Acting Up by John Inman

Author:John Inman [Inman, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 978-1-63477-355-3
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2016-12-23T05:00:00+00:00

MUSIC PLAYED softly on Beth’s boom box. She would kill me for changing it from her favorite radio channel, but this was not the time for rockabilly, which she loved. It must have been a Missouri roots thing. Personally, I needed easy listening at the moment. Something to match my mood. Whatever that indefinable mood was. I wasn’t quite sure.

Beth’s thrift-shop sofa sucked, what with a bunch of loose springs poking up here and there, so Cory sat beside me on the floor in front of the coffee table in the living room. We were sipping quietly at our beers and watching Rosemary snarl and snap at Leonard, who was lounging in his new terrarium by the picture window, draped over his branch of driftwood and haughtily ignoring the dog.

I was at the point now where I could look at the boa constrictor without collapsing into a screaming fit of heebie-jeebies, but I still didn’t like the idea of sharing my living space with a snake. Ever since the matter of the disappearing rats, Cory didn’t let me know when it was Leonard’s feeding time or when he’d been rat shopping. I think he suspected I’d had something to do with their breakout, but he was kind enough not to mention it. I must say, though, I felt a little guilty about it now. Rats aren’t cheap. And it’s not like you can fetch a Quarter Pounder with cheese for a frigging boa constrictor, since they prefer their meals wiggling and with a pulse.

The windows were dark now. The sun down. Another night beginning. Cory sat beside me in sweat pants and a muscle shirt that, while fresh out of the laundry, looked like it had been strafed a few times by enemy gunfire at the Battle of the Bulge. The shirt might have been a rag, but it didn’t detract from Cory one little bit. He was still the handsomest man I had ever seen in my life.

“So no new girlfriends, huh?” I asked. I delivered the line like I was teasing, but deep down inside I really wanted to know. Just so I could eat my heart out with jealousy, I suppose.

There was the briefest flash of dimples. I had a horrible suspicion he knew exactly what I was thinking. “No, Malcolm. No new girlfriends. In fact, I think I’m through with girlfriends for a while.”

“Why’s that?” (Yes, it’s true. My nosiness knows no bounds. It’s shameless, really.)

Cory sipped his beer, dimples still flashing, a secret smile turning his lips up at the ends. “Maybe someday I’ll tell you.”

Julio Iglesias sang something romantic on the radio. Or he might have been singing about hemorrhoids. I don’t know. I don’t speak Spanish.

“How’s your mom?” he asked. “Any new boyfriends?”

I studied the ceiling for a minute, wondering if I should tell him about our visit.

“She has something in her head,” I said. “She imagines romance everywhere she looks. This time it centers on me. Crazy old bat.”

He laughed. “Then I hope she’s right,” he said.

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