Chapter 15: Houston, We Have No Problems

ABBIE

My parents had helped arrange my rental car to drop it in Houston after we left SPI. Coming down, Abe had carpooled with Mateo, Rick, and Dick. So we were free to spend the long drive north and east to Houston getting to know more about each other.

I explained to Abe that my generous parents had rented a private apartment near the UH campus for me to live in, with a roommate, Marcia. She stayed with me for a few weeks in my bedroom at home as a trial. However, she left school abruptly just before the spring break, so I thought I was going to be rattling around on my own in a two-bedroom flat.

“If you can contribute a small amount to me monthly, you can be my new Marcia.”

Abe agreed, saying his current setup was month-to-month and was easy to get out of.

“I’ll become your kept man, but we’ll need to figure out the chores. I can clean and do laundry, but I’m barely able to microwave popcorn. My mom tried to teach me, but I failed so often that she eventually gave up.”

I told him, “You need to approach cooking as an engineering problem. If I can coach you, that will impress your mother. In the meantime, laundry and cleaning will be fine. And if you do a good job, I can reward you in bed. Come to think of it, I plan to reward you in bed anyway. You’re kind of irresistible.”

Whenever I talked like this, Abe looked uncomfortable. “I’m just not used to being described that way by a lovely woman my age.”

I said, “Wait a minute. Did Rick and/or Dick ever look you over and lick their lips?”

“Shit. Yeah, they did. But Abbie, this is so hard for me to admit.”

I could hear in his voice how he was struggling. When he finished, he spoke so softly I could barely hear his words over the noise of the road.

“Those guys caught me at a time when I’d gone without sex for a terribly long time. I considered trying things out with them.”