Coda 02 -A to Z

“You mean you like the headliners?” he asks.

    Matt looks over at him, crinkling his eyes at him like maybe he’s gonna laugh. “No, that’s not what I mean.”

    I’m laughin’ my ass off, and I’m not sure who blushes more, Jared or Zach.
    That night Matt and I leave Jared and Zach at the show while we walk into town to eat. Food at the festival’s good, but it gets old sittin’ on the ground all the time. We end up talkin’ ’bout all kinds of things while we eat, and before I know it, I’m tellin’ him ’bout my parents. Somethin’ I hate to talk ’bout, and now I’ve told two people in one summer.
    Matt surprises me, though. He doesn’t give me that look I hate seein’ so much. He just shakes his head and says, “Some people shouldn’t be parents.” I can tell by the way he says it that he’s not just talkin’ ’bout mine. Somehow, after that, I know we’re gonna be friends. Not just hangin’-out-together kind of friends but really, truly understandin’ each other. It’s a new feelin’ for me. Even Zach doesn’t quite get it. Not like that.
    We spend Sunday with them too. That afternoon, Matt and Zach start talkin’ ’bout A to Z. “It’s doomed, really,” Zach says. “Little stores like mine are being driven out of business by the big corporations. There’s one on every corner.”
    “Not on ours,” Matt says. “We don’t have a movie rental place in Coda.”
    “Really?”
“Really. I wish we did.”
“Maybe I should move there,” Zach says jokingly.
    “Maybe you should,” Matt says back, not quite jokin’. “We even have a location for you.”

    He looks at Jared, and Jared nods. “That’s true. My family used to own a hardware store. It’s closed now. But we still have the building. It’s just sitting there.”

    Zach just laughs. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Zach…
    I T WAS great spending the weekend with Jared and Matt. Jared and I had a lot in common. We were about the same age and had both grown up in Colorado. Both came out in college and were lucky enough to have families who took it well. We were also both surprised at the sudden easy friendship between Matt and Angelo. It was like Matt had just been waiting to adopt a little brother, and Ang was the lucky winner. I wouldn’t have expected Angelo to so readily fill the role. Still, it seemed to work for both of them, and I knew they both had more fun at the festival than they would have otherwise.
    We all stayed long enough to see Ellis play on Sunday, and then it was time to go home. Angelo and Matt exchanged numbers, agreed that they would call if either was ever “in the area,” and that was it. Angelo and I got into my car and headed back to Denver. Angelo was talking a mile a minute. I could tell he was glad he had come.
    We were halfway home when he hit me with the question I’d been waiting for all weekend.
    “What happened with Tom? He just flake out or what?” “I told him my sister was coming.”
    Of course that confused him. “Lauren? Thought she lived in Chicago.”
    “She does.” I stopped for a minute. I had known this conversation would happen, but I hadn’t really ever decided how much to tell Angelo. Now that the moment was upon me, I decided to just tell him everything. “I thought about what you said, Ang. And I started to wonder if you were right. So I decided to find out if he was coming to spend time with me or just to get laid.”
    “And?”

    “And he obviously didn’t want to come if he wasn’t getting any. So that answered my question.”

    “Shit, Zach, I’m sorry.” And even though I knew he hated Tom, I could tell that he felt bad for me.
    “It’s okay.” What I really didn’t understand about the whole thing was why he had ever tried to pretend like we were a couple. He could have just been up front about wanting a fuck buddy, and I probably would have been fine with that. Then again he had never really done anything for me in bed either. Sure he turned me on, but he wasn’t exactly a generous lover. It was always me pleasing him, possibly pleasing myself at the same time. In the end I didn’t think the sex with him was worth my pride.
    “So what happened? Did you tell him to go fuck himself?”
    “Not exactly.” I didn’t miss the look of disapproval on his face. “I just didn’t have a chance,” I said defensively, “that’s all. He called to cancel for this weekend, just like I knew he would. I let it go at that.”
    “So you