Between Boyfriends (36 page)

When Frank was off refilling our drinks, Lenny put his hand on my shoulder and said, “If you want to grow old together, treat him with respect and demand the same from him.”

I guessed that Lenny wished someone had given him that same advice when he was a younger man. I no longer viewed him as an old gay with a depressing future, but as a man who had lived a long life and was still trying to live it despite some hard knocks. Next week I would set Lenny up with the gay actor on
The Rich and the Powerful
who was a former chorus boy and Jerome Robbins’s one-time boyfriend. Sure, elders wanted respect, but they also wanted companionship.

Standing around the chocolate fountain with them, it seemed to me like all my friends had found both. Sebastian and Aiden. Gus and Gatsby. Flynn and Lucas. Me and Frank. That left Lindsay.

“I know what you’re thinking, Steven,” Lindsay chided. “And I am not wasting the best years of my life or the best bubble butt in all of Chelsea.”

“I know your ass isn’t being wasted.”

“It’s also not being shared by the public at large. My hole only serves one these days.”

How could people say homos weren’t romantic?

“You have a boyfriend?!”

“Keep it down. We’re on the down low.”

“You’re in a relationship and you’re not flaunting it? That’s not like you.”

“For the first time in my life, Steven, I’m thinking about someone other than me.”

The cold made my nipples erect, for hell had surely frozen over.

“Come again?”

“My boyfriend is a former child actor and he’s trying to make a comeback. He’ll know in a week or two if his movie deal goes through and if so we’re going to go public. Until then he doesn’t want his personal life to overshadow his work. He wants to get this job based on his worth as an actor, not because he’s tabloid-worthy.”

I was impressed. “It looks like we’re all growing up.”

I looked around the room at my friends and family, and life was as it should be, filled with hope, laughter, and smiles. Then, I took a good hard look at Frank and got a rush of happy adrenaline when I caught him looking at me first.

That was over two months ago. My life seemed to only get better. Frank liked me a lot. How did I know? He told me before I had to wonder.

“I thought of you at work today,” Frank said, as we lay in bed facing each other.

“You’re going to get caught jacking off in the bathroom one of these days.”

“Shut up. My boss said his favorite movie is
Caddyshack.
”

“I love that movie.”

“I know. I told him it makes you cry.”

“Bill Murray’s character is a very lonely man. Underneath the laughter is sadness, you know.”

“He said he’d never really thought of it that way. I said that’s what I like so much about you—you make me look at things differently.”

“And that’s what I like about you so much.”

“What?”

“You let me have my different point of view.”

“Promise me you’ll always be yourself. Always be a little neurotic and quirky and interested in seeing the world as you see it and not how everybody else thinks it should be seen. Promise me you’ll always just be yourself.”

“I’ve realized I can’t be anything
but
who I really am. I’ve tried and it just doesn’t work.”

“Good. Because I’ve fallen in love with the real Steven.”

“And I’ve fallen in love with the real Frank.”

There was nothing more to say so we kissed each other good night and fell asleep, two happy and contented homos who would wake up and work together to have another happy and contented day. Sometimes we would succeed, sometimes we would fail, but together we would wake up the next day and try again.

I don’t know if it’s that simple or if it’s really super complicated and we’re both being naïve and deluding ourselves that this is it—the rest-of-our-lives, long-term relationship we’ve both searched for. All I know is that my name is Steven Bartholomew Ferrante and my boyfriend’s name is Frank Anthony Gunnerson and we’ve been dating for three months, two weeks, and four days. We hope it’s the beginning of our very own happily ever after. Wish us luck.