of the men in line, Lance stopped to make his friend a martini. “Those girls have had too much already,” said Lance.
“Easy killer.” Eddie motioned for Lance to hold back on the gin. “I’m a lightweight compared to what I used to be. My judgment’s already off tonight.”
“You kidding me? Your judgment’s right on! Your friend is the catch of the day.”
“My friend will have a diet soda.” Eddie smiled in Stephen’s direction. “Seems decent. He just moved here. Appears levelheaded and reasonably sane.”
“Reasonably sane? That’s a rare find at this hour.” Lance handed the drinks across the bar. “It’s great to see you. You’re one of the few guys I miss when you don’t come around.”
“Thank you, Lance. You’ll be seeing more of me.” Taking the glasses, he added, “Karl was a damned fool to let you go.”
“You’re a kind soul for saying that but I was the fool to think I could domesticate the boy. That’s a job for someone with a much more forceful personality than mine. But yeah, he’s a fool too. I’m quite a catch, ain’t I? Shit! Speaking of Casanova—” Lance pulled a brown paper bag from under the bar. “He left his sweatshirt here. You’ll see him before I will.”
Eddie grunted as he tucked the package under his arm. “Always picking up after Karl.”
“Embrace it. We exist to serve the gods. It’s our destiny!” Lance returned to his customers.
Eddie preferred the roof, not only for the music, but also because the patio lights and the moon allowed him a clearer look at Stephen than in the dim lights below. “Here’s your drink.”
“Thanks,” Stephen said as they leaned against the ledge. “You didn’t have to get me a gift.”
The comment threw Eddie until he remembered the paper bag. “This? My friend has a habit of leaving his clothes all over San Diego.”
“Here’s to good friends looking out for each other.” Stephen clinked his soda glass against Eddie’s and they sipped their beverages. Eddie maintained a semialert posture but he warmed to the new guy. Stephen had a dark—but not artificial—tan and big brown eyes. He wore the de rigueur faux-butch club outfit of tight T-shirt and jeans, but on him, they had the intended effect. With his masculine features and lean body, he fit into most gay men’s “desirable” category. Physically desirable men, though, were commonplace at WC’s on a Saturday night, especially after he’d had three strong martinis.
Stephen’s most alluring feature was his eyes. Eddie knew the look well. All the masquerading in the world couldn’t hide sadness from someone who shared it. Stephen had known real hurt and his big smile couldn’t cover the pain. “What brings you to San Diego?”
“Same as everybody. The sun, the ocean, the climate—and the men. I was a security guard in Baltimore when I had this revelation. I was newly single and one morning I woke up and said to myself, ‘I can do this same fuckin’ job someplace a hell of a lot nicer than Baltimore.’”
Eddie raised his martini glass. “Here’s to sky-high rents, low-paying dead-end jobs and perfect weather.” Stephen laughed as he touched his glass to Eddie’s. “Welcome to San Diego.”
“And to friendly men.” Stephen scanned the busy roof. “You know the bartender?”
“You interested in Lance? I’ll introduce you. He’s a great guy—smart too—has a goal of getting a Ph.D. in nuclear physics—or molecular biology, somethin’ brainy like that.” Eddie’s slight buzz was just enough to override his rule against divulging friends’ personal information.
“Really? He looks too sexy to be that intelligent.”
“He showed up about five years ago. I think I was on my second tour here—I mean it was the second time I worked in San Diego.” Eddie cursed inwardly for his slip. The distinction was that when civilians “toured,” they went on a tour, as in going on a tour of the Sistine Chapel while on vacation, as he and Ray had done years earlier. When they changed jobs, though, civilians “moved” or “relocated.” It was a stupid mistake and he should’ve known better.
If Stephen caught Eddie’s sudden word change, he didn’t let on. “I left Michigan at seventeen. Like a fucking idiot, I moved to Baltimore to live with a cousin. All the places in America, I had to move to goddamned Baltimore.”
Eddie liked laughing again. “Good old seventeen. We’re expected to make all these life-changing decisions at the very age when we’re least capable of making them.”
“Ain’t it ironic? What life-changing decision did you make at seventeen?”
Eddie had set a trap for himself. At seventeen he’d joined the Navy. Maybe it would be easier to trust Stephen with the truth than to continue the game. Loose lips sink ships. The mantra repeated itself in his mind and he decided the game was safer. “Ran away from home.”
“Where’d you run to?”
Eddie stared at Stephen for a moment to determine if he was nosy or genuinely interested. It was a thin line but he settled on the latter. “Florida for a while. Then Virginia. After that I went to Europe and then here—twice.” He omitted his stint in Japan because that would be a dead giveaway. Few Americans—and no African-Americans he knew—ever ran away to Japan.
“That’s a lot of running.”
“You’re right,” Eddie said, sipping his martini. “But this is home now.”
Several minutes of comfortable silence passed. “You haven’t said your name.”
“You never asked.”
“Didn’t want to pry.” Stephen’s smile was coy. “If you wanted me to know, you’d tell me.”
“That’s mighty polite of you. It’s Ed.” He chose the name he always gave new acquaintances. After Stephen spent time with his friends, Ed would become “Eddie.”
The music changed and the volume increased. Eddie scowled at a video screen when a dance-techno group played a song he didn’t like. “Thought we’d be away from this music here.”
Stephen moved in, his body touching Eddie’s. “Wanna go someplace where we can choose our own music?” he whispered. Eddie bristled. In the world of gay men, Stephen’s question always meant one thing and only one thing. Perhaps it was the same between men and women, but among gay men, it was gospel truth. Wanna go someplace translated directly to Let’s fuck.
“Stephen, you’re a very good-lookin’ man, I’m just not into anything sexual. Haven’t been for a while. Probably won’t be in the near future. Nothing to do with you. Back in my day, I woulda been all over you.”
“Back in your day’? You’re young.” Stephen rattled the ice in his empty soda glass. “I’m not looking for sex. I’m new in town. Just looking for friends, that’s all.”
“Uh-huh.” Eddie had heard this line before but judging from Stephen’s face, he was sincere or a great actor. He decided to violate his rule against bringing strangers home. “I’m ready to go and I don’t live far. You can follow me to my house if you’d like
