I found Doug coming down the stairs to
the second floor. In the instant before he
noticed me, he looked happier than I'd
ever seen him, but when he realized I
was there, his expression changed. He
still looked delighted, but there was some
other stuff there, too. And he looked
different for some reason.
"Hi Danny!" he said, clumping down the
rest of the stairs and putting his arm over
my shoulder. I cringed but didn't move
away . . . if he had just made peace with
Matthew, I didn't want to set him off again.
"Hi Doug." With him that close, I realized
what was different. He was wearing
glasses, which he never had before. They
didn't look that great on him . . . as if he
had made no effort to match the frames to
his features. But still, I said, "Nice
glasses."
"Oh thanks. I can't see a thing through
them," he confided significantly, fixing me
with a shit-eating grin.
"Oh well. Have you seen Matthew?"
If anything, his grin got wider. He began
fiddling with his glasses. "Oh yeah, I saw
him. We just had a great encounter."
What the hell did that mean? I shifted
slightly, hoping he'd move his arm off my
shoulders without me making a bigger
deal about it. He didn't.
"Uh, do you know where he is?"
More fiddling with his glasses. "Yes."
A long pause.
"WELL?"
Doug lowered the glasses on his nose
and looked at me over them. I got the
sense that he was seeing me clearly for
the first time. He really couldn't see well
through them. "Danny," he said, wagging
the glasses up and down on his nose, "I
want you to know that in the past few
minutes, Matthew and I have grown quite
close."
Fat chance. "That's real good, Doug. Do
you know where he is now?"
"I am very aware of that, yes."
"Are you going to TELL me?" I was getting
sick of this. Peace or not, I pointedly
shrugged his arm off my shoulder.
"I guess I could show you, if you really
want to know. Come on." Without another
word, he walked away, starting up the
stairs he had just descended. Angry with
myself for falling into whatever his game
was, I followed.
It was crowded upstairs. The entire
house was crowded. A stereo blasted.
Some of the bedroom doors were closed,
and the noises emerging from behind
them indicated that privacy wasn't of
paramount concern for the occupants.
Good god, I thought, is Matthew in there?
Is Doug acting so superior because he
knows my boyfriend is having sex with
someone else? I couldn't believe that
was true.
Doug ducked into a miraculously empty
bathroom and gestured for me to follow.
"I'm not going to the BATHROOM with you!
Where's Matthew?"
"In here. I promise." He flashed a strange
grin at me as I tentatively stepped
forward. Once I was inside, he closed the
door like a trap door spider and swung
around to face me, blocking the edit. His
glasses were once again perched at the
end of his nose as he stared at me over
them, and at that moment, I finally
realized what had been bothering me
about them . . .
They were Matthew's!