by G. A. Hauser
“No.” Jerry leaned closer, giving him a smell. “I like the scent of a working man.”
Instantly Gavin tried to evaluate if he thought Jerry was interested in sex, and if he was, was he interested in sex with Jerry?
Jerry was slight of build, shorter than Gavin would have liked, and most likely in his very early twenties. He would love to get laid, but he didn’t want to fuck with anyone’s head either. Just as Gavin began to form an opinion either way, Jerry said,
“Me and my boyfriend love that soup with a hot loaf of their French baguette, smothered in garlic butter.” He showed Gavin the small plastic container of garlic butter, ready to spread. Boyfriend.
He got his answer. “I think the soup is fattening enough. Thanks.” Gavin smiled as he circled the island section where the soups had been.
“Enjoy.” Jerry waved as he walked off.
Gavin waved back, but the moment Jerry had left the area, Gavin’s smile fell. The world was a huge Noah’s Ark, couples as far as the eye can see. Two by two, by two…
Brook was single. Maybe he and Brook needed to go out cruising for men. Trina appeared to already have her hooks in Toby.
Her Toby? My Toby?
Gavin was ready to scream. It was very important he figure that out, the sooner the better.
He stopped at the beer cooler and removed a six-pack of Full Sail Ale. Tonight he would find out.
~
Home, showered, wearing his black jeans and a black shortsleeved button-down shirt, Gavin stood over the sink and ate the soup from a bowl he had used to heat it in the microwave. He looked over the breakfast bar, out of his patio windows at the swaying tree that seemed to block the view more each year. But it was only a view of a convenience store, so he wasn’t missing much.
His home phone rang. He figured it had to be Trina. Should he answer it? Even before he had determined which Toby was which, he felt guilty. He was planning on bringing ‘a’ Toby a six-pack of beer. He didn’t want it to be ‘her’ Toby. Another couple of rings and the answering machine would pick it up. As if he were spying on himself, he walked towards the bedroom holding the soup bowl, looking down as the machine clicked on. Trina’s voice said, “You there? Gavie? Should I call your cell phone? I’ll try your cell phone.”
“Shit.” He didn’t want to ignore her. Quickly he grabbed the phone saying, “Hello? Trina?”
“Oh. I was about to hang up. Did you just get in?”
“No. Uh…I was in the bathroom.” He walked to the kitchen to put the bowl down.
She giggled. “Do you need another minute?”
“I’m good.” He leaned against the counter, feeling nervous and not liking it.
“Remember last night? When we were texting Toby?”
Hearing her say Tony’s name made him flinch. He chided himself internally for reacting. “Yes.”
“Well, I must have said something to turn him off because he didn’t answer. Brook and I tried to think of something clever. You know? Something that went along with what you were saying about his scent?”
Gavin didn’t know what to say, so he stayed quiet.
“I blame Brook. She said to text, ‘At least you don’t make me sneeze’, you know, as a joke. And he didn’t text back. I thought that was a dumb thing to say. I should never have listened to her.”
“You were both slightly high on the wine.” Gavin knew that was not what he would have texted to Toby. But if Trina didn’t want to get sexy, then she succeeded in turning him off.
“I wasn’t. She was.” She snorted.
“Whatever.”
Silence followed.
Then Trina said, “Are you mad at me?”
“No. Why do you think I’m mad at you lately? You asked me that yesterday.”
“You’re acting weird. I don’t know.”
“How am I acting weird?” Gavin tried not to get defensive. He knew why he was lashing out. He was jealous. What if his Toby is her Toby? What if Trina got to sleep with Toby and he doesn’t?
“I don’t know. Just weird. Did you already eat?”
He glanced at the remainder of his soup. “I bought a container of lobster bisque at Safeway.”
“So…no dinner tonight?”
“I was planning on hanging out. I climbed poles all day. The guys didn’t let me use the bucket—”
“Fine. Be that way. Maybe tomorrow the old Gavin will be back.”
“Trina. Stop. I just had a really physical day.”
“I had a long day too, Gavie. I was on my feet all day. You know how hard it is to stand for eight hours?”
“Yes. Do you know how hard it is to climb a thirty foot power pole? More than once?”
“I just thought if you were available we could talk about my next move with Toby. I mean, now that he didn’t text back last night…what should I do?”
What Gavin would have said before he suspected his Toby was her Toby would have been, ‘Don’t worry. He likes you. Just tell him hi or something.’ Now? He wanted to discourage her. To tell her he’s a jerk and she could do better.
He was caught in a strange trap and because he didn’t know whose Toby was whose, he had no idea what to tell her.
“Gavie?”
“Um…just say hi.”
“Say hi? You mean text him?”
“Sure.” Gavin wanted a beer. He checked to see how many he had left so he didn’t drink one from the ‘gift’ six-pack. He was out. The bottles of Full Sail began to look very appealing.
“Why don’t I stop over? I can bring us some chicken from Ezell’s.”
“I’m kind of full of soup.” Gavin looked at his clothing and knew Trina would be suspicious if she saw him in anything other than a t-shirt and faded jeans.
“So…I have to eat dinner alone? I can’t come there to hang out and we can talk about why Toby didn’t text me back?”
Shit. Shit. Shit.
“Sure. Come on over. I don’t have any wine. Just beer.” He took one out of the cardboard case and set it on the counter.
“I don’t want wine. I had enough…more than enough, yesterday.”
“Okay, sweetie. See you soon.”
“See ya.”
He brought the phone to his nightstand and placed it back into the cradle, unbuttoned his shirt and hung it up, taking a t-shirt out of his drawer.
It’s her Toby. Don’t bring him beer.
Gavin tucked in his shirt as he returned to the kitchen and used a bottle opener, popping the top. He drank nearly half the bottle, then placed the remaining five into the fridge.
“It was a bad idea anyway.” He gave the condo a straightening up then stood on the deck to watch for Trina’s car. The white split-window Corvette rounded the corner right near where he stood. Gavin choked in surprise, but assumed if Trina was stopping at Ezell’s she’d be at least an hour. Since Gavin had been spotted, he waved.
Toby waved back, waiting for the gate to retract to their parking area.
He’s wearing glasses. It’s him. It’s her Toby. Why is it the same man? Who did she say he looked like? He wracked his brains to remember which celebrities she mentioned. At the moment he was a drawing a complete blank.
The car vanished from his sight. Gavin muttered incoherently under his breath at life, injustice, karma, timing and any number of factors that created an impossible scenario for him. As he had his mini-hissy fit he looked up into the sky. It was another blue-sky summer night. How lucky could Seattle be?
Where’s the rain?
He didn’t want it. But he expected it. At this point a lightning bolt and thunder cloud would make his day complete. He drank his beer and sulked.
When a man walked across the lawn from the front of the condos, Gavin physically jumped. Toby was headed his way, wearing a smart suit and tie—and wire-framed glasses on his nose.
Chris Pine or Josh Duhamel.
Gavin immediately remembered the two male celebrities Trina had mentioned. Yes. Toby was gorgeous and Gavin was about to trip over
his tongue.
“Hey there. We meet again.” Toby walked right up to Gavin, the low wall between them.
“Hi.” Gavin began to panic at the possibility of Trina arriving while ‘her’ Toby was engaged in a conversation with him. He knew Trina. She’d kill him. It wouldn’t matter how accidental it was.
“Nice night. When I moved here, everyone said it rained every day. I think they were trying to put me off.”
Gavin almost asked, ‘Are you from Corvallis’, but instead asked, “Where are you from?”
“Oregon.”
That sealed it in Gavin’s mind. To be one hundred percent sure, he asked, “Did you get work up here?”
“I work for Boeing.”
Gavin sank. This was his best friend’s boyfriend and he was in quicksand.
“Did I hit a nerve? Hate Boeing?” Toby laughed uncomfortably.
“No. Sorry. Um…I don’t hate Boeing. Who hates Boeing?
No one I know hates Boeing.”
At his inane rambling, he got another tilt of the head in confusion.
“Sorry. Am I talking to you at a bad time?” Toby obviously sensed something wrong. And Gavin was furious he was giving off bad vibes.
“I…uh…a friend is stopping by. That’s all.”
“Oh. Sorry. I didn’t mean to bug you.”
“You’re not.”
“I just thought…” Toby’s cheeks grew rosy.
“Thought?”
“Nothing. I…uh…I have to get changed. I usually go for a bike ride.” He pointed to the third floor.
This was not what Gavin had in mind for their first conversation. The hole of awkwardness was gaping. “I should get a bicycle, but I have a very physical job and I…” Gavin thought he spotted Trina’s Camry, but on closer inspection it wasn’t her.
Toby spun around to look at the cars passing. “I can tell my timing sucks.”
“Maybe a little.” Gavin wanted to tell him he needed…wanted to see him socially. But was that smart? Trina’s boyfriend?
“I get it.” Toby appeared to take the hint.
“No!” Gavin couldn’t let him walk away with the wrong idea. No way. “Look, I…it’s just…”
“You don’t have to explain.”
Don’t I? Gavin had no idea what Toby was thinking. And that drove him nuts. “What am I not explaining?”
“You obviously have someone coming by you care about, and you don’t want them to see you talking to me.”
“Wow.” Gavin was impressed with Toby’s perceptive abilities and his smarts. “Yes and no.”
“Huh?” Toby narrowed his eyes.
“I do want to see you. I mean, you know. Talk cars…or…
But I am kind of busy. I just don’t want you to think I’m not interested.”
“Interested?” Toby perked up. “You mean, you are interested?”
Gavin was dizzy he was so lost. “Are we talking about the same thing?”
“What do you think we’re talking about?” Gavin’s smile became slightly sexy.
The dilemma hit him hard. Tell Toby I know he’s dating Trina? If I do that, am I talking about him being gay and interested in dating me? Augh! Help me!
The quizzical look was back on Toby’s handsome face.
“Then, I am reading this wrong.”
“How are you reading this?” Are you gay?
Though he appeared about to answer, Toby reconsidered.
“Next time.” He waved and walked off.
Gavin dropped into the lawn chair and finished his beer.
“Shoot me!”
A few minutes of zoning off in a trance and feeling sick followed. The buzzing noise from his intercom nearly knocked him over. He scrambled inside wondering if Toby forgot his keys. Barely placing his empty bottle on the counter, Gavin flew out of his unit, down the hall and came up breathless to a startled Trina. She held a bag of food and blinked curiously. He opened the door, catching his breath.
“Hi.” He took the bag from her.
“You didn’t have to run. You could have just buzzed me in.”
“I know.” He looked around the hall in paranoia. Now what?
Tell her. Don’t tell her. He shuffled her in front of him, coaxing her down the corridor to his open door. She entered his condo and spun around. “Are you okay?”
“No. Yes. Long day.” He put the aromatic bag on the table and removed the contents.
“You’re a nut.” She set her purse on the floor near the couch, and her phone on the table.
“Yup. Completely nuts. What can I get you to drink?”
“Water is fine.” She sat at the table, opening the mashed potato container and peeling back the paper on the chicken.
“Man, that smells good.” He sniffed the fried chicken. “I’m still hungry. The soup was an appetizer compared to this.” He gawked at all the food. “Woman…are you feeding an army?”
“I couldn’t decide. So I bought the spicy chicken as well as the regular, and the coleslaw, potatoes, rolls…”
He placed a bottle of water near her, then removed the dishes from the cupboard.
“Speaking about appetizing aromas…” Trina made a sour face.
“Do I stink?” He sniffed his pits. “I took a shower.”
“No!” She whacked his arm. “I’m talking about the text messages. Remember? We were talking about Toby’s scent?”
“Look, Trina. About Toby.” He pointed to his ceiling.
“Mm!” She ate a bite of chicken off a breast. “That is so good. I get a craving for it and I have to have it.”
“Trina…” Gavin sat next to her and met her dark eyes.
“What, Gavie? You are so cute!” She made a kissing noise at him.
He thought about it. What was he going to tell her? That Toby lived in the building? That would open a huge can of worms. All night she would ask him if she should go up to the third floor and knock. Then she would be thorough in wanting to know the details of their meeting. She would interrogate him. And he didn’t even do anything worth being guilty about. Other than daydream. But he hadn’t known ‘the’ Toby was ‘her’ Toby at the time.
“Try the spicy chicken. Mm. So good.” She licked her finger.
“So? What’s my next move, Gav? Hmm? What do you think I should do?”
He took a piece of chicken to his plate and tasted it. “Oh, that is good.”
“I know! I can eat it all!”
He winked at her, peeling the meat off the bone to devour. They were both up to their elbows in chicken, using paper towels to wipe up. Gavin over-ate and couldn’t even think about a slice of sweet potato pie. He reclined on the chair and covered his belch. “I can’t believe how much we ate. Are we insane?”
“I feel sick…ohh…” Trina held her stomach and burped, giggling.
With a great effort Gavin stood, tossing the bones into the garbage and the dishes into the washer. He scrubbed his hands and face at the kitchen sink and finished clearing the table. He left the pie out in case Trina wanted to nibble, but he doubted either of them could.
Trina washed up in the bathroom and returned to the table wearing fresh lipstick. “No way.” She made the sign of the cross at the pie.
“You need to take it home.” He wrapped it up.
“No, you eat it!” She laughed, pushing him from behind. He moaned. “I’m too full. And you are taking it with you.”
“Bring it to work. The men you work with will eat it.”
“You sure?” He knew they would. Harvey would eat the whole quarter of pie himself.
“I’m sure.” She picked up her phone from the table and sprawled out on his sofa, still rubbing her belly.
He placed the pie in the fridge and joined her. “Never again. I usually feel this way after Thanksgiving.”
She moaned in agreement, then said, “Okay. Tell me what to text him.”
“I can’t do that, Trina. It’s not right.”
“He won’t know. Here.” She tried
to hand him the phone.
“Why do you want me to? Can’t you think of anything to say to him?” He didn’t take the phone.
“No. I can’t. I don’t get it and I’m stumped.” She dropped the phone on his lap and it landed on his crotch.
He flinched when it nailed him. “Ouch?” He gave her a look of disbelief that she hit the mark.
With a dismissive slap, she whacked his arm and then scooted over to lean on his shoulder. “What are you going to say?” She yawned.
“Exactly.” He pointed at her. “I’m bloated and exhausted. You wouldn’t believe the day I had at work.” He picked up her phone and saw it was ready for his text. “I can’t do this. I can’t be the one to send your boyfriend messages.”
She snorted in a sarcastic way. “You think he’s my boyfriend?”
“Yes. Isn’t he?”
“We have dated a week.” She rested her head on his chest. He put his arm around her. “But you really like him.”
“Tell me what to text.” She yawned again.
“Are you falling asleep on me?”
“I can. Can I sleep over?”
“Ha. Ha.” He smiled. “Well, actually you can. In the guest bedroom.”
“Nooo. I want to sleep with you. You’re my teddy bear.” She wrapped an arm around his waist.
“Don’t squeeze. My stomach is too full.” He glanced at the phone, too tired to think.
“Why are you gay?”
Gavin laughed. “I wish I had a buck for every time you asked me that in the last four years. You could have sold me that eighteen carat gold Rolex.”
She slid her hand down his body to his thigh.
“What are you doing, Trina?” Gavin glanced at her cherry red nails in apprehension.
“Nothing.”
“Don’t get too friendly.”
She sat up and stared at him. “You really would never let me touch you? Like ever?”
“Touch me? Like sexually?” Gavin had a feeling this was a product of her sense of rejection from Toby. Trina needed to be loved and the center of attention. She was the youngest child of four and was used to being spoiled. He certainly understood. He was also the youngest, although he didn’t think he was treated any different than his siblings. His oldest sister begged to differ.
“Maybe.” Trina massaged his thigh close to his crotch.
“Uh. No.” He laid his hand on top of hers to stop it.