The Last Wish - BoyxBoy

50. Does it really take so little?

Claudio grabbed him by the wrists. "Okay, calm down. Are you one hundred percent sure you've been gay for more than two years?"

"Yes, yes! I was in love with my deskmate in primary school! And... and then..." Suddenly everything came rushing back to him. "I remember once I jerked off with a picture of Brad Pitt that my mom had hung up in the storage room."

"Your mom had a..."

"Yeah, never mind. Anyway, yes. I'm sure. I've never been so sure of anything. Yesterday, when Simone told me he wished I'd become gay, at first, it confused me... You know, the coincidence of breaking up with Beatrice two days after the wish... and then I had my share of doubts about being straight. That's why I had that fling with Beatrice, I thought: maybe it's a phase, maybe if I kiss this beautiful girl, I'll become straight. You get it? I thought I'd become straight. Because I was already gay!"

Claudio nodded. "Well, if I gotta be honest, now that I think about it, one of the reasons I've never believed in all this crap is that I've always thought you were gay too. I mean... I wasn't sure, but I had my doubts... You know,it takes one to know one, right? No, I shouldn't be having this conversation with you, who are obviously clueless about the universe around you. But... you get the point."

"We need to tell Simone... maybe he can... he can..." Tiziano couldn't believe it. Could Simone make up for his wrongdoing?

"Hold on a second, don't get ahead of yourself. Because, think about it: even if this is true, it doesn't mean it happened the way you say, with the wish. Think about it: something must have happened after Simone made the wish. It had to work somehow. Maybe not the way you think."

"I don't think so," Tiziano felt certain. He began pacing frantically up and down the narrow hallway between the bed and the wall. "He wished for something that already was true! It's like if I wished, I don't know, I want Claudio to become as handsome as a Norse god, you're already as handsome as a Norse god. Pretend I didn't just give you the most embarrassing compliment ever. Okay, let's say, I want Claudio to become blonde. You're already blonde, okay? Why didn't I just say blonde?"

Claudio flashed a big smile but let the compliment slide. "Maybe I'd become even blonder," he said. "Like albino, or something."

Tiziano shook his head. "No, no... it either is or it isn't, right?" But he wasn't as convinced anymore, a doubt was starting to creep into his head. The doubt that it was all just a vain hope. But he continued reasoning: "Like, okay, I want Claudio to become a man! Or, I want Vic to become a woman. You already are! I was already gay, the wish didn't come true, because the wish didn't make sense. And..." Tiziano pressed his index finger to his forehead, illuminated by a sudden memory: "And that's why the enchanted phone is still sealed and indestructible. I threw it against the wall the other day, and it stayed intact. There's still magic inside. Maybe it senses Simone's proximity... if I say my spell words, nothing happens, but maybe if he tries..."

Claudio crossed his arms and clenched his jaw. "I don't know... I'm not convinced. How did Simone not notice he had another wish? Is it possible he never tried? With his watch, I mean."

"But don't you remember? He said his mom threw away the magic watch because she thought it was broken! He never got to try!"

Claudio pursed his lips and nodded. "But how do you know that saying something invalid doesn't still cancel the wish? I mean... doesn't the genie, or whatever you call it, interpret any phrase as a wish?"

Tiziano shook his head decisively. "No. I'm one hundred percent sure about that. When you say nonsense, the light on the screen goes out and you can start over. You can say an infinite number of idiotic sentences, I did it at the beginning, when I still didn't believe it. Magic word, light turns on, nonsense, light turns off. Magic word, light turns on, and so on. The interesting thing is that when you make the wish, the same thing happens: magic word, light turns on, wish, light turns off. Only, after the wish, when you say the magic word again, the color of the light changes. And after the last wish, the phone simply doesn't turn on anymore. But Simone doesn't know this, because he never got to try it with his watch. So you get it? I think there's a good chance that the genie interpreted Simone's wish as an unmeaning phrase."