Heteroflexible

Jimmy doesn’t even hear the words that come out of his own mouth sometimes, I swear. “Jimmy, every bar is a straight bar unless it isn’t.”

“It’ll give us a break from Spruce.”

“We’ve only been here barely five days!”

“That’s five days too many. C’mon. Let me take you. I wanna.”

I push away from the wall and start swimming for the other end, spreading the cool water with my hands. I hear Jimmy jump back into the water behind me, then swim after me.

“C’mon, Parker!” he shouts at my back. “Don’t make me beg!”

“Beg?” I throw over my shoulder, still swimming away. “To go to a gay bar with me?”

“There’s a million gay fish out there in that sea!”

I stop in the middle of the deep end and spin around, causing Jimmy to stop swimming at once. I’m nearly face-to-face with him now, only inches separating us.

“Is that all I am to you?” I ask him, kicking my feet lightly to stay afloat in the deeper end. “Entertainment?”

“I hooked up with probably five hundred girls since the start of school. You’ve had … one boyfriend? Two?”

Talking this close to Jimmy, one miscalculation of my kicking feet or arms could send my lips crashing right into his.

I sigh. “That gay bar has to be at least two hours out of town. Brookfield is fucking far, Jimmy.”

“So what? We’ll get a hotel room.”

Now he’s lost me. “Hotel room?”

“Yeah! Then we can hit up this gay bar and have a safe place to crash afterwards. And if you get lucky, well, then I can go get a second room or somethin’ and let you have some you-time.”

“You’ve got to be shittin’ me, Jimmy Strong.”

“Nope. No shittin’ is bein’ had.” Jimmy wiggles his eyebrows. “I told you I was gonna be your chauffeur this summer.”

I sigh and shake my head in disbelief. “And when, exactly, was your crazy ass expectin’ to take me into the jowls of Hell?”

“Oh, I dunno. This weekend, maybe? Friday?”

“And what if one of these lines I set out today actually bite?” I ask him. “I could be hired in a few days, or a few hours.”

“Or a few weeks,” mumbles Jimmy with a roll of his eyes.

“And if I’m hired, what if they want to go ahead and start me this weekend, right away? I can’t be out touring gay bars.”

Jimmy gets that obstinate look in his pretty brown eyes when I don’t give him what he wants. “Well, maybe you’re just makin’ up excuses not to go out and live a little. Just say yes, Bobby!”

“Jimmy …” I start, my voice hardening.

With sudden ninja speed, he jabs his claw-like fingers into my sides under the water, causing me to yelp out with half laughter and half surprise. I fight to get away from him, but the more I kick under the water, the more I seem to get trapped in his relentless finger-clawing, and before I know it, he has me against the edge of the pool, cornered and paralyzed with laughter by his ceaseless underwater tickling and jabbing.

“STOP THAT!” I finally manage to get enough voice to scream out between my forced laughs.

Jimmy stops and slaps his hands onto the edges of the pool on either side of me, his sparkly eyes bearing down on me. “So?”

“For fuck’s sake, Jimmy!” I’m still catching my breath from all the unfair tickling and laughter he tortured out of me.

“Knowing all your weaknesses comes in handy,” he points out. “Especially when I need to change your mind.”

He’s so close to me, pinning me against the edge of the pool with the walls of his arms on either side of me and his face inches in front of mine.

It’s unfair how much power this boy has over me.

I stare at him hard. “Jimmy …”

“Truth is,” he cuts me off, “you don’t really need a job. If it’s because of your tuition, I told you, I could easily cover us both. My mama fuckin’ adores the shit out of you. You’re practically her adopted son by now.”

I sigh. Not this again. “Your family is not payin’ a cent for my education, Jimmy Strong.”

“Is it the living arrangements? Our dorm?” Jimmy lifts a hand and gives a snap of his fingers. “I can cover that, too. Easy peasy.”

“Everything isn’t all ‘easy peasy’ for everyone else in the world. Not everyone gets their whole damned life and everything they want handed to them on a silver spoon!”

I know I got the saying mixed up.

I don’t care. I’m hotheaded and irritated at Jimmy’s flippant attitude with regard to my family’s finances. It isn’t too often that the difference in our upbringing and general privilege is brought into bright, piercing focus. But when it is, I realize how much of life’s luxuries he takes for granted.

Jimmy backs away from me in the water, an annoyed look on his face. Maybe I was a bit harsh with my words. Maybe not.