4. LUCAS #2
He whistled at his first glance at the interior of my building as I turned him around and wheeled him down the hallway. “Nice.” He looked around at the patterned carpet, the soft gray walls, and the art that lined them and nodded to himself. “Helluva lot better than where I used to live.”
“Oh?” I pulled out my keys and sorted through them for the right one. “What kind of place did you live in?”
He shrugged as I let us in. “Old building. Converted Victorian. It was...dark. And it sure didn’t have art in the hallways.”
“Sounds pretty, though.”
“I guess, from the outside. From the inside it was just apartments, same as anywhere else except with weirder-shaped rooms.”
As we entered the apartment, the first room we hit was my living room, with its charcoal-gray couch and ottoman and industrial-pipe coffee table.
We both glanced around, evaluating the room.
“Sorry it’s kind of messy,” I rushed to say, moving to pick up a pair of shoes I’d left in the middle of the floor.
“I know I’ll need to keep the floors clear for you to move around. I’ll do better at it, I promise.”
“Relax, Lucas. You’re fine.” He smiled reassuringly at me. “I’m sure this will take some getting used to for both of us.”
Relieved, I nodded and then gestured through an open archway.
“That’s the kitchen,” I said. “Feel free to make use of it as much or as little as you want. We can clear you out a shelf or two in the fridge, too, for anything you want to keep specifically for yourself.” I pointed to the left, where a short hallway lay.
“First door on the right is the bathroom. Second door is my bedroom. Door on the left will be your bedroom. I, uh…” I paused to scratch my neck as something occurred to me.
“Actually, I’m not positive there’s enough room for you to maneuver around the bed in there.
I might have to shift it against the wall.
Let me go check.” Before he could say anything, I’d abandoned him in the middle of the floor and headed for the guest room.
It wasn’t until I got into the room that I realized I needed him and his chair in there with me to actually know if he had enough room.
I turned to go get him, but found him pushing himself ponderously through the doorway behind me.
“It’s nice in here,” he commented, looking around and then pushing forward until he was alongside the bed.
It was tight, but there was about two or three inches of clearance on each side of his chair.
Just enough for him to fit his hands down there to push.
“Let me just…” He started to pivot the chair using one hand, and it wasn’t until he got stuck halfway through the turn that either of us realized that the diagonal on his chair was wider than the horizontal and his booted leg stuck out even beyond that. “Well, shit.”
“Damn,” I agreed, and stepped up beside him.
“Let me just…” I gave the bed a push to the side.
Its feet squealed against the sealed wood floor underneath, but after fighting me for a moment, it gave and moved away from us.
I pushed until the far side of the bed was against the nightstand that stood between it and the wall, gaining us a few inches.
“Is that enough?” I asked, looking back at him.
“Or should I move the nightstand somewhere else?”
He experimentally gave one wheel a push, pivoting.
He managed to eke out the turn, but only barely.
“Might be better if you move the nightstand and push the bed all the way over,” he said, rubbing his chin consideringly.
“I’d rather not bark my knuckles on the wall in the middle of the night as I try to get through. ”
I did as he asked, moving the nightstand to the foot of the bed.
It looked completely out of place there, but it allowed me to move the bed the rest of the way over.
I supposed it wasn’t like he needed two nightstands anyway, and he could always get out of bed on the same side every day.
He’d probably have done it that way, anyway.
Demonstrating, Max spun his chair in a circle. “Ah, much better.” He grinned.
I smiled back. “Do you want to stay in your chair, get in the bed, or sit on the couch while I go get your suitcases? Should only take me a few minutes.”
He thought about that. “I’ll stay in the chair. I’d rather have the mobility. Can I watch TV in the living room?”
“Of course! Want help getting in there, or…?”
“Let me try it on my own. I’ve gotta get used to moving myself.”
I nodded and stood back as he carefully turned the chair around and wheeled himself back out of the room and down the hallway.
He was slow and awkward in doing it, but still, he did it and I was proud.
I clapped him on the back as he settled himself next to the couch, and then I handed him the remotes.
“I don’t have cable, but there’s Netflix, Hulu, Prime, and HBO. Watch whatever you want.”
He shook his head teasingly. “You sweet-talking bastard, you. You’re gonna make me fall in love.”
I rolled my eyes at his joke. “Uh-huh. So all it takes is TV options?”
He shrugged and wiggled his eyebrows. “Hey, I’m easy, what can I say.”
I almost continued the banter with a joke about how easy I was in comparison, but decided that might be pushing it a little too far for a near-stranger, especially one who had to live with me.
I didn’t want him to worry that I’d be bringing men home at all hours.
After all, it wasn’t like I did that. Much. Not too often, anyway.
“That shut you up,” he remarked, still smiling, though it looked a little more brittle now. “Sorry, didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
“No, no, you didn’t!” I rushed to assure him. “I was just...thinking.” I didn’t tell him that I’d been thinking about my sex life and realizing that his presence was going to put a damper on it. That would just be rude.
“Deep thoughts?”
“The deepest, dude. Anyway, I’m out. Be back in a few with your stuff.
” I waved over my shoulder as I went out the door.
Once back in the elevator, I leaned against the wall and sighed.
Yeah, so I was probably going to have to stop bringing hookups home.
The last thing I wanted was to make Max feel uncomfortable or unwelcome in his own home.
I supposed it was about time I cut down on it anyway; I wasn’t getting any younger, but the guys in the clubs always seemed to.
I wondered about Max’s sex life. Did he have one, either in New Hampshire or here?
Did he want one? Was I going to stumble on one of his hookups someday soon?
Probably not until he at least mastered the chair, I decided.
Would it be hard to have sex without a leg?
What positions would work? Did the non-disabled person always have to be on top?
And now I was picturing Max having sex. That muscular body, those dark eyes focused intently on a partner as he thrust up… My cock twitched in my pants and I started guiltily. What the hell was I doing picturing my helpless roommate having sex? That was just creepy!
The elevator dinged, startling me out of my self-recriminations, and I walked out into the garage to retrieve Max’s suitcases from the trunk.