Chapter Nine Mateo
“I want you all to read the final six chapters of To Kill A Mockingbird over the weekend,” I said to my students in our online meeting. “We’ll discuss on Tuesday and start to really dive into the themes portrayed in the book. Just as a warning, some of the themes are going to be uncomfortable, but that’s what good literature is about. It’s meant to make us think, not just mindlessly exist. I think Harper Lee would agree with me that it’s more important to talk about the uncomfortable things than to stay in our comfort zones. That way we can make sure such atrocities against humanity never happen again.”
Behind me I heard a knock at the door and a single bark from Bessie to alert me.
“I’m going to stop us there for today,” I said, turning back to my class. “If you have any questions, just send me an email. I’ll be sure to check it over the weekend in case you get stuck. Have a great weekend everybody!”
A few replies played over my speaker before the meeting shut down. Reaching up, I pushed my laptop closed and got up from my desk. My attention turned to the front door where I heard another knock. It wasn’t the sort of confident knock I got from solicitors trying to sell me their religion and door-to-door salesmen were prohibited in the condo development. That made me think it had to be one of my neighbors.
“Well, I know you didn’t sneak out again,” I said as Bessie nudged my leg. “Let’s see what’s going on I guess.”
I figured it was probably an invite to a barbeque or maybe a neighbor wanting to check in on me. I’d been so busy the past few days with grading and prepping for our next book that I’d barely left the condo. Bessie was relegated to quick walks at mealtimes and that was it for both of us.
Making my way to the front door I grabbed the knob, gave it a twist, and pulled it open. The moment I did, I was hit with a rush of warm air from the outside and the unmistakable scent of leather and citrus.
My heart skipped a beat and my chest filled with warmth.
“Asshole,” I said with a smile. I lifted an eyebrow. “You stalking me now?”
His feet shifted and I heard the stone bracelet shift as he lifted his hand to his hair. He raked his fingers through it a lot.
“Oh right… the cologne,” he replied, clearly nervous. “I… uh… I know this is weird, but I didn’t know how to contact you. Sorry to barge in on you like this.”
A furry mound pressed past my legs out onto the front porch.
“Hi Bessie,” he said, his bracelet rattling as he ruffled her fur affectionately.
“I thought you didn’t like dogs?”
“This one is growing on me,” he smiled. “Besides, I don’t want her to run off on you again, so I grabbed her collar.”
“Good idea.” I paused. “So, what brings you here?”
“I… uh… I wanted to talk to you.”
“I hardly figured you came all this way just to look at me.” I lifted an eyebrow. “Or did you?”
“What?! I… I didn’t–”
“It’s okay. Lots of people like to ogle at the blind guy.”
I could almost feel him freeze up. Then I laughed, my hand shooting out and grabbing him by the front of his shirt.
“Oh my god. I’m just fucking with you. If people stare at me, I don’t notice it, anyway.”
He stiffened.
“It’s a joke ,” I said, waving my hand in front of my face. “Because I can’t see? Get it?”
“It feels wrong to laugh.” And yet I could hear the smirk in his voice, anyway.
“Might as well,” I replied, pulling him inside. “No amount of crying or being offended is gonna make me see again. Believe me, I tried.” I closed the door behind him, making sure Bessie was inside as well. “Besides, I don’t see it as a problem. I see a lot more now than I ever did as a kid. It’s just a different kind of sight.”
There was a long pause, and I could tell he was staring at me.
“That’s a cool way to look at it,” he said at last.
“Stop flirting with me.” I chuckled and waved for him to follow. “I have no idea if you should keep your shoes on or not. I hired a lady to clean this place for me, but I can’t tell how good of a job she’s doing.”
He laughed at that, and I couldn’t help but smile. It was nice to be around someone with a sense of humor. Most people just gave me pity, and I was so tired of that. And it was nice to have someone that didn’t flinch at my flirtatious jokes either. Flirting with straight dudes just made them uncomfortable, but Adam didn’t seem to mind that much.
Maybe he was into me.
My heart thumped at the thought, but I pushed it down. There was no reason to get my hopes up. At the most he wanted to be friends and nothing more. Chances were he was just stopping by to let me know he had joined a multi-level marketing scheme or something and wanted me to join. Or maybe he felt bad for me and wanted to lend his aid to feel good about himself. I wasn’t really sure.
“I hope I didn’t interrupt anything,” Adam asked as we headed toward the kitchen.
“Nah. I was wrapping up my class for the day, anyway.” I pulled open the fridge. “Grab yourself a drink.”
“Thanks.”
I heard a can shift in the fridge as he took one from the top left. That’s where I kept the flavored water.
“You can take anything,” I said, gesturing to the fridge as a whole. “And I don’t mean that in a Midwestern guilt sort of way. Literally any drink you want is fine.”
“Are you sure?”
I pointed at my face, as I crossed my eyes. “Do I look like I’m kidding?”
He laughed and placed the can back. “Alright. You don’t mind if I take a beer?”
“A bottom that drinks beer?” I couldn’t help but chuckle. “You do you, boo.”
“Who says I’m a bottom?” Adam shot back, taking one of the bottles from the bottom right.
“You drink iced chai lattes.” I stepped up to him, getting close enough to feel his body heat as I took a beer for myself. I heard his breath catch. “And you get so easily flustered when a guy gets near you. It’s adorable.”
He didn’t make a snide remark as I pulled my beer away and closed the fridge. The top middle drawer had my bottle opener, and I popped the cap off my own before sliding it across the counter to Adam. It took a moment before he regained his composure and opened his own bottle. He took a seat across from me, the chair squeaking slightly under his weight.
“So… uh… you’re a student then?” he asked, clearly trying to avoid the previous subject.
“Nope,” I replied, taking a swig. “Professor actually.”
“Really?” There was a tone of genuine surprise in his voice.
“Well, adjunct professor. I teach literature to the virtual students. Right now, I’m teaching American Lit and British Lit simultaneously. I was just giving the students their homework for the weekend when you knocked.”
“Oh wow. You must be like really smart then!”
“I read a lot,” I laughed. “And I force other people to read and then have intelligent thoughts about their reading. There’s not much else to it.”
“Sounds smart to me.”
“What do you do?”
There was a long pause.
“Nothing anymore.”
“Nothing?” I pressed. “You must do something! What did you do before this?”
“I worked at a big finance company in their HR department.”
“That sounds… fun .”
I could almost hear him scowl.
“It’s not. At all. You would not believe how fucking immature finance bros are. And even though I was in HR, the amount of shitty things I had to sweep under the rug was incredible. The people there were awful, and my coworkers were just as bad.”
“I can see why you left.”
“Got some decent ass though from a few employees.”
That piqued my interest. “Oh? What do you mean?”
“Finance bros are all the same,” he explained, his bracelet rattling as he gesticulated. “They talk a big game, they party like animals, and they all think they’re the biggest alpha in the place. But the truth is,” he said, lowering his voice. “Most of them are wearing women’s lingerie and buttplugs to work all the time . They act all tough at the office but the thing they want most desperately is to have anyone tie them up and treat them like shit for a couple of hours until they cum.” Beer sloshed as Adam took a drink. “Honestly, it was so easy that I stopped trying.”
“So… you left a bunch of free ass and a cushy job to move down here to the middle of nowhere?”
“Yep.”
“Why?”
Another long pause.
“That’s uh… kinda what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Color me intrigued,” I replied, leaning across the counter. “What did you want to tell me?”
Adam swallowed hard. “It’s kind of difficult to say out loud.”
“Take your time, baby,” I teased. “I’m in no rush. As long as it’s not an MLM, I’m cool.”
“It’s gonna sound really weird. And kinda sad.”
“Perfect.”
“Well…” He took a deep breath. “I was wondering if… if you wanted to go on a date with me?”
I furrowed my brows. “So… you moved down here to the middle of nowhere to ask me on a date? Are you sure you’re not stalking me?”
“No! Of course not! I didn’t know you until the other day when I brought Bessie back! I swear I’m not a stalker!”
“Sounds like something a stalker would say.”
He blew out an exasperated sigh.
“I’m just fucking with you,” I added. “So, if you didn’t move down here to go on a date with me, why did you move down?”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“I know. Answer mine first.”
Another sigh.
“It… It’s complicated.”
“Then explain it.”
It took several seconds for Adam to compose himself. I couldn’t see what his face was doing, but the fidgeting in his chair, the way his toes tapped against the cupboard, and his fingers squeaking over the glass bottle told me everything I needed to know. He was as nervous as a cat. I just needed him to tell me why.
“Let’s just say that my life has been a mess lately, and I moved down here to get a fresh start. And that includes dating, which I only recently found out that I’m… well, I’m not very good at it I guess.” He took another long pause. “I’ve dated a lot , and I realized that the reason it wasn’t going well was because of me. My friends here are helping me sort it out, but they suggested I find someone to practice with.”
“So, you want to fake date me to practice?”
I wasn’t really liking the sound of that. Then again, I couldn’t deny that my heart had been pounding since the moment he suggested it. It had been a long time since I’d dated anyone, real or otherwise. Even if this wasn’t going to go anywhere, I was still interested despite my better judgment.
“I… I guess,” Adam replied. “I thought we had a bit of a connection at the coffee shop the other day and you seem like a nice guy that I could get along with. But I didn’t feel right about pretending there weren’t ulterior motives. The last thing I want to do is hurt someone again.”
Honesty. I liked that. Even though it wasn’t exactly the type of relationship I was looking for, I couldn’t deny my curiosity at his proposal.
“I know it’s crazy,” he continued. “And I don’t expect you to say yes. But I thought I’d ask just in case. I really think we could be friends regardless and I don’t have a lot of those either.”
“Hypothetically,” I replied. “What would be the rules for this dating? What are the boundaries? Anything off limits?”
He was caught off guard by my question. “I-I figured we would w-work those out together.”
“I don’t have any limits.”
Adam swallowed hard. “I could probably work with that. But you have to force me to be honest and open with you. I’m gonna try my best, but that’s the part I’m really bad at.”
“Oh, we can make demands?”
“I… I guess.” He took a breath. “Yeah. If I’m gonna ask you to do something, then it’s only fair you can ask me for something too.”
“Perfect,” I smiled. “You’re the bottom.”
He froze and I didn’t have to see his face to know it turned bright red. His fingers slowly moved over the surface of the counter, and I heard him shift in the chair, the fabric of his shorts forced to one side. If I had to take a guess, I’d say my demand had gotten him just a little excited. The thought went straight to my cock as well, and I leaned against the counter, hoping he didn’t notice.
“But you’re shorter than me…”
“What the hell does that have to do with anything?”
“O-Okay,” he muttered after a long while, his voice soft and low. “I agree.”
“Beautiful,” I replied, giving him a big smile. “When’s our first date?”