1 Chapter 1
Are you free tonight? I have some plans if you want to come over.
Nick squeaked with delight. He would have been louder, but he didn’t want to draw the attention of his coworkers. Most were busy on the phone, but a few of the ones who weren’t were notorious busy-bodies looking for anything to spice up their dull afternoons. Nick had felt the same way, working in a call center day in and day out directing the calls of people who either had no idea what they wanted or thought they were entitled to only speak to the person in charge. As a result, he had spent a lot of weekends perusing the local club scene looking for a one-night thrill on the dance floor. Eventually one of his friends had dragged him to a speed-dating event, assuring him that “having a regular thing can be fun too.”
That was where Nick met Victor. After the initial awkward hastened introductions, the two had begun to hit it off. They were both neat freaks, both liked Greek cuisine, and both enjoyed spy-genre action films, although they were at odds about which actor was the best James Bond. That had been a few months ago, and even though Nick had wanted to jump into bed with Victor after five minutes of chatting, he decided to be classy and wait until the third date to bring up the subject. It took another week or so, but Nick was not disappointed.
Their relationship was new enough that every date felt like an adventure. Victor was a film critic for the local paper, so occasionally he took Nick along to a movie and they both received special treatment from theaters who wanted good reviews. Even if they simply met up for dinner, they were still learning new things about each other. Now Victor had plans. Nick’s imagination ran wild and he happily replied that he was free.
“Whaaatcha doing?” a voice came from over Nick’s left shoulder.
Nick jumped with alarm and turned to glare at his coworker. It was Lianne, one of the nosiest women Nick had ever known. “Just sending a quick text. Get back to your desk, someone might call.”
“Might call? We’re a call center. People always call.”
“And we’re here to answer. Now shoo.”
“Aw, don’t be like that. I was only making small talk.”
“Yes. Small. So small I only need one word: scram.”
Lianne pouted. “Well, someone is grouchy today.” Suddenly she grinned. “Were you sexting someone? Is he cute? Are you ever going to bring him to office parties?”
Nick threw up his hands. “For the love of God! Get your own life!”
Lianne gasped. “Why are you so rude?”
“Because you’re a pain in the ass, Lianne,” their coworker Hank replied from the next cubicle over. “He has a point. Get back to your own work space and leave him alone.”
Outnumbered, Lianne stormed back to her chair, red-faced and muttering, “Some people are just so antisocial…”
“Thanks,” Nick said.
“No worries.” Hank lowered his voice. “How many times has she sent you friend requests on Facebook?”
“Twice, then I blocked her.”
“You can do that? Damn. She sends me a request every other month. I’ll have to look into that.” Hank smirked. “So, were you sexting someone?”
“Yes. Your brother. And your dad. At the same time.” Fortunately, several calls came in within seconds of each other, saving Nick from further awkward conversations. Instead he went back to daydreaming about what Victor could possibly have in store for him.
* * * *
That night, Nick practically pranced up to Victor’s door and rang the bell. Victor had a nice spacious one-floor house in a quiet neighborhood. He had told Nick he picked it because there weren’t many kids or noisy households to distract him while he wrote. Nick agreed it was a lovely house, and he admired the well-kept window boxes while he waited for Victor to answer.
Victor opened the door with a smile, his honey-blonde hair neatly parted save for one lock of hair that stuck out in the back. Nick bit his lip to suppress a giggle as he checked out his new boyfriend. The two of them were similarly dressed, except Victor was wearing black corduroy instead of slacks like Nick, and his polo was dark blue whereas Nick’s was white. “Great minds think alike, huh?” Victor remarked, his blue eyes sparkling.
“Looks that way,” Nick said with a laugh. “May I come in?”
“Certainly.” Victor stepped back and gave Nick a gentlemanly inviting gesture.
Nick grinned and allowed Victor to lead him to the living room. “You said you had plans?”
“I do!” After sitting Nick down on the couch, Victor dashed off to his bedroom for a moment. When he returned, he was holding what looked like a typical trendy magazine. “I was flipping through this while I was in line at the store and, aside from having some very nice male models in it and an article about making your own healthy smoothies that I wanted, what really made me want to buy it was this…” He sat down next to Nick and turned the magazine to a bookmarked page.
