I'd already had one drink and was nursing my second when Alex finally showed up. He'd sent a text earlier telling me he was running late due to some last-minute situation at work.

"I see you started without me," he said, noticing the drink in my hand.

"Yeah, well, it's been a long week."

"What happened?"

I told him about my week of problems, beginning with the parking ticket on Monday and ending with Thursday's argument with my mother.

"I'm glad I invited you out for a drink then," he said. "It sounds like you need one."

"I need more than one. This is my second and I'm sure there will be a third and a fourth also."

Alex and I talked about work, his rather grueling MBA classes, and the world at large before moving on to more personal topics.

"So, how are things on the dating scene?" he asked. "Have you met anyone yet?"

"No, but I haven't exactly been trying either."

"Why not? Don't tell me you're still pining for your old boyfriend."

"I'm not." That wasn't actually true. I was still pining for Chris, but the feeling was fading daily. I didn't fixate on him or depress myself thinking about our breakup as often as I used to. But I still held onto a flicker of hope that we'd get back together, although that flame was growing dimmer with each passing day.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" Alex said, bringing me back to the conversation at hand.

"Sure," I told him, "but I can't guarantee I'll answer it."

He took a sip from his drink before looking at me and asking, "What do you like to do with another man?"

"Socially?"

"Sexually."

The bluntness of his response surprised me a little. Did he really expect me to tell him what I liked to do in bed? And why did he want to know in the first place? Was he preparing to make me an offer?

"Wow," I said. "You weren't joking when you said your question would be personal."

"Come on, Scott. We're both adults here. No shame, no judgment. I'm just curious."

"Curious about what? My sex life or gay sex in general?"

He grinned. "All of the above."

I had two options. Either I could shut Alex's invasive line of questioning down and change the subject or I could tell him exactly what he wanted to know. While the first option made the most sense and was surely the most rational, I chose door number two instead. If I hadn't been drinking and had such a shitty week, I probably would have clammed up, but I was in the mood to loosen my tongue a little that night. Plus, I wasn't ashamed or embarrassed about my sex life. I was a gay man who had sex with other men and enjoyed it and I didn't see any reason to deny those facts or censor myself. Straight men (and women) talked about their sex lives all the time with no shame. Why should a gay man or woman be any different?

"I like some of same things many men like," I told Alex.

"Such as?"

"Well, oral sex is high on my list of favorites."

"Giving or receiving?"

"Both."

"Anal?"

"What about it?"

"Giver or receiver?"

"Receiver, although I have been known to give on occasion."

"Rimming?"

"I enjoy having it done to me, but I'm not a fan of doing it to others. I have to know a man pretty well before I go down that road with him."

"Did you go down that road with your ex?"

"I went down a lot of roads with my ex."

"So ... yes?"

"Yes."

"I bet he loved it."

"He did. It drove him crazy." It did. Chris loved having his ass eaten but he enjoyed sticking his face between the cheeks of my ass even more. He often told me I had a great ass for fucking and eating.

Alex chuckled and moved his chair closer to my own. "What's it like to have a man's tongue in your ass?"

"It's wonderful. You should try it sometime."

He smiled at me then and put his hand on my thigh, a move that shocked me, but didn't freak me out enough to pull away from his touch.

"I'm not surprised you get down like that," he said. "I could tell when I met you that you were a little dirty. And ..."

"And what?"

He leaned so close to me that I thought for a moment that he was going to try and kiss me. But he didn't. He softly said, "And I like it."