Elroy smiled and asked, "What was that for? I thought you'd be mad at me for the rest of the way after what just happened."
Kyle sat back and said, "Don't get me wrong. I'm not at all thrilled with what you did. It was vulgar at best. But I think there's hope for you. I may or may not be the one to change you. But I do think there's hope."
This was new territory for Elroy. "I didn't think there was anything wrong with me. I didn't know I needed to be changed."
Kyle shrugged. "It's nothing serious. But you do have to work on a few small fundamental flaws. But I'm making progress."
"You make it sound like I'm an experiment or something," Elroy said. "I'm not sure I get that."
Kyle asked, "Are you bored now?"
"No, I'm not bored."
"That's interesting," Kyle said. "We've been talking for a long time and you said talking is boring earlier."
Elroy smiled. He had to learn to stop underestimating him. He reached for Kyle's hand and said, "I think I'll pull over now and let you drive. I'm getting a little tired. Do you mind?"
"I don't mind at all," Kyle said. "I enjoy driving. And you can put on your clothes."
"I think I'll stay naked for a while. I'll just climb over the seat when you get out. I'm comfortable. Maybe you could rub my stomach until I fall asleep."
Kyle squeezed his hand hard and flung him a look.
"Or I could put on my clothes," Elroy said. "God forbid I should be too comfortable."
Chapter Eighteen
The days between Thanksgiving weekend and Christmas passed so quickly that year Elroy found himself trying to figure out a way to get out of spending the holidays with his dreaded relatives sooner than he'd realized. He knew Kyle had to go home to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with his family. Kyle had already mentioned he couldn't get out of it no matter how hard he tried. Kyle's mom had made this clear to him the week after Thanksgiving. Though Kyle pretended to be independent, Elroy suspected the mother was the controlling type.
It hadn't been an easy time either. Lev Godwin had been forgiven and he'd started studying again with Kyle. This made Elroy wonder about Kyle's motivations. Kyle had stated he didn't trust Lev and never would be able to trust Lev after he found him in bed with Elroy's foot in his mouth. Yet he started studying with him again. Talk about mixed signals. When Elroy found out about this he punched the table beside his bed and said, "I thought you said you didn't want Lev Godwin around here anymore, Kyle." Kyle shrugged and said, "He's redeemed himself. He swore to me he'd never try anything sexual with me as long as he lived. I don't have a right to judge him or to make him a sexual suspect in his own life."
Although this didn't even make sense to Elroy, he had no choice but to grin and deal with it. Kyle could be stubborn that way. Elroy thought about ways to get rid of Lev Godwin again, ways that would make him look repulsive to Kyle. But nothing he came up with was as repulsive as what he'd already done, so he gave up on that concept quickly.
After the Thanksgiving trip to Palm Beach, Elroy had hoped he would reach another level with Kyle. To Elroy's surprise, he'd had a wonderful time and they didn't have sex once. They went to a few of Elroy's favorite restaurants, they spent long days on the beach, and they shopped at stores where Kyle's jaw dropped when he saw the price tags. Money meant nothing to Elroy. He told Kyle he could have anything he wanted. But Kyle always declined and said, "It wouldn't be right. But thank you for offering."
When they returned to Harvard, Elroy suggested they start sleeping in the same bed all the time. "We slept together in Florida every night. I've never slept better. We might as well sleep together here," was how he'd put it.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Kyle had said. "I think it might be too distracting for you. And I'm not ready to have sex with anyone right now. If I have sex with you, you'll just wind up getting bored and dumping me. I have too much respect for myself to let that happen."
Elroy laughed and made a joke of this. "I promise I'll respect you in the morning."
But Kyle didn't reply.
Then, as if all that business with Lev Godwin studying again with Kyle hadn't been enough, that pain in the ass Lev Godwin went out and got himself run over by a goddman truck on his way to lab one morning in December. He'd been planning to meet Kyle early so they could study together. He'd been rushing and he didn't look both ways twice. That idiot Lev stepped off the sidewalk, stopped to glance down at his watch in the middle of the street, and he was run over by an exterminator's van that had a huge brown cockroach festooned to the roof.