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hi gonzo. this takes place directly prior to the one i posted earlier:
Maddie blinks a few times. "There's coincidence, and then there's fate," she says. "Imagine if they had to get rescued off that thing. I guess the coast guard flew a helicopter into a hurricane to find them."
"Helicopter pilots are a special kind of crazy," Buck says. He should know—he's kissed Lucy.
"Anyway, are you going to tell me why you've been so hard to get ahold of for the last few months?"
Buck sighs, and picks a watery tomato out of his sandwich. "You remember Natalia?"
"Yeah," Maddie says. "I thought you two broke up?"
"We did, yeah, but we stayed friends. She's been, uh, introducing me to her people, and we've been having fun, you know?"
"Okay."
"And, well, a couple months ago she took me to a drag show at a gay bar."
"Oh! Was it fun?"
Buck smiles wistfully. "Oh, it was incredible," he says. "And then, after it was over, I started dancing with some people. Some guys, actually. And then I saw him."
Maddie pauses, falafel halfway to her mouth. "Saw… who?"
"The most beautiful man on earth," Buck groans. He reaches his hand into his pocket, feels for the earring he's been carrying around like a talisman ever since that day. "He was tall, and wide, and he was wearing a v-neck, and he had—hair, I dunno, and—and a jaw, and a cleft! And earrings! And he was looking at me, and I was looking at him, and then we danced, and we made out, and then we hooked up in the bathroom, and I pulled his earring out of his ear with my tongue, and he really liked—"
"Oh my god," Maddie says, flinging her falafel onto the floor as she covers her ears. "Sorry, pause, what? Are you—I didn't know you liked men?"
"I didn't, either," Buck says. He pulls the earring out of his pocket. "Until him."
"Wow," Maddie says. "So, did you get his number?"















