Read Boyfriends with Girlfriends for Free Online

hooking up with guys over the Internet, wasting hours trying to teach tricks to his guinea pig.
    “’Sup, watch,” he told Kimiko when she came over. “Come on, Elton! Stand up! “ He held a food pellet above its head. “He did it this morning. I think he’s nervous that you’re watching him.”
    “Dude,” Kimiko said, “you need to get a life.”
    “I have a life,” he muttered. “Come on, Elton! You can do it.”
    But he knew deep down that she was right. After a while, he got tired of hooking up. Some of the guys he’d met were so cold and impersonal that they left him feeling like a slab of meat. Others were so scared and jumpy that it was hard to have much fun at all.
    He wanted a real relationship, someone he could talk with, do stuff together with, teach and learn from. . . . Yet at the same time he wondered: Would— could —he ever fall in love again? He’d gradually gotten over Zelda, but the experience had left him with a lingering sense of mistrust.
    “Have you called Lance?” Kimiko asked him at school.
    “No,” Sergio muttered. “He hasn’t called me either. I think it’s because of the bi thing. If he can’t deal with it, I don’t want to push it.”
    “Well, then maybe you should give Serena a chance,” Kimiko suggested, referring to the new girl in her creative writing class. “She asked me if you’re going out with anyone. She’s cute, smart, and has a nice rack.”
    It cracked Sergio up when Kimiko guy-talked like that.
    “Did you tell her I’m bi?” he asked.
    “Yeah. She seems cool with it.”
    For a minute Sergio considered the idea of going out with Serena. “But every time I think about a girl, I’m reminded of Zelda.”
    “Then maybe,” Kimiko said, “you’re not ready for a relationship again.”
    “Maybe,” he agreed. But after school that day, he returned to Lance’s online photos. The one that most snagged his attention was an abs shot in which Lance shyly lifted his shirt to reveal six neatly stacked little white bricks.
    “Screw it!” he said suddenly and dialed Lance’s number. It hadn’t been two days yet, but he no longer cared. He’d always sucked at rules anyway.

“H e called!” Lance announced when Allie answered her phone. “We’re meeting up Saturday for dinner and a movie—just the two of us.”
    “Woo-hoo!” Allie cheered, breaking from the calculus she’d been working on.
    “Yeah, I’m kind of psyched,” Lance said. “Actually, I’m really psyched.” He paced his bedroom, unable to sit still. “Can you like come pull me off the ceiling?”
    Hearing Lance’s excitement made Allie think about her own lack of excitement with Chip. She missed that thrilling sense of possibility she’d once felt with him.
    After talking with Lance, she finished her homework and went online. In her in-box she found an e-mail from her school anime and manga club reminding her about a convention coming up Saturday.
    She glanced up at the kanji lettering on her bulletin board. Would Kimiko want to go with her?
    Kimiko had just come home with her little brother from their karate classes when her cell rang. Allie’s name appeared on the screen. Kimiko’s heart went into a gallop as she answered, “’Sup?”
    “Hi, this is Allie. Remember me?”
    “Dude, of course,” Kimiko replied, bounding upstairs to her room. “From the mall, right?”
    “Right,” Allie said, moving to the loveseat across her bedroom. “What are you up to?”
    “Not much.” Kimiko closed her door. “Just came home from karate with my little bro.”
    “Karate?” Allie asked. “Wow, that’s so cool! How long have you been doing that?”
    “Since I was six,” Kimiko said modestly. Even though she’d progressed to brown belt, the second highest kyu level, her family had taught her not to boast. One of her mom’s constant admonitions was: “The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.”
    “Do you play any sports?” Kimiko asked Allie.
    “Bowling, swimming,