Chapter Three

October 28, 6:30pm

As expected, Karl took me to The Dot. Again.

I really didn't mind. It's got as good a salad as the next place. And it's priced reasonably and everything. It would be stupid to go somewhere else and pay twice as much for the same food. Right?

Still, I could see the troubled look on Marco's face when he asked me if Karl had ever taken me anywhere nicer. It shouldn't bother him if it didn't bother me. And it didn't. Really.

I glanced around at the other couples who were eating at tables near ours.

Then down at myself.

I really over dressed for The Dot. And I don't do that. I don't dress up and get all girly. That just wasn't me. And neither was dining at some snobby 'fancy' restaurant. The Dot was perfectly fine with me.

I could almost hear Marco say, "El, you deserve better than this." Damn him anyway for putting that thought in my head. It's not a 'deserve' sort of thing--I don't need to go someplace fancy to assure myself that Karl loves me. I let my gaze wander back to my date, who was sipping his latte and watching me intently. A little too intently for my tastes, really. I mean it's flattering, but…I felt myself starting to blush a little under his scrutiny. "What?"

Karl only smiled. "You're somewhere else," he acknowledged. "Tell me about it?"

"It's nothing. Just something Marco said earlier."

"Oh?" he prompted.

I didn't want to hurt Karl's feelings, and it wouldn't be the same if I asked him to take me someplace nicer anyway. It had to be something he wanted to do. Which apparently, so far, it wasn't. Not that it mattered. I shook my head and glanced down at my salad, spearing a tomato and popping it in my mouth to give myself a few moments to think of a way to change the subject. Not that he even knew what the subject was.

Not that I even really knew. It's just that the more I thought about that short conversation with Marco, the more uneasy I felt about it.

"He treats you right, right?"

Was Marco trying to tell me something? The more I thought about it, the more I figured he was. But was it really about me and Karl? Or was it about him? And Frank. When I'd asked him the very same question he'd asked me, he'd quickly put a stop to the conversation without answering.

"I'm just a little worried about him," I blurted out, not even realizing I was going to say it. I looked across the table at Karl, who took a big bite of his hamburger, raising a questioning eyebrow at me as he chewed slowly. "It's probably nothing," I admitted, trying to assure myself. "It's just…he's been going out with this guy Frank for over a month now…" I studied Karl closely to make sure he's not going to get all uncomfortable talking about this. He just nodded and continued to chew. "Well, it's just that I've never really met him." I hadn't even realized that bothered me until the words were out of my mouth. But suddenly it did bother me. A lot. Marco had introduced me to Frank only once, and it was such a brief meeting that I really didn't know anything about the guy other than that he went to the University, was gay, and liked Marco. I frowned. Was that really all I knew about him?

What kind of friend was I? I hadn't really made any sort of point to get to know Marco's boyfriend. I just kind of assumed that he was a good guy and sooner or later Marco would start bringing him around more. Marco really hadn't ever offered much information about Frank, either. Whenever we discussed dates, I realized, Marco really only told me things about what they did, what they ate, what movie they watched. Nothing about Frank himself. I had a growing feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. What kind of guy was Frank really? Could he…I didn't even want to think it, but I couldn't help it. Could Frank be responsible for the bruises Marco was sporting? Was that the thing that Marco was hiding? Was that what he was trying to tell me when he asked about Karl?

Karl shrugged as he swallowed his food. "So…he'll probably be at that party Monday right? You can get to know him a bit then."

I nodded, but I didn't feel much better. Monday was so far away. Basically three days where my best friend might be being hurt.

Marco wouldn't let that happen, I told myself. Maybe a year ago when he was still pretty insecure about who he was. But he's much too strong for that now. He didn't let Dylan push him into accepting an 'open' relationship, and I know Marco really loved him.

Of course that breakup also gave Marco's self-esteem a pretty big blow. But was it bad enough that Marco would let himself get hurt just to feel loved? Gods, I'm so pissed at Dylan for ever making my best friend not feel good enough. I swear if that's really what's going on, Dylan will be hearing from me. I feel more than a little guilty that I didn't talk to Dylan at the time.

I'm not going to make the same mistake. I'm not going to wait three days to talk to Frank. "Maybe we could go out with them tomorrow. Like a double date," I suggested, trying to sound casual about it.

Karl looked less than enthused about the idea, and I braced for what was probably going to be our first fight. The one I've been dreading. The one where Karl tells me that while he loves me, he's not really comfortable with my gay best friend.

To his credit, that wasn't his problem with the idea. "I don't know…it might be really awkward for Frank, not knowing anyone but Marco while the rest of us all know each other."

"That will make it easier for him at the party if he meets both of us first," I countered.

Karl seemed to mull that over as he chewed another bite of his burger. He nodded slowly as he swallowed. "Okay then. Sure. If they're interested we could maybe hit dinner and a movie?"

I smiled and nodded happily. I really was too defensive where Marco was concerned, I realized, watching Karl as he swallowed the last of his dinner. I don't know why I kept expecting Karl to try and push Marco out of my life, other than that's what Sean had done at first. But it really seemed that my boyfriend truly accepted my best friend's place in my life. How did I get so lucky?

Now I just had to keep myself from screwing it up. I felt a whole lot better now that we had a plan in place for finding out more about Frank, and I wasn't going to let myself think any more about him or Marco until my date with Karl was over. I was probably worried over nothing anyway.