Marie Sexton - Coda 03 - The Letter Z Read Online Free PDF Page B

think he was just European.”
     
Zach and I looked at each other again, and Zach laughed. “So a nice coat or a funny hat means either gay, or European?” he asked.
    “Yeah man,” Angelo said sarcastically. “Which makes all four of us straight as fuckin’ rulers. Who’s ready to hit the strip clubs with me?”
I actually wouldn’t have objected to a strip club, but I knew Ang was joking, and Jared and Zach probably weren’t interested, so I kept my mouth shut.
“What about those two?” I asked, gesturing toward two more men walking together. “Gay, or European?”
    Zach watched them walk past, then said, “European.”
“Gay,” Angelo and Jared said in unison.
“How do you know?” I asked.
    Angelo and Jared looked at each other, trying to decide who would answer. It ended up being Jared. “They were each carrying more than three shopping bags,” he said, “and not one of them was from Victoria’s Secret.”
    “Maybe they were buying gifts for their moms,” I said. Jared laughed. “Yeah, right. How often do you do that?” He had a point there, so I didn’t answer.
“Okay,” Zach said a minute later. He gestured at two more men who were walking past us. “Gay, or European?”
    “Gay,” I said.
“European,” Angelo said to me over his shoulder.
“How do you know?”
“They were speakin’ French!”
“Okay,” Zach said to me, smiling. “I suppose that should have tipped us off.”
     
“Aren’t you supposed to have some kind of sixth sense for this?” I asked him.
    Angelo snorted. “Zach’s gaydar sucks,” he said, before Zach had a chance to answer. “Worked with him for two weeks ’fore he figured out I was queer.”
That didn’t surprise me, but Jared obviously found it funny. “Are you serious?” he asked, glancing back at Zach.
    “How was I supposed to know?” Zach asked.
“I didn’t know either,” I said in Zach’s defense. Jared and Angelo glanced knowingly at each other and didn’t answer us. “Not until halfway through that first day at Folk Fest.”
“Yeah,” Angelo said over his shoulder. “That’s different.”
“So how did you know?” Zach asked Angelo.
Angelo looked back at him in surprise. “What, ’bout you bein’ queer?”
“Yeah.”
Angelo’s eyebrows went up. “You’re jokin’, right?” He looked again at Jared, and they both laughed.
Zach slowed down, and I slowed down with him so that Ang and Jared pulled ahead of us a few steps. “I’m trying to decide if I should be offended,” Zach said, low enough that only I heard him. I wasn’t sure what to tell him. Angelo and Jared were still walking. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they were both laughing, and I was pretty sure it was at us. On the bright side, they had at least found some basis for solidarity between them.
Zach walked along in silence next to me, looking at the floor. Angelo and Jared were slowly pulling out even further ahead of us. Angelo was still wide-eyed at everything he saw. I couldn’t hear him, but I could tell he was talking a mile a minute, and Jared obviously found it entertaining. “What about that guy?” I said to Zach, trying to cheer him up. I nodded toward a man walking past us. He was our age, and dressed nice, wearing slacks and one of those old-fashioned looking wool coats with the double row of buttons. “Gay, or European?” I asked.
Zach looked over at the guy, just as he looked at us, and to my surprise, they both stopped dead in their tracks.
“Jonathan,” Zach said.
Of course I had been expecting him to say “gay” or “European”, so I was a little confused. “What?” I asked stupidly.
“It’s Jonathan,” Zach said.
“ Zach? ” the guy with the fancy coat said in pleasant surprise. “Is that you?” He walked over to us, beaming. Zach looked like a deer caught in the headlights; he obviously couldn’t run, but couldn’t seem to get his shit together enough to answer either. It didn’t matter. The guy—Jonathan,