When the next song began, Sonny leaned forward, widened his smile, and narrowed his eyes. He spoke loudly enough for me to hear, but quietly enough that none of the guys on the couch would hear.
"Aw, hell, we don't need women around to have a good time, now do we, Jeremy?" He smiled and winked, then grabbed my left thigh just above the knee and squeezed.

Sonny followed me. He pushed the door open as I attempted to close it. He stepped into the bathroom and closed and locked the door behind us.
"Go ahead," he said. He placed his palms on my shoulders and squeezed. He gazed deeply into my eyes, pushed me to my knees, and smiled down at me. "You want it, take it."
I felt shocked, frightened, and more excited than ever."

It's funny how differently the same words can land based on who says them and how they say them. When I was in middle school, a bully used to pick on me. He'd shove me, raise a fist to make me flinch, and call me, "pretty boy," as if it was an insult. The phrase had an entirely different feel when Sonny said it to me. He stroked my hair.
"You're such a sexy, beautiful young dude," he whispered. "I'm so lucky you've got the hots for me, Jeremy, because I've got the hots for you too."

We heard voices and footsteps in the hallway. People walked back and forth outside the bathroom door laughing and carrying on.
"You know what? It's about to get kind of crowded around here," Sonny whispered. He bent forward and kissed the top of my head. "Not nearly as crowded as before, but some of the folks who went to the bar are gonna be circling back for the afterparty soon. Whataya say we take our own little party over to my place where we don't have to worry about being interrupted?"

We left Binky's Palace. I untied my flannel from around my waist and put it on then texted my mom to let her know I was okay and staying at a friend's house overnight. We walked north on the dark street toward the strip where Frosty's Tavern and Pamela's Pub & Grub are. We didn't go that far, though. Sonny's apartment was in an old brick building one block south of the strip.
"Great location," I said as he unlocked the front door to the building.
"Hell, yeah," he replied. "Stumbling distance. Halfway between Binky's and Frosty's."
We climbed the stairs up to the second floor and walked down the dimly lit hallway that smelled of fried sausage, peppers, and onions. Someone was cooking up a late-night snack. Sonny dug his keys out of his pocket and opened the door to his apartment. Once inside his tiny studio, he pressed me up against the tan wall and kissed me.

He dug a big, blue floor pillow with a multi-colored mandala in the center of it out from behind his gray couch and set it on the beige carpet in the center of the room. I knelt on it.