Chapter 14 Mason
Mason
I saw the surprise on his face when he walked in.
“Um, Hi,” I said, waving the slotted spoon at him that I’d been using to stir the spaghetti. I realized, belatedly, I must look like a fucking idiot.
“It smells great in here,” he said, smiling at me before I could consider seppuku with the slotted spoon. Smiles were good, right? Friends smiled at each other. Maybe I hadn’t fucked up as much as I thought I had. Maybe I could still salvage something from this.
“I, um, thought maybe I could make dinner…” I swallowed nervously and continued. “…by way of an apology.”
I saw Lee’s expression change, but I couldn’t let him stop me from saying what I needed to be said. I was such a fool.
“I mean, I know I was out of line, last night and I shouldn’t have done it and I’m so sorry. I mean, god, I feel awful, I shouldn’t have touched you like that and I didn’t mean to do that, and it was wrong and… and awful, and…”
The confusion and puzzlement apparent on Lee’s face finally stopped the babbling.
“Wait, what?” he asked.
I knew my face had to be bright red by now.
Dammit, I hated when I blushed! Lizzie and Everett both loved to tease me about it and I'd tried all kinds of things over the years to stop it.
As I spotted my reflection in the stainless steel of the appliances in the kitchen, I realized those efforts had been in vain.
“Seriously?” I asked in exasperation. “You’re really going to make me repeat that verbal diarrhea?”
Lee bit back a bark of laughter at my peevishness.
“No, I mean, I just wasn’t expecting…” his hand waved at the kitchen and I wasn’t sure if he was referring to the meal, me, or what.
“That is the whole point to a surprise,” I said. “If you’re expecting it, it’s nowhere near as fun,” I teased, my eyes catching on his full lips that were twitching as he tried not to smile. Just then I heard the hamburger pop and hiss.
“Shit!” I said, grabbing the spoon I’d been using to stir the hamburger and rushed to turn the heat down before it burned. No one liked crunchy hamburger in their spaghetti.
Lee walked into the kitchen and paused as he saw the sketches I’d drawn.
“Mason, these are… amazing!” he exclaimed. he started to reach out to touch the sketches before stopping and looking at me. “Do you mind…?” he asked questioningly.
“Go ahead,” I said shyly. Even though I was used to people saying they liked my work, it was never really clear to me if they were just doing it to be nice.
He scanned through the drawings on the table.
Each held an image of a new character for the series.
On each page was a full-length body drawing, next to it a couple of head shots of the character with various emotions on the character’s face, followed by one or two vignettes pulling detailed shots of something about each character – a hand here, an eye there, a close up of a boot or detail of clothing.
Each was different, but each character was evidently part of the same story.
“These are really good,” he said, and I felt my cheeks warm even more at his approval.
“I usually do a whole reference book for the characters in my graphic novels so that I can refer back to it in case I can’t remember what someone’s eye color was, or if they were right or left-handed… that kind of thing.”
“Seems like a smart thing to do,” he said, nodding. “You are incredibly talented.” He looked at me as he set the pages down. “Now, come over here, sit down, and tell me what the babble was about.”
The heat in my face had started to cool a little, but at his words it went up a few more notches.
“I need to finish this…” I said, waving at the kitchen.
“Okay, then tell me what I can do to help,” he said.
“Um, set the table?” I suggested. “I wasn’t exactly sure where everything was.”
He slid my drawings to one side of the table then came over to the cabinets to get plates and silverware.
As he set the table, I mixed the last of the spaghetti sauce and hamburger together and pulled the garlic bread out of the oven. The actions felt so odd, and so damn domestic, I wasn’t quite sure how to deal with it. This felt surreal.
By unspoken agreement, we didn’t really talk again until we’d used the bread to mop up the last of the spaghetti sauce. Though he didn’t say anything, the look on his face at the first bite of spaghetti was more than enough to make up for the effort of making dinner.
“So…” Lee began, leaning back in his chair as he finished. “Dinner was incredible. Thank you… You really didn’t have to, but I appreciate that you went to the effort. Do you want to tell me now what this was all about?”
I took a deep breath. I was supposed to be a goddamn adult. I could do this.
“I wanted to apologize for how I acted last night,” I began, unable to meet his eyes. “You were absolutely right, I was out of line, and it shouldn’t have happened.”
I couldn’t look at him as I spoke, because that felt like just too much. “I understand if you want me to leave but… I would really like to stay.” I looked up finally and the uncomfortable look on his face made me pause. “What?”
“You… You’re apologizing to me about last night?” he asked in puzzlement. “I’m the one who literally fell on top of you,” he said. “You have nothing to apologize for.”
My face flaming, I twisted the napkin in my lap as he spoke. He was being nice, but I remembered very clearly how things had gone.
“—But… I’m the one… the one who—” Fuck it. “I’m the one who was grinding my dick against you like some kind of… of animal and wouldn’t let you go when you tried to get away.” I got out in a rush.
“I’m so sorry, I can’t believe I did that, it was wrong and evil and I promise to stay away from you and—” I stopped as he stood abruptly, pushing his chair back from the table.
On the defensive, I stood, too. I remembered all too many times being beaten while seated.
At least if I stood, I had a chance to avoid a few blows.
In two steps he was standing next to me, his legs brushing mine. My eyes were locked on my hands, which had a death grip on the wooden chair back.
“Mason…” Lee said, one hand coming up and brushing against my face. I couldn’t help but glance at his face as I felt his thumb brush across my skin. “…you have some spaghetti sauce on your face. Do you mind if I get it?”
My mind couldn’t process what he was saying, and the sound of the blood roaring in my ears was so loud, all I could do was watch as he leaned forward and brushed his thumb across the corner of my lips, his eyes never leaving mine.
When he brought his thumb up to his mouth and sucked some invisible sauce from it… Oh god… my cock felt like it was going to explode.