My Best Friend's Boyfriend

by G. A. Hauser

  “I really like him.”

  “Hey, so far it’s not going badly. He’s very available to you. You text him and he meets you.”

  “True.” She stared at the menu.

  “Look, they have salmon on their specials menu.”

  “No. I changed my mind.”

  The waitress brought over their two drinks and glasses of water, and asked, “Are you ready to order?”

  “I’ll take the lamb.” Trina handed her the menu.

  “What kind of dressing on your salad?”

  “The vinaigrette.”

  “And you, sir?”

  “The margarita pizza, and the same on my salad.” He handed her his menu.

  “Got it.” She took the menu from him and said, “You have beautiful blue eyes.”

  He blinked in surprise. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” She appeared shy and walked away. Trina looked like she was about to explode. She said,

  “Excuse me! I’m sitting right here.”

  “Calm down.” Gavin reached his hand to hers.

  “How does she know we’re not a couple?” Trina’s top lip curled. “That was so rude. I want to leave.”

  “Trina, I think you’re overreacting. And I don’t want to leave. I’m starving.”

  The waitress placed a plate of bread on the table, and Gavin hoped she didn’t notice Trina’s steely stare. When she walked away, Gavin said, “I’m glad you didn’t say anything to her.”

  Trina scowled into her wine glass as she drank it.

  “Honey,” Gavin said softly, “You have a great boyfriend who treats you with respect. Don’t knock it. Would you prefer him to be all over you on the first date?”

  She licked the wine off her lip. “I’d prefer something in between.”

  Gavin picked up a piece of bread and ate it. It was warm and delicious and he imagined eating the whole basket. “Want to know how my day went?”

  “Sure.”

  “I was right near your house this afternoon working on a pole transfer.” He sipped his beer.

  She took the phone out of her purse and stared at it. Gavin felt ominous déjà vu. They were back with the ‘does he or doesn’t he like Trina’ game. “Just text him. He seems to respond right away when you do.”

  “He should be chasing me.” She thrust her index finger into her chest. “Not me chasing him.”

  “If he’s pissing you off, dump him.”

  “I really like him, Gavie. Why did I just get a kiss on the cheek?”

  “Did you turn your head away when he went for you?” He ate another piece of bread.

  “No!”

  “How did it end up on your cheek then?”

  “He turned my head. He touched my chin and tilted my face and kissed my cheek.”

  “How sweet.”

  Trina snorted in reply, gulping her wine.

  “Trina, if I had a guy tilt my head to the side, and kiss me tenderly on the cheek—”

  “You’re so old fashioned, Gav.” She finished her wine and looked for the waitress.

  The restaurant had filled up quickly, making it lively with laughter and conversation.

  “You flag down the waitress, Gavie, she obviously likes your eyes.”

  “I’m driving. Get drunk.” Gavin glanced around and caught the waitress’ attention. She approached them.

  “Another wine, please?” Gavin smiled.

  “Yes. I’ll check on your order and get you your salads too.”

  She took Trina’s empty glass and left.

  Trina texted into her phone.

  “You cave?” Gavin leaned his elbows on the table. “What are you saying this time?”

  “Just sending a smile.” She set the phone on the table and looked at Gavin.

  He could see how hurt she was. In reality, neither of them knew her new boyfriend’s thoughts or intentions, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t interested. “So tell me about the earrings and the ring sale. Now you’re top sales person?”

  Fire returned to her eyes. “Oh! It was a ten thousand dollar pair of yellow diamond—” Her phone buzzed. She snatched it up and her expression brightened even more. “He sent this. Look.”

  She showed him the phone. A silly face with its tongue sticking out was her message. “Isn’t he cute?”

  The waitress returned with Trina’s wine and their salads. She served the food, asking, “Is there anything else I can get you right now?”

  “We’re good, thanks,” Gavin replied.

  “My pleasure.” She walked off.

  He checked to see if Trina would react badly to the sweet smile he received. She was busy texting and hadn’t noticed. Gavin picked up his fork and ate his salad, waiting for Trina to finish texting before he spoke. She put the phone aside and drew her plate closer.

  “The salad is good.” Gavin wiped his hands on a napkin.

  “I don’t know if I should eat it. What if Toby wants to meet me for dinner?”

  “You could always meet him for coffee and dessert.”

  She stared at her plate as if she couldn’t decide.

  “At least taste it.” He began to devour his salad.

  Trina took a bite, but soon her focus was back on her phone. Gavin’s attention was drawn to a couple as they were being shown to a table. The man noticed him staring and gave him a curious glance back. Gavin turned away quickly and continued to eat his food.

  The waitress stopped by. “Is everything okay?”

  “Excellent. Thank you.” Gavin glanced at Trina. She was busy texting.

  “Would you like another beer?”

  “I’m good. Thanks.” Gavin smiled at her.

  She gave him a sweet sympathetic smile back and left.

  “Trina?” Gavin said.

  “Hm?”

  “I’m still sitting here.”

  She laughed and tried to hit his arm playfully over the table.

  “I know!” Then her concentration was back to her phone.

  “Well? Are you seeing him?”

  “No. He said he’s busy but he would call me later.” She put the phone down and began eating.

  Gavin finished his salad, sipping his beer between bites.

  “That man is staring at you.” Trina tried to point discreetly.

  “Which man?” Gavin turned to look.

  “That table there. The man in the suit.”

  Gavin noticed the same man that had caught his eye coming into the restaurant. “He’s with a woman.”

  “So? So are you and you’re gay. Look at him checking you out. Bet he’s interested.”

  “Trina, don’t stare at him.”

  “Anyway…” Trina chewed and swallowed another mouthful of food. “Toby said all his family is in Oregon. Poor thing. He’s all alone here.”

  “Me too.” Gavin shrugged. “I manage to survive.”

  “I feel so bad for him. Maybe I can invite him to my mom’s for dinner. Then he’d feel like he’s part of the family.”

  “I haven’t seen your mom in a while.” Gavin picked up his third piece of bread. “Did you bring the dog back to her?”

  “Yes. Pepper’s back home. Should I get a dog?”

  “Up to you.”

  “Would you watch it for me if Toby and I go away on vacation?”

  “No. Maybe you can ask your mom.”

  “I really like Toby. Do you think he likes me?”

  Gavin could recall each scenario of the first few weeks of Trina dating a new man. He had gone through the same experience with each person Trina had a relationship with. It never changed. She went through an initial bout of insecurity, then complained once she hooked them and they became clingy.

  “Yes. I’m sure he likes you.”

  “Yes. I’m sure too.” She smiled and ate another bite of food. Chapter 6

  As Gavin drove back from dropping off Trina at her house, he neared his condo and turned left off of Phinney Avenue onto Fifty-Ninth Street. When he did, he could see pe
ople on the third floor balcony, leaning on the low wall, drinking and laughing. Gavin watched them while he waited for the electric gate to open. He sighed tiredly and wondered if he should be more proactive getting into a social scene.

  Driving under the building, Gavin parked in his spot and shut off his car. He used his remote fob to set the car alarm and searched through his key ring for the master key which opened the security door to the lobby. As he came through he bumped into a man heading in the opposite direction, entering the front of the building, with a six pack of beer in his hand.

  Gavin recognized him as the man who had smiled at him as he drove off yesterday.

  “Hi.”

  “Hey.” Gavin loved his form fitting white cotton top and black slacks.

  A moment of silence followed as Gavin needed to pass him to get to his condo while this man made for the elevator. They met in the middle and shifted slightly to avoid each other. Gavin laughed at the awkwardness. “Shall we dance?” he joked.

  “I don’t know. Shall we?”

  At that intriguing comment, Gavin took a better look at him. Even though he was nervous, he asked, “You own that Vette?”

  “Yes.” Instantly the man appeared interested.

  “Nice. Sixty-two?”

  “Right. You know your cars.”

  “I have an eighty-two RX7.” His cheeks feeling hot, Gavin gestured to the parking area.

  “Is that yours? Sweet.”

  The elevator made a noise, indicating it was on the ground floor. The doors opened.

  “Well, nice to meet you.” Gavin gave a little wave.

  “You too. Hopefully next time we’ll have more time to talk cars.”

  “I’d like that.”

  The man stepped into the elevator. “So would I.”

  The door slid shut.

  Gavin felt butterflies in his stomach. He stood for a minute, watching the elevator go up to the third floor. The intense attraction he felt for the man was rare for him. He continued to his unit and entered, tossing his keys on the counter. He was immediately lost inside his head, daydreaming about the man.

  An image of having Trina’s huge confidence level to go and get what you wanted, washed over him. He visualized heading to that third floor unit and inviting himself in. Yes, maybe there were other people hanging out with the handsome man, but he would soon get his attention and lure him away from the noise. They would be alone in the man’s bedroom, staring into each other’s eyes. Gavin would hold him around his waist, drawing his body close so they connected at the groin.

  Then they would kiss, touch tongues for the first time. With the noise of conversation still going on in the other rooms, Gavin would undress this man, removing his white shirt first, kissing and licking his neck, his chest and nipples. All the while the man would be whimpering, whispering his name, grinding his hips against his.

  They would lie naked on the man’s bed, exploring each other’s skin, taking their time.

  The kissing would be slow and passionate, expressing how much they wanted each other. Gavin would climb over the man’s body, pinning him to the bed, kissing him harder, wilder than before. He’d make his way down the man’s chest to his navel, inhaling his cologne. The man would urge his head downward and Gavin would open his lips and taste the man’s cock. His phone rang.

  Gavin blinked, waking out of his daydream and walked towards it to see who it was. His heart was beating hard in his chest, as if his neighbor had somehow found his number and was inviting him up.

  Then he read the LCD display. “Hi, Trina.” Gavin sat on his bed.

  “Gavie…he’s not answering my text messages. Should I call him?”

  “Maybe that’s too much. He said he was busy. I’d leave him alone or he’s going to think you’re smothering him.”

  “What?” She laughed like it was a joke. “Smothering? I don’t smother. What do you mean by that?”

  “I’m just saying—”

  “I don’t need that kind of talk, Gavin. I called you for support.”

  “I know. You do what you think is best.” He kept wishing he could go up there. Go buy a six pack of beer. Full Sail? Wasn’t that what he was holding? I could bring him a six pack and say—

  “I want to call him.”

  “Call him.”

  “Okay. I’ll call him and call you back and let you know what he says.”

  “Okay.” Gavin hung up and fell back on the bed with a bounce, staring at the ceiling.

  The phone rang a moment later. Gavin put it to his ear.

  “He’s not answering. I didn’t leave a message.”

  “Sorry, Trina.”

  “Do you think I’m smothering him? Do you think that’s why he’s not calling?”

  “No. I don’t. He said he was busy, and he’d call you when he came home, right?”

  “I can’t remember. But I think that’s what he said.”

  “Just relax. Get into a hot bubble bath and rest.” He heard her exhale loudly. “Don’t stress over it, Trina. You meet so many men, if this one doesn’t work out, the next one will.”

  “I want him. I don’t want the next one.”

  “I think you get off on the chase. Once they’re interested you aren’t anymore.”

  “How can you say that?”

  “I’m just thinking about the last four guys who proposed to you. I thought all of them were decent.”

  “They just didn’t feel like ‘the one’. You know? I had this ache in my stomach that I was making a mistake.”

  “It could have just been pre-wedding jitters.”

  “No. I don’t think so.”

  He didn’t know what to think. Never before had Gavin met someone like Trina and he couldn’t begin to explain her state of mind. He decided to ask her about his handsome neighbor.

  “There’s a guy who lives in my building—”

  “Should I have married David?”

  “You asked me that already.” Gavin stood off the bed and walked with the phone to his balcony. He opened the sliding door and stood outside. Immediately he could hear the group two floors up.

  “Yeah. I know. I’m twenty-eight, Gavie. I want a family. Maybe I should stop being so picky.”

  “You don’t want to just settle. You want a man you’re sure you will love, forever.”

  “Forever?” She laughed. “You’re such a romantic, Gav.”

  That surprised him. He blinked and replied, “You don’t want your marriage to last forever?”

  “No! None of them do anymore.”

  He choked in a cough. “Why are you so cynical? Your mom and dad are still married.”

  “That was a different generation.”

  “But if you have kids…” Gavin heard male laughter. He leaned backwards over his balcony wall, trying to see up two floors. He couldn’t see anything but the second floor balcony’s bottom.

  “Let me go. I should just go relax and go to bed.”

  “Okay. Catch ya tomorrow.”

  “Bye, Gav.”

  “Bye.” He disconnected the call and sat on a folding lawn chair that was on his tiny patio. With the phone on his lap, he could just hear a sound or two of the party going on at the handsome man’s unit. He checked the time. It was nearing nine, and Gavin figured the guy would entertain his friends for a few more hours. He slouched in the webbed chair and closed his eyes, imagining a different end to his evening.

  By eleven o’clock, he would be winding down to go to bed. In a pair of tiny gym shorts he’d take out the garbage, holding the plastic bag as he walked to the dumpster. On his return trip he’d see the handsome man with the vintage Corvette, saying goodbye to his last guest, walking them to the lobby door. Gavin would watch, standing in the dim hall. By the time the man realized he was there, Gavin would have caught him by surprise. The man would chuckle nervously, but smile. That smile. The one he gave Gavin when he said, “So would I.”

  Maybe the man would say, “I would have asked you up to my place,
but I had friends over.”

  And Gavin would reply, “That’s okay. We’ll have another day to talk.”

  He imagined the man walking closer seductively, staring at Gavin’s hard cock as it showed through his gym shorts. The leer would make Gavin’s dick throb and grow even harder. The man would grip the waistband and tear the shorts down Gavin’s legs, getting on his knees and sucking his cock deep in his throat, right there in the hallway.

  Gavin jumped out of his skin at the sound of glass breaking on the ground near his balcony. He hopped to his feet and heard commotion on the top floor. A wine glass was shattered and several people were showing concern it had dropped from the third floor. Gavin spotted the handsome man’s look of worry. He shouted to Gavin, “You okay?”

  Gavin was stunned he was asking. He leaned as far as he could to communicate back. “Yes. It hit the ground. You guys okay up there?”

  “Sorry, man!”

  The chaos turned into a rumble of unrecognizable syllables and Gavin wondered if the condo owner between them was growing annoyed at the noise level. From two floors down, Gavin couldn’t hear much, unless it was loud laughter. A short time later, two men, one the handsome Vette owner, and the other appearing to be his friend, began picking the shards out of the lawn and putting it inside a paper bag. Gavin leaned on the top of his enclosure and watched. “Sounds like you’re a wild bunch.”

  The man laughed and shook his head. “More like a bunch of geeks.”

  There was no way Gavin believed that rumor. “Partying on a school night? Tsch, tsch.”

  Once the glass had been cleaned up, the handsome man gestured for the other one to give him a minute. “Wait by the main entrance. I’ll be there in a sec.”

  “Okay.” The second man carried the brown bag of broken glass to the front of the building.

  The handsome man extended his hand. “I’m Toby.”

  Gavin started at the name, but couldn’t imagine it was Trina’s Toby. “Gavin Mecklenburg.” He clasped it. “Nice to meet you.”

  The touch was electric. Gavin was reluctant to let go.

  “We have to stop meeting like this.” Toby laughed and released their contact. “I do want to get together and shoot the breeze with you.”

  “I’d like that.” Gay. Has to be gay. Please be gay.

  “Me too.”

  The moment became slightly awkward.