Chapter 3 #3
“Nice to see you too!” Jay laughed but got up from the chair. “Later!” He hooked an arm around Zahir and led him away from them, disappearing inside the bar.
“Christ.” August watched the door close behind Jay, then got back into their seat. “Vultures. I can’t stand cis gay men.”
“My turn!" Iris claimed, then left the table with only a little flourish. Luka assumed she' gone for another round of drinks. He watched her walk away in her high heels and cringed, remembering how much he hated when his mother forced him to wear them when he was younger.
“Jay wasn’t giving you grief, was he?” August asked.
“No, he was just being a slut. Nothing new.” Luka felt his phone buzz in his pocket again and blushed.
“Jesus, what did he say to you?” August stole a french fry from Luka’s carryout container.
“Nothing! I swear. It’s still Reno’s fault for this.” He pointed at his face, hating how easily he blushed. “I sent him a selfie. Or three. While you were gone.”
August burst out laughing and Iris returned with a round of shots and drinks, and some water for them.
“Babe, Luka sent selfies!”
“Have you ever done that before?”
“Send selfies? Yes?” Luka wondered what his friends really thought of him sometimes.
“Amazing. No notes.” Iris took the tray and left.
“Cheers, bitch.” August raised their shot and Luka clicked his against theirs before knocking it back. “Way to go. Did you send a hot one? Are you flirting?”
“Yeah, and, god, I think I might be.”
“I cannot wait for tomorrow night.” August was all giggles at this point. They turned this way every time they drank.
Luka ate some more fries before saying, “You don’t even like Voltage.”
“Yes, but I love seeing my man happy.”
“I hate you," Luka groaned. “This might lead to the worst heartbreak of my life. What if I fumble a rockstar? That's so embarrassing.”
“That would be tragic," Iris agreed as she sat back down. “Good thing men only fumble you.”
“Yeah! I’ll toast to that.” August was getting loud.
Luka toasted regardless and took a drink. “You have way too much faith in me.” He cringed at the alcohol and took the water instead. “You don’t know what goes on in my DMs.”
“Sure I do. It’s a lot of you and Wulf being idiots, swapping art with online friends, watch parties for whatever latest c-drama your friends rope you into, and when you get drunk enough, you go on Grindr and collect dick pics.
“What the hell, you creep.”
“You tell me everything. And you’re fumbling no one.”
“Yeah, because I haven’t dated in a year, or tried to.”
“And what happened before then?” August pointed at the door that Jay had gone through. “He fumbled you.”
“He broke up with me, that’s not the same.”
“Sure it is.” August shrugged then turned to Iris to get her to agree, which she did. They always agreed with each other unless they were fighting.
Luka pointedly did not join the conversation again. Instead, he pulled out his phone and unlocked it. Then, he dropped it into his box of fries.
[Unknown Number]
[image attachment]
“Holy shit!” August yelled and swiped the phone from the fries. “Even I’d hit that.”
“Please give me my phone back.” Luka was burning, boiling even.
Iris grabbed it instead and her eyes widened.
“Okay, I get it," she said, then flipped the phone around to show off the photo Reno had sent.
He only had a towel around his waist. His hair was wet.
His cheeks were as pink as his hair; he must have redyed it earlier.
His body was so lean but soft and he had a tattoo on his bicep Luka had never seen before—angel wings and a halo with 888 between the wings.
Luka focused on the silver belly button ring he was wearing, dangling down his stomach almost low enough to hit the towel, and Luka started hearing blood rush in his ears.
“If this man" —Iris pointed a finger at the screen, tapping it with her acrylic nail, click click click— “sent me this photo, I would reconsider my stance on men.” She turned it back to herself and Luka felt his brain come back online. “You sure he’s not an egg?”
“Please give me my phone back.” Luka held out his hand and took the phone, wiping salt off it. “He’s not trans; he’s addressed that in an interview.”
“Oh, good for you," August said, loudly again.
“I think I need to take you home," Luka said. “You’re losing control of your volume.”
“Oh, sorry!” August giggled, then tried again in almost a whisper. “Sorry.”
“It's ok.” Luka pushed a glass of water at them, feeling fond but tired. “I’m calling a Lyft.”
“Aw.” Iris pouted, sticking her lip out. “It’s only midnight.”
“Come home with me. We can stay up real late," August said, turning the force of their attention on their girlfriend. They leaned forward and Luka checked out, not ready to watch his friends make out in public.
“I’m gonna go tab out," he said, but it was too late; they were all over each other. They probably didn’t even hear him, so he left the table, ignored Jay as he passed him and Zahir at a booth inside, and sat at the bar to pay.
He told the bartender his name and while the receipt was printing, he snuck another glance at his phone.
[Unknown Number]
Unreal. This is a joke, right?
Whew, I was starting to worry I scared you off. No jokes just returning the favor.
I'm
I've had a few drinks so i'm sorry.
For what? Was this wrong?
God no it was haha. Very right. I just wow. In public and i'm a bit tipsy and I won't lie to you I am
Very into that
Into what, being horny in public, or me?
Are u being a shithead or are u fr
You caught me
Oh my god.
“Here you go.” The bartender slid him the tab and a pen and Luka thanked him, trying to keep his voice from cracking.
Maybe he was dying. Maybe he was dead, and this was his good karma rewarding him or however that worked, he didn’t know.
He glanced up at the TV and determined they wouldn’t possibly be playing Tom and Jerry in heaven.
He left the signed receipt on the bar and went to collect his friends.
[Unknown Number]
To be fair Arnaud is making fun of me. I may have made an obscene noise when I opened your pics
how do u just say stuff like that
Easy, i'm an honest guy
when will u be home?
i'm getting a lyft rn, why?
lmk when u are, since im pretty sure its me snd not being in public that you're into.
Luka was going to break his phone. It was going to slip right out of his sweaty palms and crack on the cement as he waited for the rideshare to get them.
August and Iris were leaning on each other, looking very pleased with themselves, and Luka muttered, “thank god," under his breath when the car pulled up to take them home.
He was through the door twenty minutes later and into his room before August could rope him into after-bar drinks and cookies. He locked his bedroom door, peeled off his clothes to change into sweatpants, and got into bed, plugging in his almost dead phone.
[Unknown Number]
You still up?
He waited, but the ‘…’ for Reno didn’t appear and Luka felt his excitement plummet. It was well after midnight now; maybe Reno had just fallen asleep. He let out a long, uneven sigh then ignored a text from August that popped up at the top of his screen.
He got back out of bed, turned on the fan and left his phone behind to go get water. Maybe when he came back, he’d have a message.
In the kitchen, August and Iris were scooping ice cream into the blender, Baileys open on the counter.
“Want one?” Iris asked as she dropped a whole cookie into the blender. She hit the button and leaned down, watching her ice cream start to froth closely, with a level of intensity Luka was not used to seeing from her. “You can have this one!” she said, once her finger was off the button again.
“No thanks, I just want water," Luka said and Iris carefully poured out the milkshake into a large cup, biting her lip and squinting while doing so, then handed it to August instead.
He filled a cup from the pitcher in the fridge, took a non-booze-milkshake-infused cookie and left, hoping that he had given Reno enough time to respond. He really didn’t want to stay up staring at his phone, waiting.
Nope. Luka clicked the phone off again and gave up.
He took his time eating the cookie, wondering for a moment if he had imagined all of what had happened.
He opened their chat again and reread it, saved the photo Reno had sent him to his camera roll, and decided he wasn’t crazy after all—Reno was flirting with him.
Then, he gave up waiting for a response from a man who had clearly fallen asleep.