Skye Blue, page 17
part #6 of Firsts and Forever Series
“Hi Franz. Not this time. I was just wondering if we could borrow a couple things and then climb out your window.”
That didn’t phase him in the slightest. “Sure, of course. Come in.”
“Thank you.” As we entered the apartment I made some introductions. “Franz, this is Dare. We’re on a first date. Dare, this is Yuri, but he lets me call him Franz.”
“Nice to meet you,” Dare said.
“You too, Dare. This is a good name you have. Very American.”
“Thanks. It’s actually short for Darryl, which I absolutely hate.”
I smiled at him and said, “You’re so not a Darryl.”
He returned the smile. “Thank you.”
After we borrowed two spoons, a big glass of water and a wire coat hanger, we climbed out my neighbor’s bedroom window and onto the fire escape. “Thanks again, Franz! I’ll bring this stuff back to you later tonight,” I said as I started up the ladder. It was a little awkward with the bulky mouse cage.
“No hurry. Good luck on your first date! It seems to be going well so far, from that which I am seeing,” Franz called.
“It’s the best first date ever,” Dare told him sincerely.
I’d made it about halfway up the ladder when the towel finally fell off. I was surprised it held on that long, actually. Dare was right below me and caught it with an elbow because his hands were full. “Oh man. I have absolutely no motivation to ever give this back to you,” he said as he looked up at me.
I glanced at him and grinned. “If you want to free up one of your hands, you can put the flowers in the glass of water. That’s why I asked for it.”
“Ah. So there’s a method to your madness.” He sunk the stems in the glass, then said, “I guess I should help you with this towel. That, or accidentally drop it over the railing.” He put down the flowers and the shopping bag and let out an exaggerated sigh. “It’s really a shame that I’m a gentleman.” After climbing a couple rungs so his head came about to my waist, he said, “I love your dimples.”
“I don’t have dimples.”
“Oh yes you do, here,” he kissed a spot above my left butt cheek. “And here.” He kissed a spot above my right. Then he wrapped the towel around my waist and tucked the end in securely. “I totally should have gone with throwing this over the railing.”
“Think so, huh?”
“I know so. Also, it just occurred to me that we’re doing this completely wrong. I would have thought of it sooner but the view was too distracting, even before your towel fell off. Give me the Royal Rodent.” I did as he asked, and he told me, “Climb up and I’ll hand him to you.”
“Way better idea.” When the three of us (Dare, the rodent and I) were on the landing outside my bedroom window, I unbent the coat hanger, then reached through the window with it and attempted to dislodge the stick that was preventing me from sliding the window open.
After failing completely, I straightened up and said, “On the bright side, I probably don’t have to worry about burglars getting in through this window.” I sat down on the metal grate and looked up at my date. “We can try again in a few minutes, but first let’s eat the ice cream before it turns to soup.”
Dare sat right beside me, both of us leaning against the building, and unpacked the small carton and the utensils we’d borrowed from my neighbor. He pried the lid off and ran the side of his spoon over the soft surface, and then held it up for me with a shy little grin. “You’re feeding me? How cute is that?” I said before taking the spoon in my mouth. He watched my lips closely, his own parting in a silent sigh, and repeated the process.
“I could do this all day.” He stood the spoon up in the container, then used a fingertip to scoop up a little melted goodness. When he held it to my lips I closed my mouth around his fingertip and sucked gently, a little longer than I really needed to, as I looked in his eyes. He did this one more time, and again I didn’t let go of his finger as quickly as I probably could have.
“You haven’t tried the ice cream yet,” I said, once he’d slid his finger from between my lips.
“No, I haven’t. How is it?”
“Wonderful.”
“Let me see.” Instead of picking up the spoon, he took hold of my chin, tilted my head up and kissed me. When I parted my lips for him he deepened the kiss, and it was so insanely good that a weird little sound came from me, almost a mewl, warmth spreading through me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer, sinking into him.
“You’re right,” he murmured after a while. He kissed me again. “It’s delicious.” Another kiss capped off his sentence.
It was a couple minutes before we returned to the dessert. I fed him a few spoonfuls and he said, “Don’t give me all of it. Save some for yourself.”
“You’re probably hungry and I ruined dinner. I want a do-over, by the way. How about Thursday? I think we’re both off that night.”
“I’d love that,” he told me as he picked up the spoon and fed me another luscious dollop.
When we finished the pint, we set it aside and went back to trying to knock the stick out of the window with the clothes hanger. “Sure you don’t want to call your brother?” he asked after a while.
I sighed and leaned against the window. “As recently as a couple weeks ago, I would have called him first thing. But I’ve let myself become so dependent on him. After my suicide attempt, he stepped in and completely took charge of my life. I’d been living in a crappy old house in the Outer Sunset, and he moved me in here with him. He kind of took the role of a parent, something my actual parents have never been very good at. It was fine that first year, while I was piecing myself back together. But then I guess it just became habit. I let myself become really irresponsible because I knew I had River as my safety net. He eventually realized his mistake in being so overprotective, which is a big reason why he moved out. And that’s all a really long way of saying no, I don’t think I should call him.”
He took me in his arms and kissed my cheek. “I see.”
“I should be able to do this without him.”
“Sure you can. We could always just call a locksmith and have him jimmy the lock on the front door.”
“That’s way too expensive.”
“Okay,” Dare said. “Who else do you know that could pick a lock? What about that asshat with the leather jacket that you hang out with? He seems like the criminal type, maybe he could break in.” He grinned at me as he stepped back and leaned against the railing. I noticed all his weight was supported by his left leg.
“You need to learn to play nice with Christian. He hates your guts, so you two have your work cut out for you. But I really want you to get along, because you’re both important to me.”
“I’m important to you?” he teased.
“Duh.”
“Maybe you should show me.”
I crossed the tiny space between us and pulled him into an embrace. “This is never going to get us inside that apartment,” I said before I kissed him.
“I know, but who cares.”
We made out for a while, and when I pulled back to look at him I murmured, “You’re really beautiful, Dare Evans.”
“Thank you. So are you, Skye Blue.”
I grinned at him. “That’s not my real name, but I want it to be. Also, I’m really not beautiful. You could maybe make a case for cute, but that’s about it.”
“You’re absolutely gorgeous. I could lose myself forever in those big blue eyes. And God, that smile. Every single time you unleash it on me, I feel myself losing another piece of my heart to you.” That of course made me smile, and he said, “I really felt that one. I think it was a particularly big piece.”
“You’re an incredibly romantic guy, Dare. Between the sweet things you say, and the wine and ice cream and flowers, you’re going to totally spoil me.”
“God I hope so.” He kissed me again, then rested his forehead against mine and asked, “Out of curiosity, and because it really seems like I should know this, what’s your real last name?”
I sighed and said, “Fleischmann.”
“What’s so bad about that?”
“Well, for one thing, it means butcher. More specifically, it translates to ‘Meat Man.’ It’s a weird name when you really think about it, especially when you throw in the fact that I was raised vegetarian.”
“Were you really?”
“My name is Skye and my brother’s is River. Go ahead and reach conclusions about our mom based on that, you’ll probably be right.”
Dare grinned at me. “So, with the nickname your brother gave you as a kid, you were Bacon Boy Meat Man.”
I chuckled at that. “Bacon Boy Meat Man, ironic vegetarian superhero to the rescue!”
The sun had set behind the surrounding buildings and the breeze had picked up, which made me shiver a little. Dare knit his brows in concern and immediately peeled off his polo shirt, which he handed to me. “Here, put this on. I’m sorry I didn’t think of it sooner, you must be freezing.”
“I was fine until just now. You should keep this, I don’t want you to be cold on my account.”
“I insist. I always run kind of warm anyway. Besides, I’ve still got jeans and shoes and all you have is a towel.”
“But I still don’t—” he stopped me with a cute smile and a fingertip on my lips.
“Please? Just take the shirt. Then let’s get serious and think about who we can call to get you inside, before you catch a cold.”
“Alright. Thank you.” I pulled it on, the warmth of Dare’s body and his pleasant scent enveloping me. After arguing against putting the shirt on, I now thought I might never take it off. “Can I borrow your phone?”
“Of course.” He pulled it out of the pocket of his jeans and handed it to me.
The screen was a picture of his black and white dog. “Shit. Seriously, we’re getting that dog back,” I said.
“I don’t see how. My ex lives in the Bancroft Building, which has outstanding security. It doesn’t help that the security guards have my photo and are under orders to keep me out of the building.”
“Why?”
“I was in a desperate place after he kicked me out, and I kept coming around trying to get him to take me back. That pissed him off, so he did the private security version of a restraining order.” He must have seen the surprise on my face, because he added, “Yeah, I know. I was messed up enough to beg a man that had abused me to take me back. I’m in therapy now, in case you’re wondering. With a little help, I hope to leave all that patheticness in my rearview mirror.”
I just had to hug him after that, for a good long time. As I held him I said, “That’s it. I’m getting you inside, and I’m cooking you dinner, and after that we’re putting together a plan to get your dog back. I’m going to take care of you so damn hard, Dare.”
“God I hope I’m not just some whim to you,” he said quietly, his head on my shoulder. “I’m afraid of getting used to this.”
“This is no whim. You’ll see that for yourself as time goes on.” I kissed the side of his head, then let go of him and started to dial his phone. I was still leaning against him though, and his arms were still around me.
I called Trevor, who assured me he and his fiancé could break into my apartment. As I handed the phone back to Dare, I told him, “The cavalry’s on the way. They’ll be here in a few minutes.”
“Who’d you call?”
“My friend Trevor, who’s not much of one for breaking and entering. Trust me, I know. His fiancé Vincent was in the mafia though, so I figure that ought to count for something.”
“You know people that are in the mafia?”
“Yup. Actually, you met Vincent’s grandmother the other night at the club. You were dancing with a mafia granny when you and I were both up on stage.”
“Interesting.”
“Come on, let’s go pay Franz another visit so we can meet my friends in front of the building. I’m going to assume the mouse is okay out here. It seems highly unlikely that anyone will find him and steal him when he’s on the fire escape.”
“You’ve gotten pretty attached to that thing, haven’t you?”
“Yes, and he’s not a thing. He’s quite obviously rodent royalty. Did you see his throne?”
“I did. Also his tiara. It’s the one you were wearing the first time I saw you.”
“It is! I’m surprised you remember that. You were so busy hating on me.” I smiled at him as I headed down the fire escape.
“I’m really sorry I did that.”
“Eh. You were having a bad day.”
“I was having a bad year, but that’s still no excuse.”
“Bygones.”
We were soon joined by not only Trevor and Vincent, but also by Vincent’s brother Dante and his husband Charlie. “Hey, we get a whole rescue party,” I said cheerfully. I introduced Dare, then said, “Thanks for bringing reinforcements, Trevor.”
“We were at Dante and Charlie’s place when you called,” Trevor told me.
“Oh! I’m really sorry for interrupting your evening.”
“It’s fine,” Trevor said. “More than fine. We’d already finished dinner and had the terrible idea to play poker. These two,” he gestured at Vincent and Dante, “are so competitive! Oh my God! Getting interrupted was the best thing that could have happened.”
“What? It’s poker. It’s supposed to be competitive,” Dante said.
“You’re not even that competitive,” Vincent told his brother. “You always play it safe.”
“I do not!”
“Sure you do.”
“Now they’re competing over who’s most competitive,” Charlie said with a grin.
As we went upstairs, Trevor took in Dare’s and my state of undress and asked, “So, what’s happening here exactly?”
“We’re on a first date,” I explained. “I almost burned the kitchen down while I was taking a shower and had to rush out into the hall to save my pet mouse, who’s actually vermin, but I consider him a pet, and I wasn’t going to let him asphyxiate, which is when I got locked out.”
Trevor chuckled at that. “Awesome.”
When we reached my apartment, I expected one of the Soprano brothers to step forward with some hardcore organized-crime-style lock picking expertise. But instead, Charlie pulled a little black case from his pocket as he said, “The one time we used this, Dante and I had to work together. I don’t really remember what we did now, though.”
“Wait a minute. Is that—” I took a look at what he was holding. “Is that a Hello Kitty lock pick kit?”
“It is,” Charlie confirmed. “Don’t judge, it was half as much as the more manly kits.”
“Judge? Are you kidding? I totally want one!” I exclaimed. “That’s the greatest thing I’ve ever seen!”
Charlie flashed me a big smile. “Finally, someone who appreciates the epic bizarreness of one of my most prize possessions.”
“That’s a prize possession?” Trevor asked as Charlie knelt down in front of the door and extracted a couple slim tools.
“Dante and I used it together on our first date. The rest is history.” He winked at his husband and they exchanged the sweetest smiles.
“Aw! And now it’s a part of our first date,” I told Dare.
“Yes. That and giant lobster claw oven mitts.” He beamed at me and took my hand.
Dante joined his husband, and between the two of them they got the door open in just a few minutes. “We’ve still got it!” Dante exclaimed.
“This isn’t news to me,” Charlie said cheerfully, kissing him before they got up.
“Do you want to come in?” I asked. “I can put together some snacks. I highly recommend staying away from the bruschetta though.”
“No thanks, you two should get back to your date,” Trevor said with a smile. “I think we’ll wrap up the evening at a bar, just because that’s a much better idea than going back to poker.”
Once we thanked them and they took off, Dare and I went into my apartment, which still reeked of smoke. “I’m going to get the rodent. Oh, and some pants. Those are good on a date. Make yourself comfortable and try to pretend it doesn’t smell like hell’s waiting room in here,” I said. He was eyeing the huge wall of junk taking up a portion of the living room, so I added, “Don’t feel like you need to come up with something complimentary to say about that. It isn’t one of my sculptures, that’s just raw material. The only sculpture I have at home is in my kitchen.”
After I retrieved the rodent, the shopping bag and the flowers, I got dressed and went to find Dare. He was in the kitchen, still bare from the waist up because I’d (accidentally on purpose) left his shirt on my bed. He’d opened the window and was scrubbing a cookie sheet as the garbage disposal ran. “You don’t have to do that,” I told him as I opened up a few cupboards. Eventually I found a pitcher I could use as a vase, stuck it under the running water, and transferred the flowers over.
“I thought it would help to eliminate the smell at its source.” Dare glanced at me and added, “I miss the towel already, though I think it’s adorable that you almost always dress in head-to-toe blue.” After he turned off the disposal and water and dried his hands on a dishcloth, he started to put away the groceries that I’d left all over the counter.
“Oh, I see,” I grinned. “You’re one of those people.”
“One of what people?”
“Tidy people. Thank God I spent most of yesterday getting this place fixed up. It probably would have driven you insane.”
I picked up his hand and started to lead him out of the kitchen, but he stopped me and indicated the sculpture in the breakfast nook. “This is wonderful,” he told me.
I cast a critical eye at the larger-than-life man I’d made entirely out of bent, mismatched cutlery. “I liked it at the time, but now it just feels very artsy-craftsy.”
“You don’t take compliments very well.”
“I know.”
When we reached the couch we both sat down, but he leapt right back up again. He tugged the cushion aside and chuckled, then pulled out a rusty, old-fashioned egg beater. “Oops, sorry,” I said as I took it from him and threw it toward the metal mountain on the other side of the room. “Missed that one.”
