"Spill it, girlfriend. Which one did you do?" Jay David epitomized the stereotypical gay man, from his effeminate gestures to his immaculate sense of style, to his insistence on being called by both of his given names.
Feigning innocence, Andi dropped her oversized Versace handbag onto the booth's bench as she slid in beside it and motioned for their server. "Whatever do you mean? Unsweetened tea, please, with lemon."
The server rushed to fulfill her wish just as every straight man she'd ever met had done. It got old after a while. Perhaps that's why she so enjoyed Jay David's company. With him, there was no subterfuge, no manipulation, and no expectation--just friendship, unwavering support, and plenty of laughter.
The first person she befriended upon relocating to Chicago seven years ago rolled his eyes and sighed. "Both. I should've known. You did them both, didn't you? Honey, you gotta stop fucking the opposition. It's not good for the home team. That loss was brutal. BRUTAL!"
Andi grinned and shrugged as she nodded her thanks to the server and stirred half a packet of artificial sweetener into her tea. "What can I say? I'm good for morale."
"You ain't kidding, sweetie. Those two set a team record for double plays yesterday. They were ON. And that dinger in the top of the sixth had your name written all over it. Six for fucking eight between them, Andi! Four runs scored!"
"Five."
"What?"
"I'll tell you later."
"You better! Anyway, I only wish you'd juice our boys that way."
They paused long enough to order lunch. "Uh uh. Too risky. That kind of thing has the potential to cause a lot of damage, y'know, both on the field and off. In fact," Andi sipped her tea as she capped the decision in her mind, "no more teammates for me--not concurrently, anyway--even if that means no more double headers."
Jay David placed his drink on the table, carefully dabbing the corners of his mouth as if he held a fine linen napkin instead of the popular brass-and-fern eatery's red paper variety. He took a deep breath, exhaled, and launched into a tirade that stunned Andi with its vehemence.
"How dare you so casually dismiss a scenario I've been fantasizing about since my teen years? Do you have any idea how sexually arrogant you sound? Just where am I gonna get my vicarious thrills? Tell me that! I swear on my best butt plug..." He stopped upon realizing that his voice carried to the adjacent booths and continued in a much lower, but no less emphatic, tone. "I'm serious, Andi! I think anyone with a pulse would love to have the variety of your experiences--whether they admit it or not. Why would you voluntarily limit that?"
Andi raised an eyebrow. "Where did that come from? Did you get caught cybering again?" The expression on his face made a verbal response unnecessary. "Honey, you're the one limiting yourself by staying with someone who doesn't appreciate your hot, horny nature."
He held up his hands to stop the lecture, so Andi shifted gears. "I know just what you need. Both teams are on the road this coming weekend. That doesn't happen very often. Let's hit a day spa for the works--manicure, pedicure, facial, and massage--then go shoe shopping, then the latest chick flick, then dinner. My treat."
"On one condition," he cautioned as their soup and salad arrived.
Andi raised one perfectly-plucked eyebrow, a gesture that spoke much more than the proverbial picture's thousand words. She opened her mouth to add to the nonverbal response, but Jay David cut her off with a dismissive wave of his salad fork.
"Stop right there, hot pants. I know what you're going to say, and I really don't need to hear it again. My relationship with Sebastian is ... complicated." Complicated didn't begin to describe it, but in the years since Andi blew into the Windy City, it was Jay David's longest lasting relationship--that is, if she stitched their time together like a quilt, each patch lasting a couple months until their innate differences reached critical mass and drove them apart. A few days, maybe a week, would pass before their sexual chemistry pulled them back together, beginning the cycle anew.
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