Elroy sent him a glance and shrugged. Kyle stood on the other side of the room, getting glasses he'd pilfered from a restaurant. "What? I'm not doing anything." He tried to sound shocked.
"You're taking off your pants," Kyle said.
"I'm just getting comfortable," Elroy said. "I like to be naked."
Kyle crossed the room with two glasses and he sat down on the floor next to his bed. "I thought we were going to hang out tonight and talk so we could get to know each other better. That's what you said."
Elroy rolled his eyes. The guys seemed obsessed with talking. "I can't talk naked?"
Kyle opened the bottle of Southern Comfort and said, "You can talk with your pants on. Pull up your zipper."
"Stop being such a Boy Scout."
"Pull up your zipper."
"But that's no fun," Elroy said. He'd never met such an uptight prissy queen in his life. "And it's uncomfortable. My nuts get all smashed in jeans. They need to breathe."
"Sit down and stop complaining," Kyle said. "I'm wearing my pants and I'm perfectly comfortable."
Elroy knew he wouldn't win this time. If he continued to pursue the issue Kyle would storm out and leave him alone. Elroy had been invited to a party that night but he didn't feel like going. So he pulled up his zipper and adjusted his balls. Then he sat down on the floor across from Kyle and folded his legs. He'd never seen Kyle drunk; he figured after a few drinks they'd wind up naked anyway and he would get exactly what he wanted.
Kyle lit a small candle and he talked about how difficult it had been to get into Harvard. He leaned back against the bed and sighed aloud. "It wasn't easy to get a scholarship. My mom and dad divorced when I was two years old. Then my dad died a year later, which made the divorce a complete waste of time … one of those ultimate ironies in life. When I was thirteen, she remarried a guy named Oscar who has a son, Jeremy, who is a few years older than I am. Oscar works in construction and Jeremy was like the all-around high school jock. My mom thought we'd be the perfect family. My stepdad wanted both Jeremy and me to join his construction business after high school and I wanted to go to college. They told me they were not going to pay tuition and that if I wanted to go to community college I would have to pay for it myself. So I started researching scholarships early and I found out there were ways to get into schools like Harvard if I worked hard enough."
Though Elroy had never had to work hard for anything in his life, he pretended to understand. "I'll bet they were shocked when you told them you were going to Harvard."
Kyle poured another drink and said, "I was the one who was shocked. They laughed at me. They said Jeremy was already making 'good money' in construction and that I was wasting my time. They said I'd wind up in construction eventually, only I'd have a degree from Harvard instead of just a high school diploma."
Elroy chose his words with care. "I'm sorry. But I just don't see you doing manual labor of any kind. I don't mean that as an insult either. You don't seem cut out for it." He didn't want to say it aloud, but he knew deep down Kyle was the soft, submissive, bottom type.
Kyle laughed. "You're right. I wouldn't know a hammer from screwdriver, and I couldn't care less."
They talked more about Kyle's family and how backward they were when it came to education. Kyle told him a story about how he'd been scheduled to receive and academic award on the same day his stepbrother Jeremy was playing football. Both Kyle's mom and stepdad opted to go to the football game and Kyle went to the award ceremony alone.
Elroy finished his drink and poured another. He felt lightheaded by then and he'd begun to slur his words. "That sucks, man."
Kyle shrugged. "I was used to it by then. Jeremy had always been the perfect one, the golden boy. He even looks like the actor Ryan Reynolds, but better. He's a darker version, and rougher looking."
"No one is perfect," Elroy said. He smiled. "Not even me, and I'm about as close to perfect as a guy gets."
Kyle let that remark pass and squared his back. "Oh, you don't know. Compared to me, Jeremy is perfect. He's what they always wanted: a son with a good job in construction, a pretty blond wife, two kids, and a brand-new pick-up truck. I'm gay, I'm not sure where my life is going, and I don't even own a car."
"They know you're gay?" Elroy said.
"I came out in my senior year," Kyle said. "I decided I might as well tell them. Get it over with sooner rather than later."
"How did they take it?"
"My mom cried and my stepdad walked out of the room. He's never mentioned it again since that day, not once. After that day, it felt like he put up an invisible wall between us. He's polite. He says hello and goodbye. But that's about it."