17. Leo
Chapter 17
Leo
I step out of the lift. Janice intercepts me.
I’ve had a fun day at work. We rehomed two dogs, and I did a follow-up visit with Daisy’s new family. She’s doing great. She’s happy, bouncy, and her adoptive family adores her. It’s always wonderful when it works out.
My thoughts have been preoccupied all day. I’m desperate to know what Kai is planning for our date. Has he been planning? Or has he been watching me while I’ve been at work? It’s interesting how I find that comforting, rather than being alarmed that my angel cat is a stalker.
“Hi, Janice. How are you?” I ask.
“Oh, I’m fine. Good day at work?”
“Yes, thanks.”
Something thuds inside my apartment. I step towards my front door .
“I was wondering if you could help me with something,” Janice says.
“Uh—” I glance at the door. What is Kai doing in there? “Sure.”
She ushers me into her apartment. “I can’t get the washing machine to turn on. Silly really. I use it every week, but today it just won’t work.”
I smile. “No worries. I’ll take a look.”
Like mine, her washing machine is in the kitchen. I tend to put mine on when I go to bed so that it’s not disturbing me while I’m trying to watch TV. It would be awesome if someone could invent a truly silent washing machine. I press the On button, but nothing happens. No lights. Nothing.
“I don’t know what’s wrong,” Janice says.
I check it’s switched on at the plug, which it is, and then locate the red isolator switch, which is turned off.
“Here’s the problem.” I flick the isolator switch and press the On button on the washing machine. It beeps, and its electronic display lights up.
“Oh, wonderful. I must have turned that off for some reason. Silly me.”
“It’s easily done. I’m glad I could help.”
“There is one more thing.”
Why do I get the feeling I’m being stalled?
“I bought a retracting clothes airer to put in the bathroom, but?—”
“No problem at all. I can put it up for you. Let me go and get my tools. ”
“I have tools,” she says a little too quickly. “Well, they’re Gerald’s tools, but I’m sure you’ll find everything you need. He would have had it up in a jiffy if he were still here.”
“I can do it.”
She pats my arm. “Thank you, Leo. You’re such a lovely young man.”
The instructions for the airer are obtuse, to say the least, but I figure it out. Gerald’s tool collection is more comprehensive than mine and amazingly well organised. He had put nuts, bolts, screws, and nails into clearly labelled boxes by type and size. Half an hour later, the airer is up, and Gerald’s tools are neatly packed away. I made sure I attached it to the wall at a height Janice could comfortably reach.
I return to the living area, where she’s waiting for me with a cup of tea.
“As a thank you.” She gestures at the chintz sofa.
I sit and accept the cup of tea. It’s too hot to drink, so I cradle it in my hands.
“Have I ever shown you our wedding photos?” Janice asks.
“Yes, but I’m happy to look at them again.”
She beams and fetches a large album from an old wooden dresser. She perches beside me, opens the album, and tells me the story behind every photo. She’s animated and gets a little tearful. Once I’ve drunk my tea, she brews a fresh cup and carries on. By the time she closes the album, it’s dark, and my stomach is rumbling .
“Oh, I’m sorry, I’ve kept you far too long. You probably want to get some dinner.”
“It’s fine. I’ve had fun. Your wedding day was quite the adventure.”
“Oh! It was. Punctured tyres, runaway horses, absent family members turning up and causing a scene. But it all worked out fine in the end. It was the happiest day of my life.” She sighs and pats the album. “I miss him.”
I squeeze her hand. “I understand.”
She turns her hand to hold mine. “I know you do. I’m hoping to still be around when you find your special someone.” Her eyes twinkle.
“I’m sure you will be.”
“Now, you should go home and get some dinner. Thank you for doing those jobs for me.”
“Thank you for the tea.” I rinse my cup and set it on the drying rack.
She sees me out. Instead of shutting her door right away, she hovers in the doorway. Confused, I smile and wave at her. She responds with the same gestures. What’s going on?
I step into my apartment. The lights are off, but white fairy lights—the ones I use at Christmas, if I’m not mistaken—twinkle around a blanket fort which has been built between the sofa and the kitchen. The kitchen chairs are missing, as are all the sofa cushions. My kitchen looks like a bomb has gone off in it.
Kai pops out of the blanket fort, kneels upright, and flings his arms into the air, fingers outstretched. “Surprise!”
I can’t speak.
He scrambles to his feet, grabs my hand, and drags me to the blanket fort. I crawl into it after him, gasping. Every cushion and blanket in the house is in here, providing a comfy space to sit or lie. A collection of DVDs has been lined up in front of the TV, next to plates with various picnic foods, including s’mores with a ramekin of chocolate sauce.
“I don’t own any ramekins.”
Kai laughs. “No, but Janice does. She was very helpful.”
I gape at him. “You’ve met Janice?”
“Lots of times.”
I shake my head and gesture to him. “ You’ve met Janice?”
“Yes. She was only too delighted to stall you so I could get our date night set up.”
“Who does she think you are?”
He blinks. “Your friend. Oh, no, how did she put it? Leo’s sweet young man .” He grins. “What do you think?”
I glance around again. “It’s great.”
“I think I picked out all your favourite romantic movies. I threw a few action ones in too in case you’re in the mood for that. You have a huge DVD collection.”
“Kai.”
“Yeah?”
I lean over, cup his cheek, and kiss him. “This is perfect. Thank you. ”
We choose a film and nibble the picnic food. It’s mostly me eating it, but I have fun feeding Kai a s’more or two. I have even more fun kissing the crumbs and gooey marshmallow off his lips and chin. Once the food is gone, we put the plates outside the tent and lie down, cuddling each other as we watch the rest of the film.
When it ends, I let the credits roll. I turn onto my side and stroke his face.
“Thank you. This was a wonderful date.”
“Is it over?”
“It doesn’t have to be. We could put another film on.”
“I’d like that. You choose.”
I shuffle to the DVDs, pick the most romantic one, slot it into the DVD player, and start it. I lie beside Kai, reasonably confident that we won’t be paying much attention.
“Do we get to do more light fondling on a second date?” he asks.
I smile and kiss him tenderly. “What do you think?”
“Yes?”
“Yes.”
“Topless?” He raises his eyebrows.
My breath catches in my throat. Of course, yes, topless, but how much more is he ready for? “What would you be comfortable with?”
“It’s warm and cosy in here.”
“It is.”
“Could—could we cuddle naked? ”
Is he ready for that? Am I ready for that? I’ve gone straight to sex with guys before, but this is different. Kai might be ageless, but he has a naive innocence that’s utterly endearing but also makes me want to protect him, even though it’s his job to protect me.
“Leo?”
Plus, I got crazy embarrassed over a hard-on while I was dressed. If I’m close to him, naked, I’m going to get hard again. He’s going to notice. Am I going to have to give him an anatomy lesson? An anatomy lesson. I grab the remote and pause the DVD.
“Wait here.” I crawl out of the blanket fort, fetch my laptop, and return to him.
Kai hugs his legs. His lips are pinched together in concern. I sit beside him, with the laptop on my thighs, and find a highschool style sex-ed video.
“Let’s watch this first,” I say.
“Um, okay.”
I press Play. The video is cringeworthy at best. Fifteen-year-old me would have died of embarrassment watching this alongside twenty-nine classmates and a science teacher. Twenty years on, it’s still mortifying to watch. So I don’t. I focus on Kai and the amusing faces he’s making. He widens his eyes to comical proportions when the video compares an engorged cock to a flaccid one. Not that they use the word cock . All the language is anatomically correct. It has an animated graphic of a cartoon man and woman having sex, with a cutaway of the woman’s body to demonstrate how the penis fits inside her. I can’t decide if I’m glad or annoyed that they don’t include graphics of how two men or two women have sex. I let it play through the lecture about safe sex and sexually transmitted diseases but stop it when it gets to pregnancy. We don’t have to worry about that. I close my laptop and put it outside the tent.
“Wow.” Kai stares straight ahead. “Why?”
“I figured it was the easiest way to give you a quick lesson in anatomy and sex.”
“Not a very romantic or sexy lesson.”
I laugh. “No, sorry. But an accurate one.”
“Where—where does it go if you’re with another man? Because I’ve only ever known you to date men, and you make lots of?—”
I slap my hand over his mouth. “I’m only interested in men. I only have sex with men.”
“So, where?—?”
“If men want to have penetrative sex, it’s up the arse.”
“Oh!” He blinks. “Oooh.”
“It’s nice. At least, I enjoy it.” I stroke his arm. “I’ve completely freaked you out, haven’t I?”
“No.”
“Honestly?”
He squirms. “Okay, maybe a little. I think you need to make it up to me.”
“How?”
“Kisses. Lots of kisses. And maybe some cuddling.”
“I can do all that. ”
“And then I want you to tell me all the ways you find sex nice.”
I smile. “I can do that too.” I kiss him gently.
He reciprocates, and before I know it, our kisses are needy and desperate. We sink onto the cushions, holding each other as we kiss. I find the remote and turn the film back on. We don’t watch it. We’re far too lost in each other.