Chapter 22 - Film Night #3
As they walked, Callum asked, “Hey Julian, would it be okay if I started to leave a few clothes at yours? It’s a bind bringing and taking things home each time with me, especially if I’m on public transport.”
Julian stopped and put his hands on either side of his face, “I’d love that,” he said, planting a big kiss on his lips.
“Maybe a toothbrush too,” he added, raising an eyebrow.
“And no more public transport. I’ll get one of the team assigned to be your driver.
I’m sorry I never thought about it before. ” He was earnest.
“That would be amazing, thank you,” Callum replied.
“You just need to pick out a car from the basement and select a driver,” Julian said.
Hell yes, that would be a nice choice to have to make, Callum thought to himself. This life was becoming rather lovely.
They were soon in the warmth of The Seaport, where Julian was enthusiastically greeted by the head waiter, who clearly knew him.
They were shown to one of the best tables in the elevated section, with a great view of the river.
Julian asked their waiter for some blank paper and a pen, and the guy quickly returned with both.
“Right, young man, we need a schedule.”
“You what?” Callum said, not following.
“Firstly, I need to know when I’m going to get to see you generally, but we really need to sort out at least two proper training sessions a week,” lowering his voice, “and let’s try to keep it workout, not ‘make out’. I know you dance in the club on….”
“Well, it’s supposed to be Fridays and Saturdays, but I keep changing my shifts so I can see you,” Callum replied.
“Exactly. That’s why we need a schedule.”
After they had reviewed menus and ordered, Julian started drawing out a rota.
Between them, they filled in their commitments.
Callum had boot camps on Monday and Wednesday mornings in Fort Greene Park at 5:30 am.
He worked daytime Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, with Sunday and Tuesday as days off.
Julian didn’t bother to add his work to the schedule.
He pretty much worked twenty-four-seven and pleased himself.
Julian then added Friday and Saturday nights at The Vault to the schedule.
His pen hovered over Saturday night a bit too long.
“What’s up?” Callum asked, noticing the pause.
“It’s awkward that you have to work Saturday nights. That’s when I would like to see you and you stay, so we can do things like this on Sundays. If you work late, it will limit how much time I get to spend with you, and you’ll be exhausted.”
He was right. If Callum worked Saturday night, he often didn’t get home until 4 am.
“Let me talk to Tony. Maybe I could swap nights,” he offered.
“Well, let’s think about training sessions,” added Julian. “We’ve done Tuesdays, the odd Friday and Saturday. Which days work best for you, Cal?”
They agreed Tuesday and Thursday were probably the best nights to do, with a suggestion that on Tuesday they moved to the penthouse and Thursday at the office, so Cal could go straight to The Vault if Tony would agree to swap his Saturday for a Thursday.
“Mmm,” said Julian, “you could get changed into your leather gear in my suite after our session,” a look of hunger in his eyes.
“Yes,” said Callum, “that’s a lovely idea, except I had trouble getting the cock ring from the harness on after the last session, thinking about you.
It’ll be impossible if you’re there right in front of me. ”
“Oh, it’ll be very hard for me too, trust me!” Julian sniggered, rolling his eyes.
Callum agreed to speak to Tony about swapping to Thursdays instead of Saturdays. “It’ll be less in tips on a Thursday,” Callum said, thinking out loud. He always did really well on a Saturday night.
“Cal, you don’t need to worry about money anymore,” Julian said.
“I’ve still got my rent to pay though, and bills, etc. I need to be able to stand on my own two feet,” Callum added.
“Don’t worry, we can work all this out,” Julian said in a way that finished the conversation, but he knew money was something they were going to have to discuss.
Their food arrived, and it was delicious.
Afterwards, they went for a walk by the Tin Building and the riverside. They found the famous bronze figure on the oversized silver ball where Callum took a picture of them, their bodies and faces distorted in the reflection.
“Send me that, please,” Julian asked, which Callum did. Julian then took a few pictures of Callum by the river goofing around, particularly loving one where he made a heart shape with his hands. Callum did the same with Julian, looking moodily out across the water.
This was starting to settle and feel more real for each of them. As Callum reviewed the pictures of them both on his phone, he felt very content.
For Julian, he was happy to have some pictures of Callum, almost as if they were proof of the relationship, which he was still pinching himself about. The one thing he knew for certain, though, was that he’d never felt this happy.
***
The rest of the day, they just chilled around the penthouse.
Julian took great pleasure in seeing Callum sitting on the sofas, lying on the sofas, lying on the floor, whilst he experimented, playing music loud.
Callum explored the Panja system, raising and lowering the screen and speakers, dimming the windows, changing the light settings, until his natural curiosity was sated.
Once he discovered he could play Spotify through it, Julian had to put up with cheesy Europop, Nicki Minaj and Adam Lambert at almost full volume.
The sheer glee on Callum’s face when he played Erasure and his favourite songs of theirs, dancing around in wonderment at every moment, gave nothing but pleasure to Julian.
Later they relaxed on the sofas. Callum on his phone checking social media, Julian on his laptop doing a bit of work. It felt blissfully normal. They both loved it.
Around 4 p.m. Julian texted Markus to drive Callum back to Brooklyn.
Julian was sad he was leaving, but very happy in the knowledge that some of Callum’s worn clothes were in his dirty laundry bin, and his toothbrush remained in the bathroom.
Things were moving on.