I rolled my eyes as I transferred the dips from their plastic containers and into smaller ceramic bowls. “It’s fine, guys. Even if there was a shot, I don’t think I’d take it. Especially not if he really is in the closet. Not after Franky. He made me cross off anyone that could hurt me like that again.” I grabbed the dips and walked back into the living room, setting them down on the coffee table as Eric brought out the chips. There was a stack of labeled notebooks and a cup full of pens and pencils sitting in the center of the table.

“What Franky did to you was fucked-up, but everyone’s situation is different. I’m not saying there’s even a chance with Jake—”

“.Thanks.”

“—but if there was, then you can’t assume that he’d act the same as Franky. That guy was a huge dick, and I think he would have been a dick whether he was closeted or not.”

Tristan walked in, a bowl of grapes and strawberries in his hand. “Who’s got a huge dick?”

“Stand down, size queen,” Eric quipped. “We’re talking about someone being a huge dick, not having one.”

“Although,” I said, raising a finger in the air, “Franky did have that too.”

“Was that why you stayed with him for that long?” Tristan asked as he dropped onto the couch, nearly knocking over the book he had left on the armrest.

“No, I stayed with him because—when he wanted to—he knew how to be wildly romantic, and I’m a naive little lamb that’s watched way too many rom-coms and thinks one of those happy endings can happen to me. I just have to find and possibly fix my Prince Charming before that happens.” I shrugged, bare feet on the carpet as I trod back to the kitchen. “But there’s no fixing someone who doesn’t want to be fixed… and yes, the dick did help.”

“Truth,” Eric said as he followed behind me. “Franky likes playing with people. It had nothing to do with him still being in the closet. If someone is truly struggling to come out because of family or whatever else, then yeah, I get it. But Franky didn’t have an excuse. He was just a self-hating queer dude that wrapped you up in his toxic web.”