by Rhys Everly
My friend was right about his dad. Andy might appear like a constant Forrest Grump, but he was really a sweet guy underneath. A guy who’d lost his wife and had given everything he had to his bar in an effort to replace her loss.
When I got back home, I found that I couldn’t focus on my studies at all and neither could I just sit down and watch TV. All I could think about was Andy and making him happy like he’d been today.
If all it took was to make his bar popular again, then that’s what I was going to do. I sat down in the kitchen at our rarely used dining table with a piece of paper, my laptop, and a million ideas battling for attention.
It was obvious Andy was scared of change, so I’d have to start with simple things to bring back the volume of people, and when he was profiting again, then it’d be time to implement new strategies to take his business even further.
I couldn’t blame him for not trusting me. He barely knew me, even if I’d been best friends with Nathan for three years.
“Is that singing I hear? In my house? Are you competing on America’s Got Talent and haven’t told your mommy dearest?” Mom said, and I raised my head to look at her.
“What are you talking about? I always sing in the house.” I said.
Mom gave me a look that said “I know you better than you know yourself,” and approached the kettle on the kitchen counter to brew herself a new cup of instant coffee.
I didn’t know how she could drink that vile stuff. Coffee that didn’t come from an espresso machine or a French press was not coffee at all.
“You don’t usually sing love songs, sweetie. It’s usually one of RuPaul’s or any old drag queen’s tunes you’re blasting. Is there something you wanna tell me?” she asked and took a sip of her instant coffee-flavored water.
I didn’t know what she was going on about. My song choices were always diverse. Yes, I had a mild obsession with RuPaul’s Drag Race and fabulous gay anthems, but I liked love songs and ballads as much as the next gay.
“I got nothing to tell. I always listen to Mariah, Mom,” I said. “So I don’t see how singing her songs is any different.”
Mom didn’t say another word; instead, she walked out of the kitchen with a smug look on her face.
Me? In love?
She must be on drugs or something because I was not in love with anyone.
But as soon as the thought occurred, Andy’s image flashed right before my very eyes.
No.
I was not in love with my best friend’s dad. That was impossible. I was…simply infatuated with the idea of helping him out.
I wasn’t in love with the man. I was just excited by the prospect of being…
Next to him, seeing the smile return on his face, and if possible, becoming a permanent fixture rather than temporary one.
Oh crap. Mom had a point.
I went back to developing my business plan for the bar, but I couldn’t get Mom’s words out of my mind. And neither could I shake Andy’s face out of my head.
He just kept popping up everywhere I turned until the thought of him being here with me took over the actual job at hand.
Those big brown eyes that burned holes on my body with every look. The big muscles that flexed every time he touched me. Those lips I couldn’t take my eyes off every time he spoke.
My dick hardened and my attention turned to nothing but beating one off. I made the big mistake of touching my hard-on, so there was no stopping me now.
I released my cock from my pants and held it in my palm imagining Andy standing in front of me and then standing behind me, massaging my neck.
He went down on his knees, succumbing to the temptation of my cock. He licked the head, teasing my slit with the tip of his tongue. Then he took me in his mouth.
Slowly, at first, but then faster. As his image sucked me harder, so did my palm pound my dick harder. Then, fantasy Andy pinned me to the table and took me right there, rough and raw, no condom, no lube, just his meaty, thick cock inside me, fucking me. Making me his. Claiming me.
My cum dribbled down my fingers, and I reached for the tissues before mom decided to have another cup of coffee.
Well, that was unexpected.
And how wrong of me to fantasize about Nathan’s dad fucking me in my kitchen. With my mom in the next room.
I should feel ashamed or like washing my body, cleansing my mind of the fantasy that was not allowed, that was forbidden. Instead, I felt bliss.
Fuck!
Mom was right. I was in love with Andy.
I was in love with my best friend’s dad.
“Any breakthroughs yet?” Mr. Davies asked me the following morning when I visited his office for my allocated tutoring time.
Uhm, yes. It turns out I can’t stop thinking of my boss, who’s also my friend’s dad, and I can’t even sleep. How’s that for a breakthrough?
That’s what I wanted to say, but that would be so inappropriate.
And completely irrelevant to my project.
“A small one,” I said and explained to him what I’d done yesterday.
Davies took his glasses off and rested them on top of his laptop.
“That’s something. However, you should have checked with him first before going out and doing it. It’s good that you’re showing initiative, and if I’m being honest, there are some people that need to be shown that things can work if they’re willing to change, but that doesn’t justify that you made the decision for him.
“You can see why he was upset, right? Not only did he not have enough staff on at the time, you also decided to offer a massive discount to customers without thinking about the impact it would have on his inventory,” he said.
It was embarrassing being put on the spot by him, even if I knew he was right.
Which was probably exactly how Andy had felt when I put him on the spot yesterday.
“Yes, it was a mistake. I know that now,” I said.
Davies raised his eyebrow, and I repeated myself to make sure he knew I was being honest.
“Good. Now, I need you to track the sales from yesterday so we can add it all to your thesis. We don’t just need the strategies you implemented, but also the results they produced, yeah?” he asked, putting his glasses back on and turning to his laptop to look at the ideas I’d emailed him last night.
“Yes, I meant to do that after I finished, but Andy had to pick up his daughter from school, so I didn’t get a chance,” I said.
Davies nodded slowly to show he’d heard me as he scanned through my list.
“Those are very good, Kyle. Very good indeed. But a word of caution? Someone from a small town like your boss might find them a bit too out there. Can I suggest sticking to the more traditional goals? At least at first. Once you’ve gained his trust and he sees the return, you could perhaps sit down with him and talk him through the rest of your ideas,” he said.
“Yes. That’s the plan. The ones on the top are immediate small fixes that I don’t think he’ll be resistant to. The bottom half are things I’m hoping to convince him to try in a couple of months,” I said.
Gordon Davies took his glasses off again and turned back to me with a gentle smile.
“Good work, Kyle. If you keep it up, your grades by the end of the year will be great. But like I said—”
“Slow down. Yup. Got it.”
I stood up and picked up my bag from the floor.
“I hope you don’t mind if I miss today’s class. I’ve gotta go and speak to Andy about the stage one plan,” I said.
“Of course. I’ll send you the notes later this evening,” he said, and he also stood up.
“Do you have time for a coffee?” he asked as we exited his office.
“Uhm…”
I didn’t mind getting coffee with a professor, but Davies was always distant with his students. He never allowed for the friendliness that other professors were known for.
“It’s okay if you don’t have the time. I just thought you might be in
terested to hear about a business plan I’m putting together,” he said, and any sort of connection we’d built over the last fifteen minutes I’d been in his office started to fade away as he hunched his shoulders and dropped his head a little.
“Sure. I got time for coffee,” I said.
A man his age asking me for coffee should have probably triggered alarm bells in my head, but if I knew one thing, it was that Gordon Davies was not a creep. I’d been taking his classes since freshman year, and he was always proper and decent.
As we walked to the campus cafeteria and he became more lively and energized again talking to me about an online support service for people with mental health, I became certain—Gordon Davies was a lonely man.
I didn’t know why he’d decided I was worthy of his business plan, or why after so many years, I was the one he was letting see under the professional layers he’d built over the years. Whatever his reason, I liked seeing this side of him, and I hoped that we’d build a friendship before the year was over.
Who didn’t need an experienced and successful businessman as a friend?
Later that day, I walked into Andy’s bar geared for peeling off another older man’s layers. My plan was fully developed and approved by Davies.
I carried the first stage goals printed in my hands, and when I knocked on the office door, Andy let me in.
“Kyle, I wasn’t expecting you today,” he said.
I looked at him, and the memories of what I’d done yesterday—jerking off with his image in my head—made my cheeks warm and my mouth dry.
“I-I, uhm…” I started, but I had to clear my throat before I continued. “I dropped by to talk about a business plan I’ve put together for the bar. It’s part of my project, and I-I just wanted to go through it with you. Make sure you approve. You know, to avoid the crap-show from yesterday,” I said.
“Okay. Sure. Here,” he said, offering me the spare chair next to him.
I took a seat, and that was mistake number one. My knee bumped into his, and my mind went wild. The proximity. The warmth of his body. His eyes piercing mine.
I had to think of creepy clowns and serial killers to clear my head and avoid getting a hard-on in front of him.
“So…,” I said. “To start with, I think we need to get another chef. Eric is fabulous, but I don’t think he can manage all of the cooking himself when it’s busy like it was yesterday. And it’ll be easier for him to get time off.
“Also, Rachel told me Johnny quit? We’ll need to hire some more staff so that we’re not constantly in panic mode. We—”
“There’s no ‘we.’” Andy raised his voice, and I jumped. I looked up from my piece of paper, and his sweet brown eyes were framed by a deep frown. “This is my bar. Not ‘our’ bar. Got it?” he said.
I paused and swallowed. Andy’s stare persisted. He was still waiting for an answer.
“Got it. No we. You. Do you still want to hear my other ideas?” It was a miracle I didn’t stutter.
I was scared he’d snap again and kick me out of his office. And then not only would I have screwed up my project, I’d also have upset my friend’s dad.
“Do whatever you want. But. I am not hiring any more people,” he said and turned back to his computer.
I took that as my cue to leave. Our impromptu meeting might not have gone to plan, but he’d given me the okay to do whatever I wanted. And I’d be an idiot not to take that and run with it.
Davies wouldn’t approve probably, but what else could I do?
Andy was resistant to change, but I could perhaps prove to him that not only did I know what I was doing, but we could also make Andy’s Bar busy again and a destination for whoever traveled to or lived in Cedarwood Beach.
Eleven
Andy
What the hell was wrong with me? Why couldn’t I stop shouting at Kyle? He was such a sweet kid and it sucked seeing him terrified and scared of me. But yet, all I ever seemed to do was growl at him and tell him he was wrong.
That’s because the alternative was a no-go.
I couldn’t let him see the real me. No one else had seen it before other than Lucy, and no one since her.
I couldn’t do anything to jeopardize my relationship with my son. He’d already been through a lot. We all had. And the last thing he needed was his dad screwing up his friendship with his best friend.
And even if Nathan wasn’t the problem, I couldn’t just do something with a guy Kyle’s age. I couldn’t do anything with a guy.
I’d never in my life been attracted to another guy. What would my kids think? What would the town think? What would my dad or my yaya think?
They’d all accepted my brothers being gay, and Summer was whatever she was, but I’d always been straight.
I’d been married to a woman my entire adult life. I couldn’t just turn gay or bi all of a sudden in my 40s. That’s not how life worked.
Did it?
It doesn’t matter.
There were far more important things to focus on right now than my coming out.
Like the fact that I was still bleeding cash. And poor Kyle had come in with all these ideas, and all I did was knock them down because I couldn’t afford to be an adventurous businessman.
I need to start making money in order to spend it.
God! Why couldn’t I just say that to Kyle? Why did I have to go all…Andy on him.
I needed to apologize to him. Not just for today, but for my behavior since I met him.
He was such a sweet kid. He didn’t deserve my anger. But how could I do it when I didn’t even know what was going on inside my head?
What if apologizing to him made me appear an even bigger fool. What if I succumbed to temptation and did something that I shouldn’t?
Rachel knocked on my door and popped in with a cup of coffee and a croissant.
“Eric told me you didn’t have your breakfast today, so I thought I’d bring you something to eat.
“Thanks, Rach. You’re the best,” I said and immediately shoved the croissant in my mouth.
“You don’t say it enough, boss,” she winked and left.
With my stomach stuffed with pastry and fresh coffee to awaken my senses, I returned my attention to sorting out my finances.
Next thing I knew it was four o’clock and I’d accomplished nothing and, of course, had come to no solution whatsoever.
“Andy, are you in there?” someone said outside the office, and I got up to answer the door.
It was Danny, and he looked flustered.
“Are you okay? What happened?”
Danny looked down at himself and then back up at me, shaking his head with a laugh. “Oh, nothing. We’re just really busy in the front. Would you mind giving us a hand?” he asked.
“Where did everyone come from?”
“I…uh…don’t know,“ Danny said, walking backward, then dashing into the bar to get back to his position.
I locked the office and walked to the front. Danny, Rachel, and Kyle were all serving beer and wine to a horde of customers.
I joined the rest of them behind the bar while also inspecting every single customer. I didn’t recognize many of them, and everyone was so crowded around the bar it was impossible to see beyond them.
“What…” I started to ask Danny, but a customer shouted his order at me, and I got to work preparing it. As I did, Rachel came to stand next to me to pour a beer, and I leaned in to ask her.
“Where the fuck did everyone come from? Is there a game today?”
Rachel shook her head and went back to serve it to her customer, leaving me to deal with mine. He was waving a piece of paper in front of me, and I had no clue what it was.
“Can I also get my free beer?” he asked when I told him how much it was.
“Free beer? This is not a charity,” I said.
Who the hell did he think he was asking to get free beer in my bar?
“Well I’ve had five drinks already,” he said.
&nbs
p; “And that’s probably one too many,” I answered him as he started waving a coupon in my face.
“I have no idea what this—“
Kyle jumped in front of me, grabbed the coupon, and stamped it with an emoji. Then he took the money from the customer and served him another beer.
“Kyle, what the hell is going on? Why are we giving people free beer?” I asked.
Kyle smiled so big that I could see his gums, and he looked guilty as fuck.
Guilty as fuck and hot as sin.
“Well, you told me to do whatever I wanted, so I did. We’re doing a deal. Buy five, get one free offer,” he said. “I was outside earlier handing the coupons out.”
Had he just said…
“Excuse me?” I said.
“Daddy,” someone said from the side of the bar, and Summer ran behind it to come up and give me a hug as well as completely take me by surprise.
“Summer, what are you doing here? Where is…” I started to ask as Yaya appeared at the bar also.
“We dropped by to say hi, but I didn’t know you were gonna be this busy,” Yaya said. “Come on, Summer. Let’s go home.”
“No, Yaya. Please, I wanna stay.”
I opened my mouth ready to scold her for disobeying her grandma when Kyle got to his knees and shook her hand.
“You must be the infamous Summer,” Kyle said and introduced himself to my daughter.
Summer giggled and shook Kyle’s hand.
“I am.”
“Nathan has told me so much about you. I’m so happy to finally meet you,” he said.
Summer’s smile widened and she started rocking from left to right taking all the compliments.
“You’re Kyle, aren’t you? Nathan’s told me so much about you, too,” she replied.
“Come on Summer. They’re busy and you’re distracting them,” Yaya said.
“Hey dude, can I get a drink or what?” someone shouted to my right, and I turned to look at a younger man waving his coupon at me.
The line in front of the bar wasn’t going down any time soon, so I turned my attention to him and took his order.
“Do you want to help us?” I heard Kyle ask Summer next to me.