Coda 02 -A to Z

and says, “Nobody can ever tell with him.” Matt just rolls his eyes.
    Zach and Jared are immediately like best fuckin’ buddies. They gab for ages ’bout the other festivals they been to and the bands they know from previous years. Matt smiles at me. “See, this is going to work out well. They can listen to the music, and we can get drunk and nap.”
    They live in a small mountain town, less than an hour away. Matt’s a cop. Of course. Might as well have it tattooed ’cross his fuckin’ forehead. It seems so obvious. Jared’s a teacher. I can tell Zach’s a little bit jealous of their relationship, ’cause it’s clear as day they’re crazy ’bout each other. Still, Matt doesn’t seem the type. He and Jared keep razzin’ each other ’bout football, of all things. “You’re the straightest queer I ever met,” I say to him, before I realize I’m goin’ to.
    He just shrugs, and Jared laughs. “It’s true Matt once suffered from a severe case of heterosexuality.”

    I can’t help but laugh too. “Really? Didn’t know there was cure for that.”
    “I wasn’t so sure myself, but apparently there is.” He turns and looks at Matt. “What was it, anyway?”
“Jealousy.”
Jared’s eyebrows go up. “Really?”
    Matt reaches over and grabs a handful of Jared’s hair, then leans over to touch his lips to Jared’s neck, just below his ear. First time I seen him touch Jared at all, and now he’s practically kissin’ his neck, right in the middle of all those people.
    “I saw him touching you just like this,” he says, “and I knew right then that I never wanted another man to touch you like that again.” He kisses him then and says, “Nobody but me.”
    Jared’s face is red with embarrassment, but he’s pleased too. “Cole never pulled my hair,” he says teasingly.

    Matt laughs and lets go of him. “I knew there was something wrong with that guy.”
    It works out just like Matt said. Zach and Jared spend the whole day plannin’ which bands to watch, goin’ back and forth between the two stages, comparin’ who they like and who they don’t. Matt reads a lot, and I doze in the sun. When one of us gets too bored, we wander ’round the festival together a while, then take food and beer back for Zach and Jared.
    Once, as we’re walkin’ ’round, I finally ask him the question I been dyin’ to ask. “You were straight before Jared?”

    His cheeks turn red, but he says, “Yes. Or at least, trying very hard to be.”

    “You really caught him with another guy? Let me guess—an ex-boyfriend?”
    He raises one eyebrow at me, and his mouth almost twitches into a smile. “Not exactly. Cole wasn’t an ex. More of a friend with benefits. A couple of months before that, on Jared’s birthday, of all days, I had a few beers and I came on to him. I didn’t really mean to. I know how stupid that sounds, but….” He shrugs. “Anyway, afterward, I freaked out and left. I didn’t see him for a while. But then I realized how much I missed him, so I went to see him. I was planning to give him this big let’s-just-be-friends speech.”
    “But this guy, Cole, was there?”
“Right.”
“So what happened?”
    “Nothing, really. Cole let me in. He was actually flirting with me. And Jared came out of the bathroom, all wet from the shower, wearing nothing but a pair of sweat pants. And all I could think about was what had been going on before I knocked on the door. And I wanted to kill them both. And I mean, really.” He smiles a little and looks at me in embarrassment. “I wanted to beat the shit out of Cole, who’s about your size. He probably weighs one-thirty with his boots on. And his boots are probably pink.” I laugh at that, and he does, too, a little, before goin’ on. “But I also knew I had no reason to be so pissed. And that really made me stop and think, you know? I realized that Jared and I could be ‘just friends’, but then he would have other lovers, and I wouldn’t be able to say a thing about it. And that just about sent me over the edge. Jealousy is a powerful thing, Angelo.”
    We get back to the blanket where Zach and Jared are and sit down. Zach looks over at Matt and says, “Jared said you hate it here.”
    Matt raises one eyebrow at him and says lightly, “Not all of it.”

    “What parts do you like?” Zach asks.

    “The food’s good,” he says, glancing at Jared, “and the nighttime entertainment.”

    ’Course Zach is one step behind.