Empty Net (11 page)

He never meant it as anything other than a way to rile someone up or hurt them or make them back off, but he realized that wasn’t how other people used it. People like his father. They meant it as an insult. They thought people like Isaac were somehow less because of who they loved.

People like Laurent. Because the evidence was pretty strong that he too was gay or bisexual. Maybe his father had always known, and that was just one more thing he wanted to take away from Laurent, like he took away hockey.

Laurent always had a hard time standing up to his father, but if he canceled his date because he was afraid he wasn’t good enough for Isaac, then his father would win. Again.

No.

Laurent put his phone in the back pocket of his jeans, ran a comb through his hair, and stared at himself in the mirror. Isaac thought he was hot, and Laurent was glad. He noticed his own good looks with detached objectivity, aware that people found him attractive. He’d heard people say how it was a good thing he looked like his mom, because his father was a great goalie but not the least bit attractive. And he knew that was also a sore spot with Denis, as if he might have liked his son if he hadn’t dared to be born with the same good looks that had drawn Denis to Laurent’s mother.

His phone buzzed, and there was a text from Isaac.

Want to come down?

Laurent stood up, grabbed his keys and his wallet, and left.

He was surprised to see Mrs. Bowen at the bottom of the stairs. Her hair was in curlers, and she was wearing a housecoat like it was bedtime. She probably
had
eaten dinner at four thirty.

“You look nice,” she said and gave him a sly smile. “Do you have a date?”

“Yes,” Laurent said, surprising himself. But he remembered that hot plate, and how she let him move in without a deposit when no one else would.

She winked. “With the young man in the Jeep? He looks nervous. That’s good. Keep ’em on their toes,” she said. And then before Laurent could even think of what to say, she said, “Have fun and don’t let him drink and drive.”

She disappeared into her apartment and left Laurent staring in shock at her door.

One more assumption he’d made that he clearly shouldn’t have—that Mrs. Bowen would care he was dating a guy just because she was old. Laurent gave a shake of his head and went outside.

Isaac wasn’t nervous. Ever. Laurent opened the passenger-side door.

“Hey.”

“Hi,” Isaac said, and his eyes lingered appreciatively in a way that Laurent didn’t mind as he climbed in the Jeep. He’d never been glad to be attractive before, but it was nice that something about him was pleasing and didn’t involve as much work as it took to change his attitude.

Though Laurent was in the car with Isaac often enough, including earlier that day, he wondered if he was supposed to say something date-like and had no idea what that would be.

Well. If Isaac wanted someone good at dating, he wouldn’t have asked Laurent out.

Even Isaac was quiet as he drove, but Laurent was used to silence and didn’t mind. He covertly studied Isaac as best he could, which wasn’t much, given how dark it was outside. He was also wearing jeans and what looked like a dark blue shirt. His hair was spiked up as usual, and it was even brighter blue than normal.

“Your hair,” Laurent said. “It’s… uh. Blue. Bluer.”

Isaac gave a quick grin as he merged lanes. “I re-dyed it this afternoon just for you. Feel special.”

Laurent let that one go without comment, but he did feel that way. Special. And it made him wary and nervous. “What’s your real hair color?”

“Eh. Boring. It’s like, mousy brown or something. I like having it a color you can’t find in nature. I think it’s more fun, and you know… it’s just hair.”

“Why would you want it to be unnatural?”

“’Cause my hair’s not as pretty as yours?” Isaac laughed. “I don’t know. I started doing it in high school. My parents thought being gay was unnatural, so I thought it was appropriate to have unnatural hair. Also I think someone dared me at a party. Why? Don’t you like it?”

“I like it,” Laurent said, but it came out defensive instead of complimentary. He sighed and hoped he hadn’t ruined their date already.

They went to a place called Dudley’s, which wasn’t a chain and appeared to be pretty busy for a Wednesday. Laurent knew people might think he was on a date, but the nice thing about spending so much time antagonizing people was that he was used to it, so he didn’t care what they thought.

They had a brief wait for a table, and in the low light of the restaurant, Laurent could see Isaac a little more clearly. Laurent thought he was maybe wearing eyeliner. Just a little, but the smudge brought out the midnight blue of his eyes. They looked like the sky right before night took over and made everything dark.

“You ever had fried green tomatoes?” Isaac asked once they were seated.

“What?” Laurent looked up from the menu he’d ostensibly been studying and tried to look at Isaac’s eyes and not his lip ring. He wanted to lean over and suck on it.

Isaac tugged at the ring with his teeth for a moment, which made Laurent wonder how obvious he was. “Fried green tomatoes. You’re Canadian. They don’t have those there. Do they?”

“I’m American,” Laurent reminded him. “I only speak French because of my father. But I was born in America.”

“So, rule for this date—don’t talk about your dad. Not even once. If I asked you something, and he’s the answer, tap the table twice. Or something.” Isaac took a sip of his water. “I’m on a date with you, not your dad. Thank God, since that’s not the kind of prick I like.”

“Hi. Welcome to Dudley’s. My name’s Kyle.” Out of nowhere their server appeared next to the table. “Can I get you anything to drink? Also, so you know, I don’t have a problem with you being on a date. My brother’s gay. So you don’t have to pretend or anything.”

Isaac and Laurent exchanged a look at Kyle’s bluntness.

“That’s good.”

Kyle carded Isaac when he ordered a beer, which made Laurent smirk at Isaac across the table.

Laurent tried to stick with water, but Isaac made a face at him and then ordered the same beer he was having.

“I don’t know if I’ll like that,” Laurent protested.

“It’s a beer.” Isaac leaned back in his chair. “Relax, Saint.”

The name worked, as it always did, but Laurent still wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do on a date. People usually talked about themselves, didn’t they? Laurent hated that. Still, talking about hockey seemed less like a date, and Laurent also didn’t
want
to think or talk about hockey. He was bad at it already, and the date had just started.

“So did you read that comic series Hux gave you? I saw the movie with him, the old Judge Dredd with Stallone. Ugh. He wouldn’t shut up about
comic inaccuracies.
He might be a scary-looking dude with muscles who’s a hockey enforcer, but he’s just a huge geek.”

“I did,” Laurent said. “I liked it.” He cast about for something else to say. “I’ve never seen that one, but I did see the new movie. It was better.”

Isaac grinned at him. “You’re bad at this.”

Laurent scowled. “I’ve never been on a date before. Also you’re kind of a dick.”

That got him a smirk and another suck on that lip ring. It was distracting. Everything about Isaac was distracting, apparently.

“You’re staring at me, dude. Like we’re on the ice. And I’m trying to score on you.” Isaac winked.

Laurent flushed, but he was perfectly capable of being blunt. “I’m trying to figure out if I think you’re hot.”

There was a discreet cough. “Your beers,” their server, Kyle, said. “Blind date?”

“Did we ask you?” Laurent snapped before he could think better of it.

“Don’t mind him,” Isaac interjected smoothly. “He’s nervous, and he acts like a jackass when he’s nervous.”

“I am not nervous,” Laurent said, turning his irritation back on Isaac.

“Tell him you’re sorry,” Isaac said. There was no glint of amusement in his eyes, no half smile, no hint that he was teasing at all. “Saint. Guy doesn’t need you snapping at him at work.”

“Hey man. It’s no big deal.”

Laurent looked up at Kyle. “I’m sorry,” he said. It wasn’t as gracious as it could be, but Isaac would have to do something drastic to make it sound better. “I’m pretty much an asshole all the time.”

“Until you get to know him,” Isaac put in. “Then he’s all right.”

“Did you guys meet on Grindr?” Kyle asked as he handed over their beers. He gave an easy shrug. “And don’t worry about it. You want an appetizer?”

Isaac ordered whatever those tomato things were, and Laurent sipped the beer he hadn’t wanted and wondered why, instead of embarrassing him, the fact that Isaac made him apologize to the waiter had been strangely reassuring. “I don’t know why I act like that.”

“I do,” said Isaac. He tapped his fingers twice on the table.

Laurent smiled. “I still don’t understand why you’re bothering with me,” he said, honestly. “I can’t be that hot that I’m worth all this effort. I’m a jerk, I don’t know if I’m attracted to you, and I have literally no idea how to behave around other people.”

“Well, first of all you
are
that hot. But believe me, that’s not enough. Not for a date, anyway,” Isaac said. “And I don’t know, Saint. I guess I just feel like somewhere in there, there’s somebody worth knowing. But if you’re not into me, we can just be friends.” Isaac took a drink of his beer. “But if that’s true, we’re splitting the check.”

“I didn’t even want this beer,” Laurent said, but without any heat.

Isaac smiled. “Fine. Then the beers are on me, if we’re buddies. I’m still going to be your friend. Or try to, because it’s not easy. But there you go. I thought maybe there might be something else we could be. But no pressure. Still I should tell you that I’m very attracted to you, and I don’t want to lie about it or anything.”

Laurent, who was beginning to think about people who were not himself, suddenly wondered what it must take for Isaac to sit across the table from him. Not only was Laurent’s past behavior abhorrent, they were in competition on their team and Laurent had just told him he wasn’t sure if he thought Isaac was hot—when they were on a date.

He wouldn’t let my father bully him. Not like I do.

Without thinking Laurent tapped the table twice.

“Hey,” Isaac said, his voice quiet. “It’s okay. I can still pick up the tab.”

That surprised an honest laugh out of Laurent. It made Isaac happy, he could tell, both that he’d laughed and that he’d followed the instructions about tapping the table.

“I think you’re brave,” Laurent blurted out awkwardly. He couldn’t look at Isaac. “I didn’t do anything to be attractive. But you had to. To be brave.” He picked up his beer and mumbled into it, “And I like your lip ring.”

He chanced a glance up at Isaac, who smiled at him. It wasn’t his usual grin, not a smirk, and certainly not that fierce, angry baring of teeth that Laurent remembered from their fight on the ice. It was a smile, and it did weird things to Laurent when he saw it.

“You’re a mess,” Isaac said. He reached across to stroke the back of Laurent’s hand, the one he’d tapped on the table. Laurent had clenched it into a fist, and he relaxed it gradually as Isaac slowly ghosted his fingertips over Laurent’s skin. It made him shiver pleasantly too.

“I know,” Laurent said softly, and he dared to curl his fingers around Isaac’s for several heartbeats. “Believe me. I know.”

They talked about other things, like comics and, because it was inevitable, the team. They talked about hockey, but just in general. It wasn’t a continuous conversation, and it was certainly not without pauses or Laurent being awkward, but despite his utter distaste of whatever “pimentos” were, it was a pretty good date.

Not that he had anything to compare it to. But still.

When the check came, Kyle studied them both. “I tried to figure out what was going on here, but let me tell you, I can’t tell if you guys are gonna be best friends, end up married, or hate each other. But half the girls on the wait staff want you to make out, so.” He put the little folder with the bill down on the table between them. “I’m just gonna leave this here.”

Laurent reached for the check before Isaac could ask him anything and then pulled out his wallet. “I’ve got it.”

“I did not see that coming,” said Kyle.

“Really?” Laurent handed over his debit card. “Why not?”

“You’re the pretty one,” Isaac said. “Maybe he expected me to buy.”

“Dude, that kind of gender stereotyping isn’t cool. I’d expect a gay guy to know better,” Kyle chastised.

“I could be bi,” Isaac shot back. “Is it the eyeliner? Is that what makes you think I’m gay?”

“Didn’t I just say that gender stereotyping isn’t cool?”

“Should I leave you two alone?” Laurent asked.

The waiter took the hint and left with Laurent’s credit card. Laurent took a deep breath and turned to Isaac. “I think that I think you’re hot.”

“Progress,” said Isaac. “Don’t worry. I’ve a got a few drills up my sleeve to help us figure it out. If you’re up for it.” Isaac smirked, all heat and playfulness. “I know I am.”

Kyle brought the check back, and Laurent left him a 35 percent tip.

WHEN THEY
got into the Jeep, Isaac turned to him. “Where to?” he asked casually.

Laurent ignored the unpleasant churn of nerves in his stomach and wondered if he could ever just have one normal thing in his goddamn life. Though for all he knew, everyone felt that way on a first date. Maybe it
was
normal. “Home.”

Isaac nodded, and that gave Laurent the entirety of the drive to figure out how to ask Isaac to come upstairs to his apartment. Unfortunately there wasn’t a lot of traffic, and Isaac hit every green light between Dudley’s and his place.

When the Jeep stopped at the curb, Laurent unhooked his seatbelt, leaned over and pressed a very awkward kiss to Isaac’s mouth. “Come in.”

Isaac smiled against his mouth. “I get to see the Batcave. Cool.”

Laurent rolled his eyes and sat back in his seat. “You’re gonna be disappointed,” he said, forcing away the ominous alarm those words set off.