Chapter 20 - Sleepover
The fact that Julian was holding Callum’s hand when they walked into the kitchen gave him confidence that there was no need to hide anything from Martha, who didn’t bat an eyelid. Good, thought Callum; we all know where we are here.
Julian went to open a bottle of wine, and Callum sat at the counter as Martha finished preparing their dinner.
She caught his eye. “All okay?”
“Yes, all good, thanks.” He smiled back. He really liked her. For Callum, this was an important exchange. It showed she approved of him, which helped his confidence. He needed to know this, to feel comfortable with Julian when she was there.
Wine was found, food was served, Martha said goodnight and left them alone.
The dinner was delicious. They sat in the same seats at the end of the overly long dining table, Julian’s knee touching Callum’s constantly, his hand often resting on Callum’s leg. They took their time over food, chatting about their days, lives and histories. More getting to know each other.
It was getting late. “Fancy a soak in the tub?” Julian asked. “I’ve had a bit of a day, and it’s a nice de-stress.”
“Yes, that would be nice,” Callum replied eagerly.
Julian got his phone out and launched an app Callum had never seen before, where he started pressing buttons and sliding controls. “What is that?” Callum asked, intrigued.
“It’s the tub controls. You can select water temperature, scent, and fill it from here. Cool, eh?”
Callum rolled his eyes. “You and your gadgets. If I want a bath, I just turn the tap on and wait,” he chided.
“Ah, but time is precious my young apprentice,” Julian responded in his best Emperor-from-Star Wars voice, grabbing him and picking him up.
Callum allowed this and wrapped his arms around Julian’s neck, whilst Julian hitched his legs around his waist. Julian could actually pick him up and carry him; he was that strong.
“All that core work clearly paid off,” Callum whispered, as they kissed.
“Yep, and this is the best use of all the effort, carrying my gorgeous boyfriend to my sunken tub,” now crossing the room awkwardly, “where I am”, pushing the door open with Callum’s back, “going to”, crossing the lobby, “give”, removing a thumb to open the door, “him a lovely back wash” crossing the bedroom, “lots of kisses, and who knows where we will end up,” finally collapsing the two of them onto the bed, still entwined and laughing.
The sound of the tub filling was inviting.
They lay on the bed for a moment next to each other.
“So, I am your official boyfriend, am I?” Callum playfully teased. “That means we are dating and exclusive and everything?”
“It’s a yes from me,” Julian responded in an America’s Got Talent style, smiling.
“Be serious for a moment, please,” Callum asked. “Are we really doing this?”
Julian looked serious. “Yes, we are. I want to date you; I want you to be my boyfriend. I want to know everything about you. I want to meet your friends and family, and for you to meet mine. I want to go on holidays with you, go to galleries with you. I want us to live a happy and fulfilled life together. No lies, no secrets: full disclosure.” His face was genuine, green eyes bright with excitement.
“You realise if we do all that, it will get out in the press that you’re gay and dating some broke gym trainer from Brooklyn?” Callum had to say it. “How will that work?”
“Well, I just hope that when they report it, they mention how devastatingly handsome and fit the guy is, but that, my gorgeous boyfriend, is just something we will deal with along the way. I’m not ashamed of my sexuality; there have been rumours, but I’ve never denied it.
I just never said anything. Let the world know. I don’t care.”
He really doesn’t, thought Callum.
“But,” he straddled Callum at this point, “what I do care about is this hot, broke gym trainer from Brooklyn, who hasn’t actually bothered to give me any training now for,” he counted on his fingers… “two whole days!”
“My God,” Callum retorted, “it’s only two days. I wasn’t even sure you’d still want me to train you, now I’m your boyfriend?”
“Oh yes, I do, actually,” Julian retorted, adding, “and you know the best thing about it? If I get a stiffy,” he said, reaching back to grope Callum, who obviously was hard, “that now means I can just whip it out, and you can train that too!” He laughed at his own joke; then at Callum’s wide-eyed innocent face he was making, and they fell on top of one another again.
These were good times. This playful side of Julian, Callum found both refreshing and energising and he took pleasure in seeing him relaxed and funny.
For Julian, he was already convinced he would be spending the rest of his life with his guy. There was no doubt in his mind, and Julian was pretty much never wrong.
They untangled from the bed and Callum gazed out of the window as he removed his sweater.
“Are you sure we can’t be seen through these windows?
” he asked before cautiously removing his trousers.
He wasn’t convinced how mirrored the windows were, especially when it was dark outside with lights on inside.
“Yes, definitely,” Julian confirmed, but he walked over to a small box beside the bed, picking it up and handing it to Callum. “But we can also do this.” He showed him the Panja box, which was environmental controls for the room.
There were menus on the screen for air conditioning, mood lighting, windows, the sunken tub and some other options.
Julian pressed windows and a sub-menu appeared.
There was a slider across the top. “Watch this,” he said, and Callum watched the window as he slid the control across the screen.
The glass gradually changed from transparent to opaque white before his eyes. “What the hell?” he said, surprised.
“Oh, it gets better,” Julian added, and as he slid his finger fully across, they darkened from white to black.
“My God, that’s so clever. How does that even work?” Callum walked over to the glass to touch it. Instead of being clear, it was like a black, shiny wall he couldn’t even see out of.
“The glass is specially made with an electric current passing through it between the various layers. When the current is off, they are clear; then, with degrees of power, they range from white to black. Cool, hey?”
“You really do love your gadgets and technology,” Callum said with a grin.
“I just saw it on a beachfront house on Grand Designs one time and thought it would be good when I had this place built. You can’t see in with the mirrored glass anyway, but I usually go white rather than black,” and he slid the gauge back to the midpoint, returning the windows to white.
“Yes, the white is nicer,” Callum agreed.
At that point, the lights dimmed in the room. Callum turned; Julian was playing with the box.
“So, let’s have dimmed lights and a bit of background music,” at which point some slow jazz music started playing, filling the room with a beautiful, rich sound. Callum looked up and saw ceiling speakers he hadn’t even noticed before.
“Nice,” said Callum, stepping out of his jeans and shorts. Naked, he ran across the room, wanting to be first in the tub.
“Hey, no fair,” Julian shouted, putting the Panja box on the bed.
Callum stepped down into the sunken bath and let out a very contented sigh.
The water was the perfect temperature, and the soap suds had the lovely scent he now associated with Julian.
“Julian, what is this smell? I noticed it on your body the first time we met, and every time since. It’s a natural scent, but I can’t place it. ”
“Sea Kelp,” he answered, folding his suit trousers. “It’s from a company called Scottish Soaps. I just really love it. It reminds me of Scotland.” As he took off his socks and shorts, he asked, “Have you ever been?”
“Nope. I’ve never been,” Callum replied.
“Then we shall go together, my beauty, and I shall take you a roamin’ in the Gloaming.” He said this in his best Scottish accent. Callum laughed, knowing, even with his limited experience of a Scottish accent, that it was a poor attempt.
Julian came sprinting across the room naked and did a slightly fast entry into the tub, causing water to spill over the sides, foam everywhere.
He surfaced, face covered in foam, opening one green eye as Callum wiped the other for him.
They faced each other and kissed, wrapping arms and legs around one another in a hot and soapy embrace.
They mopped up the water with towels as best they could, then lounged in there for a while, first washing each other, then just relaxing and allowing the hot water to soak away the stresses of the day.
They were both aroused the whole time; Callum could feel Julian’s erection pressing into him as he washed his back, and vice versa.
They were both in a playful mood. They both gave each other a few gentle strokes under the warm water, but things didn’t turn into sex this time; they were just chilling.
Tonight was about normality, getting to know each other, not just being horny men.
Once dried off, they then got ready for bed.
Callum had stressed over what to bring. He usually slept naked, in baggy shorts, or in sweats, but this was mostly determined by the clanking radiator and the temperature of his apartment.
What does one wear to a sleepover in a multi-million-dollar penthouse?
He had zero idea what Julian would wear, so he decided to let him get ready first and follow his lead.
Julian went to the dressing room, and Callum followed, still naked. From one of the many drawers, he pulled out a pair of baggy checked shorts, which he put on. OK, so it’s shorts, Callum thought. Thank God I brought some, sighing in relief.
Julian saw this and said, “What? What are you sighing about?”