My Brother's Best Friend - LGBT, boyXman

9

I idly switched on my computer, and almost as soon as it had loaded, a message popped up in the corner of my screen.

How did it go?

Ava…

I sighed wearily to myself, half-tempted to turn off the computer again and talk to her tomorrow instead.

Reluctantly, I opened my messenger programme and typed a reply.

Alright. It was fun.

What did you do?

Saw ‘War Horse’, then went for dinner.

Nice. He paid?

We split it.

Hm… he’s not much of a gentleman then.

I insisted, Ava. Again, I was tempted to turn the computer off.

So, what then? Juicy details, remember!

He kissed me… It was nice. Different to David.

How?

David was… urgent. Dale was slow and… It was nice.

So, you like him?

Yeah. He seems nice.

Good. Although I’m jealous now.

You’ll find someone.

Hm…

You will!

Ava didn’t reply for a while, but she didn’t log off.

I waited for her to return, sipping my tea and swaying my head to ‘I Would Do Anything For Love’.

God, I love Meat Loaf.

Hiya. Ava finally typed.

Hey… I’ve been thinking about telling Matt the truth.

About what?

Me, stupid. I’m thinking of telling him I’m gay.

I don’t see why you shouldn’t.

He might hate me.

I sighed to myself and rubbed my creased forehead.

I know he doesn’t much like gays. Not that he’s openly homophobic… He’s never had any reason to be in front of me. Although, given by the way he reacts when Graham Norton comes on the TV…

Well, Graham Norton’s a twat, so it’s understandable, whether he’s gay or not.

Seriously, what should I do?

Ava didn’t reply for a while.

Wait until David has a place of his own. Then, if it goes belly-up with Matt, you’ll have somewhere to go. In fact, hope it does go badly. Then you’ll end up living with a sex god.

I grinned to myself.

True. And if it weren’t for Dale, I’d jump at that chance.

So you really like about him then? It sounds like it.

I do, yeah. He’s really nice. I was laughing all night. Perhaps next week we could go out together on Wednesday, and you can get to know him.

Alright. Ask him and let me know.

I will. I’ve got to go now. Good night.

Night, Triss.

I logged off the messenger service, checked my emails quickly and shut down the computer.

I picked up my empty mug, took it down to the kitchen, and went into the living room.

Matt and David had moved from the cricket to a re-run of ‘Cold Feet’.

“Why’s he moved out?” Matt demanded suddenly, frowning at the TV.

“He had an affair, remember. She kicked him out two episodes ago.”

“Did she? I don’t remember that.”

David rolled his eyes at me as I sat down.

“I must have missed an episode or two,” Matt said decisively.

He seemed to realise I’d come into the room, because he grinned at me.

“I’ve been given three weeks holiday by my boss. Because of the late nights and weekends I’ve been working recently. I thought we could go away for a while. Spain, perhaps, or Portugal.”

I nodded happily.

“It’s my half-term in two weeks.”

“How long do you have off?”

“Two weeks.”

“I’ll book something for then, then. Where would you like to go?”

“Spain’s fine. Somewhere near the sea.”

“Would you like to come, Dave?” Matt asked suddenly, seeing David was looking a little sad.

David started to shake his head, when I impulsively added,

“Yeah, David. You should come.”

Obviously, my offer had absolutely nothing to do with seeing David in nothing but a pair of swimming trunks.

I just knew he would be alone if both Matt and I were away, and I didn’t want him to get lonely.

Just saying.

David stared at me for a long moment, before he nodded slowly.

“I guess I could do with getting away from things for a while,” he said. “I’ll pay half, if you like.”

Matt nodded agreeably.