FicWad

Week 38

As soon as Nick had opened the door Kelly pushed her way in, eyes drooping, and purposefully grumbling loud enough to be heard.

“This better be good. I have to work tomorrow,” Kelly said.

“We all do, and we all have to get up early,” Nick said, “At least you’ll get a comfortable chair to sit in tomorrow.”

“Yeah, but if it’s too comfortable I’ll fall asleep,” Kelly said, “I mean, how many times have you fallen asleep over a hot dishwasher?”

“Four-why?”

Kelly grumbled a bit louder and threw herself down on the couch, next to Steve. Nick pulled up a chair and faced them.

“Still, I swear, Steve, if this is just you trying to get us help you out with another Sleep-With-Gia ploy-I will break your face,” she said.

“Good evening to you too.”

Kelly gave a sarcastic smile, “Thanks.”

“You don’t need to worry,” Nick explained, “Steve’s seen something that I think’s going to hurt Gia, and hurt her bad.”

“I saw Mark walking into that gay pick-up joint Nick showed me,” Steve said, “She’s cheating on her with men.”

“Hey-we don’t know that,” Nick said, “He might not have done the plunge, just investigating, that’s all.”

“Oh come on, Nick. No guy would be comfortable going into a place where men have sex unless they were kinda hoping they could join in,” Steve said, looking at Kelly, “Well, aren’t you going to accuse me of lying? Nick did.”

“No,” Kelly said, thinking it over, “Actually, it kinda makes sense. I thought there was something strange about him. I mean, Kelly told me he was always afraid Gia was going to run off with someone.”

“That’s just low self esteem-doesn’t mean anything else,” Nick argued.

“But he was afraid she was going to run off not just guys like Steve, but me! Now, how many people would see women as potential threats to a relationship?” Kelly asked.

“Hell, a few of the relationships I’ve had, having an extra girl would have been perfect,” Steve said, “And there’s something else though, I just realised. He didn’t much convincing when we told him you were a lesbian.”

“More than that,” Kelly added, “I didn’t originally try to convince him at all that you were gay. He just presumed you were, based on words that aren’t very misinterpretable. And he was so happy to see a gay couple, so he was going to go over and congratulate you.”

“Means absolutely nothing,” Nick said.

“Gia told me that when they went out, Mark again presumed I was a lesbian just because Gia said I hated men,” Kelly said, looking smug.

“Yeah,” Nick said, a smile spreading, “I actually think that’s a good leap of logic. Going from hating men to lesbian-not that big a stretch of believability.”

“And then, of course, he told me how he loved having dinner parties. I’ve never met a straight guy who enjoyed that.”

“No straight guy would,” Steve added.

Nick’s brow clenched, “Fuck you, fuck you both. And think about this next time you want to score good food, Steve.”

“Why are you being so critical, man?” Steve asked, “You know what I saw, that should be all that there is to it. Why are you trying to convince us that Mark isn’t repressing something?”

“Because I’ve known Gia since school, and she’s always been lead along by really bad guys. Guys who’ll dump her as soon as something better comes along, or use her like old meat. Or worst still, one guy who, just before breaking up with her, convinced her friends that Gia had said stuff about them to him. Lost her boyfriend and most of her friends in one weekend,” Nick explained, “So, I see her with Mark, and he seems like a nice guy. A bit weird, but nice. And guess what, she’s happy, and she’s being treated nicely. So I’m pretty reluctant to tear this happiness all down on her if it turns out we’ve totally got no idea what’s going on.”

“So,” Nick concluded, “Let’s just see what you’ve got so far before we decide to do anything.”

“Well, he’s jealous of other people, male and female in her life, which suggests-“ Kelly began.

“Thank you, Kelly, I did the psych degree, let me finally get some value out of it,” Nick said, “People who are afraid their partner will run off with someone are often cheating on their partner to begin with, and so the jealousy is their fear that their partner will do it too.”

“Exactly!” Kelly said.

“But it could also be just severe self esteem issues, or a strong desire for control. Not nice habits, but still, no proof that he’s having it off in pick-up joints.”

“Well, there’s the facts he’s quick to judge people as gay,” Steve says.

“Which could mean he’s basing his interpretation of everyone on himself, which is normal. Or, alternatively, he’s just got a really off gaydar,” Nick said, “We’ve got nothing to convince me we should risk wrecking Gia’s relationship,”

“Well…” Kelly said, shyly, “It’s pretty wrecked already.”

Nick raised an eyebrow, “Go on.”

Kelly groaned, “Gia will hate me for telling you guys this, but she was telling me that…there’s nothing happening. No physical stuff.”

“Nothing? Nothing at all?” Steve asked, shocked.

“Well, a kiss on the cheek occasionally, but nothing more that you’d give a baby. To get him to touch her in an intimate way, even slightly-she told me it’s a lot of hard work, not worth the effort.”

Steve smiled, “Oh, I don’t know. If the end product is pretty good, no amount of work isn’t worth the effort.”

“But that’s the thing-a kiss is as far as it goes. And even then she has to take him by surprise,” Kelly said, “So, he’s a guy really uncomfortable with sex and stuff-that convince you, Nick?”

“Not really,” Nick said, “That could just as easily apply to me.”

“Well, Gia and I have been thinking about dropping the words ‘coming out’ and ‘closet’ as often as possible when we talk to you…”

“But,” Nick said, a bit louder to ignore Kelly, “But we need to tell her something. Just what Steve saw, and none of this other crap we talked about. Then she can ask what’s going on, and find out the truth.”

“Good. Great,” Steve said, “I’ll tell her.”

“What? You’ve gotta be joking!” Kelly yelled.

“I’m the one who saw him.”

“You’re also the one who’s been trying to get into her pants over the last two weeks,” Kelly said, “I’ll go. She’s more likely to believe it if it came from me.”

“But, you don’t know the details as well as I do!”

“What details?” Nick asked, “You saw Mark outside gay bar tonight. I think Kelly can memorise that much at least. Kelly can tell her what you saw in an unbiased, friendly way. If you come up she’ll just see you as trying anything to end her relationship.”

“But…but…” Steve stuttered, then mumbled, “I want to help her.”

“You’ve helped enough,” Kelly said, “Now the best thing you can do is go home, and let me tell Gia tomorrow.”