Chapter 4 #2
His friends idolized porn stars, viewing them as minor deities in the gay pantheon.
Blake had always enjoyed porn, but he’d never paid attention to the names of the models.
There was a time when he wouldn’t have been able to pick Billy Sinner or Will Hardin out of a lineup, but now he’d reamed them both.
Out of the four guys in his friend group, Blake found it hilarious that he – chubby little Blake Larsen – had grown up to be a porn superstar who’d won awards for fucking.
“Since when did you become the ball expert?” Xander sneered.
Uh oh. Blake had zoned out, and now Xander and Quinn were sniping at each other, catching him in the crossfire of the icy glares they shot across the table.
“On Wednesday, I did it in the bathroom of a donut shop,” he blurted, hoping to break the tension. He had to embellish the story, since he and the guy had been caught in the restroom before they’d even pulled out their dicks, but thankfully no one pressed him for details.
Blake braced for Xander’s typical follow-up question: Tell us about the scene you filmed this week. Still stinging from his call with Jude, he dreaded telling his friends he’d been fired. Talking about it would be easier after he’d found a new gig and was working again.
He breathed a sigh of relief when Xander turned his attention to Spencer, then groaned at the mention of Spencer’s “fuck-it list,” the list of everything he wanted to do before he turned thirty.
Spencer had been working on his sexual bucket list for as long as Blake had known him.
He couldn’t believe he hadn’t finished it yet.
How could a list of sexual fantasies be so extensive? No matter where or how you did it, sex was sex. A little sucking, a little rimming, a little fucking, and boom. The only thing that changed was the body you got to play with, and in his line of work, all the bodies were pretty similar.
Spencer’s final quest was to sleep with a virgin. After offering the apparently unhelpful suggestion that he post a Craigslist ad, Blake lost interest in the conversation and peeled open another jelly packet. Grape – his least favorite, but sugar was sugar.
He wanted to support his friend, but he didn’t know any virgins, and was unlikely to come across one in the next couple weeks. Xander, however, was making the search an official challenge for the group, and he and Quinn were arguing about who’d be able to find the elusive virgin first.
Heaving a sigh, Blake stacked the empty jelly packet with the ones he’d already polished off. His stomach growled again. Where was their server––
“Is everyone ready to order?”
Blake looked up and his jaw nearly hit the table.
The skinny, red-haired guy standing at the end of their booth was not who he’d expected. He’d heard his voice earlier when he was resting against Quinn’s shoulder, but he hadn’t imagined it belonged to someone this cute.
Maybe he was a new hire, because if the guy had been working here before, Blake would have noticed.
Heat rolled through his belly, like a lazy wave of sun-warmed water. This guy was the living embodiment of all Blake’s teenage fantasies – as if someone had taken his high school crush, made him ten times cuter, and thrown in a pair of the most amazing grey eyes for good measure.
Xander interrupted his daydreaming, pointing to the server’s name tag and asking, “Hi, Ethan. Are you a virgin by chance?”
Blake cringed. Xander could be a dick sometimes.
Ethan’s eyebrows shot up. “No, I’ve had sex before.” His gaze flicked to Blake, and his face flushed a rosy pink. The color brought out the adorable freckles dusting his cheeks.
Suddenly feeling warm, Blake took off his baseball cap to cool his scalp. The side of his mouth hooked into a bashful smile. “Hi.”
Ethan scratched his temple with his pencil’s eraser. “Do you know what you want?”
You. I want to kiss you.
Wait, that’s not what he meant. Was it?
Blake’s brain short-circuited for a beat. His lips moved before his mind caught up. “What?”
Raising his notepad, Ethan asked, “Do you know what you want to order?”
Xander looked between them, clearly entertained by the exchange. “We need a few minutes.”
“Take your time.” As Ethan turned to go, he winked at Blake.
Little tingles danced on Blake’s skin. He’s flirting with me.
It had been a long time since anyone had flirted with Blake. In porn, there was no need for subtlety, for teasing glances, for the slow build of anticipation.
Blake hadn’t realized how much he missed the unexpected thrill of a cute guy flirting with him.
“So, we’ll circle back to that,” Xander said, nodding toward Ethan. “First, though, hands in.”
After a sex god hand stack and a pledge to help Spencer on his quest to find a virgin, the guys turned to their menus. Blake pushed his to the side and folded both hands in front of himself.
He snuck a glance at Ethan, who was wiping down a nearby booth. His ass wiggled side to side as he cleaned the far end of the table.
Xander spoke in a low voice intended for Blake’s ears only. “It’s the skinny guys who always have the biggest dicks.”
Blake’s eyes snapped back to Xander. “What?”
“Tweedle Twink over there. The skinny guy with red hair? You haven’t been able to keep your eyes off him.”
“He’s cute, right?”
“Man, you and your thing for twinks. Are you going to make a move?”
Blake gnawed on his lower lip. “He seems like a nice guy. But I always wonder what people are going to think about my… career choice.”
“I don’t know. I think most guys would love the chance to sleep with a––”
Blake put his hand over Xander’s mouth before he could say porn star. “Not here, okay?”
Xander’s warm, wet tongue swiped across Blake’s palm.
“Ew!” Blake pulled his hand away and wiped it on his jeans. “Gross, dude.”
“As I was saying,” Xander continued. “Most guys would jump at the chance to sleep with an unattainable fantasy man.”
“Unattainable? What are you talking about? I’m very attainable. You and I slept together.”
Xander waved off his comment. “That’s different. You’re, you know, Blake.”
Blake scoffed and sat back in the booth, crossing his arms. “Blake the Flake, huh?”
“No, it’s just… I knew you before you were a po–– a model. By the time we fucked, I saw you as a friend, not a model.”
Quinn, who’d been talking to Spencer, raised his voice.
“You’re turning thirty, Spence.” That tone of voice meant he was being the Responsible One.
According to Spencer and Xander, at one time Quinn had been wild and promiscuous.
Now he was settled down and happily married.
It was good to have someone who could keep the rest of the group in line.
Although Xander and Spencer bristled at the idea of settling down and leaving behind the life of slutty bachelors, Blake didn’t think having a boyfriend sounded like a bad idea.
Make a move, Xander had said, as if it were no big deal. Hooking up was easy. But asking someone out? It had been so long since he’d done that, he wasn’t even sure where to begin.
Ethan stopped back at their booth, and Blake’s mind went blank the moment he saw Ethan’s sunny smile.
“What would everyone like?”
Once the other guys had ordered, Ethan asked, “And for you, Blake?” He snapped his mouth shut and stared at his notepad as his cheeks turned pink.
“What’s on the brunch burger?”
Ethan pointed over his shoulder with his pen. “It’s written on the board.”
With a shrug, Blake admitted, “I can’t read the handwriting.”
“Yeah, that’s Caleb’s chicken scratch. I keep telling him he needs to print.” Ethan flipped to another page in his pad. “It’s got bacon, cheddar cheese, a fried egg, and maple aioli. Served with fries.”
“That sounds good. I’ll take that.”
“Perfect.” Ethan scribbled down a note and made his way back to the kitchen.
Blake pulled the brim of his cap lower to hide his eyes and slumped against the booth’s padded vinyl.
How can I ask him out when I can barely order like a normal person?
Ethan
While Ethan was splitting the check from Blake’s group onto separate receipts, Caleb strolled out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel.
“So,” Caleb said, folding the towel and placing it on the counter. “Are you going to give him your number?”
Ethan looked over at Blake, who was laughing with his friends, a smile lighting up his face. Returning to punching numbers into the register, Ethan avoided eye contact with Caleb. “Flirting was fun, but do you seriously think I have a shot with him?”
“I’ve caught him staring at you five times. And it’s not like I’ve been following you around. He’s at least curious.”
“I don’t know. All his friends are there…”
Caleb placed his hand on Ethan’s shoulder. “You miss a hundred percent of the shots you don’t take.” With a slight nod in Blake’s direction, he picked up his towel and returned to the kitchen.
Ethan flipped through the cards in his hand. Maybe he could leave a note on the back of Blake’s receipt. None of the cards were Blake’s, though. He must have paid in cash.
I could just ask him out. It would be intimidating, doing it in front of Blake’s friends. Making a move was stressful enough without an audience of beautiful men hanging on your every word.
He finished the transaction and shuffled toward their booth like a convict being led to the electric chair. His mind reeled with every possible scenario, every clever thing he could say to make himself seem cool enough to date.
He set the receipts and change on the table. After his obligatory “Enjoy the rest of your day,” he opened his mouth to speak to Blake, deciding to go with something inspired like Hey.
Something clattered to the floor behind him. “Excuse me?” A parent in a nearby booth was flagging him down. It looked like her kid had thrown all their silverware on the floor. “Can we get some clean forks?”
Ethan’s stomach sank into his shoes. To Xander’s crew, he said, “I’ll be right back.” The second he turned around, he cringed. He didn’t have a reason to return to their table. He’d have to make one up.
After rushing clean silverware to the mother and her son, he took a deep breath, preparing himself to embrace the awkward moment and ask for Blake’s number in front of his friends.
He ran his hand through his hair and plastered on a smile, then stopped dead in his tracks after a single step.
The booth by the window was empty.
Xander and his friends were filing out of the diner, Blake holding the door open for them.
He was going to miss his chance.
Take your shot.
Ethan tore a sheet out of his order pad and scribbled his name and number. He quickly added: Call me xo
He ran toward Blake as the door was closing behind him. “Blake!”
Blake paused, bracing the door open with his shoulder, regarding Ethan with a puzzled expression.
Panting, Ethan handed him the folded sheet of paper. “Uh, you left this behind.”
Blake took the note and stared at it, confused.
Heat rose to Ethan’s cheeks. Quietly, he said, “Look at it outside, okay?”
Blake nodded and followed his friends outside.
Ethan’s whole body tensed. Holding his breath, he bounced on his heels.
Bathed in the late morning sunlight, Blake waved goodbye to his friends and unfolded the paper in his hand. He looked back into the diner, and when his eyes met Ethan’s, a smile spread across his face.
Blake held up the note, placed it in his jeans pocket, and patted his pocket before waving and walking off.
Ethan exhaled, hope blooming in his chest.
Did I actually pull that off?
Beaming, he spun around, tripped over his own feet, and stumbled into the nearest chair. He cleared his throat and smoothed down his apron.
“Yep,” he muttered. “Totally nailed it.”