Twenty-Seven Ramin
twenty-seven
Ramin
Ramin knew it was after midnight back home. He tried—he really tried—not to call or text too late. But Arya’s schedule was erratic, and David and Farzan both worked in restaurants and kept later hours, so he decided to risk a text.
Ramin
Something happened
He stared at his phone as he power-walked back toward his apartment until he nearly dropped it, stubbing his toe on a particularly tall cobble, and stuffed it back into his pocket.
He needed a shower. He could still feel Noah’s hands all over him. Noah’s mouth on his. And once again, he had a spot of cold precum in his underwear, smearing around his dick as he walked, and he’d put that sensation up there with wet socks as far as unpleasant clothing-related experiences.
Once again, he was making the walk of shame, and once again, he hadn’t even gotten off!
Which was fine—he meant what he told Noah about not tallying orgasms—but damn.
Ramin was a block away from his apartment when his phone began to buzz. The sidewalk was more even here, so he risked taking it out. Arya was FaceTiming him.
“Are you okay?” he asked as soon as Ramin answered. He was dressed in a dapper blue suit, though he’d left his collar undone. The lights of Kansas City’s downtown backlit him, twinkling through the floor-to-ceiling windows of his swanky apartment in the Power Ramin heard the beeping of Arya’s kettle.
“Wait, Ramin got laid?” Farzan said, scratching his chest hair. “When?”
“Last night.”
“I didn’t have sex last night!” Ramin interrupted, way too loud, because some of the folks passing by swiveled to look at him. He lowered his voice and pulled out his keychain to get through the gate.
“You didn’t have sex last night ,” Arya muttered, and then his eyes widened. “You had sex this morning ?”
Ramin groaned. Why oh why was that the conclusion Arya had drawn? And why oh why did he text his friends in the first place?
Because he loved them, that’s why. He loved them and he was a mess and he needed advice. He needed someone to help him figure out what to do. He needed his real friends, not their little miniature angel-devil versions.
“Okay, can we pause on that, at least until I get into my apartment?” Ramin muttered. “How are you both doing?”
Arya sighed. “Ugh. Some days I don’t know why I do this job.”
“Because you love it and you’re good at it,” Farzan said. “What happened?”
“We had a big wedding at Union Station,” Arya said. “And apparently the father of the bride picked flowers his future son-in-law was allergic to. On purpose. For a hundred floral arrangements.”
A deep, rich laugh preceded David as he flopped onto the bed next to Farzan, equally shirtless, with a black silk cap protecting his hair. “No shit?”
“No shit,” Arya said.
Ramin finally made it off the elevator and into his apartment. He went straight for the kitchen to grab a saucepan for some tea.
“Okay, dude, are you back now? Out of earshot of nosy Italians?” Arya asked. “Wait, I thought Italians loved sex. Why are you so worried?”
“Can we focus?” Ramin asked automatically, then wished he hadn’t, because fuck, the focus was on him .
“Exactly,” Farzan said. “Spill.”
“Wait, what’re we spilling?” David asked.
“Ramin had sex with someone this morning.” That was Arya.
“I didn’t!” They only made out. A lot. And did some light grinding. And definitely intended for it to happen.
“Then why are you blushing so hard?” Arya asked.
Ramin was blushing. Part of him wanted to protect this fledgling thing with Noah, whatever it was. But part of him wanted to shout it from the rooftops. He wasn’t usually the one with stories to share. He was usually the…
Well. The boring one.
“We only kissed this morning,” Ramin admitted. “We had sex yesterday morning.”
“I knew it!” Arya shouted, and promptly dropped his phone again.
Ramin’s face burned so hot, he thought he might catch fire. Farzan and David were grinning at him.
Finally Arya picked his phone back up.
“Okay, dude, spill. What? Who? Where?”
“Promise not to make fun?”
“Make fun?” Farzan asked. “We’re happy for you!”
That was fair. His friends really did want him to be happy. Ramin took a deep breath and then let it spill out of him.
“I kind of gave Noah a handjob.”
Arya whooped.
Farzan’s eyes went wide. “Wait, really?”
“Really.” While Ramin waited for his water to boil, he leaned against the kitchen table and told them the story.
“Wait,” David interrupted when he got to the wine shop. “You had 2016 Gaja ? Which one?”
“Conteisa?”
David groaned in appreciation, closing his eyes like he was drinking it himself. He probably had before. “First the Ornellaia, now some Gaja. And a handjob too? You’re living the dream.”
“Hey!” Farzan smirked and elbowed David.
David gave him a big smooch. “Don’t mind him. Keep going.”
Ramin went down the whole thing—the wine shop, getting strong-armed into lunch, the rain, the hotel—
“Waitwaitwaitwaitwait,” Arya said, steepling his fingers over his mug of herbal tea.
He’d moved to his couch, jacket slung over the back, phone propped up against something on his coffee table.
“Are you trying to tell me that you, Ramin Yazdani, engineered an only-one-bed scenario with your big-dicked high school crush?”
“I didn’t engineer anything,” Ramin said. “It just happened. How was I supposed to know he was bisexual and had a crush on me, too?”
Arya cackled. Farzan sighed, but it was a fond one.
“Are you kidding? You’re a catch. You know that.”
Ramin shook his head.
“Anyway, we got interrupted before anything else happened, and then he had to come back to Milan but his phone was dead, so I thought he was ghosting me, and then Todd called and I got into a weird headspace—”
“ Todd? ” David asked. “Like, Fucking Todd Todd? That Todd?”
“He’s the only one we know,” Arya said. “What did he want?”
“Uh, stuff from the house. I told him to call you guys.”
Farzan snorted. “I think he’s afraid of us.”
“Good,” Arya said. “Okay, so Todd called, and I assume you told him to go fuck himself—”
“I told him I was in Italy, and then I went to a club and got drunk and then somehow Noah found me and took me back to his hotel because I was too drunk to find my way home. And we didn’t do anything, just cuddled, and this morning we talked, and I think we’re… seeing each other now?”
All three men on his phone stared at him. Ramin scratched at his new tattoo. He loved the piece, but he hated the itching.
Arya was the first to speak. “Dude. This is perfect. You went to Italy to drown in foreskins but this is better . This is your second-chance romance!”
“This isn’t a movie,” Ramin said. “This is real life.”
“I don’t know,” David said, scratching at his chin. “I think you should go for it.”
“But what if this is just… just a rebound? For me, or for him, or for both of us? What if it all falls apart?” Ramin could tell he was spiraling, but he couldn’t stop himself.
“He’s divorced and has a kid and his kid might be moving here and either way he’s going back home in like a week and I’m here for two months and I don’t know if I can just cancel the rest of my trip and go home and I don’t even know if I want to and—”
“Whoa-whoa-whoa,” Farzan said. “Hey. Calm down.”
Ramin huffed.
Farzan’s expression softened. “What’s this really about?”
Damn it. Why did Ramin have to go and have such perceptive friends?
“What if he gets bored of me, too?”
He felt silly for even saying it. For admitting how much Fucking Todd had gotten into his head. But what if this thing between him and Noah fizzled? What if this was just a flashback of teenage hormones and Noah’s two years of celibacy and Ramin’s (admittedly very talented) hands?
What if Noah realized there were more interesting people out there?
The guys were all quiet for a long moment.
“If he does, fuck him, too,” Farzan finally said. “But I really don’t think he will. I don’t remember him being an asshole when we were younger. And you’re a good judge of character.”
“But Todd—”
“Todd made you happy for two years. Just because he turned into an asshole at the end, that doesn’t mean you made a mistake.”
“Yeah,” Arya said. “Look. I know you’re the cautious one of us, but this time you really need to embrace your inner Arya and be brave.”
Ramin rolled his eyes, but smiled just a bit.
“You look happy,” David said. “Every time you talk about him. It’s a good look on you.”
“Really?”
“Really-really. I think Arya’s right. Be brave.” He yawned. “Sorry.”
“No, God, I’m sorry. It’s late for you.”
“We love you,” Arya said. “Don’t apologize.”
“Yeah. Seriously. We’re here for you any time. Even if we’re asleep,” Farzan added.
“Okay. But I will let you go. Love you guys, too.”
Ramin hung up and grabbed his tea, but it had gone cold. He went to go heat up more water.
Maybe Arya was right. Maybe he needed to just go for this.
He could be brave. He could take a chance.
While he waited for the water to boil, he pulled his phone back out.
Ramin
When can I see you again?