About The Boyfriend Line

by Avery Zeno
25 pages / 5300 words
Ebook zipped file contains - html, lit, Adobe and Sony optimized pdf, prc, epub

David and Rafe are “friends with benefits,” but definitely not boyfriends. When David discovers he might have cancer, he doesn’t tell Rafe for fear that leaning on his friend would be pushing too close to the boyfriend line. When Rafe finds out, will David’s secrecy push them farther apart?

Sample

"Your oncologist called."

David was pretty sure that Rafe intended those words to sound casual, matter of fact. The rather pointed way Rafe continued to flip through a magazine made that clear. The words themselves, however, sounded more accusatory than off-hand.

"Yeah, his office caught me on my cell. No worries." He finished hanging up his jacket next to the front door, hoping against hope that would be the end of it.

"No worries?" Rafe echoed the words explosively. He threw the magazine he'd been pretending to read in the direction of the coffee table, though it landed, pages open, on the floor in front of the recliner. "We're not talking about a call from your dentist here. I'd say there are fucking worries when you're seeing a fucking cancer doctor!"

"Look, man..." David trailed off uncomfortably. What am I supposed to say here? I might have cancer, but crying on your shoulder about it doesn't really fit in with the whole "keeping things light" thing we've been doing?

They'd been friends and roommates for nearly two years. Over the past few months, they'd become lovers, as well, but Rafe had long made it clear that he wasn't looking for any sort of serious relationship. "Friends with benefits" was his proclaimed ideal, though David found it ironic that things they'd talked about easily when they were just friends -- the kind without benefits -- suddenly felt off-limits. A few months ago, David wouldn't have hesitated to tell Rafe about doctor appointments and being referred to an oncologist, but now, he just couldn't. He wanted to spill it all, wanted a shoulder to lean on, but asking that of Rafe seemed way too close to the boyfriend line.

Somehow, when David's grandmother had tried so hard for so many years to teach her grandson etiquette, she'd completely skipped the rules on how to stay away from the boyfriend line.