Free Sparkle: The Queerest Book You'll Ever Love by Rob Rosen Page B

me, I stopped going home after school and started going to the library instead. After a few weeks of this, I noticed another boy reading there almost every day, too. He looked a bit older than me, was a few inches taller, blond hair and blue eyes. Not what I would call a real looker, but cute enough. And I was only sixteen and really didn’t have the experience with cruising that I do today. But still, when he’d look up from his book and see me staring at him, one of us would nod or smile or something, and I knew, just knew, that this was more than mere politeness.”
    “Bourgeoning gaydar,” I tossed in, knowing it quite well.
    Sparkle nodded, refilled our glasses, and finished his sandwich. Mine was long gone by then, and I’d already gone to the kitchen, fixed another one, and was back in time for the juicy parts. “Then, one afternoon, instead of reading in the library, I decided to read on the lawn by the playground. It was a beautiful spring day, really warm, so I took off my shirt, lied down on my back, and read my book. Sometime later, I had the strangest feeling that there was somebody else out there with me. So I put the book down and propped myself up on my elbows, and who should be standing there but my library buddy. Naturally, my heart started racing, but I remained cool and introduced myself. He did the same. Bradley was his name, and he had a book in his hand and said that he had the same idea as I had, to come outside and enjoy the weather. My guess, he was really coming to look for me. Still, whatever the reason, I was glad for his daring-do. I mean, I would probably never have been so brave.”
    Sparkle sighed and closed his eyes for a second, obviously visualizing the scene in his head before continuing. If the gulp that followed meant anything, I was beginning to think that this story would not have much of a happy ending. “I asked him to sit down, to read with me. He politely accepted and also yanked off his t-shirt. That’s when I knew that he was probably older than me, because he had about a dozen fine blond hairs on his tight, little chest. At sixteen, you see, I was quite hairless. Today it’s an affectation, but back then it was just sweet youth.
    “Anyway, Bradley got on his back, opened his book, and started reading. He was just inches away from me, and, for about ten minutes, neither one of us said a word. Suffice it to say, in all that time, I didn’t read a single word; I just kept turning the pages of my book every few minutes in order to appear like I was reading. I mean, I was terrified. Excited, yes, but terrified. Big time. Then he put his book down and turned sideways onto one arm and said that it was just too nice outside to read, and, besides, it was a crappy book. I agreed, put my book down, as well, and rolled over to face him, eye to eye, with butterflies whipping around inside my tummy. Then he asked me why I was all of a sudden always in the library after school, and I told him the truth. He told me that he was there because his mother didn’t get home until about five and she didn’t want him to be alone in the house. He chose to hang out in the library and read. He said he really didn’t mind, and I, for one, was glad for his circumstances.”
    Sparkle again stopped to refill our glasses, but I’d barely been drinking by that point as I was intently paying attention to his story. This kind of stuff didn’t happen in Kansas when I was a kid. Of course, not many gay men get to sip wine in a remote cottage with a slice of heaven like Sparkle, either, so maybe my luck was changing.
    In any case, he continued soon enough. “Then the conversation turned interesting. See, Bradley was looking at my torso and asked me if I had gotten my awesome body while swimming. I said that I guessed that was how I got it. Of course, I’d never really given it a thought before then, but it did make sense. Then, Secret, he did something that took me totally by surprise: he reached