oh, brother

"See, you have to stop thinking about Derrick." Eric didn't know why he bothered talking to Ian, sometimes. But he was taking him to dinner. They had his toddler son Evan along for the ride.

"Well, Lola brought him up." Ian took Evan in his arms as they waited for a table at the diner. "I don't want to think about him, actually. Its just Lola seems to think-"

"Think what? You like her, don't you? You spend most days at her house. Driving her brother places. God, its like you're already married to her." Eric summed up his observation.

"Its not like that." Ian helped Evan into a kiddie chair once they got to the booth. "We are friends. And maybe, I waited too late."

"The friend zone, huh?" Eric was slowly figuring this out.

"I kissed her at the Valentines dance." Ian skimmed the menu. "Bad timing, evidently, because..because..she thinks I only kissed her because Derrick was there with his date...And..and maybe I did." He shrugged.

"Do you really think so?" Eric questioned him. Wondering if he'd ever been in such a dilemma. "Maybe its because..you used to..you know..were with..a guy.." He kept his voice quiet.  "Just how..how far.." He looked back at Evan who was looking at him as if knew what Eric was thinking. "Hey, buddy.." Eric grinned at the baby and opened a cracker for him and fixed his sippie cup. "She might not want to have sex with you..if you know..you had sex with him. How's she suppose to compete with that?"

"Eric, shut up." Ian stared at him. "This..this is not about sex." Ian whispered back. About then the waitress came to take their order.

"Oh, its always about sex." Eric whispered back with a smirk after the waitress left.

"God." Ian cringed. "I just want her to trust me, you know." He pushed his thick honey hair back.

"I know you do. You may have to give it another year, before..well, you know, the sex part. Are you willing to wait that long?" Eric thought a bit about that. Thinking the longest he'd ever gone without sex was between Amanda and Syd. And that was just a few months. He squinted then, remembering there was that one night stand. "The point is. You might not want to be with her, anyway. You, might be on the other team now." He said ever so lightly. Just in case, someone was listening, which was probably Evan who was nibbling on a cracker.