Page 162 of Should the Sky Fall

“That’s beside the point!”

Cal sighs, realizing how disrespectful he’s being. ThisisEllis’ workplace.“Sorry.”

Ellis runs a hand over his face and spreads his arms. “Well, I’m here. Is everything okay? How did it go with Dawson yesterday?”

“We had sex.”

Ellis stares at him. “Uh…okay. I was kinda hoping you’d talk it out first.”

“We did. Twice, actually. This morning too.”

“And? All good?”

Not really, but he promised Dawson. “All good.”

“I’m happy to hear that.” A small smile flashes across Ellis’ lips before the corners turn down. “What do you need from me? Came to rip me a new one?”

Cal shakes his head. “I need to talk to someone who knew me before. To…understand why I did what I did. What kind of person I was.” At least now his erection is sufficiently killed. He was wondering how he’d get out of the office without alerting everyone to his situation.

“My lunch break isn’t long enough for that but…sure. I can do that.” Ellis levels him with a look. “If you promise me not to beat yourself up about what you learn.”

That sounds delightful. “I’ll do my best. I promised Dawson.”

“Good.” He nods towards Cal’s phone on the desk. “I’ll probably regret asking this, but what’s with the porn?”

Cal heaves a sigh. “Yesterday was amazing. I’m just not sure I did it right.”

“It’s pretty easy to tell if you did it right or not.”

Is it? If Ellis thinks it’s easy, maybe he can tell him what to do. “Could you teach me?”

“Teach you what?”

“How to have sex.”

Ellis takes a staggering step back. He closes his eyes, pulling a deep breath in. “There’s so much wrong with that sentence, especially when spoken to your brother.”

“But—”

“Let me make it clear that we each play for a different team. I sleep with women. Dawson very much isn’t a woman.”

Cal thinks back on the videos he watched. “But the principle is the same. You still need to—”

“No.Hellno!” Ellis steps back until he’s pressed against the door. “I’m not talking to you about gay sex.”

“But—”

“Lalala, I can’t hear you!” Ellis screams, covering his ears.

Cal huffs. He’ll have to make do with the videos after all.

If he doesn’t count the few times Ellis visited him at the hospital, this is the first time Cal’s spent time with him, just the two of them. Under different circumstances, he would even enjoy it. Hopefully, after they get this conversation over with, that will be it. No more diving into the past, just as Dawson said.

Cal already knows the basics about his family and childhood from Dawson, but it’s different to hear it from someone who was there, someone he grew up with.

When Dawson told him about the tight ship Cal’s dad led and about his mom walking out when he was a kid, it left him rather cold. He didn’t know these people and couldn’t quite summon an appropriate reaction.

Listening to Ellis gets a reaction out of him alright, but only because he can tell how affected Ellis is by all that’s happened. Part of him almost wants to reach across the table and hold his hand, but he doesn’t think it would be appreciated.