Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Elliot
It was just me and Paul left in the kitchen when we heard a knock on the door a half hour before closing time. After exchanging a glance, Paul swiftly picked up the container of leftover meat and vanished into the walk-in refrigerator.
Shuffling over to the door, I opened it just a crack and peered out with a frown. When I saw who it was, my lip curled. “Yeah?”
Brett scowled from the corridor. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna barge into your precious sterile kitchen.”
“I know you’re not,” I said flatly, leaning my shoulder on the wall. “What do you want?”
He huffed, jaw clenching as he glanced down the corridor toward the other kitchen and the storefront. “Okay, look. I’m supposed to be closing tonight, but—”
“Ah.” I smirked at him. “But you wanna leave early.”
He glared at me. “My girl just stopped by and said she wants me to go with her to a party. She’s out there waiting for me.”
“Congrats,” I deadpanned.
“She just got back from visiting her grandparents. I haven’t seen her for two weeks. Two weeks,” he emphasized with a meaningful brow raise. “Tonight might be the first night I don’t have to jerk off.”
My nose wrinkled. “Don’t make me ralph all over the kitchen, Brett.”
“Come on. You know what it’s like.” He gave me a pleading look, as if the fact that we were both dudes meant we were united in his lofty ambitions to get laid.
“And you’re locking up tonight anyway, right?
Ricky already said he’d be okay closing down our kitchen on his own.
All you have to do is give it a quick check before you go. ”
My spine had shot straight the moment the word Ricky left his mouth.
“Fine.” I tried not to sound too eager. “But you owe me big time.”
“Yeah, yeah, of course. You got it.” He turned to rush eagerly away.
“Think of me while you’re with your girl,” I called after him snarkily, “not jerking off.”
“Dick,” I heard him mutter before he vanished back into the other kitchen.
Letting the door swing shut, I turned and wiped my face clean of any emotion as Paul reappeared from the fridge.
“You can finish a little early,” I said quickly before he could ask what that had been about. “I’ll clean up.”
“For real?” He was already untying his apron. “Bitchin’. Thanks, man.”
“No prob.” I waited as he made his way to the door.
“Oh, and…” He stopped and shifted awkwardly. “Uh, sorry about earlier. We were just joking around. I know you’re not… you know. A weirdo perv who wants to hump the food.”
Welp, apparently I am. I just couldn’t bring myself to care about it all that much. Not when I was about to be alone with Ricky.
“It’s all good,” I said blandly. “Later.”
“Later.” He hurried out of the kitchen.
The moment he was gone, I started cleaning up in a manic rush, paying avid attention to the sounds coming from outside the kitchen.
I heard Paul leave, then Brett, then a while later one of the cashiers—the ghoul one—poked her head in to let me know they’d cleaned up front and locked down the registers for the night.
After I listened to them leave, my whole body tingled with awareness. It was just me and Ricky now.
He’d know it was just us left too. Brett would’ve told him I’d be checking over his kitchen before locking up for the night. Was he as keenly aware of my presence as I was of his? Was he excited that it was just the two of us here? Nervous?
After running through the end-of-day checklist a final time and locking up the walk-in fridge and freezer, I locked the kitchen door behind me and darted into the bathroom to check my reflection.
My hair still looked good. Nothing in my teeth.
My breath was minty fresh from the gum I’d chewed after lunch.
I gave my armpit a quick sniff, even though we ghouls didn’t sweat much.
Then, feeling a little jittery with anticipation, I made my way down the corridor before casually sauntering into the other kitchen.
Ricky was leaning against the counter, chewing his thumbnail. He straightened the moment he saw me, hand dropping from his mouth. “Hey.”
“Hey.” I grinned at him. Even though I’d heard Brett leave, I casually asked, “Brett gone?”
“Yeah. He said you wouldn’t mind…”
“Sure.” I looked around the spotless kitchen. “Looks like you did a good job.”
He flushed. “Thanks.”
“Nothing left out? Fridge and freezer doors definitely shut?” I gave him a wry grin as I stepped farther into the room. “Someone left the freezer door ajar overnight a few years back. Had to throw out a whole bunch of stuff.”
He chuckled. “I’ve double-checked. All good.”
“Sweet. I trust you, but I gotta run through the checklist real quick,” I told him with a rueful smile.
He gave me a sweet grin. “I get it.”
God, it felt like my whole body was melting into goo just looking at him. Maybe if it did, I could just engulf him with my new goo body and make him live inside me. That sounded pretty hot, actually.
“Wait.” Ricky’s brow had furrowed with worry. “Is it safe for you to be in here?”
“What do you mean?”
He gestured at the kitchen. “Aren’t there things in here you’re allergic to?”
“Oh. Uh, it’s okay. As long as I don’t touch, um, certain ingredients.” I wanted to squirm a little at the lie. “You’ve put everything away and cleaned the counters, right?”
“Yeah.” He nodded quickly, but still looked concerned. Gah, he was such a precious little ball of sugary sweetness. I wanted to lick him all over.
“Then it’ll be totally fine. And it shouldn’t take long.” I smiled at him, then hesitated. “Hey… what are you doing after this?”
“What am I… Oh. Nothing,” he said quickly. “Just… going home.”
I nodded, throat bobbing with an uncharacteristic hint of nerves as I met his gaze. “Wanna maybe hang out for a while?”
Blood rushed to his face, and my insides tightened. I wanted to lick his cheek and feel that heat under my tongue.
“F-for sure,” he stammered. “Yeah. Um…”
“Why don’t you go chill in the back office until I’m done?” I nodded at the checklist on the wall. “Won’t take me long.”
“Okay,” he breathed, fumbling with the tie of his apron. “Um, okay. I’ll… I’ll go wait.”
I flashed him a grin. “I’ll be quick.”
He let out a slightly nervous laugh and beelined for the door.
I sped through the checklist, realizing quickly that Ricky had done a great job.
Everything was washed up and put away in its rightful place, the fridge and freezer neatly organized, and tomorrow’s meat already in the slow cookers at the correct temperature.
“Stellar job,” I told him as I walked into the back office a short while later. “Better than if Brett had been there to help.”
He grinned. “Thanks. You guys, uh, don’t really get along, huh?”
I snorted. “He just can’t take a joke. And he looks at us like we’re dirt unless he wants something.”
“You… you mean you guys in the other kitchen?”
“Yeah.”
Ricky flushed, looking down. “That sucks.”
“Anyway,” I said, because I definitely did not want to talk about Brett. “Want a beer?”
“Sure.” His eyes brightened as he reached for his jacket. “Got somewhere in mind?”
“Well, actually…” I walked over to my backpack and unzipped it. Straightening, I presented the six-pack to Ricky with a flourish. “Got ’em on my break,” I told him with a sheepish grin.
He laughed, but looked around nervously. “Um, are we allowed to…”
“I won’t tell.” I grinned at him slyly, twisting a can free and holding it out.
After a pause, he reached out and took it.
His warm fingers brushed mine, and I tried not to outwardly react to the tingling sensation that spread up my arm.
I could see the little patch of reddened skin from where he’d been chewing at the side of his thumbnail before.
I wanted to pop it into my mouth and suck.
Nudging my bag out of the way, I sat down on the floor with my back to the wall and cracked open my own can. Grinning, I patted the empty space next to me as I stretched out my legs and crossed my ankles.
Cheeks pink, Ricky lowered himself beside me as he clutched his beer. I shifted until our shoulders brushed, tapping my can to his. “Cheers.”
At my first sip, I sighed and let my head rest against the wall, listening to the crack and hiss of Ricky opening his own can. Rolling my head, I watched as he lifted it to his mouth and took a sip, then licked his lips. My stomach tightened.
“So.” I smiled at him when he looked over. Fuck, our faces were really close. “First week over.”
He sighed in relief. “Yeah.”
I nudged his shoulder with mine. “How you finding it?”
“Good.” His ears went pink as he grinned at me. “At least, I mean, I think I’m doing okay.”
“You are.”
“Thanks.” He flushed, glancing down at the can in his hands before lifting it higher. “So, um… you can drink this okay? There’s nothing you’re, like, allergic to in it?”
“No, this is fine.” I didn’t really like lying about having a medical condition, but it was a widely used excuse among ghouls to explain our appearance and strict dietary habits.
The rampant goth culture helped a lot with that too.
“That’s good.” He paused, running his finger along the rim of his can. “Must be hard to eat out at many places. Like, with a… girlfriend and stuff.” His inflection rose at the end in a slight question as his face flamed pink.
A slow smile spread over my face as I turned my head to look at him again. My sweet, totally unsubtle Ricky. You are a delight.
“No girlfriend.” I had a sip of beer, then added, “No boyfriend either.”
He went completely still beside me. Hesitantly, he looked over, his cheeks still flushed and a hint of fear and nerves in his gaze that made me want to hug him.
“M-me neither.” His tongue darted out to swipe over his lips. He dropped his gaze to my mouth and exhaled sharply. “I mean… I don’t—I don’t have a… boyfriend either.”
I gave him a tiny smile, wishing I could thread my fingers through his and give his hand a comforting squeeze. “Have you ever? Had one, I mean.”
A hard crack of laughter left him. “No. I… My parents wouldn’t…”
“I get it.” After a hesitation, I let my shoulder settle more firmly against his until our arms were fully pressed together. Some of the tension left him, and he looked more relaxed when he glanced at me.
“How about you?”
I shrugged, sipping my beer. “Never had a boyfriend. Fooled around with a guy before, but never with someone like—”
I cut myself off abruptly. I couldn’t say ‘someone like you,’ because then he’d ask what I meant, and it wasn’t like I could tell him, ‘Human! I meant human!’
“Someone I really care about,” I finished instead, because it was still the truth. I knew of only one other gay ghoul. He was an okay guy, but we hadn’t been in love or anything. We hadn’t even dated, just got each other off every now and then.
“Straight people have it easy,” Ricky muttered, pulling his knees up and resting his chin on them.
I snorted without humor. “Yeah. Hard enough sometimes to tell if a guy likes other guys, let alone finding one who does that you actually like.”
Ricky turned his head to look at me, resting his cheek on his knee. “Yeah.”
I stared at him and heard myself say, “Who you’re actually, like, attracted to.”
He cleared his throat, lifting his head to sit up straight. “Yeah.”
“And who’s attracted to you too.”
He swallowed. Slowly, he let his knees drop until the right one rested on my thigh. His gaze dropped to my mouth, pupils expanding in a rush.
“Yeah,” he said hoarsely. “Yes.”
When my tongue swiped over my lips, his breath caught. I discreetly set my beer can on the floor, my heart beating a little faster as we stared at each other in silence. Neither of us moved.
Fuck it.
The only sound in the room was my shirt rasping against the wall as I leaned in. Ricky stopped breathing, but after a split second, he leaned in too.