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wasn’t even aware of how much I tipped him. I hoped that when Patrick and I finally did consummate our relationship I didn’t scare the poor man away because I couldn’t stop giggling. 
     
    Turns out I needn’t have worried—at least not that night. For when I opened the door to the apartment I found Patrick sitting on the couch looking thoroughly beaten, bruised, and very much like sex was the last thing on his mind.

Chapter Nine
Make It Better
Patrick
     
    “Oh my God. Patrick, what happened?”
     
    Chloe dropped her keys and bag on the floor at the door. Her jacket was off in one fluid motion as she closed the distance between us in long strides. “Trust me. It’s not as bad as it looks,” I said in what I hoped was a reassuring voice.
     
    “Really? Cause it kinda looks pretty damn bad. Like you got your ass kicked.”
     
    I knew from checking my face in the bathroom mirror when I got home that the left side of my bottom lip was busted and swollen. That side of my face was pretty bruised too. At first glance I thought both eyes were blackened, but I didn’t remember Max landing that many blows.  Upon closer inspection, I realized it was just the smeared eye makeup. 
     
    “Max happened.”
     
    “Why the hell did Max hit you… repeatedly?” Chloe gingerly touched the left side of my face and I winced.  “Oh! Sorry. Hold that thought.” She ran to the kitchen and returned a few moments later holding a bag of frozen peas. “Here you go. Place this on your face.”
     
    I did as I was told. Then I told Chloe everything that had happened at the park before she jumped out of her skin in anticipation and worry.
     
    From the way Max was staggering towards us, I knew the outcome would not be a good one. He was angry at Paul for not telling him he was gay, that much was obvious, but if you dug deeper it wasn’t really clear if he had a problem with Paul being gay or the fact that he hadn’t been told sooner, or at the very least when I was told. It also didn’t help matters that any attempt to dig deeper and have an actual conversation about it was met with nothing but belligerence and venom.
     
    “How many times do I have to apologize to you, Max?” Paul had asked.
     
    I felt for him. What he was going through was hard enough, worrying what people thought of him and if their feelings towards him had changed. The last thing he needed was for those who were supposed to be closest to him to act this way.
     
    “Max, come on. You’re not helping.” I said.
     
    “Oh, it’s real easy for you to say that, Golden Boy,” Max slurred. “It’s real easy to be all bygones and shit when you were let in on the little secret. What’s that like anyway? I’ve always wanted to know. What’s it like being the one everyone turns to?”
     
    “Max, I didn’t tell you because I was afraid you’d act like this.”
     
    Max looked even more infuriated. “You think I’m upset because you’re gay? Who are you people? Both of you. You don’t even know me at all, so I guess it went both ways.”
     
    “Max, if you would just talk to me. I want to hear what you have to say, but not like this.”
     
    Just then Derrick returned, holding two cups of cider and looking very wary. He looked back and forth between each of us: Max stumbling, staggering, and red-faced, with his green wings askew; Paul looking hurt and torn; and me with my chest heaving with anger. 
     
    “Is everything okay?” he asked cautiously.
     
    Paul took Derrick by the arm and started to steer him away . “Not really. Maybe we should just go.”
     
    “Yeah,” Max called. “Just leave with your boyfriend. Is that who this is? Your boyfriend? Your significant other? Just go off and be a couple of—”
     
    “Then I hit him.”
     
    “You did what?” Chloe asked. She had already gone back into the kitchen and exchanged the bag of peas for a frozen bag of carrots.
     
    “I hit him. Chloe, I don’t know what he was going to say