The City of Rossford

“Honey,” Bill Affren said, knocking on his daughter’s bedroom door. “You’ve got a visitor.”

Meredith looked at her father, waiting for further explanation, but he said, “I don’t know. One of your schoolmates.”

She nodded. Dad was just very barely starting to go silver. He’d always had wavy, very blond hair, and so his age was hard to tell. Now she closed her math book, wished it was history instead and vaguely thought of how good it would be to give up math after this year, and then left her room and went down the long hall, down the stairs to where—

“Kip?”

—was waiting in the foyer.

“Your Dad said I could come into the living room and wait,” Kip told her. “But… It seemed like you might not appreciate that.”

Meredith stood before Kip.

“Look,” Kip said, “I know what you think of me. And… You’ve got a right. You are right. I wasn’t brave. I did something. But I didn’t do everything I could have. Now I am. I’m going to court. I’m going to court, and I’m going to tell the truth. And… And it’s going to make me look real bad. And I’m scared. And I’m embarrassed. More embarrassed than I ever would have been that night. Because now the whole world’s going to know.”

Meredith sat down on the steps.

“You don’t… have to tell everything.”

“I do,” Kip said. “I can’t tell the truth about everything and not tell my part.”

“Look, I know you didn’t…” Meredith’s face contorted, and it was a few moments before she could speak again.

“I know you didn’t rape her. She… she was grateful to you. You did what you could. Or, at least, you did what you knew you could. I know I was mad. I still don’t know how I feel. And how I feel doesn’t really matter. But… You did what you thought you could—”

“And now I’m going to do whatever I can again,” Kip told her.

He looked down at his shoes, saying nothing for a while.

“I just wanted you to know,” he said. “I thought you should. I’m not sure why I thought so, but… I did.”

Meredith nodded, her lips closed tight.

“I… I better go now,” Kip said. “I gotta big day tomorrow. Good night, Meredith Affren.”

He went to the door, and Meredith got up.

“Let me at least let you out. Walk you to the car.”

“Thanks,” he said.

“You too.”

He looked at her.

“I mean, thank you, Kip. For…” she shook her head. “Thanks.”

After a little time of quiet, Logan began kissing him up and down. He went further and further down.

“What are you doing?” Sheridan said, half asleep.

“You made me happy. And now I want to make you happy.”

His hands went down to Logan’s hair to stop him.

“You don’t have to do that,” he said.

“But don’t you want me to?”

“I want you to not feel like you have to give anything back.”

Logan’s head was on his stomach.

“I want you to have something for free,” Sheridan said. “Because I wanted to give it.”

Logan’s head remained on Sheridan’s stomach. They drifted into a doze until Logan said, “Shouldn’t you call your parents?”

“Why?” Sheridan chuckled. “To let them know where I am?”

Logan rolled to his side.

“To let them know you’re not dead. Or something.”

“I told them I was staying with Chay.”

In the darkness, Sheridan could make out the change on Logan’s face.

“Did you plan this?” Logan said.

“I told you I hoped it would happen. I didn’t plan it. But… I guess I made room for anything to happen.”

“Did you like it?” Logan asked him. “Did you really like it?”

“Yes,” Sheridan said.

Sheridan hurt, more than he had that first time with Chay. He hurt and he was a little afraid of going to the bathroom, but he wanted it again, and the throbbing could not be separated from the memory of giving himself to a friend, of having Logan inside him

Sheridan was quiet, and then he said, “But I am really hungry right now.”

“Me too.”

“Whaddo you have to eat?”

“I don’t cook,” Logan said.

“Well, you gotta have something.”

Sheridan climbed out of the bed. and pulled on his underwear. He pulled on his jeans and went out of the bedroom. As Logan began to dress, he saw the light come on in the kitchen and heard rumbling in the cabinet. When he came out of his room, Sheridan had pulled out a pan, two eggs and boullion cubes.

“We can make egg drop soup.”

“Like at the Chinese restaurant?”

“Just like. I saw Fenn Houghton make it once. It doesn’t take long at all.”

Sheridan set the water to boiling with the cubes in it and now and again he nudged them, stirred the water with a spatula, which Logan had in lieu of a spoon. As the steam went up into his face, Sheridan declared, “It’s ready.”

“Now the egg.”

He cracked one egg and then the next, into the water, and began stirring, which was hard with a spatula. Logan, arms folded over his bare chest, sat on the kitchen table watching.

“Is it ready?”

“Come and see,” Sheridan said.

Logan came and looked into the pot. He looked at Sheridan.

“It looks like… Eggs in water.”

“Yeah,” Sheridan agreed. “I think it needs thickening. Corn starch.”

“I don’t really keep corn starch in the house.”

“You can use flour instead.”

“How do you know all this?”

“My brother’s a chemist and my mom cooks a lot.”

Logan nodded.

He went through the cupboards and then pulled out a plastic bag.

“This could be flour… or pancake mix. Or maybe cocaine, but it’s a lot for cocaine, and I bet I wouldn’t have forgotten it if it was.”

Sheridan took the bag and stuck his finger in, tasting.

“I don’t know if its flour or pancake mix.” He spooned some in.

“Look. It’s thick. Look. It’s definitely thicker.”

“It sort of looks like…”

“Maybe it taste better than it looks,” Sheridan said.

“You wanna try it?”

“No,” Sheridan said, honestly. “But I feel like it’s my responsibility.”

Timidly, Logan handed him the spoon, and Sheridan dipped it into the thick mixture.

“Oh,” Sheridan’s face changed.

“We could go out,” Logan suggested.

“I think we better.”

Logan reached across Sheridan and turned the eye off.

“I’ll go shower up, and then we can go out some place on the Strip. And…”

“Yeah?”

“Were you…? Did you want to stay?”

Sheridan looked at him.

“Not if you don’t want me to.”

“No. No! No, I do want you to,” Logan said.

“Well, then yes.”

Logan nodded, looking pleased.

“I’ll go change the sheets, then. I’ll make the room look decent. Just… hang tight. It won’t take long.”

Taking off his jeans, and then his underwear, Logan left the kitchen for his bathroom.