Guy Romance

by Greg (OR)

“Do I detect just a little bit of a mutual crush between the two of you?” Barb asked in a teasing and amused way.

Brian was sitting at the breakfast table that morning with his mother. It was the beginning of summer and they had just moved two weeks ago, and he had already met another guy his own age and they had hit it off really well. There was just this surprising good guy-chemistry between the two of them, and obviously it showed enough for his mom to be aware of this.

“A crush?” Brain blushed just a tiny bit. That sounded juvenile. Crush were something that you got when you were five of six, not when you were eighteen. Besides, it had implications.

“Neither of us are Gay,” he said quickly, worried that might be what his mother was thinking.

“Well, friends can have feelings for one another. Even romantic feelings,” she said carelessly.

“There’s nothing wrong with that. It doesn’t mean that you’re Gay or that it’ll make you Gay.”

“Oh,” Brain said.

“Sometimes it can just be nice for two friends to express their feelings in a romantic way. It doesn’t always have to be with a girl. That sort of thing can just be nice for a change,” she explained being entirely nonchalant about the matter.

“I … I don’t know,” Brain said self-consciously.

“Well, I wouldn’t be shocked if I saw they two of you kissing or something.”

Brian really blushed this time. “Geez!” was all he could manage.

His mother looked amused. They had never talked about anything like this before, about being homosexually indulgent. He knew that the Gay issue was a common topic these days, and more so was the fact that homosexuality just between friends was becoming even more common and was regarded as being perfectly normal.

Apparently his mother had no problem with this. If anything, she was even being encouraging of the idea.

Brian was embarrassed, though. He tried to imagine what it might be like to be romantic with Devon, and he was a little surprised to actually find the thought appealing. Of course he and Devon both knew that there was a friendly attraction between the two of them, even without saying as much. It showed in just the way that they looked at each other and smile at each other, and that they both felt a unspoken desire to be closer and, he supposed, more intimate.

Brian tried to imagine what it would be like to kiss Devon. To feel his lips against his own.

Would it feel strange? Or would it feel exciting? He suspected the latter. That it would probably feel quite nice doing that together.

"Like I said … you never know. Maybe Devon wouldn’t mind,” his mother said quite casually.

Brian grinned, still feeling self-conscious, but showing that he did sort of like the idea.

“I … I guess I’ll just have to see,” Brain said.

“Well, it could be very nice,” his mother said and she smiled at him.

Brian could only continue to grin over the thought that he might just not only have a friend, but a boyfriend. This was not an unappealing thought, to be sure.