by Lane Hayes
“They have that Bordeaux you like. Do you want wine, or would you rather have a cocktail first?”
“So…that’s Jana,” he singsonged, ignoring my question. He set his elbows on the table and tucked his hands under his chin.
“Yep. I’ll order a bottle of the—”
“She’s staring at me.”
“What? Where?”
“She’s sitting two tables away.” He huffed humorlessly. “This is going to be interesting.”
“It’s not going to be anything. Relax and tell me about your day. You look hot, by the way.”
“Thanks. Check this out.” Aaron grinned, leaned in farther, and closed his eyes so I could see the aquamarine glitter on his eyelids.
When I oohed appreciatively, he fluttered his eyelashes and giggled like a kid. I laughed and picked up my water glass to keep myself from touching him just as the waiter stopped at our table to take our drink order. He left us with a promise of fresh bread and the speedy delivery of our wine.
“So you played dress-up today,” I commented when we were alone again.
“I did. Clothes, hair, makeup. It was a blast and pretty much the only thing that kept the day from being a complete disaster.”
“What happened?”
“You name it. The designer was late. He insisted on using his own models, but they didn’t fit the pieces he brought with him. He fought with the photographer about lighting, the stylist about the models’ hair and get this…when his tirade went to full-scale diva heights, he questioned my fashion sense. He actually called me gauche.”
“And you let him live?”
Aaron threw his head back and laughed. “It may have been a rash decision, but yes. All things considered, I think I handled the situation well. When I suggested we regroup in the morning to give everyone a few more hours to prepare, he didn’t argue. Thank God. The second he left, I made all the necessary calls to be sure I have the personnel I need to get his team in and out before noon tomorrow. I just hope Marsha doesn’t fire my ass before I can prove how fabulous I really am.”
I scoffed. “Why would she fire you? You’re the best assistant art director in DC!”
Aaron gave me a sappy smile and sighed. “That’s why I love you, Matty.”
“What did I say?”
“Sometimes it isn’t what you say. It’s how you look at me when you say it.”
Before I could respond, the waiter returned with our wine and launched immediately into an impressive list of specials. I didn’t hear a word he said. I was engrossed with my date. Aaron was an enigma. He was a whirling dervish who peppered nonstop chatter with animated hand movements and a mischievous glint in his eye. He occasionally paused to make a point that left me speechless and ten paces behind him, fumbling to catch up. I felt sorry for anyone who made the mistake of underestimating Aaron.
When the waiter stepped away, I lifted my wineglass and tapped it against his. “How do I look at you?”
“Like I’m the only one here. Like you can’t see anyone but me.”
“I can’t.”
“Me either.” He reached across the table and set his hand over mine; then he sat back and huffed theatrically. “I just wish I didn’t have the intern in my peripheral view. She’s killing the romantic mood.”
“Don’t look at her.”
“I’m trying, but she’s staring again. I’m feeling self-conscious,” he groused playfully.
“You?” I rolled my eyes. “Oh, please.”
“You’re right. Let’s talk about your parents visiting instead. Whatever you do, don’t tell your mother you have an attractive admirer after you. She’ll insist on meeting her and before I know what hits me, I’ll come home to find Bride magazines with the corners folded on every wedding dress and Jana’s initials circled with hearts on every one.”
I scoffed. “And you’d tell her not to bother with magazines because you’re designing your own gown.”
Aaron snickered appreciatively. “Touché. You do realize if we ever get married, we can’t tell your mother. She’ll freak the fuck out.”
“First of all, it’s ‘when,’ not ‘if,’ and second, that’s her problem…not ours.”
“Ooh! I love it when you get macho territorial and protective, Matty. It turns me on,” he purred, sliding his leg along mine under the table.
“Cut it out. I don’t want to sit here for an hour with a hard-on.”
“My bad. I’m not sure I could get hard with my hostile audience. Your friend still looks puzzled, poor thing. Why do I get the feeling she had no idea you’re with a man? I can’t decide if her surprise was comical or insulting.”
I sighed with exasperation and leaned in. “C’mon, Aar. Give me a break. I didn’t invite her here, and I didn’t suggest my parents make an impromptu visit to DC either. I may not wear rainbow ties to work and talk incessantly about my hot boyfriend—”
“You don’t?”
“But I never hide who I am or who I’m with.”
“I know,” he said apologetically.
“Hey, I wish it was easier too. I wish my mom was more like yours. Honestly, I would have thought your family would give me a harder time than mine, but they’re so…accepting.”
Aaron cocked his head thoughtfully. “Of course they are. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”
I opened my mouth and closed it quickly, but I couldn’t find my voice right away. When I did, it sounded thick with emotion. “That’s my line.”
“Hmm. The difference between my family and yours is expectation. My family expected me to bring home someone like me, and trust me…they weren’t looking forward to it. One of me is difficult enough. Two? No way. But instead of another fabulous freak, they got you. You’re…normal. They love normal. Everyone does! That’s why we’re not easy for your mom to accept. She likes me fine, but I’m not what she expected. She wanted someone traditional for you. In her mind, traditional is safe. She wants you to have what she has, and she doesn’t see how you can be happy with anything less.”
Now I really was speechless. He was right. I hated it, but everything he said was true. I watched football with his dad and brother and made no attempt to hide the fact that I knew nothing about fashion or anything they might consider unmanly. I might have been unexpected, but they could relate to me on some level. I was easy.
“We have so much goodwill and acceptance in our lives,” he continued. “I have to remind myself to let the BS go. It’s not important. Your mom may never like me, and if it’s not Jana—who, by the way, is still gawking at me like I’m an alien—it’s going to be someone else who thinks if my handsome lawyer is really bi, he can probably be swayed back to the straight side of the street.”
Aaron’s self-deprecating smile took the sting out of his bald-faced version of the facts, but I didn’t want to concede that life was unfair, and sometimes even good people made life needlessly difficult for the ones they loved the most. I wanted him to forget everyone but us.
I rubbed my nose nervously and shifted in my chair. “She’s still staring?”
“Yep.”
“Change seats with me.”
“Now?” he asked, knitting his brow irritably.
When he started grumbling in Spanish, I stood abruptly and motioned for him to get up. “Come on. Let’s trade.”
Anything could happen now. He might refuse and if he did agree, he might stomp on my foot or even elbow me in the gut when he got up. His piercing gaze cautioned me to think twice. I waited patiently while he dabbed the corner of his mouth, then slowly stood just as someone dropped a glass a couple of tables away. A brief quiet fell, and a few heads turned in our direction, as though startled by the jarring sound of breaking glassware. I took advantage of the disruption and pounced.
I pulled Aaron against me and covered his mouth in a searing kiss, throwing everything I had into the connection. I might not be able to fight every injustice, but I would always fight for what was mine.
The place exploded with cheers and enthusiastic clapping. Our table’s central location gave the entire restaurant a front-row seat to the show. I didn’t care. No one and nothing mattered but him. I pulled back slightly and rested my forehead on his before pointing at my vacant chair. He gave me a dreamy-eyed nod but obeyed.
“I can’t believe you did that,” he whispered.
“Why not? I love you. I don’t care who knows. In fact, I want them to know. Should I start wearing rainbow ties to work?” I asked in a faux-serious tone.
Aaron shook his head. “No. Be you. That’s all I need.”
Part 4-
Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day. Blue skies, sunny, and though it was a little chilly, it felt invigorating. I looked forward to playing basketball with my friends. I loved that our law school tradition had continued and morphed to include a wider set of guys and sometimes their significant others. Not mine, though. Aaron was quick on his feet and could literally run circles around anyone I knew, but his hand-eye coordination was suspect at best. He was happy to hang out with Jay, making brunch.
I veered right to snag the parking spot in front of Peter and Jay’s house. I figured Peter and I could walk the couple of blocks to the park where we were meeting Curt and Jack.
“Good thinking! You can always get a ride back here with them if you’re too tired after playing with your balls,” he said as he leaned over the armrest and slid his hand under my basketball shorts.
I was in the process of cranking the wheel and reversing the BMW into the fairly tight spot when his icy fingers grazed my balls through my boxer briefs. I slammed my foot on the brake to avoid hitting the car behind me and turned to scowl at him.
“Your hand is freezing!”
Aaron gave me a wide-eyed innocent look. He chuckled and rubbed his hands, then blew on them to generate a little warmth. “I’m sorry. Let’s try that again. They’re all better now.”
“No, thanks.” I finished parking the car and turned off the engine.
“I insist! It’s my duty as your boyfriend to make sure all your parts are in working order.”
“I’m pretty sure I proved that less than an hour ago,” I replied with a lascivious grin as I swiveled in my seat to face him.
“Yes, and it was amazing.” Aaron purred like a cat and lowered his eyelids seductively before letting out a deep sigh. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m so horny lately. I think it’s your fault.”
I chuckled. “I don’t mind being blamed for that.”
“What’s gotten into you? It’s like you’ve been taking notes from watching sexy porn scenes or—”
“I have,” I interrupted in a bland tone.
Aaron gasped theatrically and threw his hand over his heart in shock. “What? Without me? That is so fucking hot. Tell me all about it!”
“Uh…now?” I cast a quick glance toward the brick façade of Peter and Jay’s home, then back at Aaron, who looked like he was primed to crawl into my lap and start something that would surely get us arrested. “Babe, we can’t—”
“I know, but…tell me what you saw and what turned you on the most. We can reenact it later.”
“I-I don’t remember,” I said, feeling more than a little flustered.
“Liar! C’mon, Matty, tell me. Was it the office one we watched where the hot guys in suits stopped the elevator in between floors and sucked each other off? I think they were about to get down and dirty, but we had to close the computer because we almost knocked it off the bed when you tore my shirt and—”
“Okay, okay! It wasn’t that one. Cut it out,” I huffed when he busted up laughing. “Aar, look at my shorts. I can’t get out of the car now.”
He snorted with mischievous glee and locked the doors. “You’re right! You’re not going anywhere until you tell me about your awesome jerk-off session without me. It’s important that we’re one hundred percent honest with each other.”
“Do you really think that applies to solo jerk-off sessions?”
“Absolutely!”
His megawatt grin and over-the-top enthusiasm were hard to refuse. “Fine. It was the locker room one.”
“Oh! That was most excellent! I think they were playing soccer, but your basketball shorts totally work. Let’s reenact it when we get home. We can pretend the back of the sofa is the bench. What do you say?”
He pecked my cheek and patted my knee like he was thanking me for taking him to work or the grocery store instead of proposing sports-themed sex later. I was lightheaded with desire, and the tent in my shorts was going to be impossible to hide. There was no way I could get out of the car without embarrassing myself.
I grasped his arms before he unlocked his door and pulled him toward me. “How am I supposed to walk into Jay and Peter’s with my dick sticking out like a flagpole?”
Aaron shifted to face me. He cocked his head and let his gaze wander to my crotch. Then he hooked his right arm over my shoulder and brushed his nose against mine.
“I could help you,” he whispered as his hand drifted to my thigh.
I captured his wrist just before he got to my now-aching dick. We stared at each other. It was one of those heated moments when we might have taken a chance on being caught doing something naughty if the circumstances were in our favor. The hungry look in Aaron’s eyes told me he’d do it now if I gave him the okay. I shook my head, tugged his hair, and crashed my mouth over his. I licked his lips, loving his moan of approval before he let me in.
Sometimes just kissing him was like making love. There was so much passion in the gentle slide of our tongues and the soft sigh that it left me reeling and disoriented as we gasped for air in the overly warm car. Aaron caressed my cheek and ran his thumb over my swollen bottom lip.
“Fuck, I love you.”
Aaron leaned in to kiss me again and jolted backward a second later when someone tapped on the passenger-side window.
“Holy crap! He scared me,” he complained, giving Jay an evil look before reaching for the handle. He turned to me with an apologetic half smile. “I’m sorry, Matty. I can’t help you now, but I promise I’ll do whatever you want when we get home.”
“Whatever I want? ’Cause if Jay and Peter weren’t standing on the sidewalk waiting for us, I’d want to turn around right now and go home.”
Aaron’s smile grew until it took over his beautiful face. “Anything. I promise. Now behave. Go play with the basket hoop, and we’ll have brunch with our friends and then…anything.”
Jay knocked again, then opened the car door the second Aaron unlocked it. “Seriously? Couldn’t you have done it at home first?”
“Actually we did do it. I just have a hard time keeping my hands off him,” Aaron quipped before he stepped onto the sidewalk.
The interruption effectively killed my erection. Thank God. I reached for my bag and threw the strap over my shoulder, clandestinely adjusting myself while I observed the three old friends engaged in an animated conversation on the other side of the car. Aaron and Jay had known each other for well over a decade. They were best friends who alternately communicated with witty banter or knowing glances. And sometimes both. They could be in the middle of a discussion about anything from a fashion trend to a new restaurant in town and stop speaking and finish the conversation with a “look.” It used to baffle me until Peter caught me frowning at them one day and burst into laughter.
“Don’t bother trying to figure them out. They speak a different language. It’s best to go with the flow,” he’d advised.
Peter had an arm around his husband’s waist now as he listened to them go through the menu they planned for our after-basketball brunch. He caught my stare and grinned. Damn, he was one good-looking dude. Actually, Jay and Peter were both handsome men, and together they were stunning. They were well over six feet tall, lean, and blessed with GQ-caliber looks. Jay was blond with blue eyes, high cheekbones, and golden skin while Peter looked like an Italian god. He was tall, dark, and gorgeo
us, and he had a serious air that Jay defused with his more gregarious, friendly nature. Initially I liked them because they adored Aaron, but I was grateful we’d become good friends too. It made this funny extended group we’d formed with my friends and Aaron’s feel unique and special.
“Let’s head to the courts. Jack says they’re waiting,” Peter said, gesturing for me to get my ass in gear.
We made small talk as we walked up the quiet, tree-lined street. The weather, work, their recent travels. As we neared the park entrance, I heard the steady thump of a basketball hitting the pavement. I adjusted my bag and glanced sideways at Peter before asking the question I probably should have when we first started walking.
“How did it go with the surrogate?”
“Just okay,” he replied. “She’s not the right fit, but we’ll keep looking. It was a good exercise either way. I think we’re going to try adoption too. Jay is very anxious to start a family.”
“What about you?”
“I am too, but I’m realistic. Having a kid requires more than a nine-month gestation process for gay couples. We’re going to have to jump through serious hoops to prove we have what it takes to be parents. If only they ran the same tests for some of the morons who procreate and walk away from their kids when life gets tough or their relationship sours,” he huffed in disgust.
“Hmm. Hang in there. You guys will be great dads.”
“Thanks. I think so too. We’ll see what happens. It could be a matter of months or years. What about you and Aar?”
“We’ll be there someday too.”
“In the meantime, make out in your car as often as possible. I hear that’s tough to pull off with a kid in the back seat screaming for a sippy cup or a diaper change.” Peter chuckled as he pushed open the gate.