Boyfriends with Girlfriends Read Online Free Page A

instead, groggily hoping it was Sergio calling. Realizing it wasn’t, he shut off the alarm and lay thinking for a moment, recalling Sergio’s hunky pecs. . . .
    Maybe I’m making too much of the bi thing , he thought as he tumbled out of bed and shuffled toward the shower, taking his phone along—just in case.
    His dad made breakfast: turkey bacon and French toast. Lance squirted maple syrup into his glass of milk: his comfort bev.
    “Expecting a call, honey?” his mom asked, as he stared at his phone on the kitchen table.
    Lance shrugged, not wanting to go into it with her—even though his mom and dad were completely cool with him being gay.
    The first time the issue had come up, he’d been barely eight years old. A TV news story about commitment ceremonies showed a pair of guys in tuxes hugging and laughing as they cut a wedding cake topped with two little groom figurines.
    “When I grow up,” Lance had announced to his parents, “I want to marry a man.”
    His mom peered at him a moment, then turned to his dad.
    “Well”—his dad stared back at her—“I guess you were right.”
    “Right about what?” Lance asked.
    After an awkward silence, his dad told his mom, “This one is all yours. Go for it!”
    “Gee, thanks.” His mom smirked and turned to Lance. “Well, honey . . . Right about . . . that you might want to make a family with a man someday . . . And if that’s what you want, well . . . that’s okay. The important thing is Daddy and I love you very much. That’s all that matters.”
    Lance returned to watching the tuxedoed men on TV, not really understanding what had just happened, but feeling happy.
    With Allie, too, his coming out had been pretty much unnecessary. In grade school, they’d played Barbies at her house while they giggled about which boys in class were cutest.
    In middle school, when other boys traded drawings of girls’ boobs, Lance didn’t get the point. He loved to be with Allie, but he felt no desire to see her—or any other girl—naked.
    When classmates began to use words like homo and queer about people, Lance started to put all the pieces together. But he didn’t think it was a big deal until one day in seventh grade when a girl asked him point-blank, “Are you gay?”
    “Yeah, I guess.” It was his first time to admit it out loud.
    By day’s end, the entire school was buzzing with the news. Nobody really hassled him; people were mostly just curious. But since he’d never actually had sex with anybody, he didn’t have much to tell. Within a week, kids lost interest; he never really had to deal with any homophobes.
    High school brought a couple of small-time boyfriends, culminating with the Big One: Darrell Wright, a JV point guard that all the girls crushed on. So did Lance. But he never seriously imagined he stood a chance with him . . . until one afternoon.
    He was heading home from Drama Club, Darrell was leaving basketball practice, and they found themselves alone in the boys’ restroom.
    “So, like, is it true what people say about you?” Darrell asked.
    Lance braced himself, a little nervous. “Um, yeah.”
    Darrell glanced warily toward the door and whispered, “You want to come over?”
    When they got to his house, Darrell unloaded an avalanche of questions: How had Lance known he was gay? Did he think he could change? Did his parents suspect? Had he ever done anything with a guy?
    Lance answered everything honestly, although uncertain where all this was headed. Then Darrell turned silent, giving him an odd look of anticipation. A heartbeat later, they were feverishly running their hands all over each other—across shirts and down jeans. It was the closest Lance had ever come to sex. And just as suddenly, Darrell pulled away.
    “My parents are home!”
    Lance became aware of a car engine turning off outside, doors opening and closing.
    “Try not to act gay!” Darrell told him.
    “But I am gay,” Lance said in a low voice.
    “Just try!”