**Brian’s POV**

“Is that your next question?” Justin asked as he returned to his chair. I could tell by the worried expression on his face that he was hoping it wasn’t.

Too bad, Sunshine. “Yeah- did you and Daphne ever make the beast with two backs?”

He flashed me that beautiful smile, his cheeks turning pink. “Once, during our senior year of high school.”

“Wasn’t that the year you came out?”

“Yeah; a few months after I came out, actually,” he answered, looking down at his clipboard in embarrassment. “She had known for years that I liked guys, and she knew that I had been with a few guys by that point, but she had been in love with me since we were like, eight. I slept with her on her eighteenth birthday, mostly because she begged me not to let her go to college a virgin. She said she wanted to lose it to someone that she loved and trusted.”

I pointed towards my open mouth in a “gag” motion, which made him laugh. “I know, gay guys fucking straight girls must be a sign of the world nearing its end,” he said.

“My friend Ted said something to that effect when I told him about…” Shit, I didn’t want to mention that. I snapped my mouth shut and looked back out the window at the street below.

“About what?” Justin asked.

I sighed and said, “About when I fucked my friend Lindsay when we were in college.”

“What?” he asked in disbelief. “You’ve had sex with a woman? Is this the same Lindsay that you said was a lesbian? And the mother of your son?”

“Yeah, it’s what we affectionately refer to as ‘The Summer of Madness.’” I looked at him and explained, “It was during summer break between our junior and senior years and neither of us wanted to go home to our parents’ houses, since her parents are almost as unbearable as mine were, so we stayed in the dorm. We both knew that we were gay, but one night after an all-day John Hughes movie marathon, we got reallydrunk, and…”

“You made the beast with two backs,” he finished for me.

I nodded and added, “We spent the next few weeks drinking and fucking, then called it quits when the semester started. She went back to pussy and I went back to cock, and we stayed friends.”

We spent the rest of the hour exchanging drunken college stories, including one where he danced on a pool table in his underwear at a frat party, and I was almost disappointed when Nick “The Ram” knocked on the door at exactly 1:00 for his session.

“Later,” I said to Justin as I passed by The Ram in the doorway. “Take good care of him for me, Ram.”

“I’m sure you plan on doing that yourself in thirteen days,” Ram said before winking and clicking his tongue at me.

Athletic, hot, and smart, that guy.

I walked past Connie’s office door on my way to the elevator just as Emmett was leaving, dabbing his eyes with a tissue.

“Oh, hey Brian,” he said as he stuffed the tissue in his pants pocket.

“You okay, Sugarplum?” I asked the man, who was still wearing his ruffled purple blouse. His fingernails were painted a plum color.

He chuckled a bit. “Yeah, Connie has a way of making me bear my soul.”

As we walked towards the elevator, I remembered to ask him, “Oh, do you have some nail clippers I can borrow? My hangnails have hangnails.” I lifted my hands to take another look.

He grabbed my hands for an inspection and gasped. “Oh honey… luckily for you, I worked as a manicurist before I started getting regular acting jobs. I have all the tools with me necessary to give you a desperately-needed manicure.”

“Uh… okay.”

********************

Emmett was doing the final buff on my nails when a rat-faced guy pushing a cleaning cart walked into the dining area. Emmett and I both gave the guy a cursory glance and looked back at each other.

“Classic breeder,” I whispered across the table. Emmett nodded in agreement and went back to the job at hand.

“I would have never pegged you as a Shakespeare fan,” Emmett said.

“During my sophomore year of college, I had a fuck buddy that was in the theater program, and he loved Shakespeare. He would read me sonnets after we got done, and I went to see him perform as Iago in Othello. I’ve seen several of Shakespeare’s plays since then.”

“I played Othello in a one-night production for the community theater in Jackson, a few months before I moved here. Only like, twenty people showed up, and we had four left at the end,” he said sadly. “Those hillbillies wouldn’t know entertainment if it bit them on the tit.”

Rat Face walked over to the table right next to ours and sprayed it with a cleaning chemical, splashing some onto Emmett in the process.

“Hey!” Emmett yelled at the guy. “There had better not be bleach in there, or my shirt will be ruined!”

“It’s just sanitizer,” he mumbled as he bent over the table and began to wipe it with a cleaning rag. The guy had a nice ass, but it was wasted on a straight asshole.

I stood up and said to the guy, “Aren’t you going to apologize to the lady?”

Rat Face stood up straight and smirked at me. He then looked over at Emmett and said, “Sorry,” in an insincere tone.

I took a couple of steps so I was toe-to-toe with the asshole. He was a couple of inches shorter than me, but was more muscular. No matter, I looked down into his grey-blue eyes and firmly said, “I think you can do better than that.”

He stared at me for a few beats, then looked back over at Emmett, who was putting away his manicure supplies in a pink carrying case. “Hey man,” Rat Face called out. Emmett looked at him and Rat Face continued, “I didn’t mean to spray that on you. I’m sorry.”

“I accept your apology,” Emmett said. “Just be careful about spraying those chemicals around people.”

“Good boy,” I said to Rat Face, whose employee badge said “Chris” on it. I like Rat Face better.

Rat Face scoffed and went back to wiping the table. If we had been anywhere else, I probably would have stuffed that rag down his fucking throat. Straight guys…

I thanked Emmett for the free manicure, which was better than some I’ve paid big bucks for at salons or spas, and gulped down a glass of guava juice I got from the nice old lady working in the kitchen. I shot Rat Face, who was sweeping around the dining room tables, my classic “go fuck yourself” look and went back to my and the muncher’s room.

Melanie’s session with Eric was at noon, which was the same time as my session with Justin, so I was a bit surprised that she wasn’t in the room reading one of her law magazines. Figuring that she was on the roof having a smoke, I grabbed my Hot Rodmagazine from the top of my dresser and stretched out on my bed to flip through it.

I was reading an article about Hemi engines when I heard what sounded like a puppy whimpering come from behind the closed bathroom door. I listened for a few seconds and heard it again.

“Oh!” I heard a female voice groan. No…

I got up and knocked on the bathroom door. “Mel?” I called out.

“Uh… yeah?” I heard her answer.

“What are you doing?” I asked, knowing full well what she was doing.

“I’m just… uh…”

“Flicking your bean?” I guessed, trying not to retch.

After a few seconds of silence, Melanie turned on the sink and said, “I’ll be out in a minute, okay?”

I laid back on my bed with my magazine and Melanie emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, looking guilty as all hell.

“You’re supposed to abstain from playing zip-a-dee-doo-dah, aren’t you?” I asked her, trying not to look at her face.

She slumped her shoulders and stood at the foot of my bed. “You’re not going to tell anyone about this, are you?” she asked.

“You couldn’t wait to call me on my Ibiza story in front of everyone, so why should I keep a secret for you? Maybe I’ll just tell everyone about this little incident in group this evening.”

“Brian, please… I slipped, is all-”

“If I’m not allowed to stick my dick up any guys’ asses while I’m here, you shouldn’t be allowed to… do that to yourself,” I said.

“Oh, don’t pretend like you haven’t touched yourself since you’ve been here,” she said defensively. “You’re a man, after all-”

“I’m not the masturbating addict,” I reminded her as I recalled my wackfest in the shower the night before. “You need to let Eric know about this. The first thing Justin asked me about in our session earlier was what you were referring to this morning, and I told him.”

“Alright, I’ll tell Eric. I promise,” she said in a desperate tone.

“And how will I know that you told him?”

Melanie sighed and walked over to me. “His only other patient is Joe, and they should be done with their session by now.” She then grabbed my hand to try to make me get up. “Let’s go see if he’s in his office.”

I let her help me up and dramatically pulled my hand away. “Eww, I know where those hands have been.” I wiped my hand on my jeans for added effect.

“Oh shut up,” she said as she pulled the door open. “I could only imagine where yourshave been before.”

********************

“I’m just so fucking stressed out,” Melanie said in between her sobs. I’ve got to admit that I’m impressed with our little lezzie. Not only did she come clean to Eric, but she admitted on her own to the whole group during our evening session about her bathroom blunder.

Mel took another tissue of out the box at her feet and continued, “It’s hard enough for me to go to work every day and be around people that I know, but then I have to meet with clients, go to court, and do research at the law library.” She stopped to blow her nose. Christ, she’s an ugly crier. “If it was up to me, I wouldn’t ever leave my apartment. And now, I’m expected to open up to a bunch of strangers.” She glanced around the room and added, “No offence.”

Justin, sitting in his usual chair at Melanie’s right side, patted her knee sympathetically. “We’re all very proud of you, Melanie. Unfortunately, this can be a stressful environment. That’s why I think it’s nice that we have these group sessions, so everyone can remind each other that you’re not alone in your journey.” Oh, how precious, Sunshine.

“We’re all here for you, sweetie,” Emmett said. Ginger and Julie voiced their support, too. I wouldn’t be surprised if the three of them broke out in song.

Instead, Cameron-the-Douche, who was sitting on the other side of Mel, went on a tirade. “Oh, give me a fucking break.” He continued in a mocking tone, “‘Waa, I have to go out in public and be around people all day, and then I go home and masturbate.’ Get over yourself.”

“Hey, fuck you, asshole!” Melanie yelled at Cameron as she stood up from her chair. Justin got up just in time and grabbed the little woman around her shoulders to stop her from going after Cameron while The Ram stepped between them. Good thing, because I’m sure Mel could rip the guy’s face off like a junk yard dog if given the chance.

“Alright, settle down, Melanie,” Dr. Vic said. Standing up, the doc told Cameron, “Let’s go to my office. The rest of you, please continue without us.”

Like a bunch of children, Emmett, Ginger, Julie, The Ram, Freddie, and Henri all “oohed” at Cameron for getting in trouble.

Once the door was closed behind them, Mel turned in Justin’s arms and began to hysterically cry into his chest. Predictably, Justin hugged her and murmured calming words to her.

“Do you want to go up for a smoke?” Justin asked her a few moments later.

Wanting to get the fuck out of there, I jumped out of my chair and said, “Good idea.” Justin told Connie and Eric that we’d be back, and the two of us escorted the sobbing lesbian out of the room.