I had been separated - with intention to divorce - from my wife for a few months, and I was still bitter. I had been facebook messaging my old buddy, Marc, regularly. We both complained about our exes.
One night, while bitching about our exes again, Marc said that he would be in my city the following week for work. I suggested he could stay at my place, and we could get drunk and stoned like we used to back in our twenties. He offered to bring the weed.
When Marc arrived, we just picked up where we left off. I fried up a couple steaks, and poured glasses of wine; he started rolling joints. A few hours later we were really fucked up, just sitting on the couch shooting the shit.
He turned to me. "Dude, let's compare regrets. I'll start. I regret that I didn't negotiate a better deal in my divorce."
My turn. "I regret that I put up with Beth's shit for so long: I should have left her years ago."
He thought for a minute. "I regret that I didn't fuck more women before I got married."
I raised my glass. "Good one! Here's a shocker for you. I regret that I never fooled around with a guy."
He looked at me. "Seriously?"
"Yeah, dude. I mean, back then, I never would have. I'd have thought it meant I was gay, but why in hell not try out something new, right?"
Marc paused, then leaned in closer. "I guess I regret that too. I must be really fucked up to be admitting that."
I turned to face him. "I'm fucked up too. I mean, it wouldn't mean I was gay. It's just messing around."
In a low voice, "Exactly."
The way he said that. It made me feel funny. We'd both had a lot of wine and weed. Why the hell not? "Marc, I'm not gay, but we could just, you know, HELP each other out. There'd be no harm in a little fun, right?"