Part 9 : Lunch
I was not at all convinced that this was a good idea, but I shouted
through the door to Scott to check that he really was okay with the
whole thing and he said he was. He also said I should stop worrying,
which is like telling a fish it should stop swimming. Love me, love my
neuroses. Sort of. I was standing by the telephone chewing my
thumbnail when his tousled head popped round the door-frame.
"What should I wear to this?" This was his biggest concern? What he
should wear? What does one wear to enter the lion's den? A suit of
armor might be an idea!
"Whatever, it won't be formal."
"Whatever is not, and never has been, an acceptable answer. I want to
make a good first impression on your friends."
"I don't know, smart but casual, I guess."
"You were meant to say: 'you'll make a good impression whatever you
wear', you scumbag." He threw the damp towel he'd been holding at my
head and grinned at me.
"Sorry. Distracted. But you're right, you will." And he would, he was
so beautiful, how could he not? But then, Dale and Eileen would not be
judging him on his beauty.
"Not that I was fishing for compliments or anything." He disappeared
back round the door frame and I could dimly hear him rummaging through
his piles of clothes for the perfect ensemble.
I continued to ruminate on the upcoming torture while he dressed and
preened in the bathroom. My one hope for salvation was that the girls
would be there, Eileen would be more restrained in front of the
children. I must have been standing there for some time, because when
I looked up Scott had finished preparing himself and, my God, but he
looked stunning. Better than he ever had before. Gone was the rumpled
look of the previous day, before me was a vision of beauty in gray
pants and a dark blue silk shirt, his hair immaculately styled. I
caught my breath.
"Does that mean you approve?" He asked mischievously, crossing his arms
across his broad chest.
"Yes!" The clothes looked so good on him I could hardly control the
urge to tear them off!
"I can scrub up pretty good when I try."
"You certainly can. They're going to love you. I..." I almost added
'do', but caught myself just in time. He cocked his head at me oddly.
"You, on the other hand, look like shit!"
"Oh, thank you!" But he had a point. I needed a shave and a change of
clothes badly. Not that I would have traded last night in his arms for
all the clean clothes on Earth! As I remembered the feeling of his
touch, the texture of his skin, I shuddered and my stomach performed a
flip. How could I be so lucky? "Guess we'd better do something about
that, huh?"
"Sounds like a plan. So we're heading over to your place? Or are you
going to prop up that wall all day?"
"You, are not a nice person."
"Sure I am." He leaned over to kiss my cheek, and I was forced to admit
that he was a nice person after all. "It was my winning personality
that attracted you to me, surely?"
"Well it sure as hell wasn't your looks!"
"Ouch!"
Satisfied that I had scored the winning point I pushed myself upright
and slipped an arm round his waist. "Shall we get this over with,
then?"
"Listen to you! These are your friends we're talking about, it'll be
fun." He squeezed my shoulder and his touch had the same magically
calming effect it always had.
"Fun is not the word that springs to mind." We walked like that down to
my car which was parked on the street outside and drove in a pleasant,
comfortable silence across town to my apartment. Once inside I told
him to make himself comfortable while I got ready. I went into my
bedroom and turned my thoughts to what I was going to wear. This had
never been an issue before, I would go over to Dale and Eileen's place
a couple of times a week and never once had it occurred to me to think
about what to wear to do so. Now I was pulling shirts and pants from
my wardrobe and holding them up to each other, trying to decide what
would look the best and, as importantly, compliment Scott's outfit. I
finally settled on a pair of khaki pants and a gray turtleneck.
Satisfied with that, I wandered through to the bathroom to shave before
rejoining Scott.
"Richie!" I gasped as I walked in.
"Hey," Scott said as I walked back into the room, "I made a new
friend." Oh God! I had completely forgotten about Richie I had been so
caught up in Scott. My poor cat hadn't been fed for days and here he
was now purring louder than a train as Scott stroked his back. Scott
looked up and smiled broadly at me, "You look great!"
"Thanks. I can't believe I forgot about my cat, though!"
"He was out on the fire escape, scratching at the window, so I let him
in and gave him some food. He seems much happier now, he's purring."
He turned his attention back to Richie's multi-colored fur as the cat
wound itself round his legs, getting hairs all over his pants.
"I'd purr if you did that to me!"
"Come over here and I'll do it!" He grinned at me.
"You're getting hair on your pants." I changed the subject.
"Doesn't matter, he's cute, and he seems to like me. Does that mean I
can stay over some time? Does it? Huh? Does it?" He put on a little
boy voice and looked up at me with big round eyes, I couldn't help but
laugh. I seemed to be laughing all the time since I'd met him. Well,
that and crying.
"We'll see."
"Okay, you, enough, your master needs to be taught a lesson." He gently
pushed Richie away from his legs and rose from his seat to come over to
where I was standing.
"What kind of a lesson?" I took a step backwards and held my hands up
in mock surrender.
"We'll see!" He flashed me an evil grin and, before I knew what was
happening, he lunged forward catching me round the waist and swinging
me round so I ended up flat on my back on the sofa with all the air
knocked out of me. Before I had a chance to properly get my breath
back he began to tickle me and I was soon squirming around, laughing
uncontrollably and gasping strangled entreaties for him to stop. "Do
you want to change your answer yet?" He halted his torments for a
moment.
"Yes! Yes! I'm sorry! You can stay over!" I gasped my answer out as
I tried to get air back into my lungs, I hadn't laughed so hard in a
long time.
"Good answer. But you know what you did?"
"What'd I do?"
"You apologized to me again!" His head bowed to mine, and we were
kissing again. It was a long, slow, tender kiss that lifted me up and
out of myself and made me sure that I wanted to spend as much time as I
possibly could with this impossibly wonderful man. "And now my hair is
a mess!" He chided softly as we broke and I realized I had been
clutching at his head as we kissed.
"I..." I started to speak but was stopped by his mouth pressing back
onto mine, showing me that he didn't really mind about his hair. He
tasted so good I wanted to keep doing this forever! I wrapped my arms
round his back and pulled him down so he was lying half beside me and
half on top, not caring this time that he could feel my erection
pressing urgently against him. He came up for air after a while and
stroking my cheek gazed into my eyes. He rested his hand flat on my
belly.
"What time are we meant to show for lunch?"
"Soon." I breathed.
"Guess I'll have to take care of you later then." He joked.
"Is that a promise?"
"Do you want it to be?" There was still a trace of humor in his voice.
"Yes." Suddenly I was all seriousness. I realized that I did want him
to, absolutely and unreservedly, I wanted him to promise that when we
came back after lunch he would help me take the biggest step of my
life.
"Then it is a promise." His tone and the sincerity in his eyes told me
that he was no longer joking and I felt an overwhelming wave of love
for this gentle, caring man. I raised my head to kiss him and breathed
a thank you into his ear. "No, thank you, Mike. Thank you." He
pressed his face against my neck and we just held each other. Just
then, Richie jumped up to join us and started to rub against my cheek,
causing me to giggle and the moment was over.
"Right, you," I informed the cat, "You're going back outside and we're
going to lunch." I fitted my actions to my words and scooped him up to
deposit him back on my fire escape.
"Let's go then. I want to meet the people who persuaded you to call
me!" Scott squeezed my hand and smiled.
"Okay. Grab a bottle of wine from the kitchen would you?" I
straightened myself up a bit, found my car keys and we were ready to
go.
I pulled into the drive of Dale's house and killed the engine. For a
while I sat and breathed, Scott waited quietly beside me until I had
gathered myself and then he leaned over to kiss me. "It'll be fine."
He was right, I pulled myself together and got out the car, he followed
me to the door which was thrown open by a grinning Dale before I could
raise my hand to the bell.
"I thought you were going to sit out there all day!" He punched my
shoulder and then turned his attention to the man standing beside me.
"And you MUST be Scott! I'm Dale." He practically pushed me aside as
he came forward with outstretched hand. Scott took the proffered hand
and shook it with a broad smile on his face.
"Nice to meet you, Dale, and thanks for inviting me to your home. I've
been looking forward to meeting you, Mike's told me a lot about you."
"I'll bet, but I haven't heard nearly enough about you yet! Come on in
guys, Eileen's in the dining room adjusting and re-arranging stuff.
Anyone would think you were Bill and Hilary the way she's behaving!"
He stood back and gestured for both of us to enter and then followed us
in, closing the door behind himself.
"Michael!" Eileen bustled into the hall. "And this must be Scott!
Mike didn't do you justice, you're absolutely gorgeous!" Scott flushed
a deep red as she looked him up and down.
"Um, thanks, this is for you." He held out the bottle of wine.
"Oh, you shouldn't have bothered."
"No bother, really, its from Mike's kitchen!" He was recovering his
composure enough to favor her with a brilliant smile.
"Honest as well as handsome! Well come on through to the dining room.
s just the four of us, the girls are with my mother." I stole a
glance at Scott and rolled my eyes at him. "I saw that, Michael."
Eileen chided. "Now everyone take a seat and Dale will get you a
drink." And with that she was gone back through to the kitchen. I saw
what Dale meant as I looked round the dining room, Eileen was always
house proud but today everything gleamed and the best tableware was
out. There was a beautiful floral arrangement on the table.
Once we all had drinks in hand, Dale and Eileen sat down and there was
an awkward silence as we all waited for someone else to open the
conversation. I was dreading what would be said, and trying
desperately to think of any neutral topic that would keep Dale from his
interrogation. To my surprise, it was Scott who opened the
conversation.
"So I guess I should thank you two for persuading Mike to call me?" he
smiled broadly at both of them and at my open mouthed expression -
still I supposed we might as well get it over with.
"He told you that, huh?" Dale sounded amused.
"Yeah, it was a good plan, but Mike screwed it up." He went on to tell
them about the papers with my name on them, my eagerness to get out the
office and the fact that I told him on a Friday that I had a big
presentation the next day! I had no idea I had screwed it up that
badly, but it made Dale and Eileen laugh so much during the telling
that it well and truly broke the ice. They thought the story of my
drunken stupor was pretty damned funny too, so far I was not coming out
well from this story. The conversation went on from there to safe,
neutral topics and continued pleasantly enough for a while.
"So what got you into the copier business, Scott?" Dale sounded
genuinely interested in the answer, as though he thought Scott could do
far better for himself. Which he certainly could, this was a bright
boy. Scott flinched.
"My uncle got me the job. I bummed around for a few years after high
school and never made it to college. My parents couldn't really have
afforded to send me anyway, but at the time I was convinced I could be
a great artist instead and didn't need college. I'm saving up now, so
I can afford to go."
"An artist?"
"Um, yes, just a hobby really." Scott seemed generally disinclined to
talk about his drawing, changing the subject every time I had raised
it.
"Don't listen to him guys, he's really good!" Before Scott could
protest I had pulled out my wallet and retrieved the sheet of folded
notepaper I had put in there on Saturday morning. The picture he drew
of me sleeping. I handed it to Eileen.
"You've been carrying that around with you?" Scott was frowning at me.
"Sure I have, its really good."
"He's right, Scott, this is very good. You've really captured him."
Eileen was casting the critical eye of a Fine Arts major over the
little drawing. "Would you draw me sometime?" She suddenly blurted
out.
"Um, I guess so, if you want me to."
"Oh I do! But you mustn't use a ball-point!" She smiled at him and he
seemed to relax a degree as well. "Now, Dale, you stay here and talk
to Mike while Scott helps me bring through the lunch things."
"I can help, if you want." I volunteered, but this was clearly planned
as it was Dale and not Eileen who responded.
"No, that's okay. I think they'll cope." So we were to be split up and
talked to separately. Scott seemed unfazed by this obvious ploy, as he
rose to follow Eileen to the kitchen, he squeezed my shoulder and
smiled at me and I saw a small smile flicker across Eileen's face as he
did so. They left for the kitchen.
"That was subtle, Dale." I glared at him.
"Oh, stop your whining! She's not going to hurt him, she just wants to
talk to him. And I want to talk to you."
"About what?" I was not feeling very cooperative suddenly.
"What the hell do you think? About where you've been all weekend and
what you've been up to. And what's going on with you and Scott, who
seems like a really nice guy by the way..." Before he could go on, I
interrupted.
"Where I've been all weekend is with Scott, what we got up to isn't
really any of your business. And what's going on is, well, I don't
know. I like him a lot, Dale, and I think I'm falling for him. But
its all too new for me to know what I want to happen, or where I want
this to go."
"Uhuh? Rubbish. You know exactly what you want, you're just scared to
admit it to yourself. But you should. And you should admit it to Scott
too. Have you seen the way that guy looks at you?"
"How does he look at me, oh Great One?" Dale was beginning to annoy me.
I knew he had my best interests at heart, but he was lecturing me
about a relationship I may or may not have with a man he'd only known
for about a half hour. Where did he get off?
I know you guys only met a few days ago, but its pretty obvious to me
that he cares about you, though God knows why. And its equally obvious
that you care about him. So spill, what happened this weekend?" I
stared at Dale, with my mouth slightly open, had he said what I thought
he said? I mean, I knew that Scott liked me, that was clear, but until
Dale said that he could see he cared about me it hadn't seemed one
hundred percent real. Now it did.
"You think he cares about me?"
"If I had just met you two, I'd have thought you'd been together
forever. In fact, I'll go further and say I think he's falling for
you. Which is good, as you've totally fallen for him!" Suddenly I
wanted to tell Dale everything.
"I think I may love him, Dale. But I'm afraid."
"Afraid of what? What might happen, or what you're feeling?"
"What I'm feeling, its been a long time. And its such a big change."
"I understand. But you can't spend your whole life beating yourself up.
Now tell me about your weekend." I gave Dale a quick summary of the
events of the weekend, editing it a little to make myself appear a bit
less pathetic and he listened carefully to the whole story, grunting
every so often to indicate that he was taking it all in. When I got to
the conversation Scott and I had had before coming over for lunch his
face broke out in a broad smile. "I guess we'd better keep this lunch
short, then?"
I blushed beet red and grinned like a fool at Dale. Suddenly I had an
urge to hug my old friend and thank him profusely for everything he'd
done for me. I was definitely finding it harder to control my emotions
these days. Maybe I'd just spent too long bottling stuff up. I
reached across and gave Dale's hand a squeeze, "Thanks, man."
"That's what friends are for, Mikey. To tell you when you're being an
idiot." It was in the middle of this touching scene that Eileen
returned from the kitchen, carrying a try and followed by a smiling and
similarly laden Scott.
"Well, we've had a lovely chat in the kitchen, and I see you boys have
too, so let's eat." Eileen beamed at me. "You're a lucky man, Mike,
this one's a definite keeper!"
The rest of the meal passed uneventfully with us all chatting away as
though we were old friends and I found myself smiling foolishly as I
sat back and listened to my new best friend talking to my oldest
friends like they'd known each other all their lives. Eileen couldn't
have been more right, this one WAS a keeper, and I was going to do
anything it took to be with him. After lunch and coffee, Dale stood up
and announced that he'd love to keep chatting, but he had some papers
to go over. Eileen gave him a black look, but Scott and I seized the
opportunity to thank them for lunch and make a hasty departure.
"It was lovely meeting you Scott. Mike's a very lucky man. And so are
you!" Eileen kissed his cheek.
"I know. Thanks again."
"Remember to call me about that portrait."
"I will." We got into my car and as the doors closed he said, "Well
that was pretty good. I had fun, they're both really nice and its
obvious they care about you a lot."
"Okay, stop it, just tell me what you and Eileen talked about." I
didn't mean to be short with him, but I was desperate to know what had
been said. He just smiled at me and shook his head.
"That's between us. For now. I might tell you later."
"You can't do this to me!"
"Watch me." His wicked grin made it impossible to be mad at him and I
threw my arms round his neck and kissed him on the cheek.
"Okay. Later. Thanks for doing this Scott."
"Hey, my pleasure, really. For you."
I kissed him again and then moved back a little to look deeply into his
wonderful brown eyes. "Take me home and make love to me."
"Or lose you forever?" He was smiling, but I could feel the pulse in
his neck racing.
"Something like that."
"Can't."
"Why not?"
"You're driving." He kissed me on the lips and I wasted no time in
starting the engine.
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