Chapter 4
Chapter Four
MILES
My blissful slumber was knocked into orbit by the sound of my bedroom door opening so hard it smacked the opposite wall. Sammy let out a yowling screech to express her feelings before bolting off the end of the bed into the hallway.
I groaned, rolling over just in time to see Allan bulldozing in, a cardboard drink carrier in his arms. His husband, Jeremy, was at his side. I’d completely forgotten they were coming over to hang out before we all left for my parents’ party.
“You’re still sleeping?” Allan complained. “I told you I was—oh my god!” He fumbled the tray of drinks a bit, Jeremy swooping in to hold them steady before taking them from him completely. “What the fuck, Miles!?”
Next to me, Meadow stirred, his eyes fluttering open. I cleared my throat, but my brain wasn’t functioning at the level I needed to provide a reasonable explanation to anyone.
“Uh, I, um… I forgot you were coming,” I finally said. Allan blinked, dragging his shocked gaze to Meadow’s form, then back to me. I blinked back at him. What was I supposed to say?
“We’re just going to set these in the kitchen,” Jeremy finally said, grabbing Allan’s elbow and practically dragging him out of the bedroom.
Allan was my best friend and the world’s ultimate pessimist. He was blunt, a bit judgmental, and in his second year of law school.
He’d always told me marriage was a scam invented by the heterosexuals to bolster the capitalist economy and control the masses, or something like that.
He’d never believed in love. Until he’d had what was supposed to be a one night stand with Jeremy, a six-foot, four-inch muscular himbo construction worker that never pondered capitalism or religion or politics or anything that could remotely be considered intellectual. I liked Jeremy.
“Your friends?” Meadow wondered, stretching a little before sitting up.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, resignedly hauling myself up to sit next to him. “I forgot he was coming over.”
The blanket pooled low to his waist, exposing all of his torso and that cute belly button piercing. And reminding me that he was naked. When he noticed me checking him out, he smirked and shook his head.
“It’s alright. I’m sorry to have… surprised him to that degree.”
“He’s not used to seeing me with anyone like this,” I said, wincing a little. “I’m going to have a lot of explaining to do.”
“It’s a shame,” he commented, sighing. “What I had planned to do with you this morning would have been so much more fun.”
“What did you have planned?” I asked, swallowing hard when he leaned into me, running his fingertips lightly over my jaw.
“It would be cruel to tell you now,” he murmured. “But it would have been a while before we left this bed.”
I groaned dramatically, and my traitorous dick swelled up to poke against my boxers, like it was reminding me it existed so I wouldn’t neglect it.
“It’s okay,” Meadow assured me, his eyes dancing with amusement and a teasing note in his voice. “We’ll get around to it eventually.”
I didn’t want to get around to it eventually. I wanted to wallow and bask in the first morning when I’d woken up next to someone I had feelings for. And had gotten blown by. But there was nothing I could do about that now, short of telling Allan and Jeremy to hit the road. I didn’t have it in me.
“Can I at least get a kiss?” I asked, trying to look as kissable as I possibly could, even though it was first thing in the morning.
“Of course.” His fingers tightened on my jaw, holding me in place so he could brush his lips over mine.
It started out light and sweet, but I couldn’t help myself.
He was completely irresistible to me, like a compulsion I literally couldn’t avoid.
He purred against my mouth as the kiss deepened, the tip of my tongue slicking over his.
The sound of Allan huffing at my bedroom door killed the moment. “Are you seriously going to keep me waiting so you can make out with some guy?” he asked incredulously. “That’s so fucking rude.”
“Hey,” I said, irritated. “He’s not some guy. He has a name.”
“Are you naked?” Allan asked, eyes narrowing as he seemed to take in more of Meadow’s appearance.
Meadow turned to face him with a completely placid expression. “Yes.”
“Just close the door!” I snapped out and was answered with the smack of it shutting. “Sorry,” I apologized again, and Meadow only lightly chuckled, looking somewhat amused. He seemed to have pretty thick skin.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m excited to meet your friends.”
I didn’t want to tell him to maybe not be so excited, that Allan always took a bit to warm up to new people, if he warmed up at all. But he seemed so convinced that he was good with getting people to warm up to him that I didn’t want to dash his hopes.
With an extremely resigned sigh, I rose up out of the warm, cozy bed.
Meadow let me brush my teeth and use the bathroom first so I could go out to the kitchen and try to tamp down some of Allan’s confusion.
When I got in there, Allan was seated at my table, both hands on what I knew was a non-fat vanilla latte, glaring at me like I was a kid who’d been caught sneaking in after curfew.
“So you’re… dating someone now?” he asked. I didn’t really know what to say, but I knew I couldn’t exactly be totally honest. If he knew I’d picked up a stranger in the park and brought him home, he’d have a stroke and yell at me until my ears were sore.
“Um, yeah. Basically.” Drinking hot chocolate and watching a movie on my couch probably constituted a date, right? And if not, going to a party and meeting my parents should count.
“You didn’t want me to know or something?” he asked sharply, and suddenly I could hear the hurt a tiny bit louder than the anger in his voice. He wasn’t mad that I was seeing someone. He was mad that I’d left him out of a big development in my life, when we usually told each other everything.
“No, that’s not it!” I denied. “It’s just really…
recent.” Very, very recent. “I was going to tell you, I swear. And I only just invited him to the party last night, and it was late, so I didn’t have a chance to text you and tell you yet.
I’m sorry,” I finished meekly. We didn’t usually have fights.
“So is this… serious?” he wondered, and Jeremy smirked a little behind his drink as he sipped.
“I mean… they were naked in bed together, babe,” he piped up, and I blushed. “That’s kind of serious for Miles, isn’t it?”
“He was naked. I wasn’t!”
“You’re not telling me you guys didn’t do anything,” Allan said, raising an eyebrow.
“I didn’t say we didn’t!”
“So are you, like, not a virgin anymore?” Jeremy wondered. They were both incredibly blunt, although usually in different ways.
I groaned, lowering my forehead to the table. “Do we have to talk about this?”
“I always told you about all my hookups,” Allan pointed out, and I raised my head back up to give him a dry look.
“Yeah, against my will!”
“Wait, you told him about me when we first hooked up?” Jeremy asked, and I scoffed.
“Oh, Miles, I just had the best sex of my life.” I imitated the way Allan had gushed after meeting him, and Jeremy laughed.
“Babe, that’s so cute.”
“Shut up, I did not say that,” Allan denied.
“Yeah, you were a lot more graphic,” I agreed, but we were all grinning now.
“Was I?”
“You said his dick was so big you felt like your guts got rearranged,” I reminded him, wrinkling my nose at the memory.
“Oh, right,” he remembered, not looking the least bit embarrassed.
“Aw,” Jeremy said, putting his hands to his chest and fluttering his eyelashes like he was swooning. “Romantic.”
Meadow’s light laugh from the doorway alerted me, and I turned around to face him.
He was leaning against the jamb of the door, looking impossibly sexy.
He’d put his tight black jeans with the rips back on, but he’d borrowed a plain t-shirt from me.
I wanted to drag him into my lap and squeeze him around the waist while we all chatted.
It was awkward for a couple of seconds while everyone decided who should be the first to speak.
“Good morning,” Meadow finally said, tucking a long strand of his bright hair behind his ear. “I’m sorry for causing such a commotion.”
“No, I’m sorry. I was the one who made the commotion.” I could tell Allan was sizing him up a little, but at least he wasn’t outright interrogating him. Yet.
“Allan’s a little bit of a control freak,” Jeremy supplied helpfully, yelping a little when Allan elbowed him.
Meadow sat in the chair next to me, scooting in close so our shoulders were touching.
I nudged my ultra-sweet caramel iced coffee toward him, and he took a sip, keeping eye contact with me as he sucked on the straw.
It reminded me of the night before and what he’d sucked on then, and I had to resist squirming in my seat.
Allan asked his name, what he did for work, how we’d met, and all manner of other pushy, intrusive questions.
Meadow mostly answered in his vague way, and Allan didn’t look totally satisfied, but that was just how he tended to talk.
I was just glad Meadow hadn’t been outright about us only meeting the day before.
When he finally got around to asking Meadow if he was serious about me, I could barely keep from physically cringing.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear an answer to that.
We’d had a great night together, and I knew he liked me, but I also knew he’d been clear that he wasn’t the kind of guy to hang around one place too long.
He got bored easily. I wasn’t exciting or interesting enough to keep someone like that around for an extended period of time, I was sure.
And the thought of him leaving put a painful ache in my stomach.
“I consider meeting someone’s parents to be serious,” Meadow said, resting his chin on his palm. “Don’t you?”
“You don’t like answering questions with straight answers, do you?” Allan asked, leaning back in his seat, lips pursed.