“Nah.” I shake my head. “I mean, I let you get away with that last night because I was caught off guard, but I’m your best friend. This is part of you. I’m not burying it, and neither should you.”

He remains lying flat on his back with his head turned in my direction. “Kingston, I can’t . . .” He sighs deeply, then looks away from me and up at the ceiling. “This can’t come out. Not when I’m still in school and still stuck here.”

His words make my chest ache with a horrible feeling, but I’m starting to better understand why he thinks he needs to leave. Kensley is a small town, and I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone who was gay. At least, anyone who’s come out. I’ve heard stupid shit about gay people my whole life, and it makes me sick to realize he has too.

Shit, he’s probably heard it come out of my dad’s mouth.

“I’m not like that.” I have to say it because it makes my stomach twist in pain, thinking about him believing I could ever be like that. I never thought that shit was okay, but I think now that I know Camden is gay, I hate it even more.

I don’t know if that’s right to admit or not, but it’s true.

He doesn’t say anything, which only makes my nerves kick up more. “You know I’m not, right?”

He turns to face me again, his eyes filled with worry. “I just want to bury it, Kingston. I can’t talk about this.”

“Yes. You can.” I need him to know this. “You can talk to me about anything. I want you to. Now tell me what kind of guys you’re into. Tall? They need to be tall, right?”

He studies me carefully, rolling to his side and tucking his hands under his head. “You’re serious?”

“Totally. You had to listen to me talk about boobs for years. If I’d have known you were into dicks instead of boobs, maybe I’d have shut up about it. But probably not. So, you have a lot of dick talk to make up for.”

His mouth is gaping wide-open right now, and I’m worried I’m fucking this up. I just want him to know I’m cool with this. That it doesn’t make any difference to me. He can be attracted to anyone he wants to.

The whole being in love with me thing is a completely different thing I’m not ready to deal with yet, and I don’t think he is either.

But him being gay?

Yeah. I can handle this.

“I’m not talking to you about dicks,” he says slowly.

I shrug. “Well, you can. You really can. You can tell me anything. What about the tall thing? Does that matter?”