Free Three Ex Presidents and James Franco by John Buchanan Page B

for my plan to work, I needed to be sure that Eric fell into the second category. If he was the first category all hope was lost. Tha t’ s not to say the first category is doomed to homophobia, they can develop into the second category. But this usually required the hardening of age and experience, or enough contact with gay men to make him sufficiently comfortable with them. In short, it required the type of time I did not have.
     
                  The plan could work no matter which section of the second category Eric fell into. The sexual alpha male or the scatter-brain. What they have in common is a lack of concern for the foibles of those around them. One is too confident to find anything threatening, the other too distracted to recognise what is threatening. One could possibly be with a gay man, as sex was no big deal and it would not interfere with his self concept. While the other could do the same because in the general scheme of his life it wouldn't even make the top twenty of important events.
     
                  I suppose its like saying that if you have experienced waking up in a pile of your own sick and urine, naked, in a place you don't recognise, with no money, the idea of being with one of your gay friends, no matter how straight you happen to be, seems like it could have been a better option for the night before. While, on the direct opposite side of the coin, if you are in constant control of yourself and your actions, with little or no doubt of your own feelings, acting in a different way, by sleeping with another man, won't disturb your equilibrium.
     
                  I found myself explaining all of this to Eric, as we drank beer and chatted, about two months after getting back from the road trip.
     
     
     
    38. "So, effectively what you are saying is you've mapped out a plan of action for getting me into bed?" Eric asked.
     
                  "Precisely," I replied.
     
                  "So you think I fall into the second category who is so confident I don't care? I'm captain, or was captain of the football team. I'm pretty much your standard category one jock. In high school I used to beat up people like you."
     
                  "I don't think you are. Don't get me wrong, I believe you when you say you beat up people like me. But I think you did it because tha t’ s what you were expected to do. I don't think you could care less about who was or wasn't. I think you could even be the scatter-brain. What with the shooting, Fiona, college, I don't think you have the time or the energy to invest in having firm opinions on the gays."
     
                  "Why are you telling me this stuff?"
     
                  "You were asking what I was thinking."
     
                  "So is this some sort of complement. You're letting me know I'm attractive and liberal. This is the first step of your masterful seduction?"
     
                  "Yes, absolutely. I told you all the rest so you know that when I do complement you I mean it. I t’ s not like you can say I have some shady motive."
     
                  "Just because you admit to the motive doesn't mean i t’ s not shady."
     
                  "What are you going to do? Beat me up. Not talk to me again? Put this down to us having had too many drinks and then pretending we never had this conversation?"
     
                  "Forgetting it is probably the best option." He wasn't irritated, more exacerbated.
     
                  "Well, you've been warned."
     
                  "I have. I suppose there's no point telling you you're wasting your time?"
     
                  "Not really. Even if I am wasting my time, i t’ s something to think about."
     
                  "Well, good luck. Don't come crying to me when you get your heart broken." He laughed, finding the