“Well, it’s… You know.”
“Complicated?”
“Extremely.” Kip raked a hand through his hair, agitated. “It’s just… There’s a big difference between us. Like, I’m not good enough for him. At all.”
“He said this?”
“No! No. Never. But it’s the truth. He’s successful. Rich. Impressive.”
“And closeted.”
“Yeah.”
“Older?”
“Not much. A couple of years.”
“Jesus. And he’s rich and successful?”
Kip squirmed. Was he giving too much away? Kyle wasn’t trying to guess who his mystery man was, was he?
“His money and stuff… It doesn’t matter to me. And he says he doesn’t care that I don’t have any. But it just makes the relationship so off balance, you know? I always feel uncomfortable with him paying for anything. And besides that, since we’ve been together I’ve felt like I’ve been shoved back in the closet instead of bringing him out of it.”
“And I assume you’ve talked this all out with him?”
Kip chewed his lip. “Sort of. We had a fight. Last week. And I…walked out.”
“Oof.”
“It was our first real fight.”
“It was yourfirstfight, and you walked out?”
“Yeah.” Kip was feeling stupider by the second.
“Have you tried to talk to him since?”
“No.”
Kyle shook his head and smiled sadly. “Oh, Kip.”
“You think I should?”
“Are you really in love with him?”
“Yes.”
“Then you have to try.”
Kip fiddled with his cup. “But what if he’s never ready to come out? You just said you know from personal experience that I should stay away from closeted guys.”
“Yeah, well. My situation was a huge mess, but I wasn’tin lovewith the guy.”
Kip nodded. “I’ll talk to him. You’re right. I have to try.”
“Good boy. Now, where are you going to grad school?”
“Oh, I don’t know yet. I applied to a couple of schools, but I’m hoping for NYU. That’s where I did my undergrad.”