Watching Nick make another mad dash from the house had the hair on the back of my neck standing up. What else had his parents done? He might be glad to see me but not enough to move at that speed and definitely not with that look on his face. Controlled panic was the only way I could describe it.

When he climbed into the car and threw himself into the seat, I was prepared for the worst but he just sighed. “What’s that commercial? The old one, with the chick in the tub that they show on those advertising specials? Calgon, take me away? Kyle, take me away please.”

So things were frustrating but not that bad? And what the hell did he watch on TV? Calgon?

“What happened?” I stuck with a simple question first.

“My parents have lost their minds.” He slumped down in the seat and shook his head. “My dad came home at lunch today so we could all talk. My mom wanted to have a discussion about my sexuality while I ate breakfast.”

“Is discussion code for interrogation?” He looked like he’d worked a double shift at a fast food restaurant right after prom. Was he still up for dinner?

“It started out that way. My dad stopped her and came up to my room to sort of apologize later, but it was weird all afternoon. I hid from her as much as I could, but she’s pissed that I won’t talk to her about it.” Nick was starting to look more relaxed, but we weren’t on a schedule, so I kept driving around town giving him time to decompress.

“How much did she want to know?”

“I don’t know. I got pissed and refused to talk about it. Maybe that wasn’t the right way to handle it, but I was angry. It should be on my schedule, right?” He looked confused—like he wasn’t sure anymore.

That was something I could answer without hesitation. “Yes. Your life, your sexuality.”

That seemed to push the last of the stress away, and he sank further into the seat and let his head fall back. “That’s what I said. It was like I was being backed into a corner.”

“You still up for our date? Would you rather go back to my place and chill?” I’d been looking forward to taking him out, but if he wanted to go home that would be fine with me.

“No. I mean yes. Man, don’t ask me two yes or no questions in a row.” He shook his head like he was clearing away cobwebs in his brain. I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t think he’d appreciate it. “Yes to dinner. No to going to your house right away.”

He blushed and looked out the side window. “I like the idea of going out.”

“You like the idea of a real date before I play with you later, huh?” The blush on his face didn’t look like the bad kind of embarrassed anymore.

He nodded and peeked over at me, grinning. “So we’re going back to your place later?”

“Possibility. But I didn’t say I was going to wait to play with my slut until then.” I gave him a wicked grin. He squirmed in his seat and I knew he was getting hard. Deciding that he could probably use a distraction, I reached over and grabbed his crotch in a rough, tight grip. “I really do need to get you one of those cock rings. I could have made you hard and kept you that way all night.”

He shivered and his cock jerked under my hand. “You can’t say shit like that when we’re in public, Kyle.”

“Sir, little slut, and yes I can. I’m going to embarrass you and make you crazy, but you’re going to love it.” He arched up into my touch and tried to hump himself against my hand. Giving his cock a little pinch, I scolded him. “Naughty slut. You don’t get to do that without permission.”

Nick moaned and blinked up at me like he was totally lost in his head already. Little pain slut. God, he was perfect. “Yes, Sir.”

I gave his still-hard cock a condescending pat. “Good boy.”

Nick was fighting for control and losing, so I moved my hand away and tried to focus on the road. “You ready to eat?”

He was quiet, so I glanced over at him. Wide, confused eyes slowly came back into focus. “Food? Yes. Food.”

“Good.” I’d put way too much thought into the restaurant. Too nice and we’d both feel weird. Too cheap and he’d think I didn’t want to be seen with him or something. Too private and he might think I was hiding him. Too packed and we wouldn’t have any privacy. Yeah, I was overthinking it. I was perfecting that skill with him.

I’d finally settled on Applebee’s. It wouldn’t be too packed, and there was a good possibility we’d see people that we knew. I didn’t want him to think that I was going to hide him. It might be weird and people were going to ask questions, but I was ready for that. Was he?

“You okay with people seeing us tonight? The kids from school?”

He shrugged. “Do you think they’ll even notice?”

He had to be kidding, right? “Yeah, they’re going to notice. Neither of us were teenage royalty or anything, but as weird as things were between us, people turned to watch every time we were in the same room together.”

“What?” His mouth was wide open, and he seemed baffled.

I laughed and shook my head. “You didn’t notice? They were betting on when you’d finally snap and go after me.” And probably other ones I didn’t know about.

He cocked his head, clearly not believing me. “You’re kidding?”

“No. I got more lectures that last six months about being nice to people than the whole time I’ve been in school.” Not that I would have changed anything.

He got a sheepish look on his face. “I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t like it was your fault. I’m not blaming you. If I’d wanted it to stop, I would have said something.” I shrugged and gave him a grin. “I liked teasing you—just didn’t understand why.”

Nick gave a low laugh, still sounding worried. “I tried to make sure you didn’t get in trouble.”

I reached over to squeeze his leg. “You did a great job. It’s all good. I promise. Now, no more worries. We’re going to have fun tonight.”

He took a deep breath and nodded. “Yes. I’m not going to let them ruin my night.”

That reminded me of another question. “What about a curfew? You weren’t sure before.”

“That was the one good thing to come out of all the drama earlier. I don’t have a time I have to be home…” His voice trailed off a little, and he looked over out the passenger window again. “But if I’m going to stay somewhere all night, my dad would like to know beforehand.”

That made me pause. “I’m not saying we’d have to do anything because let’s face it, we can have sex without you spending the night, but I think I’d like that. What about you?”

His reaction made it clear that he’d given it some thought. He peeked back over at me and I reached out to let my hand rest on his leg again, trying to reassure him. “I liked the idea. Not sure about the sex part yet but actually sleeping with you sounds…” He paused, trying to find the word, then gave up, shrugging. “I don’t know. It seems right.”

“I agree. Fun comes to mind, but that’s not right. Yeah, I’d like having you over but it would be…intimate…? Maybe?” Now I was feeling self-conscious. Nick grinned and moved his hand over to rest on mine.

Seeing his hand on mine reminded me of something else I’d needed to ask. I should have written a list out. “We haven’t been out in public as a couple. What are you comfortable with?”

He cocked his head. “Like PDAs?”

“Yes.” I thought it was a simple question but Nick’s mind didn’t. I almost laughed.

“Like what kind of PDAs? Holding hands or doing something…something like what we…what you do…” His voice trailed off, and he was blushing again.

He was probably right. We needed to iron out some of those things first. “Um, regular PDA for now.”

Nick shrugged and shook his head a little. “I don’t think I care. Holding hands should be fine. Not sure about like kissing and stuff but that would depend on where we were. No point in asking for someone to be an ass.”

Unfortunately I agreed—maybe I’d be more out later but for now, I was good with little things. “No, I agree.” On to the bigger issue. “You like it when I tease you in public.”

That wasn’t really a question because we both knew he did and I liked teasing him. Nick had a sheepish look but couldn’t deny it. “But does it change now that we’re together? I don’t want people to think I don’t like you or that I’m abusing you or something crazy because of it.”

“I don’t know. Part of me likes the idea of you doing it anyway.” Nick shifted in his seat and I knew he was getting harder.

“Little slut.” In my head, it was a term of endearment, like cutie or honey, just a bit different because it wasn’t like we were the most typical couple on the block. Nick thought so too because he gave me this little grin and started playing with his bottom lip.

Clearing his throat, he kept working his way through his thoughts. “I don’t want to have everyone thinking badly about you. That was hard in school and made me uncomfortable. So maybe just a little? This is a weird conversation, by the way.”

I laughed because he was right, but we needed to talk about it or I might end up fuckin’ things up. “We’ve got to have these conversations sometimes so we’re both on the same page.”

He sighed dramatically. “But they’re weird.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

“Why do you have to be right?”

“Because I’m in charge.”

“You are?” He grinned.

“Yup. Got a problem with that?”

“No. I like you being in charge.”

“That’s why we’re perfect together.” I didn’t bother to hide my smirk.

He finally seemed ready, so I turned at the next intersection and headed for the restaurant. I wasn’t sure what we’d do after we ate but we’d figure it out. My only goal for the date was for us to have some time as a real couple and not just doing kinky shit.

When we pulled into the restaurant parking lot and climbed out of the car, Nick looked over at me. “You think people will notice us?”

“Oh, yeah. Our town’s not that small, but kids haven’t started leaving for college yet so we’re bound to see people we know.” I’d meant people our own age, but the first ones we ran into were teachers.

Fuck.

Walking in the door, we were greeted right away. I asked for a table near the back and as we were led through the room, we walked by a group of teachers. Perfect. They were from the math department and had been split almost fifty-fifty against me. They’d either ignored what was going on with Nick and me or they thought I was a bully. This would be fun.

Refusing to wuss out, I kept hold of his hand as we walked passed them. I thought we were in the clear until Mrs. Martin spoke out, her loud creaky voice carrying across the restaurant. “I told you so. Two boys fight like that, there’s sparks, not anger.”

That old woman needed a filter.

I didn’t look back but I could hear their surprise and a few giggles that they tried to cover by coughing. I couldn’t help myself. Glancing over at Nick I shook my head and said, too loud, “So professional. I wonder what the school board would think of teachers discussing students’ sexualities?”

There was a flash of naughty humor in Nick’s eyes before he chimed in. “I think they’d be very curious. It’s actually a little creepy.”

The sputtering sounds from the old bats died down by the time we were seated. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Your server will be over in a minute.” After handing out our menus she walked away.

“So maybe you were right.” He looked surprised like he hadn’t understood what I was saying in the car.

And I wasn’t going to let him forget it. “Told you so.”

“You suck.”

I lowered my voice and gave him a blank face. “I don’t know, but we’ll find out.”

It took him a minute to understand, but once he did, his mouth dropped open. “Kyle!”

I laughed and couldn’t help but push him more. “You’re the only guy I’ve been interested in like that, so I’m not sure, but I think I’m up to the challenge.”

His head fell back against the booth. “Kyle!”

“You say that a lot.”

“Because you say things!” He was trying to whisper, but we were starting to get some curious looks, so I backed off slightly.

“I say lots of things, but we both know how you really feel about that.” The words came out huskier than I’d intended, but I loved the effect they had on him. Seeing the way he squirmed and the look he got made me want to tease him even more.

That’s when the waiter appeared.

I wasn’t sure if the timing was good or bad, but the waiter was certainly interesting. Andy Marks, biggest gossip I’d ever met. He looked at the two of us and grinned. “Hey, funny seeing you two here.”

His expression said everything. He was surprised to see us together, but he wasn’t going to waste the chance to get a good story. “How have you been doing?”

“Good. We’re going to need a few minutes before we order.” I had to make sure my oblivious little slut knew how big of a gossip Andy was before we said anything else.

He looked frustrated but was more professional than I’d expected. “Of course, do you want me to get you some drinks while you look?”

“Sure. Coke for me.” I glanced at Nick who was quiet but nodded. “And same for him.”

“Great, I’ll be right back.” Giving the two of us one last glance, he reluctantly walked away.

When he was out of earshot, I looked over at Nick. “It’s going to be all over town in minutes that he saw us together here. Are you good with that?”

Not that there was much I could do about it, but I was still unsure of how he’d react. He seemed to consider it before speaking. “It’s not like I’m going to answer anyone’s questions, but I’m not going to hide that we’re together. They can assume whatever they want.”

“Works for me.” But it was also going to mean that I’d have to behave myself more. Teasing him around a stranger was one thing, but when it was someone we knew, that was different.

We were both quieter as we looked through the menus. By the time Andy came back with our cokes, we’d picked out what we wanted. After he’d taken our order, he gave us a curious look. I was expecting a question about our relationship, but that wasn’t it at all. I kind of wished it would have been.

“So what school are you guys going to? You were keeping a tight lid on where you were going, Kyle.” It was probably an innocent question to get us to start opening up, but it was going to be a discussion I wasn’t ready to have.

Mentally shrugging since there wasn’t anything I could do about it, I answered. “We’re both going to State.”

Nick played off his surprise pretty well. There was no way Andy would have noticed, but I did. When Andy stepped away to go help another table, Nick looked at me. “We’re both going to State?”

“Didn’t I mention that?” My innocent act wasn’t that believable.

He frowned. “No.”

“Is that a problem?” I didn’t think so but I wasn’t sure.

“No.” He blushed and looked over to study the dessert menu. “It would suck for things to end when school starts.”

“I agree.” One hurdle down but there was an even bigger one I hadn’t brought up yet. I thought I’d wait until we got home to mention that part. Seemed like a better idea than doing it in public.