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dick pics with strangers, but you never knew.
    “No.”
    Where the hell did the guy meet men, Austin wondered. But Ben looked so uncomfortable that he didn’t push it. He steered the conversation instead to movies and was delighted to discover that Ben shared his enthusiasm for flicks with superheroes or Angelina Jolie. “I’m pretty much a Kinsey six,” Austin said. “But if I ever did have sex with a woman, it would be her.”
    “Brad Pitt might object.”
    “Hell, he’d be more than welcome to join us. The more the merrier.”
    Their food arrived just then, and they dug in. Austin wondered if Ben was going to do the napkin-in-the-shirt thing again and was slightly disappointed when he just spread it over his lap. They both had to lean over their plates as they ate the deliciously drippy sandwiches.
    “This is really good,” Ben said after a few bites.
    “Told you. Here, try an onion ring. They’re great.” He tossed one onto Ben’s plate.
    The more Ben ate, the more his tense shoulders relaxed, as if there was a direct line from his stomach to his anxiety sensors. By the time they had cleaned their plates, he was as unwound as Austin had ever seen him. He even smiled at the waiter and ordered a decaf. “I bet waiting tables is hard work,” Ben said as their bear walked away.
    “It is.”
    “You’ve done it before?”
    “Still do, couple times a week. At a deli, not here. You have to hustle all the time, and so many people are shitty tippers no matter how good the service. And you go home smelling like food. You never had to flip burgers or anything?”
    Ben shook his head. “I think you’ve had a lot more experiences in life than I have, Austin. I still don’t understand what you want from me.” And there was all that tension in his shoulders again—zap! Just like that.
    “I’m not planning to torture the information out of you, Ben. And yeah, I’ve probably done stuff you haven’t, but that’s not the point. You know how to live like an adult, and that’s what I need to learn.”
    Ben shifted on the vinyl seat, and when the waiter set his coffee mug on the table, he grabbed it as though it contained lifesaving serum. He wrapped his hands around the cup and stared into its depths. Austin couldn’t read Ben’s thoughts, but the guy didn’t look happy, and Austin didn’t understand why. Was giving advice so hard?
    Finally, Ben sighed. “What do you want me to tell you?”
    “I was thinking that first you could help me make a list of the things I need to do to become a bona fide grown-up. Then… well, I guess I’ll do it step by step. But I might need specific instructions. Like, um, I should probably register to vote, huh? But I don’t know how.”
    Ben looked at him as if Austin had just admitted to dining on puppies. “You don’t vote?”
    “Nope. But we can add it to my list.”
    “Fine.” Now Ben just looked resigned. “We’ll do a list.”
    They had to beg paper and pen from the waiter, who supplied them cheerily enough. “Warm you up, son?” he asked Ben, waving a coffeepot but waggling his bushy eyebrows suggestively.
    “Uh, yeah. Thanks.” Ben waited for the server to leave, sipped his decaf, and picked up the pen. He spoke while he wrote. “Number one. Register to vote.”
    “That sounds easy enough. What’s next?”
    What came next was a dizzying array of items, because once Ben got started, he was on a roll. “This list is subject to change,” he warned, glancing over at Austin. “In case I think of more items.”
    Austin was already feeling twinges of regret over his great plan. The list was really long and intimidating, and some of the things were major deals, like buying a decent car and even a house. “I don’t know if I can do all this,” he said in a small voice.
    “Well, not all at once. It takes most people years to grow up, so you shouldn’t expect to do it overnight.”
    That was a good point. Austin smiled at him. “Maybe I’ll start small.