Boyfriends with Girlfriends Read Online Free PDF Page A

stopped answering Lance’s calls—until after about the hundredth time, when Darrell finally told him, “Don’t call me again, okay?”
    It cut like a knife to see Darrell every day at school and be ignored. For weeks, Lance stumbled around with a hollow emptiness inside his chest, feeling as though his life was over; he might as well just lie down and die.
    “Brace yourself,” Allie told him one day in the hall. “I just heard Darrell is going with Fiona.”
    “He’s going out with a girl ?” Lance asked. He leaned back onto his locker in disbelief, unsure whether to feel hurt or angry or even more sorry for him. On one hand, he wanted to expose Darrell as a fake who liked to stick his tongue in another boy’s ear; on the other hand, he felt kind of sorry for Darrell, wanted to cradle him in his arms and tell him, “Dude, you don’t have to pretend. Just be yourself.”
    “What should I do?” he asked Allie.
    “I think you should just let the whole thing go,” she suggested.
    Gradually, Lance tried to date other guys. But it seemed as though they were either too young and immature, too old and bossy, didn’t have time for him, lived too far across the city, already had a relationship, weren’t into him, or only wanted sex. . . . Not that he had anything against sex. He liked sex—at least the little bit of it he’d had.
    “Is it me ?” he asked Allie. “Why is it so hard to find a guy to love? I’m seventeen already! I should have a boyfriend by now. I’m not a bad person, am I? What’s wrong with me?”
    “Nothing is wrong with you,” Allie reassured him. “Take it easy. You’ll find someone.”
    He hoped she was right. At least she’d always love him, even if nobody else ever did.
    The evening after meeting Sergio, Lance went online and surfed through his friends’ friend lists—the same way he’d initially found Sergio. But no one caught his attention and he returned to Sergio’s page.
    When he’d first read the page, he’d liked how out and open Sergio sounded, not caring what anybody thought of him—the total opposite of Darrell.
    Sergio’s page included a Helen keller quote : “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” That’s me, Sergio wrote, daring and dramatic, provocative and controversial. Hola!
    Okay, Lance now thought , so then why don’t you just admit you’re gay?
    On impulse, he picked up the phone to call him, but then stopped himself. He wasn’t ready to risk it.
    A little before noon on that Sunday after meeting Lance, Sergio woke up and checked his cell. It surprised him that Lance hadn’t called or texted. The dude had seemed so puppy-dog eager. He set the phone down and lay beneath the warm and toasty sheets, thinking about Lance’s yummy white skin speckled with freckles. . . . And within seconds he was into a full-blown fantasy, with Lance snuggled beside him.
    I hope I locked the door , Sergio thought.
    One time his mom had walked in on him solo-sexing. Whoops! Mortifying . That night she took his sister out shopping so his dad could give him the Talk.
    His old man had paced the living room carpet, jingling a pocket full of coins and clearing his throat—“ahem . . .”—while lecturing Sergio about the perils of girls and “canoodling.”
    What the hell kind of word is that ? Sergio wondered.
    Above all, his dad emphasized the importance of good hygiene—as if being extra clean was the most significant part of sex. And he never even broached the possibility that Sergio might be attracted to guys as well as girls.
    Since at least kindergarten, Sergio had liked both—playing “doctor” with the boy next door; kissing girls during Spin the Bottle; and smooching in the restroom with a kid named Peter.
    Guys and girls brought out different feelings in him. With boys, he liked the rough-and-tumble play, their earthy smells and no-nonsense talk, the fact that in so many ways they were the same as he was. With girls he liked everything the