Dare
When my phone chirped, I’d expected it to be Scott or Ryan, so I had to laugh when I saw it was my mother. For the past week, almost every message or call had been from the guys, and I hadn’t realized how used to it I’d been getting until that moment.
Heading back through the apartment, I swiped my finger across the screen and answered it, still smiling. “Hey, Mom.”
She chuckled. “Why is that so funny?”
Oversharing was an ingrained habit; I didn’t even think twice about answering her honestly as I walked into my bedroom. “I’m turning into Pavlov’s dog. When the phone went off, I automatically thought you would be Scott or Ryan.”
The smile in her voice was obvious. “How are they doing? Any advancement on the communication front?”
I sighed, not caring if I sounded overly dramatic. “No, and I don’t want to back either of them into a corner, but it’s ridiculous. They’re each missing huge red flags the other is waving, and so far, the only thing they’ve discussed is the idea of us dating.”
She clucked her tongue at me like I was a kid again. “You have to let them talk it out, Darren. Anything else would be like outing them.”
I rolled my eyes, thankful she couldn’t see me. “I know. It’s just frustrating because I know once they get past it they’ll both be happier. Right now, they think their own desires are so obvious the other has to be just ignoring them because they’re not ready to talk about it.”
“Just because you’re right doesn’t make it the right thing to do. People need to make those kinds of decisions on their own.” She knew me too well.
If we were going to eventually have sex, they’d have to move past their inability to talk about it. “At some point, it will become obvious.”
“Darren, if they’re important then you shouldn’t be rushing them into bed. If you take your time they’ll feel more special.” I was pretty positive most people didn’t have conversations like this with their mother, but she’d always been that way, so we’d all gotten used to it.
I laughed and started digging through my closet. I had about half an hour before I had to be out the door, and I needed to get ready. “Just because you and Dad had the longest courtship in history doesn’t mean I’ve got that much patience.”
“Learning to communicate and taking our time made everything sweeter.” Her I was so innocent act was so believable it was scary.
Some people would have thought she meant learning to talk things out or something like that, but my parents had a unique start to their relationship. “I’m not learning a foreign language to talk to them. They just need to share more with each other.”
I could almost hear her shaking her head. “I think everyone should have to learn a new language when they fall in love. It made your father and me a much stronger couple.”
I ended up coughing to cover my laughter as I tossed a pair of pants on the bed. “I’m not agreeing to that. I’m glad you learned to sign for Dad, but I’m not going to take a year for our first date.” Just because she’d had a hard time getting him to realize that she was into him didn’t mean I was taking the same path.
Please, God, do not let my guys be as clueless as my father.
My mother was priceless. “I didn’t say you needed to wait a year, just until they’ve talked things out. Otherwise, your first time with them is going to be very awkward. You don’t want that to be their memories thirty years from now, do you?”
I couldn’t contain my laughter. “We haven’t even gone on a date yet. Don’t you think you’re jumping the gun?”
“Of course not. You’re a planner, and I knew as soon as you talked about them it was serious.”
“There’s a difference between planning my day and planning out the wedding before we go on a real date.” A big difference.
She sighed and her voice dropped quieter as if she was hoping she didn’t hurt my feelings. “I’m not trying to get you down, sweetie, but I think it will have to be a commitment ceremony. If you think I’m waiting to celebrate until the three of you can get legally married, you’re crazy.”
How was I supposed to respond to that? “You know I love you, right?”
She snorted. “And you know I’m not falling for that, right? It didn’t work when you were a teenager, and it’s not working now to distract me. But yes, I know you love me. And I love you so much I haven’t even mentioned your new boyfriends to your siblings yet.”
That right there was the only reason the phone hadn’t gone crazy this week. “And I appreciate that.”
With seven siblings, when the gossip tree got going, my phone went crazy. Nosy busybodies.
“Okay, I’m at the store now, but don’t forget to message your father later.”
“Date night, remember?” Grinning, I grabbed the shirt I knew they’d love. My big teddy bears didn’t have a problem with me being smaller than they were, so I wasn’t going to hide it. The fitted button-down wasn’t too casual, but it was soft, and I knew they’d be imagining running their hands over it all night long—and probably imagining asking for permission too—my sexy subs.
She sighed. “Oh, that’s right. I’ll remind him. Just talk to him soon. He’s curious about how you’re doing and hates second-hand information.”
It was a constant game of one-upmanship between the two of them. It brought back the memories from the summer I’d come out. My mother had figured it out first and my dad had pouted for a month. Some kids had problems with their families never accepting them. I’d had a jealous dad.
“He’s been so busy on that new book; I hate to interrupt him.” He got so drawn into the epic fantasies he wrote that pulling him back to real life could be hard some days.
“He’s at the editing phase and is desperate for more interruptions.”
Laughing, I started straightening up the bedroom to kill time. “That’s the real reason you’re at the store, isn’t it?”
She sighed. “Yes, he’s driving me crazy. I can’t wait for this to be done. I’ve heard more about elves and things with this world than I ever wanted to. Why can’t he write romance?”
“Because every time he did something romantic, you ended up with another kid. Can you imagine how many of us there would be if he wrote dirty books?” As kids we’d joked that each time he finished a book, she’d ended up pregnant again.
“Oh, good point. Okay, I have to go. Walmart is like a black hole and I get no service.” I could already hear the distraction in her voice as she thought about her list.
“Have fun. I’m heading out soon anyway.”
“Have fun too, but don’t make things harder on those boys.”
I wasn’t going to be the one making things harder; they were doing that very neatly to themselves.
****
It was either going to be the quietest date ever or the most fabulous—it all depended on if my sexy guys were actually willing to talk. Judging by the texts they’d sent, that was still up for debate. How two such similar guys could be great friends but not see the similarities that had probably brought them together to begin with was beyond me. Once they started to talk, I knew they’d see it, but I wasn’t going to hold my breath waiting for them to make the first step.
They were just lucky I was the take-charge type.
As I walked up to the table and watched them awkwardly waiting for me, I knew they still hadn’t talked about the most pressing issue. The little glances they kept sending to each other would have made it clear they’d talked about the dating part even if they hadn’t both confessed it in separate texts.
They were pretty open and honest when it came to telling me the things they liked and wanted. Sure, sometimes there were long pauses and they ended up changing the subject, but that just made it even more clear when I’d hit something we needed to talk about.
I’d just hoped that they’d continue the honesty when we were face to face. That was harder than having the anonymity of a text message. If not, I would still count myself lucky that all we had to do was text to talk something out. My mother had needed to learn to sign. I was confident I was coming out ahead when it came to communication issues.
Glancing around the restaurant, I saw it was a lot more packed than I’d expected. I’d wanted to go somewhere so we couldn’t get carried away flirting, but as I weaved my way through the crowded tables, I started to question that decision. It’d show them that I wanted a real date, not just find any excuse for us to jump into bed, but next time we went out, it would be someplace with more privacy.
“Hi.” They stood as I approached the table. I gave Scott a hug and then walked around to give a matching one to Ryan. “I hope I’m not late.”
I’d expected to be the first one there, but when I’d walked in, I’d seen them from across the room. Ryan grinned and nodded toward a blushing Scott. “He was afraid we’d be late.”
They were so cute.
“Late or early, I’m just glad you’re here.” They’d never talked about backing out, but as the week had gone by, I had a pretty good feeling they’d both considered it. I hadn’t been sure if it was the curiosity about each other that had kept them going or the temptation of being able to submit that had more pull.
They weren’t sure what to say to that. Scott mumbled a quiet “thanks” but his blush flared back to life and Ryan took a drink of his water. Not bothering to hide my smile—because how could I, they were too cute—I sat down across from them.
A rectangular four-seater table in the middle of the room wasn’t quite what I’d pictured when I’d envisioned our date, but it would work. There was a menu on the table in front of me already, so I glanced back at them as I sat. “Do you already know what you want?”
Ryan nodded but Scott gave me a half-shrug that could have meant anything from I have no idea to my stomach is turning like a tornado so I might not eat.
“Well, it’s been a while since I’ve eaten here, but I remember the steak being good.” The Italian grill restaurant had some Italian staples, but they also had a variety of other things that made it a good date restaurant.
Which was why it was packed on a Friday night. I was a genius.
“That sounds good.” Scott relaxed a bit more and focused on the menu. “There were too many options.”
“I can understand that. Sometimes it helps if someone narrows down the options or gives boundaries before you have to make a decision.”
And they both froze.
How did they not see it?
Ryan found his voice first. “Yeah, especially when there’s so much on the menu that looks good.”
Not really what I’d been hinting at, but I had a feeling they both knew that too.
Scott’s tension slowly eased out of him again, and he nodded. “The steak sounds good. I haven’t had one in ages.”
“You guys don’t barbecue?”
They both shook their heads, but Scott seemed to have found a topic he could talk about because he kept going. “The apartment complex we live in doesn’t allow grills on the patios. A few years ago, some guy did major damage to one of the other buildings when he left his alone too long. It was before we moved in, but they’re not taking any more chances.”
“That’s crazy. I hope no one was hurt.”
Scott set the menu back down. “No, just damage to a few of the patios and the outside of the building, but it’s made the management a lot more cautious.”
Ryan snorted. “Yeah, overly so. All hell breaks loose if you even burn toast now.”
“I bet that’s a good story.” I grinned as Scott chuckled.
“No, well, the firefighters were hot, so it wasn’t all embarrassing and frustrating.” Ryan seemed to have a sense of humor about the whole thing, so I didn’t feel bad about teasing him.
“So I should be careful around you in the kitchen?”
Scott laughed and nodded. “Especially around small appliances.”
“I’m not that bad. Even the firefighters said the alarm was too sensitive.” Ryan huffed but didn’t seem upset, so I had a feeling it was a running joke between them.
Scott chuckled. “What about the coffeemaker?”
Shrugging, Ryan played off the disaster. “You buy cheap appliances.”
How were they not already together? They were like an old married couple. If it weren’t for the quick heated glances and the text messages they’d sent me, I might have felt like a third wheel. They weren’t a bicycle, though. They were a tricycle who was just figuring out they needed the third wheel to work.
I couldn’t stop smiling around them. Turning to Ryan, I grinned widely. “So you just sit down in the kitchen looking sexy while Scott does all the cooking?”
Scott nodded earnestly. It was Ryan’s turn to look embarrassed, but I had a feeling it was mostly over Scott agreeing that he looked hot. Scott either missed that part or didn’t mind admitting it because he spoke up again. “I always make the coffee. It’s safer that way.”
“What about the half-dressed eye candy? Or is he one of those frustrating types that sleeps fully clothed?” They both started coughing and trying not to look at the other.
It was too good to let them off the hook. “You both do it? That’s just tragic. I’ve been having fantasies about you two lounging around half-naked in just tight little briefs, and you’re telling me I should have been picturing flannel and T-shirts instead? You shouldn’t ruin a man’s fantasies like that.”
If they thought I was going to let them run around fully clothed in the morning, they were crazy.
One step at a time, though. Dates first, then sexy fantasies.
They were saved from having to respond when the waitress walked up behind me. I wasn’t sure how much she’d overheard, but she was professional and didn’t say anything, so I didn’t worry. By the time she’d taken our food and my drink order, the guys had calmed down. I personally liked the sexual tension that built up when they were thinking about fun things, but I wanted to actually get to know them too, so I told myself not to push it too far.
It would be hard, though.
Watching them squirm and blush made me want to climb all over them. But I had to keep reminding myself that they weren’t ready yet. Not until we didn’t have to play word games and pretend we were all fairly vanilla.
When we were alone again, I turned to Ryan. “How was work?
He groaned. “Boring. I’ve really got to figure out if this is what I want to do.”
Ryan had described his job as a paper pusher in a bank. He seemed good with numbers and could read the financial charts but hated being stuck in a cubicle all day. Unfortunately, he couldn't figure out what he really wanted to do.
“I keep telling you that you should come to work for my company. I think you’d do great at picking stocks and designing portfolios. Half the people I work with have no idea what any of those spreadsheets and financial documents mean.”
“But then I’d have to sell things.” He grimaced. “No thanks.”
I wasn’t sure how a shy guy like Scott managed to be a top salesman, but Ryan said he was like a completely different person at work.
Scott laughed. “It’s not that hard. It’s like being back on the football team.”
I’d never been into sports as a kid, so I wasn’t sure what he meant. Good things and bad ran through my head, and I couldn’t sort through them. Did he enjoy the teamwork and camaraderie or was it like being back in the closet?
His expression was happy, and he was clearly loving being able to tease Ryan, but I wasn’t sure if the road to a relationship with Scott had just gotten a lot more complicated.