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“Diego Gomez. He’s in my English class.”

“Ohhim. Yeah, he’s a confirmed asshole.”

“And I would’ve known that if I’d gone to school here.”

“That’s rough,” Omar said. He tried to imagine his first weeks as a freshman without having Anthony or even Dave and David around. He would have hated that. “You’ll settle in soon, I bet.”

“Here’s hoping.” Ricky went back to writing, a crease between his eyebrows now.

Omar sat on the love seat, hoping that would make him less fidgety. It didn’t. Instead he started thinking of all those pornos and wondered if Ricky would mind him waiting in the master bedroom while he worked. Although he wasn’t cool with the idea yesterday, so probably not. Still, just the idea…

“Hey,” Ricky said, “can you find the article about robots being used in hospitals? They mentioned overcoming the uncanny valley.”

“What was that again?” Omar asked as he reached for the magazines.

“It’s when robots look too lifelike and it freaks people out.”

“Oh yeah. Well, I wouldn’t mind ‘over coming’ an uncanny valley right about now.” He waggled his eyebrows for effect. “If you know what I mean.”

Ricky scrunched up his face in confusion before the joke landed and he laughed. “You wish.”

“I do.” His pulse picked up before he said, “One of those pornos your parents have is about nurses, right? Maybe we should watch it. You know… For research purposes.”

Ricky studied him a moment before he launched to his feet. Omar was right behind him. This time he waited on the bed while Ricky dug around in the closet. Before long, they were listening to a funky soundtrack while a nurse had a sultry conversation with her patient.

“Show me where it hurts,” she said breathily.

“Right here,” the patient responded, pointing to the lips beneath his handlebar mustache.

The nurse kissed him there. The patient pointed to another spot, and another, and it went on in this incredibly stupid manner until they finally got down to business.

Omar hooked a thumb under the waistband of his shorts. “Do you wanna… ?” he asked.

Ricky nodded eagerly, and soon it was just like the day before. Including all the times he caught Ricky peeking, but then, Omar did the same out of curiosity. It’s just that Ricky sure seemed to stare a whole lot more. Enough that Omar stopped pumping and looked him in the eye. “You’re missing the show,” he said pointedly.

Ricky quickly averted his gaze, but it came right back again. “Do you want to switch hands?” he asked.

“I always use my right,” Omar said, confused by the suggestion.

“That’s not what I mean.” Ricky swallowed. “It feels better when someone else does it for you.”

Omar waited for him to laugh, but it didn’t seem to be a joke. “I amnottouching another dude’s wiener,” he grumbled.

“That’s okay. I don’t mind.”

Ricky was still searching his eyes for an answer. Omar looked back to the screen. What a crazy fucking idea! And yet, as he watched the woman take care of the man in the same way… “Tell anyone and you’re dead,” Omar said before he leaned back on his elbows. He refused to look at anything but the television, especially when he got over the awkwardness and it started to feel really good. But that wasn’t the last of Ricky’s ideas. Not by far.

CHAPTER 6

September 9th, 1992

“How do you like your new school so far?”

Ricky considered his mother while chewing a mouthful of spaghetti. Ami had thick dark hair that framed her round face. She always looked cheerful, even when concentrating on important tasks, perhaps because of her prominent cheeks that were like two polished apples. She was warm in her approach, but practical in her actions. Normally he found this comforting. His mother would tell him what he needed to know rather than what would make him feel better. That had built a lot of trust over the years. Usually he was completely open with her, but there were some things he didn’t want her to find out. Like how he’d been snooping around in her closet recently and what that had led to.

“It’s fine,” he said after swallowing.

“That’s good,” Ami replied. “And how was your day?”