*The following account is based on a true story*
***
"How about this? I'll make you a deal..."
Oh great, Tyler's "deals" were usually nonsensical scenarios where both sides of the deal completely benefited himself.
"If you let me have the good bedroom, I'll let you touch my dick."
What? Holy shit, where did that come from? He really was drunk. Okay, I had to play it cool. I choked on my drink mid-swig.
"WHAT?! ... How is that- why would I want- why would you-" I sputtered, attempted to clear my throat while I tried to pick one clear thought at a time. "Jesus, you are drunker than I thought. First of all, how is that at all a good deal for me? You get to sleep in the comfy room in MY cabin, and as a reward I get the privilege of touching your dick? Why would I even want to touch your dick?"
In my head: 'Yes! Deal! Take the comfy bed! Whip out your dick right now, please!' Of course, saying that was not an option. A best friendship, the only real friendship I had, hung in the balance. This was just one of Tyler's weird drunk jokes where the punchline was 'Wow, what are you, gay?'
I kept my tone light. "Someone really has to teach you how deals work. You offer something that benefits the other person, in order to get something that benefits you."
Tyler looked dumbfounded. It was a cute, innocent look that he had that secretly got to me every time. Truth be told, I had given in to many of his nonsense deals in the past. None of them, of course, had friendship altering consequences quite like this latest whooper.
"Uh huh, well this does benefit you!"
"How do you figure touching your dick benefits me?"
"Oh come on! You know you want to." He gave me an exaggerated knowing look that both excited and infuriated me in it's truthfulness. I tried my best to hide both of those reactions. "I know you want to touch my pee pee..." he teased.
"Okay first off, never call it your pee pee ever again."
A flashed a coy smirk at that. He was certainly acting pretty drunk. But we'd been going drink for drink and shot for shot all night. I was definitely feeling the effects, but I wouldn't say I was hammered or anything. We had both definitely drank a lot more than this in the past.
So then, what was with the super-drunk act? Was this all really just a ploy so that if I finally relented and said 'okay then whip it out!' he could laugh and call me a fag? Or... did he really want me touching his dick? Shit, did I even want him to want me to touch it? I mean, yes, of course I wanted to. But, what would it mean for our friendship? Was the feigning higher inebriation a way of denying accountability in the sober light of day tomorrow? Was saying "Wow we were way too drunk last night!" excuse enough for some kind of sexual shenanigans between two straight best friends? Granted, the excuse had been used before after nights of debauchery. Drunk prank calls to bosses and ex-girlfriends were one thing, even skinny dipping in the middle of the night hardly compared to what he was proposing.
Clearly I should ignore the proposal. Laugh it off, say 'nice try, homo.' Better yet, just change the subject completely. I really did value the friendship too much. I shouldn't jeopardize permanently making it weird. I had gone this long keeping my strange desires to myself.
"Second of all, I think you are cut off from the Tito's for the night. And what the fuck makes you think that you know I want to touch your dick?" Okay maybe I wasn't ready to drop it just yet.
"Oh come on! Matt, come on!... Really, Matthew... come on-" He made a show of chugging down the remains of his drink and setting the cup down on the couch next to him. "... Come on, like it isn't obvious."
I groaned and rolled my eyes. "No.. it isn't at all. You aren't making sense you fuckin' weirdo."
"Oh shh shh shhhh Matthew. It's okay. I know. I knooow you want it," he motioned to his own body with his hands, like a Price is Right model presenting a new car. "I know you want this..."
If I was taking another sip of my drink I would have choked again. Quick, I needed an appropriate reaction. My face, and what I said next, couldn't reveal what my mind was screaming- that he had hit the nail on the head, that he had read me spot on. Was it so obvious? I thought I had been playing the perfectly cool, totally hetero, not-sexually-attracted-to-him best bro ever part convincingly all these years.
"Haha dude what the fuck!? Like.. what the actual fuck are you talking about?" Okay, keep it cool. I didn't want to make myself sound too angry or too shocked. To try and deny it too fervently would be tantamount to admitting guilt. He who smelt it, dealt it, to put it in terms of farts. Which, why would anyone do that? Anyway, I went with amused confusion instead. At least that was the look I hoped I had on my face.
He gave me another one of those exaggerated knowing looks again. One that made me want to simultaneously punch him in the face and jump on him and tear his clothes off at the same time. "Seriously, bro. I see the way you look at me. The way you try to act like you aren't paying attention but at the same time stare too much any time I take my shirt off. I mean, I can't blame you, have you seen these muscles?" He said it jokingly, but with a cockiness that his dedication to the gym had afforded him.
"Wow, I knew you were full of yourself, but I didn't know you were actually delusional," I countered. "How many times do I have to tell you that everyone doesn't want you. Every dude that looks at you is not gay. Every guy that talks to you isn't hitting on you."
"Maybe, but I know you are."
This bizarro conversation still had an air of drunk jokiness to it, but not nearly as much as when it had first begun, and it was dissipating fast. It was being replaced fast by the feeling that I was being called out on years of bullshit that I was under the impression I had been expertly concealing.
"I mean, why else do you let me get away with all the shit I get away with? Why do you pay for most of the stuff we do? Why else would you want to hang out with me so much?" He continued.
"Dude, that is the strangest combination of cockiness and self-doubt I've ever heard. Uhhhm maybe because we are best friends? So you are saying you think you use your sex appeal to get me to do what you want? I pay for trips and stuff because of your gorgeous male body?"