44
Ben
Ben had done everything he could to make the date perfect—he’d booked a table ahead of time, cleaned his apartment (just in case,) and he’d even gone out and bought a new button-down shirt and slacks that weren’t from a wedding. Everything was going right. Too right. That worried Ben. He shrugged it off and brushed his shirt again before walking down to his Jeep. Half an hour until the reservation. Just enough time to swing by Sam’s place and pick him up.
He stuck the key in the ignition and turned it…but the car didn’t start. It made a retching noise, then spluttered, as though dead. No. No, no, no this could not be happening. He’d made plans, dammit. Cranking it again, he held his breath, but the same thing happened. There was no getting around it. The Jeep was out of commission for the night.
Digging his phone out of his back pocket, he pulled up Sam’s number and pressed the call button.
“Hey Ben, what’s up?” Sam sounded a bit out of breath, like he was still getting ready.
“Ha,” Ben drug out the word. “Funny story. My Jeep won’t start and I need you to come get me.”
There was silence on the other end, and then, “Are you serious?”
Ben checked the time, and his heart rate spiked. “Yeah. I know reservations are for six, but it’ll be fine. Just get over here and we’ll make it.”
“Right. Okay, I’m on my way. See you in a bit. Love you bye!”
The line went dead, but not before Ben heard Sam shout, “Oh shit!” in the background.
He blinked, looked down at his phone, then blinked again. Had Sam really said what he thought he said? Ben knew that Sam liked him—that had been the entire reason he’d fashioned him into a fake boyfriend—but love was a different thing entirely. It ran deeper than just wanting to date him. And yet Sam had blurted it out before they’d even gone on their first date. Sure, they’d slept together and there were feelings involved, but that didn’t mean that Sam actually loved him.
Except Ben hoped that he did. As angry as he had been about the fact that Sam had lied to him, there was a reason he had chosen to forgive him. He couldn’t imagine his life without Sam in it. He’d tried to picture dating someone else—falling in love with them, moving in with them, going on vacation with them—but every time, the faceless, nameless boyfriend would have Sam’s dimples or his hair, or his cock. There was no way around it. Ben was in love with him.
Ben sighed, running a hand through his beard. He loved him. Okay. He could work with that. Now if they made their reservation, they would be golden.
A few minutes later, Sam pulled into the parking lot and honked his horn twice. Ben climbed out of the Jeep and walked around to the passenger’s side, sliding in.
“My knight on a white horse,” he said with a slight smile.
Sam shook his head. “My car’s a Corolla, and it’s blue.”
Ben stared at him, trying to figure that one out.
“If you wanted me on a white horse, I’d need a Mustang.”
Groaning, Ben buried his face in his hands. “That was…”
“Wonderful?”
“Horrible.”
“Ah well, we’ll get you liking bad jokes in no time.”
“It’s been a year. You’re going to have to accept defeat sometime.”
“Nope.” Sam grinned, and Ben could tell a punchline was coming. “But I will accept de-hand.”
He reached over and took Ben’s hand, and Ben smiled in spite of himself. “Yeah, yeah. You’re fucking cute, okay?”
“Not at the moment, but hopefully sometime soon.” He winked. “Okay, I’ll stop. Promise.”
Ben’s stomach fluttered at that last joke. He couldn’t deny that he had missed being intimate with Sam. He’d thought about it for so long, and then it had finally happened, so suddenly taking that away had been a whole other facet of pain that he had dealt with.
“You never know,” he said. “You might just get lucky after all.”
When they reached Sforno’s, Ben realized he hadn’t looked at the clock once after getting in the car with Sam. A mistake, since they were fifteen minutes late, and the parking lot was completely full. They circled a few times before Sam finally gave up and let him out at the door, saying that he would park in the lot across the street.
Ben walked up to the podium, scanning the restaurant. Even in the dim light, he could tell that every table was full. That was to be expected, though. Sforno’s was the one place that everyone went to for date night. It was upscale enough that business people frequented it, but the prices were affordable enough that a high schooler could take their date there.
“Can I help you?” The hostess stared at him.
“Yeah, I had a reservation under Matheny.”
She scanned the list in front of her, then frowned, tugging her lip between her teeth. Propping a hand on her hip, she turned the page and looked further.
“Is there a problem?” he asked, anxiety spiking through his veins.
“Well…I can’t seem to find your reservation anywhere. Are you sure you made it for tonight?”
The words rang in his ears. How was this happening? He was supposed to be on a fantastic first date with Sam, and instead, everything was going wrong.
“Yes,” he said tersely, “I’m sure I made the reservation for tonight. Ben Matheny, six o’clock.”
The hostess looked a bit put out, but flipped through the list again. “I’m sorry Mr. Matheny, but we don’t have your reservation. Perhaps you forgot to call…?”
He pulled out his phone and scrolled through his recent calls. “See this? Sforno’s. I called on Monday at eight twenty-three. Do you believe me now?”
The woman in front of him took a deep breath. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go get my manager.”
A hand settled on his lower back, and Ben startled as Sam appeared beside him. “Something wrong?” he asked softly.
Disappointment niggled in Ben’s belly, and his eyes misted over. He blinked quickly. No way he was going to cry over this. “They lost the reservation,” he said bitterly.
The hand rubbed slowly in circles. “That’s too bad. But hey, we can always go somewhere else, right? You like Thai?”
Reluctantly, Ben nodded. Thai would work just fine. “Yeah, we can do Thai.”
“Perfect. I know just the place.”
His heart still pounding, Ben let Sam guide him away from the podium and out the door, before the hostess got back with the manager.