Page 77 of The Build-a-Boyfriend Project

“To soak up some of that whiskey,” Eli tells him. Maybe it’s not the most refined option, but he was in a rush. Plus the shop had a five-dollar card minimum.

“I’m sorry,” Peter says.

Eli swears he can feel Peter’s pulse, his heart thudding so heavy in his chest.

“It’s okay, Peter.”

“Are you mad at me?” His voice is so pitiful it nearly breaks Eli’s heart.

“No, I’m not mad at you.”

“You promise?”

“I swear, I’m not angry at you, Peter.” Eli rubs circles into Peter’s back. “You’re fine.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m going to get serious about fining you for the apologies,” Eli tells him.

Peter pauses at the intersection, not saying a word.

Eli sighs. “Go ahead. It’s your last one.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

Eli double-checks the traffic, deciding to jaywalk to get Peter home faster. “You really can’t metabolize alcohol?”

Peter shakes his head too quickly, appearing to instantly regret it. “No. I can blame my parents for that one. It’s technically an allergy, kind of. Just without the sneezing.”

“So, like a single sip gets you drunk?”

“I’m usually fine with some beer, or things with low alcohol content.” Peter nods, but once again, he does it too quickly. “This happened once in college. I sipped a friend’s vodka and was throwing up ten minutes later.”

“Jesus. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought maybe it would’ve gotten better the older I got?”

“I don’t think that’s how allergies work, Peter.”

“Yeah . . .”

“Well, it’s my turn to apologize to you,” Eli tells him. “I shouldn’t have pressured you like that.”

“I could’ve said no,” Peter says.

It’s fair, Peter could have said no. But also Eli knows he shouldn’t have defaulted to getting Peter intoxicated just so he could talk to someone.

“Still, I’m sorry, Peter. Do you remember how it was going?” Eli asks. “Before you got wasted?”

“It was fun. He was there with his boyfriend, the other guy.”

“Oh, yikes.”

“It’s okay. They were nice and didn’t mind when I said the guy had a nice butt.”

“You couldn’t even see his butt,” Eli says. “He was sitting down.”