by Audra Red
“The very same,” Daniel replied.
“It’s mine,” Alexander said, stepping across the threshold. “The cat. His name is Cat, too, so you know… it wouldn’t be too confusing. It’s not very original, maybe. But I’m a big Breakfast At Tiffany's fan.”
Daniel’s smile widened and Alexander found himself grinning back. “May I come in?” he asked. “Set the little… er… big guy down?”
“Well, I don’t want to make us late.” Alexander looked warily behind him at the bathroom door, and then back at Daniel.
“We won’t be,” Daniel said, as the cat began squirming in his grasp.
“Oh, well then, please, come on in.” Alexander stepped out of the way and let Daniel into his tiny little world.
Daniel set the large cat down and they both watched the chubby animal head straight to his food dish, diving into his kibble headfirst. Daniel chuckled, brushing some stray cat hairs off his long navy jacket, and turned to Alexander. “You look beautiful tonight, Alexander.”
Alexander felt the warmth of Daniel’s gaze right on his cheeks, and he knew they must be crimson. “Thank you.” He smiled again, found it practically impossible not to. There was something about Daniel and the way he said Alexander’s name. “You look…” Don’t say pretty, don’t say pretty, don’t say pretty. “Pretty.”
Daniel smiled wide, chuckling. “Pretty?”
“Pretty nice,” Alexander corrected. “Pretty great.”
“Pretty silly,” Daniel added, and they shared a grin. “I like your place,” he said, but he only had eyes for Alexander. The apartment actually could have be likable, but Daniel wasn’t even sure what room they were standing in. From the moment Alexander had opened the door, he’d found himself near breathless at the younger man’s delicate beauty. He looked fine, so very fine tonight.
“It’s not much, very small, but… I’m rather fond of it.”
Daniel let his eyes drift, noticing how Alexander began squirming under his intense gaze. He had a tendency to be rather rude that way, though really, he just paid compliments with his eyes.
The apartment was small, Daniel found, but very well kept even in its slight clutter. The living room they now stood in was tiny and warm. Daniel could see into the kitchen as well, where Cat sat hunched over his bowl, and that too looked like a cheery affair.
“It’s small in a cozy way, very different from my apartment. My car feels more like home then my actual home,” Daniel admitted lightly, still smiling. “Oh, how rude of me, I’m forgetting my manners. How are you?”
“I’m the one who left you standing outside my door for an eternity, and then forgot to invite you in,” Alexander said, locking eyes with Daniel.
“Yes, but your rudeness is somehow charming,” Daniel said. “Unlike mine, which is just…rude.”
Alexander could only blush, not that he wasn’t already.
‘I must look like a tomato, like Elizabeth said,’ he thought, bringing his mittened hands up to his face, brushing a curl from his forehead.
“Well,” Alexander started, “I’m… well. How are you?”
“Good,” Daniel replied. “Very good. I’m glad you agreed to have dinner with me.”
“It was all just a ploy to get my pen back,” Alexander said, his eyes drifting from Daniel to the floor.
Daniel chuckled and shook his head. “It’s nice to see you again.”
“Yes. You, too. Would you like to head out, or…?”
“Actually.”
Alexander didn’t like the sound of that.
“Could I use your bathroom? I'd like to brush off a bit of this cat hair.”
Alexander gaped at him for a moment.
He thought of a million excuses at to why Daniel shouldn’t use the bathroom, some bordering on the truth (two rabid monkeys escaped from the zoo and are holding up in the bath tub!), but all he could manage was a quiet, “Of course.”
Alexander showed Daniel to the bathroom door, hoping that somehow Elijah and Elizabeth would dematerialize if he thought on it hard enough.
But of course, things didn’t always go Alexander’s way.
Before Daniel could even turn the handle, the door flung wide open, Elizabeth bursting from the room with a look of utter contempt on her face. Elijah followed after her, his face bright red on one side.
“Elizabeth, it was an accident!” he cried, pushing past Alexander and an extremely confused Daniel.
“You know I’m dating someone, Eli,” Elizabeth retorted, Alexander and Daniel seemingly invisible as she glared at Elijah.
“Elijah,” Daniel said quietly.
“I don’t know these people,” Alexander squeaked.
“I slipped!” Elijah said, throwing his hands up in the air.
“He kissed me, Alex, over a toilet! How romantic!”
“I’ve never talked to her before in my life,” Alexander told Daniel. “Crazy people, breaking into bathrooms…”
“Well, you didn’t have to slap me,” Elijah said.
“What is the world coming to, really?” Daniel asked, nudging Alexander gently with his shoulder.
“I’m out of here,” Elizabeth said. Her eyes caught Alexander’s mortified visage. “And have a lovely evening, Alex. Sorry about all this. And it was nice to… um… storm past you, Daniel.”
With that she exited the apartment, Elijah trailing after.
“Sorry,” Elijah said to Alexander, stopping at the door. “I swear I slipped on the bath mat.”
“And fell lips first?” Alexander asked. Daniel let out a little snort and the look of confusion on his face melted away into a small smile.
“Yeah…well…” Elijah grumbled. “I better go, she’s my ride.” He gave Daniel a short nod and fled the scene.
“Well,” Daniel said, greatly amused. “Nice to meet your friends.”
“Ex-friends,” Alexander said, looking at a spot on the floor as if it held the mysteries of the universe.
“Do I want to know why they were hiding in the bathroom?” Daniel asked, seeing Alexander stiffen a bit. Alexander raised his head, his eyes wide and pleading. “Okay, well, I’ll be careful in there, make sure there’s no one hiding in the tub ready to clonk me over the head or something, and then we’ll head out. Sound good to you?”
At that point, anything that involved getting out of the apartment sounded pretty good to Alexander. He felt entirely too warm and the urge to rip his mittens off was so very tempting.
Alexander nodded at Daniel and found that highly interesting spot on the floor again. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a warm hand on his shoulder.
“Is something wrong?” Daniel asked, unaware of how his closeness sent shivers all up and down Alexander’s back.
The interesting spot on the floor became an interesting spot on the wall, and then Daniel’s hand. Alexander watched the long fingers press in against his jacket.
“I’m a little nervous,” Alexander found himself saying. The hand on his shoulder tightened.
“Nervous?”
“Um…” He could feel the fingers press in, could feel the heat of Daniel’s hand. Embarrassingly enough, the contact made him feel a bit woozy. “Maybe more embarrassed.”
“The whole purpose of having friends is based around the idea that they will embarrass you as much as humanly possible,” Daniel said, pulling back.
Alexander immediately missed the warmth of Daniel’s hand, but felt immensely glad he could think clearly again. Well, nearly.
“I seem to take care of that myself, usually,” Alexander replied, meeting Daniel’s gaze once more.
“Then we have something in common. I can’t go a day without being embarrassingly late to work,” Daniel said. Alexander smiled despite the churning feelings in his belly. “If you can do without me for a second or two, I think I’ll step into the bathroom for a moment.”
“Oh, of course,” Alexander murmured, but Daniel didn’t turn, or move backward.
He stepped fo
rward again and gently brushed his knuckles across Alexander’s cheek. “The only thing you should be nervous about is my driving. My friend Owen says I’m worse than a cabby.”
Alexander leaned into the touch, allowing Daniel to lift his chin up a bit.
“Okay?”
Maybe Daniel had asked him a question; Alexander hadn’t a clue as he was a little lost at the moment. Just the slightest of touches drove Alexander to distraction.
Had he really been so starved for even the slightest of touches? He hadn’t even really thought about it, Daniel touching him. The man was no longer a stranger to Alexander, but still not someone Alexander knew well by any means, and he was usually so uncomfortable with physical closeness.
Then why did this feel so right?
***
Alexander adjusted his seat belt in the car, careful with his hands on the buckle.
They sat at a stoplight, the streetlamps casting soft shadows across Daniel’s face. Alexander couldn’t resist watching the man. Besides, he knew it was polite to look at someone when they were talking. Yes, that’s why he watched Daniel so keenly.
“My family traveled a lot when I was younger,” Daniel told Alexander. “And I was fine with that. We were nomads, adventurers, I thought. It’s funny, being in one place now seems like the odd thing.”
“I’ve only ever lived in three places,” Alexander said. Daniel looked at him to go on. Alexander turned his head toward the window, but kept talking. “My mum and I lived in London until I was thirteen. We had the tiniest little house and my grandmum and cousins lived next door. All the family in one spot.”
“Why did you move?”
Alexander watched the traffic shift.
“People change,” Alexander said. “Sometimes you have to move on.”
Daniel stopped at another light and turned to Alexander. “Do you miss it?”
“Yeah,” Alexander said softly. “Even the fog.”
“But you’d never go back?”
“Maybe someday, but…” Alexander trailed off. “I’ve got some sort of a life here. I’m all settled and things are comfortable.”
“But life is all about adventures, finding new things, isn’t it?” Daniel asked as much to himself as to Alexander. He’d stopped seeking out any sort of change years ago.
“I’m afraid I’m one of those boring types who don’t quite fancy adventures,” Alexander admitted. He wasn’t sure if that was true; he’d never really gotten the chance to find out, and he felt near certain he never would.
“Well,” Daniel said, shifting the car into drive, “you’re still young. I bet you’ve got an adventure or two left in you.”
Alexander smiled, turning to watch Daniel’s profile.
“So, you moved to Massachusetts then?”
“Yes, we lived very near to Boston. I was home schooled. My mum was… well, she’s very protective of me. I was a fragile child, I suppose.”
Daniel caught Alexander’s eyes, finding some of the same sadness in them as he saw the first time they’d met on the subway.
“And then the big move to the city?” Alexander nodded. “Sounds like an adventure to me,” Daniel said.
Alexander smiled and looked back out the window and up at the stars he couldn’t see, but knew were there nevertheless. “I suppose,” he said, pressing his mittened hands gently to the glass. He smiled at the slight sting in his fingers; maybe this would turn out all right. “So, I suppose you’ve been everywhere?”
Daniel snickered and shot a glance at Alexander who gazed intently out the window. “What makes you say that?”
“You can’t answer a question with a question,” Alexander said a bit cheekily, turning to find Daniel watching him. “I should know. It drives everyone I know crazy.”
Daniel seemed to consider this for a moment, and tipped his head toward Alexander. “I’ve been most everywhere, it’s true.”
“And what's your favorite place in all of everywhere?” Alexander asked.
Daniel found himself in a place he hadn’t been in awhile; utterly and absolutely charmed. A feeling of anticipation and a strong sense of a future with this bright young man surged through him. He couldn’t stop the grin that overtook his face even if he’d wanted to.
Sometimes people just click. They snap right into place, Daniel knew this. He’d had rare moments in his life when this had happened, when he’d known in no uncertain terms that he’d met someone he’d always care for, always find fascinating and beautiful.
“So?”
“I’m thinking,” Daniel said. Alexander let out a short giggle, inspiring one in Daniel as well.
Yes, Alexander was definitely one of those people.
“Idaho,” Daniel finally said, pulling his car into a large parking ramp. They'd reached their destination, but neither really wished to leave the car.
“Idaho?”
“Everyone always questions that.” Daniel chuckled, parking the vehicle, but leaving it on, letting the engine’s hum fill their silences.
“Do they?” Alexander had a shy smile on his face, his covered hands pressed to his cheeks.
“I suppose they would, if anyone had ever asked me,” Daniel replied. “I’m just assuming.”
“You’re crazy,” Alexander said softly. “Why Idaho?”
“Well, I think I’ll need some time with that,” Daniel said. “I’ve only just decided it’s my favorite place.”
“But, maybe if you give it too much thought you’ll decide you like somewhere else better, like London or Toronto.”
“Very similar, those places to Idaho,” Daniel said dryly, leaning across the console on an elbow. “This car here is ranking up near the top with astonishing speed.”
Alexander blushed then, something he’d gone without doing in almost fifteen minutes. A new world record, perhaps.
“You could drive the car to Idaho,” Alexander suggested.
“Heaven,” Daniel said, settling back into his own seat. “So…”
Alexander wasn’t quite adept at picking up on subtle conversation devices, so he just stared at Daniel, hands to his cheeks.
“Dinner, I guess,” Daniel finally said, turning the key down in the ignition. The car’s engine hummed to a stop. “All set?”
Alexander nodded, a tad afraid that any jarring movement would break the spell of the lovely night he was having. Regardless, he knew they’d have one hell of a dinner conversation when he took his mittens off, that was for sure.
***
Alexander should have known that with his luck the evening wouldn’t turn out as planned. It was somewhat discouraging, as his only expectations for the night out involved extreme forms of embarrassment.
But this exceeded all expectations.
“I am very sorry, sir,” the hostess at the restaurant told Daniel, her mouth in a straight, firm line. “Roberto’s is a black tie establishment.”