My parents took it well when I told them I wasn’t coming home for Thanksgiving last year. I had a new job, and I told them I was trying to make a good impression by working through the holiday weekend. But I lied.

The truth was I couldn’t stand the idea of more family drama. Also — and not insignificantly — I thought it might be nice to get laid. I was between girlfriends, and a holiday fling would be just the thing to brighten up my life.

While I was trying to figure out how to make that happen, I got a text out of the blue from my college roommate Marcus. We’d been tight back in the day, but we’d inevitably gone our separate ways after graduation. However, we did live in the same city in a part of the country that never got cold.

Marcus invited me to his place for... Read More