned close in rapt attention.
"Well…yeah, sort of."
"Then you know."
Tyler understood that emotion in Francis, the need to connect with somebody who understood something unexplainable. "Well…technically I've never…done anything but I still know."
Confusion drew his brows together. "How?"
Tyler shrugged. "You can have feelings for a girl without ever touching them. Just being around them. Near them. Hearing them. Seeing them."
Francis angled his head. "You said that last thing strangely."
Tyler jerked his eyes to Francis. He'd gotten lost in his mind, seeing Peggy. "Which part?"
"Seeing." Franics took up his soda, not letting his gaze stray from Tyler. He finally looked down at his can. "I'm sure if that's all I'd ever done with her, it would be…so tormenting. Now that I've tasted her, I can't imagine living without it. God, I don't even want to think about it."
Tyler nodded, knowing that torment now. "Yeah. I can imagine. So, she likes you? Like you like her?"
Francis let out a long and defeated sigh, and the way he sank into the chair wasn't a good sign. He sat forward then, elbows on knees, head lowered. "I'm not sure. She's…she's so mysterious and unpredictable. And yet I feel like I know exactly what she's feeling and thinking. And I can't stop myself from giving her everything she needs." He looked at Tyler. "She needs to be touched. And kissed. Held. Protected. She needs me to right all the wrongs, she needs me to be the hero she gave up on so many years ago, she needs…" Francis paused and lowered his gaze. "She needs me."
Tyler was moved. Really moved, as in inspired moved. The words called to things in Tyler, things he'd never felt before. Man things, he supposed. It was similar to when he got his first bow and arrow and was allowed to hunt. Alone. It was the same kind of feeling Francis provoked in him. And just like then, he was immediately addicted. It was one of those feelings that you knew was right, that you were supposed to feel, that you were destined to live. To become a man. To be a man. And now…to be a needed man.