CALLING BINGO NUMBERS ON A Friday evening wasn’t my idea of a good time. I had to really psyche myself up for the abuse the elderly players would lob my way if I didn’t do things just right. They were particular about the speech tempo, volume, and cadence of calling numbers. Too fast and they got pissed. Too slow and they got pissed. Too quiet and they got pissed. Too loud and they got pissed. These people were serious about their bingo, and I learned the hard way injecting humor wasn’t part of my duties.
The sleepless nights I’d had since parting ways with Archie didn’t improve my mood. I’d never met anyone who twisted and knotted my insides the way Archie did. We parted on good terms on Tuesday night, and I knew he would’ve been fine if I showed up at Queen City Divas on Wednesday or called or texted during the week, but I didn’t do any of those things. Why? Archie had taken the first step by showing up at bowling night then took it another step further when he invited me to his mom’s pizza joint. Therein lay the crux of the issue. Archie took those steps, but they weren’t convincing. It reminded me of the tentative steps babies took when they first learned to walk. Archie acted as if he wanted to take a chance but looked like he was afraid of the fall. I wasn’t sure how I could convince him he was safe with me, or even if I should. Why was it up to me to prove anything? Why shouldn’t I demand Archie prove he’s not a flake, as his hot and cold behavior sometimes indicated?
Those were just some of the thoughts and questions cycling through my turbulent mind, but not all. Memories of the kisses we shared and images of the things we could have were included in the mix, so I was at a constant state of confusion and arousal. I felt like I was at my wits end and ready to snap beneath the slightest pressure. That’s when Archie walked into the community room at the senior center. I felt his presence before I saw him with my own eyes. Our gazes met, and I was unable to look away from his splendor. I saw the moment when his surprise turned to joy before it faded into… What did his frown mean? Was he upset to see me or was it concern causing his brow to furrow? I knew I was about to find out when Archie left his mom’s side to briskly walk across the room.
“Ollie, I didn’t expect to see you here,” Archie said in a neutral tone.
I just stared at him, unable to think or even blink, because he was the most beautiful being I’d ever seen. Whatever he’d done with his makeup made his eyes look bigger, greener, and shinier. I’d never seen eyelashes that long on another person. And his lips… The gloss made them look plumper, and I was dying to know if the shiny substance had a taste. If so, what would the pink gloss taste like? Strawberry? Melon? Cotton candy? How would those luscious lips feel working up and down my cock?
“Um,” I finally managed to say in an embarrassing squeak. The lips I couldn’t stop staring at spread into a slow smile which finally made me look into Archie’s eyes again. I wanted to see if they looked as inviting as his lips. His green gaze expressed the hesitance I was accustomed to seeing from him, but I also saw joy. I didn’t know how someone could look both unhappy and happy at the same time, but he somehow pulled it off. Archie raised one perfectly shaped brow and waited for me to say something else. What did he want? An apology? “Are you unhappy to see me?”
“Of course not. What we have here is a failure to communicate.” My left eyebrow lifted at the Cool Hand Luke reference. Apparently, Archie quoted movie lines when he was angry or nervous. I thought it was adorable. “I thought our parting kiss indicated we were in a good place. I thought you said you’d see me soon. Oh, wow,” he said then briefly covered his mouth to hide a smirk. “That sounded really needy and desperate.”
To me, it was music to my ears. He apparently had missed me a little to react in such a way. “You sound like you’re still trying to figure out what this thing is between us,” I said.
“And you’re not?” Archie countered.
I shook my head. “I know exactly what I want.”
A delicious shiver worked its way through Archie’s body. “You have a funny way of showing it.”
“I’m here now, and it’s only been a few days.”
“Us being in the same room is a coincidence, unless you and my mom are working together as a team.” I looked over his shoulder and saw his mom smiling broadly as she waved at me.
“I’m not a big believer in coincidence.”
“You think us being here on the same night is fate?”
“I’ve been calling bingo numbers on Friday nights every six weeks for the past three years, and I’ve never seen you here before tonight. I did recognize your mother but couldn’t remember where I’d seen her.”
“Mamma doesn’t play regularly, and I don’t always come with her,” Archie explained. “I’m probably only here once or twice a year.”
It was obvious Archie needed our run-in to be a mere coincidence, and who was I to try and persuade him otherwise? To do so might set us back to the way things were before our truce.
“Regardless of the how or why, I am glad to see you. I’ve missed you, Archie.”
“You do look rough,” Archie said, raking narrowed eyes over my face. “Are you sleeping?”
“Some.”
“Eating?”
“Some.”
“Are you….” He let his words trail off, but I knew what his ornery glance meant. He wanted to know if I took my dick in my hand while thinking about him.
“I’ve done a lot of that.”
“Ollie,” Archie moaned softly.
“You started it.”
“Excuse me,” Edith Hastings said. “We were supposed to start bingo a minute ago.”
“There’s my cue,” I told Archie, wishing I could pull him into my arms and taste his ornery smile. “Can we talk after bingo is over?” I wanted to reach out and touch him, but I knew it would lead to other things.
“That would be great.”
“Any time now, Ollie,” Agnes Milgrove said.
Archie winked before he left me alone to deal with the mob of angry seniors. He rejoined his mom, and they took their seats at a table in the back. Maria handed him two bingo cards and an ink dauber before she set several cards in front of herself. I waited to see if she would pull out a lucky charm or something, but she just looked up and offered me an encouraging smile once her cards were situated as she liked them.
Someone cleared their throat impatiently, pulling my attention away from the Whites and onto my duties. I quickly approached the podium and switched on the microphone. “Testing. Testing.”
“We can hear you just fine,” Mr. Barnsworth said from the table on the far-left side of the room. “Not sure about Mrs. Pedigrew though.” The woman in question held up her middle finger in his direction, making Mr. Barnsworth’s friends laugh.
“My name is Oliver Knight, and I’d like to welcome you to poker night.”
I heard little Maura Hammil snicker before she muttered, “Smart-ass.”
“For tonight’s game, jokers are wild.”
“Cut the bull and get to bingo,” Doris Donovan yelled from the middle of the room. “We’re old, Ollie. We might not make it through the night, so let us have our fun.”
“There’s the positive spirit we all love so much, Doris,” Hank Adamson grumbled. “No wonder you never remarried.” I figured it had more to do with the fact she carried a portion of her deceased husband’s ashes in an antique Goody’s Headache Powder tin everywhere she went. That definitely didn’t invite a fella to pull up a chair and strike up a conversation.
“All right,” I said, holding up my hand. “It was a poor joke on my part. I’m sorry. Let’s just get started.” I made the mistake of glancing in Archie’s direction and caught the huge grin on his face. He was having a great time at my expense, and it made me want to retaliate. Those plans would need to wait, of course, because there were over a hundred pissy senior citizens keeping an eye on my every move. Instead of making a crude gesture about what I wanted to do to him, or have done to myself, I flipped on the switch, sending the bingo balls bouncing around the machine like the ones they use to pick lottery numbers. The balls were captured and sucked into the shoot where I’d pull them out one at a time and set them aside until it was time to reload the beast.
“Our first number is B-12 which is both an excellent daily vitamin and a great way to kick off our night.”
“Shut up and call the numbers, Ollie,” a grouchy, masculine voice said from the back of the room.
“You didn’t tell us the prize we’re playing for, Ollie,” Mrs. Bickel yelled. “Don’t tease us and say it’s for an Alaskan cruise like the last time. You might be handsome, but you’re not a bit funny. I want cash or gift cards, and I don’t want to waste bingo cards on something like a crockpot.”
“Yeah, Ollie. Pull yourself together, man,” someone yelled from the back, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from a laughing Archie to look and see who. “What’s wrong with you tonight? You’re goofier than usual.” I could feel an embarrassed flush creeping up my neck as the object of my distraction rose slowly to his feet and gracefully walked to the podium. The only sound in the place was the whirling of the bingo balls in the machine as all eyes in the room watched Archie approach me behind the podium.
He leaned close until his lips nearly touched my ear then covered the microphone with his hand for extra assurance the seniors wouldn’t hear what he had to say. “You’re dying out here tonight, Ollie. I’ve never heard you give a sermon or address your NA group, but I imagined you’d be smoother, more polished. It seems like you’re distracted tonight.”
I swallowed hard and turned my head to look into his turbulent eyes. “Very,” I whispered, grateful the podium hid my growing erection.
“Let me help you with your…um,” Archie inhaled slowly as if he could smell how badly I wanted him, “distraction.” I nodded, not sure what the hell I was even agreeing to. Archie lowered his hand from the microphone and straightened away from me, taking the smell of vanilla and citrus with him. I expected him to return to his seat, but instead, he picked up the top envelope in the box of prizes. Then he nudged me out of the way just enough for him to have access to the microphone. “The first prize is a handmade quilt donated by Mrs. Fletcher.”
I heard some grumbles from around the room and saw Mrs. Fletcher’s cheeks turn pink with embarrassment. The ladies seemed much happier, and I couldn’t blame them. Mrs. Fletcher had given me one of her quilts for Christmas the previous year, and I loved it.
“Someone will be very lucky to own one of your quilts,” I said to the shy but gifted woman.
“B-12 was the first number,” Archie reminded them then shot me a playful wink as he placed his hand at the small of my back. “What’s the next number?”
I tore my gaze away from his and pulled out the next number in the shoot at the same time as Archie slid his hand lower to cup my right ass cheek. Archie’s body was angled so we were both hidden behind the podium. He was free to tease and taunt me without anyone seeing us. I don’t know how, but I managed not to react in front of the crowd.
“N-40,” I said into the microphone. I was proud my voice hadn’t given away that Archie was trailing a long finger over the crack of my ass, making me want to feel it again when there were no clothes between us.
“Bingo!” Mrs. Donhausen yelled. Her dementia had worsened over the past six months, and she no longer played, but her daughter still brought her on good nights to make her feel like her old self.
“Congratulations, Mrs. D,” I said, making the woman clap happily. The rest of the group was used to her calling bingo and the announcer pretending she won. “G-59.” I shifted my legs ever so slightly apart, and Archie slid his hand lower, teasing my taint through my pants while he appeared to innocently watch over the crowd to make sure everyone had time to stamp their bingo cards with their daubers. “O-69.” The number made him purr, and I suddenly saw us in the sixty-nine position in the center of my bed.
Archie’s torment went on through the night. He brushed the back of his hand over my aching cock, trailed a finger over my thigh, dug his fingers in the small of my back in the same way I imagined he would when I fucked him. When, not if. All of this was accomplished while he kept his erection pressed against my hip, letting me know he was just as turned on as I was. When I announced it was the last game, Arch put some distance between us and removed his roaming hand from my body so we could get ourselves under control before we had to walk out from behind the podium.
“Good thing there wasn’t a fire drill,” I whispered as I followed him off the makeshift stage to where his mother waited for us while everyone else shuffled for the door.
“Don’t say ‘drill,’ Ollie. You’re giving me ideas.” I was going to make him pay so bad at my first opportunity.
“Guess it just wasn’t my night, boys,” Maria said when we joined her. “At least others had a lucky night or are about to.”
“Mom!” Archie said in a horrified voice.
“Archie, it’s good to know where your mind is right now. I was talking about the ladies who said they were headed to Graeters to use up their gift certificates for ice cream. Raspberry and chip does sound delicious. I think I’ll join the group heading over there.” She looked at me then and offered me a smile as warm as the quilt Mrs. F. donated to bingo night. “It was great to see you again, Ollie.”
“You too,” I said, accepting the hug she offered.
“Be careful,” Maria said then followed it up with “driving home” in case he was confused about her meaning.
“You too, Mamma,” Archie said, hugging his mom. “Watch out for the brain freeze.”
“Call me tomorrow, or come see me,” she said over her shoulder as she headed for the door.
“So,” I said once we were alone. “What was—”
My words were cut off when Archie firmly gripped my head and slanted his lips over mind for a desperate kiss, making me instantly hard again. I was shocked at first, but then I slid my fingers beneath the lace shirt he wore, caressing soft skin over hard muscles. I ached to touch him like this when there was no chance for interruption. I wanted to mark his fair skin, claim him, and possess him in ways I’d never done before. The intensity of it was frightening and made me pull back before I could do something stupid.
“What are we doing, Arch?” I asked, breathing as hard as if I’d run a mile. “What do you want from me?”
“Right now?”
I needed to know what he wanted beyond tonight before I was willing to let my guard down fully. I could see he wasn’t ready to have that discussion, so I’d settle for what he was willing to give me. “Yeah, right now.”
“I want a quiet place where we can share a meal that doesn’t include my mother interrupting us. I want us to talk so I can get to know you better, and I want more kisses.”
“Dinner, talking, and kissing?” I asked, making sure I knew exactly what he was willing to offer me.
“It sounds like junior high, doesn’t it?” Archie asked, sounding embarrassed.
“It sounds amazing, Arch. I know just the place we can eat and talk without anyone bugging us. The food is pretty basic but tasty.”
Archie lifted a brow in question. “How private are we talking?”
“Come home with me, Arch. I don’t want to share your attention with anyone else. I can assure you of two things: I make the best grilled cheese sandwich you’ll ever have, and my intentions are honorable. You said you want to eat, talk, and kiss. That’s all I’m offering.”
“You think either of us can behave ourselves with a bed nearby?”
“We won’t know unless we try.”
I saw the moment he decided to accept my offer, and I vowed to keep my word, no matter how hard he made me or how much he chipped away at my resolve. I wouldn’t strip Archie White down and love him the way he was made to be loved until I no longer saw hesitation in his gorgeous, green eyes.
“Do you also have tomato soup?” he challenged.
“As if you could have one without the other,” I replied. “Follow me.”
I didn’t wait for him to respond verbally. I’d said all I was willing to right then. I needed to use my actions to communicate and demonstrate my intentions to Archie. I glanced over my shoulder to see if he was following me and saw he hadn’t budged from the spot where I left him. I would’ve been nervous had he not been smiling like the Cheshire cat.