Oliver opened his mouth, uncertain until he realized exactly what he intended to say.
"I came over to play with Connor and Jackson," he said.
David laughed in a friendly fashion. "Where are those scamps?"
It was the question he wasn't prepared for. Oliver shrugged his bony shoulders.
"What about their uncle?" When Oliver looked up, he noticed that David had folded his arms in front of him and had begun to look less amused.
"I dunno," Oliver chirped. He tried to sound like a real boy, unconcerned and casual. He released some nervous energy, attracting David's gaze to the silver ring, which looked too loose on a little four-year-old boy's finger.
"What's that?"
Oliver felt a thrill of giddy fear. He didn't want David's attention on the ring. "It's nothing," he chirped.
David frowned and held out a hand, palm up. "Let me see it."
To his surprise, Oliver felt himself pulling the ring off his finger and handing it, like an obedient little tyke, to the big man.
David held the ring to the light, examined it. It was definitely too big for a little boy's finger. "Where'd you get this?"
"It's mine," Oliver chirped, feeling breathless.
David shook his head. "This is not a little boy's ring," David said, sliding the ring into a pocket in his pants. Oliver started to ask for his property back, but David kept grilling him.
What's your name, kid?"
The question didn't sound exactly friendly. Oliver tried to think. He decided to use his middle name, which he hated. He hated the name so much he had never mentioned it to David.
"Wendell," he answered.
David looked somewhat smug as he glanced down with a disapproving expression. "Well, Wendell, do you always come into another person's house and run around in your underpants?"
Oliver had almost forgotten about standing in front of his adult boyfriend while wearing only a pair of Sesame Street briefs.
Without waiting for some excuse, David continued. "Where do you live, Wendell? Who are your parents?"
Oliver opened his mouth, but then closed it. David noticed the boy's sudden hesitancy.
It was all going wrong. Oliver needed to get back to his grown-up clothes and become his adult self again.
"Please, mister, can I have my ring back?"
David looked angry, but took a deep breath. "You cannot have it back. I don't know if you found it or took it, but it obviously doesn't belong to a boy your age."
Oliver felt trapped. He squirmed in the his Sesame Street undies.
He could tell the truth, with all the humiliating exposure that came with that revelation, or he could continue to spin his wheel and try to lie his way out of the jam.