“No,” he says. “To get a girl.”
“A girl.”
“Yeah, the girl, in fact. You know who.”
“Wait. The nerdy one?”
“That’s the one.”
“Dude, I didn’t know you were serious about her.” Joel often mentions girls, but he’s never stuck to one for more than a night.
Then again, maybe it’s because he still hasn’t banged this one? Hell if I know.
“I… like her.”
A beat of silence as I digest his words. “Like her.”
“Like her, yeah. Why are you looking at me like that?”
Because my chest hurts. Because Joel is all I have, and he seems serious, and scenarios that only seemed hypothetical until a moment ago seem all too real now.
Of course one day he’ll find the perfect girl and leave. I knew that. I just didn’t expect it so soon.
“And what’s the problem?” I ask.
Joel’s mouth twists. It’s a firm, wide mouth, and I should stop staring at it. Dammit, I used to have more control than that.
“You know how to get girls,” I go on. “Chat her up, take her out for drinks, go to the movies. What’s the problem? She’s nerdy, and deep inside you’re nerdy, too.”
“I know.” He’s glaring at me like I’m an idiot. “Talking to her isn’t the problem.”
“Then what, fucking her?”
He winces again. “Shut up.”
Wait a sec… “Fucking her is an issue?”
He slumps back, pinches the bridge of his nose. “No.”
“Then what? Can’t get it up?”
“Sure I can.”
“Then?”
“I can’t… come.”
This time silence settles over us like one of Godzilla’s claws.
I swallow hard. “You’re joking.”
“Fuck you, Jet. I’m fucking serious here.”
“You can’t come?” He nods, but I still can’t believe it. “Is this a joke? Is it April Fools’?”
“Jet, it’s July.” He’s staring down at his hands in his lap, after dropping this mega-bomb on me, before I’ve even finished my coffee or had any breakfast, and he expects me to… what?
Make him come?