Skye Blue, page 20
part #6 of Firsts and Forever Series
“No? Why did you then?”
“So I could do this.” He came up to me and raised my chin with a fingertip, then kissed me gently.
We made out for a while as I held him to me, and when we finally broke apart I smiled at him and said, “Hi.”
“Hi.” His own smile was a thing of beauty.
“Did you come straight from the dance studio?”
“Yup.”
“Do you like teaching?”
“I love it, almost as much as dancing.”
“Is that your studio?”
“I wish it was, but no. I’m just an employee.” As we were talking, Dare’s hands gently explored me, touching my hair, my face, trailing down my arm. “After I save up enough for my surgery, I’m going to start saving for a place just like it.”
“You won’t go back to dancing professionally after you have surgery?”
He shook his head. “Every doctor I’ve seen has told me the same thing. Replacing the knee joint will help with the pain, but it’ll never give me back the full range of motion needed to be a ballet dancer.” I grabbed him in a tight hug and Dare asked, “Are you alright?”
I nodded, even though hearing that his career was over permanently had felt like a knife to the heart. I murmured, “I want to make everything okay for you, and I hate that I can’t.”
“You don’t need to fix my life, Skye. That’s not your job.”
“I know. I still want to make things better, though.”
“You do.” I pulled back to look at him and he smiled at me. “Just in the short time I’ve known you, you’ve restored my sense of optimism. I was pretty sure that was gone for good.” I grinned at that, and he took my hand and led me to the pole. “Before I get completely sappy, show me that move you were working on. I have a couple suggestions on how to ensure you stick it every time.”
As I practiced, he corrected me with a few minor adjustments that made a huge difference. He guided me gently, his hands lingering on my body, and I joked as I hung upside down at eye level and smiled at him, “If you give all your students this kind of hands-on attention, then I’m officially jealous.”
He returned the smile. “Uh, no. That’s only reserved for my star pupil.”
“Hey Dare,” I said, still hanging upside down a few inches from him. “Spider-man kiss me.”
That made him laugh. “Oh, and I’m the geek,” he said before leaning forward and kissing me. It was strange and fun and it made us both chuckle.
When I took a break several minutes later and sprawled out beside him on the stage, I said, “Mr. Sandberg wants you and me to come up with a routine we can perform together up here. Is that okay with you?”
“That sounds terrific. Why wouldn’t it be okay with me?”
“Well, because I know I’m not in your league, and you really shouldn’t have to share the spotlight with me if you don’t want to.”
He shook his head at me. “I’m thrilled to have an excuse to dance with you, and I don’t care about sharing the spotlight. That’s not why I dance, it isn’t about being the center of attention.”
I slid closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder. “I just meant that if you don’t want to get saddled with the amateur hour here, we can probably tell Gary thanks but no thanks. I didn’t mean to suggest you were on this huge ego trip or anything.”
He swung me onto my back on the stage, then draped his leg over mine and kissed me. “This is going to be great. If you have time tomorrow, you should come by the studio. I teach a class at ten and another at three, so we could work out a routine between them if you’re free then.”
“Tomorrow’s open. Wednesdays are in-studio days, but I haven’t actually started my senior project yet so I don’t have anything to work on.”
“Perfect.” He kissed me again, lightly at first, but as I parted my lips for him he deepened the kiss, his hand sliding between my legs to rub my growing hard-on through my clothes.
A startled voice exclaimed, “Oh holy shit, sorry!” We both sat up abruptly to find a blushing Preston, trying to look anywhere but at Dare and me. “I let myself in the service entrance, it was unlocked. I didn’t realize that you two would be...um...I’ll just let myself back out.”
He turned and fled, even though I called out, “Preston, wait!” I looked at Dare and said, “I tend to forget that this place isn’t really private. We should probably learn to keep our hands off each other at work.”
“Probably. But it’s way more fun the other way.” Dare grinned at me.
I jumped off the stage and tugged my untucked t-shirt over the bulge in my pants. “I’m going to bring him back. It’s bad form to chase off our coworkers with blatant P.D.A.”
“If you must.”
I found Preston in the locker room. “I’m sorry, Skye,” he said when he saw me. “I really didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“It’s our fault. Dare and I got carried away. We didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
“It’s not that I was uncomfortable, I just felt really stupid butting in like that. Also, I have to say, that’s pretty much the last thing I was expecting to see when I came to work today. I thought you two hated each other.”
I leaned against a locker and grinned. “We got past that.”
He grinned a little too. “Apparently.”
I looked at him closely and asked, “You doing okay, Preston?” He had dark circles under his eyes and his clothes were a bit rumpled.
“Yeah, I’m just tired. I live with my aunt and she has a new boyfriend. The walls in our apartment are so thin that they might as well be made out of newspaper, so to avoid hearing way, way too much, I’ve been staying out as late as possible and leaving early to avoid the prime nookie hours.”
“That sucks.”
“It really does. I need to move out, but I’ve had trouble finding an affordable place in the city.”
“I just may have a solution for you. Are you current on your tetanus shots?”
He chuckled at that. “That’s an awesome lead-in to whatever you’re about to suggest.”
“I need a roommate because my brother moved out recently. I collect a lot of rusty metal for my sculptures which is now pretty well contained in a part of the living room, but I thought I should probably mention that right up front. Oh, you should also like cats. And mice.”
“You have a cat?”
“Kind of.”
“And by mice, do you mean the apartment’s infested with them?”
I wrinkled my nose at that. “Ew, no. I just have one that I keep as a pet.”
“Mice totally creep me out,” Preston said, “but I can deal with one little guy from the pet store.”
“He didn’t exactly come from the pet store,” I admitted. “But he’s in a cage that I keep in my bedroom, so you really wouldn’t have to interact with him.” I balanced out the mouse news by telling him about the neighborhood and his share of the rent, both of which were pretty decent.
“I’d like to take a look at it. How about Thursday before work?”
“Can you come between five and five-thirty? Dare’s coming over for a date at six and I have classes earlier that day.”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Is this going to be just like the situation with my aunt? Am I going to have to hear you and your boyfriend going at it all day, every day?”
“Nope. The apartment building must have been built to survive a nuclear blast. It’s rock solid, which makes it very soundproof. It’s also butt-ugly, by the way.”
“I don’t care if it’s ugly, the neighborhood’s good and the price is right. I’m looking forward to seeing it.”
“Great. Now come back into the club. Did you want to practice a bit before work?”
He nodded. “I watched some of those pole dancing videos you told me about and wanted to try out a few moves without an audience, in case I totally botched them. But don’t worry. I can practice on one of the smaller platforms if you and Dare have other uses for the main stage.” He gave me a teasing grin.
“Nah, we’re good. We should really save up our groping until you’re my roommate, so we can traumatize you on every surface in our apartment.” He chuckled at that as we left the locker room.
*****
Dare still had an hour to go when my shift ended, so I kissed him goodbye and headed to the bus stop. I pulled out my phone as I navigated the crowded sidewalk and frowned at the lack of messages. Christian wasn’t returning my texts. He even appeared to be skipping classes, or at least made sure he didn’t run into me between them today. I missed my best friend.
I missed my brother, too. That situation had gone on way too long, and now that Christian was M.I.A., I really felt the void left by the two of them. I dialed River’s number and he answered on the second ring with, “What’s wrong, Skye? Are you okay?”
That induced an instant eye roll, totally by reflex. But then I reminded myself it was my own fault that he thought of me as completely helpless. “I’m fine, River. I just miss you. How’ve you been?”
“Good, thank you. How about you?”
Ugh, that was so stilted. I told him, “Would you please meet me for a drink? My treat. We really need to talk.”
“Yeah, I could do that. Want to meet at Nolan’s in half an hour?”
“Sure.”
I hopped on a bus headed toward the Richmond District and arrived at the sports pub maybe twenty minutes later. The bar was packed and some kind of sporting event was blaring on TV, so I got a booth in the relatively quiet adjacent restaurant and ordered a strawberry margarita and a couple appetizers.
“You look familiar,” the waiter said after he jotted down my order. He was a cute guy of mixed race with glasses and awesome light brown hair that spiraled off in every direction. “Are you friends with Jamie and Dmitri?” They were the couple that owned this bar.
“I know them a little, they’re friends of friends. I’m Skye.”
“Cole.” A look of recognition must have crossed my face, because he grinned ruefully. “I guess I’m better known as ‘Hunter Storm’s ex’ among that extended circle you’re a part of.”
“Oh. Um, yeah.” My brother came in the front door and I added his favorite beer to my order before flagging him down.
“I’ll be right back with your drinks.” Cole headed toward the bar.
As River approached the table he stared after Cole, sort of feeling his way into the booth rather than taking his eyes off of him. “Wow, what a cute guy,” he murmured. He had yet to even glance in my direction.
“That’s Cole. Last I heard, he’s single,” I supplied helpfully.
“You know him?” He craned his neck to get a better look.
“Kind of. I know his ex-boyfriend a little. Actually, you do too. He used to go out with Hunter Jacobs, better known as Hunter Storm.” Hunter was now engaged to a big ex-Marine named Brian and Nana was trying to get them to let her plan their wedding. Apparently wedding planning was quite the thing with her.
River looked disappointed, his brown eyes still fixed on the guy at the bar. “Well shit, if he’s used to going out with gorgeous former porn stars, I wouldn’t have a chance with him.”
“It’s not like that,” I said. “They moved to San Francisco together before Hunter was famous. From what I hear, Hunter broke his heart and Cole’s barely dated in the couple years since then. He tried going out on one disastrous date with my friend Trevor, pre-Vincent obviously, but as far as I know he hasn’t dated a lot besides that. If you’re into him, I don’t think there’s much standing in your way.”
When Cole returned with our drinks, this amazing thing happened. He and my brother made eye contact, and it was as if both of their brains shorted out simultaneously. He went to set my margarita down and would have missed the table entirely, but fortunately I intercepted it. River’s beer made it onto the tabletop, but at an angle, so it immediately fell over and spilled into my brother’s lap. “Oh shit!” Cole grabbed the bottle as River leapt up. “I’m so sorry,” he stammered, pulling a dish cloth from the black apron tied around his hips and quickly dabbing at my brother’s soggy lap.
“No, it’s okay,” River told him. I sat back and grinned, mentally filling in exploding fireworks over their heads. He caught Cole’s hand and held it. “Really. It’s not like that’s the first time I’ve ended up with wet pants. I mean, um, from spilling something, not from, like, peeing myself.” I fought back a burst of laughter. “I’m River, by the way. See? Even my name suggests sogginess, so clearly this is no big deal.”
“I’m Cole, and I never do that. I’ve been waiting tables for years. I don’t know what came over me.” Really? Because I did. I smiled and took a sip of my drink.
“Oh. You know, I’m a caterer. Actually, you don’t know that. But I am. And I’m always looking for good waiters,” River fumbled. “I mean, you know, if you were interested in moonlighting or something.”
I just had to interject there. “Dude, you don’t want to hire Cole, you want to date him.” I slid out of the booth and plucked Cole’s order pad and pen from the pocket of his apron, then wrote my brother’s name and phone number across it as I told our waiter, “Please call my brother. He’s not usually this much of a spaz.”
“I’m not either,” Cole said as I stuck the pad and pen back in his pocket.
“Better yet, what time do you get off? Maybe you two would like to go for a drink,” I suggested.
“This is my last table,” Cole murmured. He and River had yet to take their eyes off each other. He seemed to remember something then and gestured absently toward the back of the restaurant. “You ordered food. It’s probably up by now.”
“You just stay right there, I’ll get it,” I told him, and went through the employees-only door to the kitchen.
“Hey there, Dmitri,” I said to the bar’s handsome co-owner when I came up to the pass-through window. He was sorting tickets and glanced up at me with a grin.
“Hi Skye. Did I forget that we hired you?”
“Nope. Young gay love is blossoming out in your dining room between my brother and one of your waiters. I thought it was best to give them a minute.”
Dmitri glanced through the little porthole in the door. “Nice. Cole’s been single a long time. I hope your brother asks him out.”
“I think they’re about to go one better and leave together.” My food came up just then, and I said, “Maybe I should take this to go.”
When I returned to the dining room Cole and River were deep in conversation, totally oblivious to the world around them. I pulled the pad from Cole’s pocket and found my bill, then left it and some cash on the tabletop. After taking a long drink from my margarita and returning it to the table, I started to leave the restaurant. Only then did River come out of his trace long enough to blink at me and say, “Oh. Skye. Sorry, you and I were supposed to talk.”
“So we’ll talk tomorrow. Have a good night, you two.”
*****
As I reached my apartment building, my phone jingled and I pulled it out and looked at the screen. The text from Dare said: I shouldn’t be sending this message to you. I should be playing it cool. We just saw each other an hour ago, after all, and we’re seeing each other again tomorrow.
I grinned at that and wrote: Who says you need to play it cool?
The basic laws of common sense. If I appear overeager, you’re going to think I’m a freak and get repulsed.
I pushed open the door to my building and typed as I crossed the lobby: No I won’t. I’ll think it’s sweet.
You say that now, he wrote, but just wait. Next thing you know, I’ll be sitting outside your door unannounced like a lost puppy and you’ll start googling restraining orders. I’ll bring a pizza so it seems like I had a reason to stop by, but really that’ll just be a weak ruse to see you.
I chuckled at that as I jogged up the stairs and texted: Handsome men with pizzas turning up at my door don’t get restraining orders, they get hugs.
Don’t encourage me. Showing up like that would be lame and pathetic.
Why?
Because it would mean you’re on my mind so much that I’m losing all sense of perspective. Plus, it would make my repeated pleas to take it slow seem like total B.S.
I swung open the door to the stairwell and almost collided with Dare, who was headed toward the stairs juggling a pizza box and his phone. “Oh! I thought you were in your apartment,” he stammered.
“So, you came to see me but didn’t knock? You just texted me from the hallway?”
“I was trying to talk myself out of this.”
“Because you think it seems lame and pathetic that you wanted to see me?”
“Well, that I wanted to see you right after seeing you.”
I smiled at Dare and kissed him gently. “I have some appetizers from Nolan’s, so we have an entire feast here. Come on, let’s go have a picnic in my apartment.”
He followed me sheepishly as I unlocked my door and led us into the living room, then waited on the couch as I went and found a sheet and spread it out on the floor. After I grabbed a couple plates and some drinks from the kitchen, I sat down cross-legged on the sheet and patted a spot beside me.
Dare didn’t say anything as he sat where I’d indicated, his right leg stretched out and his left tucked under him. He put the pizza box down and began fidgeting with the drawstring of his hoodie, his eyes downcast. “Are you okay?” I asked, touching his arm.
He nodded automatically, but after a few moments admitted, “It scares me how much I want this. I couldn’t make myself stay away from you tonight. I kept telling myself to just go home after work, but instead I gravitated here. I picked up a pizza at that place on the corner, because I thought maybe I could play off stopping by like, ‘hey, I was just getting a pizza and thought you might want some.’ The only problem with that brilliant plan is that I actually live across town, so it’s not like I’d just happen to randomly come to your neighborhood for take-out.”
“You never need an excuse to come see me, Dare.” When I kissed him, he leaned back and pulled me down on top of him. As my lust instantly ignited, a tremor went through my body, or maybe through his, it was hard to tell. We started tugging at each other’s clothes, wildly, desperately, with shaking hands. I pushed my tongue into his mouth as I rubbed my growing erection against his and he slipped his hand inside my jeans, squeezing my ass.
