Page 129 of The Build-a-Boyfriend Project

“What do you think?” Peter asks.

“Hmm?” Eli can’t look at him for longer than a brief second. “Oh, he’s, uh . . . he’s nice.”

“Do you think I should go out with him?” Peter asks. “Do you think that I’m ready?”

“Yeah, you’re ready.” Eli can’t keep the curt tone of his voice to himself, and he hates himself for it. Because none of this is Peter’s fault.

Not an ounce of it.

“He’s cute,” Eli throws in, just to make it seem like he’s actually interested.

“And he has a dog.”

“Yeah . . .” Eli can’t muster the energy to continue the conversation. “Well . . . I should get back home, I have to be up early tomorrow.”

“I can give you a ride back, just let me get—” Peter starts to say, but Eli stops him.

“It’s okay, I don’t want to impose,” Eli tells him, pulling himself up quickly, heading right for the door.

“Are you sure?” Peter asks. “I just have to get dressed.”

“It’s fine, Peter. I promise. I can take the bus.” He doesn’t like how short he’s being with Peter. But the sooner he’s out of here, the better.

“Oh, okay. Well . . . let me walk you out, at least.”

“Yeah, sure,” Eli relents, knowing that he’s giving too much of himself away. He can’t let Peter think that something’s wrong.

Because nothing is wrong.

That’s the lie he continues to tell himself as he waits for Peter to dress in sweats before he follows Eli out to the sidewalk.

“So . . . do you think you can help me get ready for this date?”

“Yeah, yeah . . .” Eli tells him, struggling to form words with just how quickly his brain is working against him. “Um, just text me the details.”

“Okay, sounds good.”

“Good night, Peter,” Eli says quickly, ready to exit this entire night.

“Good night, Eli.”

Chapter Sixteen

Little Miss Sunshine, dir. by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

Try as he might, Eli can’t ignore his phone all weekend.

Peter keeps texting him, asking if he should really go on this date, what he should wear, where they should go for dinner, should they do anything afterward? What about kissing, is kissing on the first date okay? Should Peter hold his hand? What should they talk about? What topics are off limits?

It’s as if the last two months hadn’t happened.

Eli almost wishes they hadn’t.

Almost.

He turns off the movie as the credits play, one of his favorite early aughts slasher movies coming to an end as he wallows on the couch.

Eli checks his phone again, annoyed at the irony that all day he’d begged for Peter to stop texting. And now, all he wants to do is talk to him. There’s that absence in his heart, one that pulls on him, one that tells him all he wants is Peter here next to him on the couch, his larger body on top of Eli’s to help ground him.