Page 189 - Some Dance to Remember

Some Dance to Remember 159

“Kick’s no bully.” Ryan lied. “We don’t have an S&M relationship.”
“Maybe not whips and chains,” Solly said, “but you’ve made him your
master and he’s made you his slave.” He raised his hands in surrender.
“End of sermonette.” Solly grinned. “Actually, the restaurant has proved
worthwhile. It’s safer to tell people difficult things in public. They control
themselves better. There’s less chance of a scene.”
“I’ll never say anything again. I thought you of all people...”
“I understand what I understand.” Solly rose up from the booth. “I
liked you better when you were depressed.”
“I thought you’d like me happy.”
“I want you really happy.”
“I am happy.”
“You’re porn happy.”
“Porn happy?”
“You’ve left reality behind. You’re living one of your porn fantasies.”
Ryan deflected Solly. “Ain’t it grand? Kick is the reason I came to
California.”
“You want your cake and to eat it too? Come on back. I’ve got two
cakes, you know.”
Ryan placed the tip on the table. “I’m not,—he said, “starry-eyed.”
“What you’re doing,” Solly said, “is the Vulcan Mind Meld. You’re
so starstruck you’re the movie Star Trek, and there’s no talking to you.”
They rode up the small elevator in silence. The manager of the build-
ing, angered by the obscenities scratched in the paint, had carpeted the
walls with a busy green print of indestructible indoor/outdoor nylon frizz.
Ryan felt claustrophobic.
“What kind of person,” he asked, “would glue carpet to the walls?”
“An old queen,” Solly said. “See what we have to look forward to?”
“No.” Ryan flatly denied his friend.
“Yes.” Solly was adamant. “You can pump iron every day; but one
morning, just as sure as you woke up gay one morning, you’ll wake up as
somebody’s auntie.”
“Screw your birthday blues.”
“Only if you’re lucky will you turn into somebody’s Auntie Mame.”
“I love you,” Ryan said, “when you’re crazy.”
“Then you’ll love me forever,” Solly said.
Ryan stared at his friend in the small elevator. He wondered if Solly
was still a safe person. Kick had always let Ryan know that he disap-
proved of Solly’s sleazy lifestyle. It was odd how much his two best friends
disliked each other. For years Solly had been Ryan’s steady haven. Ryan

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