“I got an email from Gwen Twiller today. She was my roommate first semester.”

Curt nodded. “What did she want?”

“I’m not even sure. Something about the five-year reunion. Whether I was going.”

“Are you going?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t decided yet.”

“What does it depend on?”

“I’m not even sure. I guess I haven’t been thinking about it.”

“So were you close to this Gwen Twiller?”

“Not really. I mean we were okay, but she moved in with her girlfriend second semester.”

“Girlfriend, huh?”

“Yeah, she made no secret about being gay.”

“Did it bother you?”

“Not at all. I was perfectly okay with it.”

“Did she ever, like, you know, come on to you?”

“Not that I noticed. Maybe I wondered a couple of times, about ... whatever.”

“Whatever.”

“Right. There was one embarrassing moment.”

“Tell me.”

“She was painting her nails. I’m not crazy about the smell of nail polish remover. I left the room whenever she did her nails. When I got back one time, she showed me her nails. She had nice fingers. Nice nails. ‘Do you like?’ she asked, holding them up. I said they looked good. She said something about being unsure whether clear was the way to go. I said, ‘I can’t quibble with clear.’ Only it didn’t come out that way. It came out, ‘I can’t quibble with queer.’ As soon as I’d said it and realized ... I was so embarrassed. She laughed. She said, ‘That’s a cool tongue-twister, quibble with queer.’ Then she swiped her tongue back and forth across her upper lip. I was blushing like crazy.”

“Quibble with queer, it is a good tongue twister.”

“I guess. But I had this sudden impulse to ... I don’t know ... to kiss her. To have our tongues licking each other. To have her clear-queer fingers separating my pussy lips and to feel her tongue licking my clit, twisting its way deep into my cunt.”

“Did you ... I mean kiss her or anything?”

“No. I just blushed.”

“Do you regret it—not kissing her or anything?”

“No. I mean not really. It’s not something I’ve thought about, except sometimes when I paint my nails.”

“Maybe you should go to the reunion. See if you still feel like kissing her.”

“I don’t know.”

“I bet she would have liked kissing you. Kissing your fingers and your toes. Licking your clit and fucking her tongue deep into your cunt. I know I do.”