“Seriously. Our professor was probably more familiar with a computer that required a punch card and filled an entire floor of an office building.” Brianna sighed out a giggle as she turned her wine glass between her fingers on the table. “But it was nice to talk to someone who knew what I was talking about. That’s how we became such fast friends.”
“An unlikely friendship,” Elliot said.
“Not that unlikely.” Brianna reached out and tapped Elliot on his forearm. “I knew from the moment I saw you that we would probably get along.”
Theo saw the redness rise to Elliot’s cheeks again, and he gathered Elliot wasn’t one for taking compliments. But it made Theo smile. He leaned closer to Elliot. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re very cute when you blush?”
Elliot stared at him, nearly stunned. “Um, no.”
“It’s true,” Theo said.
After another quick drink of his beer, Elliot turned to Theo. “Then, theoretically, as much as I blush, I should get hit on a lot more often.”
“Yes,” Theo said. “You should be hit on a lot.” He was satisfied with himself. By that point, it seemed he was reeling Elliot in and closing this deal. If he could get Elliot to the door, he figured it should be smooth sailing. An easy $5,000.
Elliot’s face seemed to be a permanent shade of red, but this time he continued to smile instead of displaying abject fear. Yet after a long moment, he stared at Theo with a puzzled expression, almost as if he was trying to make out if Theo was lying to him or not. The Adam’s apple at Elliot’s throat worked up and down. He squint and the question seemed to speak from his features. “Are you…?”
“Yes,” Theo said before he could finish. “If you’re asking if I’m hitting on you, then the answer is yes.” Bingo!
Elliot shook his head and leaned back from Theo in such a way that made Theo wonder if he had somehow suddenly failed to pull it off. “Why?” Elliot asked finally.
“That’s the second time you asked that,” Theo said. “The answer is an easy one: I think you’re an attractive guy.”
Again, Elliot’s head shook, a disbelieving grin on his face. “No one has ever said that to me.”
“Then they were probably too embarrassed to approach a guy that looked like you.” Theo leaned toward Elliot, and he made direct eye contact. He could see that it was working, that it was sinking in. He was succeeding.
“Well,” Brianna said. “I think that’s my cue to find my own gentleman to stare longingly into my eyes.”
Elliot’s eyes widened, and it was back, that scared-animal expression. “Where are you going?”
“To leave you two alone,” she said. She gave Elliot a wink. Then she nodded almost imperceptibly to Theo.
“You don’t have to go,” Elliot said. Panic entered his voice.
“Relax,” Brianna said. She stood up. “Go. Have some fun.” She touched Theo on the shoulder. “And take care of my boy,” she said.
Theo turned back to Elliot, and he touched Elliot’s hand. “I think that won’t be a problem.”
She trailed past with a finger running along the Theo’s broad back. “Oh, and don’t bother with the tab,” she said. “Tonight’s on me.”
Elliot scarcely met Theo’s eyes when they were finally alone at the table. He continued to turn his glass of beer on the table, and he made an effort to look everywhere else but directly at Theo.
“What’s wrong?” Theo asked him finally.
“What?” Elliot finally turned and met Theo’s gaze. “Nothing.”
“You don’t have to be nervous with me,” Theo said.
Elliot clearly didn't agree with that statement, because he downed the rest of his beer.
Theo did the same, but with more measured drinks. “Why don’t we get out of here?” Theo said when he put his empty glass down on the table.
“What do you mean?” Elliot had that scared-puppy look again.
Theo laughed. “I mean exactly what I said. Let’s go somewhere where you might be more comfortable.”
Elliot’s eyes narrowed. “In case you hadn’t figured it out, I don’t feel comfortable in a lot of places.”
“Where do you feel most comfortable?”
“At home,” Elliot said.
Theo shrugged. “Okay. Let’s go there.”
Elliot studied Theo for a long moment. At least he was looking at him for an extended period, finally. “You want to go back to my apartment.” It was said in a way to suggest he didn't really believe him.
“I do.” He stood up. “Come on. Let’s go.”
Elliot still wasn’t quite sure, judging by how he remained seated, staring at Theo like he just suggested they run naked through the streets. So Theo held out his hand.
“Come on,” he said again. He smiled, a smile that he was sure was a mix of come-hither and trust-me.
After seconds that stretched nearly into discomfort, Elliot reached up and allowed Theo to lead him away from the table and toward the door.
And from here, the rest was easy, Theo thought. He was already planning how he would decorate his new apartment once he moved.
Chapter Five
Theo
The night was a pleasant surprise as they walked out of the bar onto the Chicago street. Warm and a lake breeze that blew aside the usual thick odors of exhaust and baking sidewalk pavement that mixed with the press of urban bodies. A newspaper pressed by the wind around a lamp post waved at them as they passed.
The evening was in full court by now, and the street had taken on the customary orange cast of the sodium-vapor lights up above. Honking cars and the rumble of buses deafened at first and caused Theo to lean in to Elliot as they walked as if he expected there to be conversation. But Elliot seemed in a daze, almost of shock, and he kept his focus forward. The sidewalk choked with people rushing along the street to dinner plans. Others were just getting to the bar they were leaving. They walked together in twos and threes, sometimes in even larger groups of loud talk and laughter while they hurried on, walking the wide sidewalk, hailing cabs and waiting at the crossing light.
He was no longer holding Elliot’s hand. The mere act of them holding hands seemed to only make Elliot more nervous, so Theo decided it was best to walk close to him. Rub elbows against him every once in a while. He decided against a brush of his hand on Elliot’s ass. If holding hands was troublesome for Elliot, an ass grab could prove traumatic.
“So you’re into computers,” Theo said.
Elliot looked at him for a long moment, but then he took a deep breath. “Yeah. I work in IT.” Then he blushed again. “But I already told you that, didn’t I?”
Theo smiled. “It’s cool.” Theo touched his elbow to Elliot’s. “We’re making conversation. In case you hadn’t figured it out, that’s how we get to know one another.”
“I know that,” Elliot said. His brow furrowed, swept with a momentary flash of anger.
“I was just trying to make light of the situation,” Theo said. “As you get to know me, you’ll find that I do that a lot.” He watched Elliot as they walked. “Look, I get nervous too, you know. I make stupid jokes when I get nervous.”
“Are you nervous now?”
Theo brushed Elliot’s arm again. “Kinda, I must admit.”
“What do you have to be nervous about?”
They stopped at the corner. They were on LaSalle and Randolph. “I am about to go to some guy’s apartment I just met. An attractive guy at that.”
Elliot rolled his eyes, and his cheeks flushed red again. “Whatever.”
“And tonight represents me getting back on the horse again,” Theo said.
“How so?” Elliot stared at him as they walked.
“I’m just getting out of a bad relationship.” A couple, a man and a woman, passed by them, arm in arm and clearly in love. Way to rub it in.
“Wow,” Elliot said. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. He’s a lawyer. The guy’s an asshole. It only took me two years t
o see it.” Theo shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. What was one of the first rules of meeting new guys? Don’t talk about failed relationships. Yet here he was.
“Two years,” Elliot said. “That’s a long one.”
“Blind years,” Theo said. “I’ll be better off once I move.”
“You still live with him?”
“For now. Until next Wednesday.” Theo blew out a breath. “Can’t come fast enough.”
Elliot nodded.
They walked in silence for a bit until Theo bumped over into Elliot’s shoulder as they walked. “Anyway, you sell yourself short,” he said to change the subject.
“What does that mean?” Elliot grinned with a creased brow.
“I mean, you do this whole geek-chic thing pretty well.” Theo watched Elliot bow his head. He didn’t make eye contact, but this time he kept a small, awkward smile on his face.
“This can’t be happening,” Elliot said.
A finger of fear poked at Theo as he turned to Elliot. “What can’t?”
“This.” Elliot pointed between the both of them. “What I mean is, this doesn’t happen to guys like me.”
Theo sighed. He put an arm around Elliot. “Oh, Elliot. You know what? I will see you take a compliment and not blush before this night is through.” The light changed, and they crossed the street. As they walked, Elliot grew more tense. Theo could feel it beneath his arm. But he didn’t let go. He kept his arm over Elliot’s shoulders as Elliot turned them down Randolph Street, heading toward Lake Michigan and, Theo assumed, the El stop.
As they walked, people eyed them. It didn’t bother him. People stared at him all the time when he was at work and flaunting himself shirtless to strangers outside the store. But Elliot obviously wasn’t used to it. As Theo kept his arm in place, Elliot closed up with his hands shoved in his pockets and his head down. The leather messenger bag Elliot carried swayed back and forth as they walked.
“You okay?” Theo asked Elliot.
Elliot snapped a glance up at Theo. “Yeah. I’m fine. I’m good.” He swallowed as he walked. “I mean, I don’t usually do this kind of thing.”
“It’s okay,” Theo said. “I don't usually pick cute guys up in bars either.”
“I mean this.” He motioned with his hands to indicate the both of them. “Walking down the street with a guy and his arm around me.” He glanced at people walking past.
Theo took his arm down from around Elliot’s shoulders. Shit. “Sorry,” he said.
A small smile crept onto Elliot’s lips as he glanced over at Theo. “It’s okay.”
Elliot walked in silence a few feet. He looked like he tried to control his breathing, deep breaths in and long breaths out. Theo thought he still might bolt at any minute.
As they walked, Theo’s phone chirped, and he pulled it out to check it, sliding open the home screen. It was a message from Reid, an email detailing the things in the apartment that were his and what Theo could take. Asshole.
“We have the same phone,” Elliot said. He pulled out his and showed it to Theo as they walked. It was the same model and same color.
Theo leaned closer to Elliot. “I guess I have good taste,” he said, and Elliot’s eyes widened as they met Theo’s, and he turned his face away. “What? Is it me?” Theo asked. “Do I make you nervous?”
For a moment, Elliot didn’t seem able to say anything. Then he turned to examine Theo. “Yeah. Of course you do.”
Theo scrunched up his face with a stupid, confused smile. “Why?”
“Look at you.”
Theo held his hands out to either side as they walked. “Yeah, so.”
Again, the embarrassment flared on Elliot’s face. He swallowed and took deep breaths. But they reached the stairs of the Randolph and Wabash El station, and Elliot started up them. Theo fished out his transit card and Elliot did the same. The narrow stairwell forced them to walk in single file for the trip up the stairs, Theo behind Elliot. He was at eye level with Elliot’s ass for a good way up, and it wasn’t a bad sight. Not bad at all. The pants that Elliot wore fit him well. He had a nice, tight ass.
When they reached the top of the stairs and onto the platform, the Brown Line train was already in the station. They both had to run to make it onto a car just as the doors dinged closed. Elliot stood, even though there was plenty of seating in the mostly empty car. He pushed into the corner of the closed doors across from where they entered the train, and he leaned against the partition. Theo took his place facing him. They stared at one another as the train pulled out of the station, and Theo hooked his arm into the metal railing to keep from falling.
“You were saying?” Theo said. Elliot acted caught at first, and Theo kept eye contact. When Elliot tried to turn away, Theo followed him, moving into his field of view, and a hint of smile broke out onto Elliot’s lips. When he turned his head so he was facing the glass partition and looking at the scant number of passengers seated deeper in the train car, Theo couldn’t follow, but he reached up and put a finger on Elliot’s chin to turn his head so they could maintain eye contact. “I’m waiting.”
A wider smile overtook Elliot’s face. A smile that he still wasn’t quite willing to let loose, so it twisted his mouth in a weird shape until he gave in and his teeth showed. “You’re gorgeous, that’s why,” Elliot said.
Theo maintained his eye contact with a playful yet charged stare. He said nothing in return.
Elliot shrugged like Theo should be able to catch on and understand what he was saying, but Theo didn’t give in.
“I’ve never been with a guy like you,” Elliot continued. Elliot’s gaze traveled down the front of Theo’s body. “I’m not even sure I know what to do with a guy like you.”
“But isn’t that what this is all about?” Theo leaned in closer. Elliot could go no further. The side of the train prevented him from moving away. When the train reached a curve in the track, Theo pretended the momentum jostled him forward until they were inches apart from one another. He put his hands on Elliot’s waist, and Elliot’s breathing was short and nervous.
“You smell good,” Elliot said in a whisper. He swallowed, and Theo liked the way his throat moved when he swallowed.
“See? This isn't so hard, is it?” Theo took a chance then. He reached down and brushed his hand up against Elliot’s crotch, and Elliot’s eyes widened. “Well, maybe it is a little hard.”
Elliot tried to move, tried to turn his hips. He looked wild eyed at the other people in the car.
“Don’t worry about them,” Theo said. He spoke in a soft voice. They were close enough to hear even over the clatter of the train on the elevated track. Darkened office windows and an apartment building slid by the window outside. “It’s just you and me,” Theo said. “You don’t have to worry about a thing. Tonight is about you.”
Still squirming, Elliot looked right into Theo’s eyes. “This is happening,” he said. He said it like he still didn’t quite believe it.
“You better believe it’s happening,” Theo said. He hovered close to Elliot until the train pulled into the next stop. More people got onto the train, so Theo took a step back. He reached out and touched Elliot’s hand, though, and he hooked his pinkie finger into Elliot’s. “It’s happening,” he said again, and he bit his bottom lip as the train pulled away.
They ended up at a high-rise apartment building in Old Town. Elliot unlocked the door to his apartment, and he went inside, leaving Theo to follow in behind him. The light came on to reveal a clean place. It wasn’t overly decorated. Plain furniture, for the most part. IKEA bookshelves and a functional living room set. There wasn’t much out of place. It almost didn't appear lived in. It had a showroom quality like a display floor set or something.
Theo stood quietly while Elliot moved around the room as if he wasn’t sure what to do with himself. At first, Elliot started like he wanted to walk into the kitchen area visible from the living room, but then he stopped and turned suddenly around to hang the me
ssenger bag from a hook attached to the wall. From there, he appeared lost as he stopped to stand in the center of the room, still holding his keys in his hand, fingers pressed white, like they were a kind of lifesaver. He stared at Theo again with a disbelieving expression, as if he thought he would disappear and it would all be a dream.
Theo walked to the window in the living room. Approaching Elliot now, he sensed, would be a disaster. The tension in the poor guy’s shoulders—Theo worried he would completely uncoil and break if he pushed it. Instead, he looked out the window.
They were seven floors up. The lit streets laid out below. Not a view of the lake, as far as Theo could tell, nor could he see downtown from any of the windows in the living room, but there were still the twinkling lights westward toward the suburbs and the landing lights of planes moving like impossible fireflies into distant O’Hare Airport. When Theo found the quaint garden apartment in a Bucktown brownstone he was about to move into, he believed it meant he was doing good for himself. But Elliot’s apartment had to cost twice as much, maybe more.
“Nice place,” Theo said. He turned to Elliot.
“Thanks,” Elliot said. He glanced around the place like he was seeing it for the first time. “I got it after I moved out of my old place.” Elliot was sweating again. Beads gathered on his forehead, and he took shallow breaths. He rolled his eyes when he realized what he said, and his lips moved like cursing himself out.
Theo only smiled. “Do you live here by yourself?”
“Yeah. I don’t think I would do well with a roommate.”
As he glanced back around the apartment, Theo nodded. “Nice,” he said again. He had to admit a little jealousy. Here he was, unable to afford even the security deposit on a new place, and Elliot, who was, what did Brianna say? Only a year older than him? And he could afford a place like this all on his own.
Theo stuffed his hands in his pockets. This was supposed to be a night for him to make Elliot feel good, yet Elliot, even with being as shy as he was, was somehow making it. He was successful. He was doing better than Theo ever believed he could himself.
You May Have Met Him Page 6