Chapter 26
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX
ICEMAN
A fter the show, Tom buys another round of drinks and we sit around our table, chatting like a group of co-conspirators, ignoring the world around us. They laugh and joke about my being the center of attention for a moment, as I groan in embarrassment.
“Seriously, though, Jesse. Whatever happens, I hope you know you could never be alone,” Perry says, cooling down their laughter and taking a breath. The atmosphere around the table changes. Not tense, per se, but different. I’m suddenly feeling very perceived again, and I wriggle in my seat.
“Yeah, dude, honestly. I like you a lot, so whether we just stay friends or anything more happens between us, I’m there for you. Same for Perry and Tom,” Seth leans in and plants a kiss on my cheek.
Tom nods in silent agreement, raising his beer to me in confirmation.
“Thank you. All of you. I don’t know why that came out of me when it did, heck, I don’t think I even realized I was feeling that way myself. I think I’ve just been real busy of late, and maybe it was all building up until it boiled over. Sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for,” Tom leans in, clinking his beer against my glass.
“Other than for almost ruining my set being all mopey,” I turn around and see the comedian, Stan, standing over my chair, looking down at me with a smile.
“Hey, Stan! Incredible set again,” Perry gushes.
My head swivels back toward them. “Wait, you all know each other?”
“Well, yeah,” Seth jumps in. “How do you think we scored such great seats? Stan’s an old friend from college.”
“I was back in the city, and of course had to look up Seth and his harem,” Perry laughs at this last comment, but Tom squirms slightly, which is actually kind of cute. “I see they’re trying to add a new cutie to the mix?”
“Oh, don’t be jealous, Stan. Nothing is set in stone, Jesse here is a free agent, and very much on the prowl,” Perry says, smiling into their drink.
Stan pulls up a chair and joins us, sitting next to me. “Is that so? Well, my dance card is very empty at the moment, Jesse, so consider me very prowl-able.”
The rest of the table laughs, and I smile awkwardly. We spend the next hour talking, Seth and Stan sharing stories about knowing each other in college and the hijinks they’d get up to. Every now and then though, Stan mutters directly to me, asking about me and my life. As the throuple fall more and more into their own comfortable companionship, me and Stan start having a more one on one moment.
“So you’re somehow single?” Stan asks, looking at me under his eyelashes.
“Yeah. I mean, I wish I knew why too, but here I sit, single as a Pringle.” I close my eyes and swallow hard. What the hell does that even mean?
Stan laughs gently. “Yeah, well, I know how that is. It’s very hard to meet a guy when you’re often on the road, setting up shop in a new city every few days. Plus, it can be really hard to talk to a guy you find cute,” Stan blushes, swirling his drink.
“You? You get shy?” I say, the faux shock I’m giving him actually only being partially fake. Stan doesn’t strike me as the unconfident type.
“Ah, that whole bit on stage? That’s different. It’s an act. Up on that little stage, I’m in charge. It may not be much, half a foot off the ground, and six by four feet, but that’s my kingdom. I run the show, and being confident there? That’s easy. Being confident in the real world, with someone you want to get to know…” he gently sways towards me, bumping me with his shoulder. “That’s a whole other thing.”
I look at him with half a grin. He’s actually really cute when he’s nervous. “Well, you seem to be doing a pretty good job right now?”
Stan bites his lip and looks me in the eyes, before his eyes drift down to my lips. “There. I love it when you smile.”
I blush, covering my mouth with my hand and laughing nervously. “What? No, I have an awful smile.”
“Not at all. You seem so in your head, when you smile, it feels like you’re finally actually coming out,” Stan smiles back. His knee rubs against mine under the table, and I feel a jolt of electricity pass between us. A spark from our tension loosening up together.
I check my watch and realize the time and curse myself. “Shit, I have to go. I have to get the train back home, and work tomorrow is going to be crazy.”
“Friday at Comic Con. Big day?” Seth leans back in.
“Yeah, it’s big announcement day for the project I’ve been working on, and I’m tabling for my own book for a bit with my…friend, Callum.” The pause throws me. Cal is my friend, no matter what else he may be, that’s not changed. Right? I pause, suddenly remembering the new feelings that stirred up when I last saw him, realizing this is the first time I’ll have seen him since. I don’t know how it’s going to go.
“Right,” I say, standing. “Thank you for inviting me tonight, I really had a good time. Really, I did.” I say the last part to Stan, wanting to reassure him my absence from the first half of the show was nothing to do with him.
I grab my jacket and make my way to the door, waving back at everyone. I get through the door and out into the street, fishing around in my pocket for my ear pods to listen to some tunes on the way home.
“Hey, Jesse, wait up!”
I turn and see Stan, pushing past people to catch up with me. When he gets to me, I realize he’s actually almost my height, which is a nice change.
We stand there in a charged silence for a whole minute, smiling awkwardly at each other.
“Aw, screw it,” Stan says, and then he leans in, his hand taking mine and pressing something into it as his lips meet my cheek, just under my ear. “I’m in town until the middle of next week. I’d love to see you again, but hey, no pressure. Okay…bye!” And he backpedals, bouncing on his heels as he looks at me before diving back through the door and into the club.
I stand in the street, dumbfounded by this guy. All the confidence in the world when he’s up on the stage, but then he acts like some sort of kawaii little puppy in the real world? It kinda reminds me of me, the confidence I have in my work at the publisher (the actual work that is, not the dealing with my bosses clearly), but in every other aspect of my life? Except he’s far less neurotic and still brave enough to take a shot.
I look down at the crumpled up napkin in my hand, the pen marks of his phone number and email hastily written on, the ink creating tiny little spider-leg-lines out from the numbers and letters as it seeps into the paper.
I feel the smile creeping onto my face again, and I really like it.