Rock Bay 2 - Letting Go (10 page)

“Tally, why don’t you just let this go?” Drew finally asked.
Tally stopped and turned. “I’m not leaving unless Lex finds someone new, and I have no chance of getting him back. Until then, Brock and I are going to live in the same town. I won’t be able to do that until I get this out of my system.”
And that was the answer right there. Drew could still live with himself if he didn’t get into a showdown with Brock. But put himself in Tally’s shoes, and Mason in Lex’s? Even if he’d only talked to the guy a couple of times, he’d take Brock out if he so much as touched Mason. Touched. Tally had every right to be irrational. They picked up the pace.
Brock looked at the two of them like they were sludge when they walked into O’Toole’s. Probably wasn’t much worse than the usual look he gave Drew—the one that clearly stated he thought Drew was a waste of his time and a total suck-up. Drew hated that look almost as much as he hated Brock himself.
It was easy for Tally to get Brock to step outside. Of course it was. Brock was probably already too drunk to say no to what was sure to be a fight. Shit. Drew didn’t want to be a part of that. Really. But he’d followed Tally to the bar, and someone had to be there to make sure his friend didn’t get killed. He followed them outside, trying to get Tally to change his mind. Of course, Tally wasn’t hearing it.
Drew swore that no more than two sentences passed between them before the fighting started. Brock insulted Tally, Tally punched the hell out of him. Before Drew knew what was even happening, Tally and Brock were rolling around on the grass beside O’Toole’s, punching, pulling hair, kicking, and anything else they could do to practically kill each other. Drew nearly jumped in a few times, but he knew Tally wouldn’t want him to. It was Tally’s fight. Brock had hurt his man and gotten away with it. Drew remained on the sidelines. He hoped the cops weren’t anywhere near. Drew nearly did jump in when Brock started strangling Tally. They were rolling around with Brock’s arms around Tally’s neck. His face was turning more purple by the second. Drew was saved from having to intervene, though, when Tally landed a hard blow to Brock’s crotch, and Brock let go.
Drew reached out to help Tally off the ground.
“What the fuck, dude?” Brock got up. On his own. Drew wasn’t about to help him.

Tally got right up in Brock’s face. “Don’t ever fucking touch Lex again, you hear me?”

Damn. Guess Tally was ready to stand up to Brock. Just had to get him mad enough.
Brock said some sarcastic comment back that made Drew want to punch him. Tally’s face stayed dead serious. Brock turned to go, pushing roughly past Drew and a still angry Tally. Drew knew it was his moment, now or never and all that stuff.

“What if I’m one too, Brock? What if I’m a big fag just like Lex and Tally?”
Oh my God, I said it
. Drew’s pulse skyrocketed. Brock laughed and rolled his eyes.

“I should’ve known you take it up the ass. You’re such a fucking loser.”
Fuck that. Of course that was Brock’s reaction. Of course, he’d say something like that. Drew was done playing Brock’s game. “I’m not the loser, Brock. You wanna see one of those, just take a glance in the mirror.”

Nothing he’d ever said before felt quite that good.

T
HE
next night at the block party, Drew watched Lex and Tally dance, uncaring of the stares and the whispers. Just a half an hour before, when he’d talked to Lex, it didn’t seem likely they’d ever be as happy as they looked right then, ever again. But they’d made up. It seemed like the fight with Brock made Lex see just how much Tally was willing to go to battle for him. Drew was glad. He loved seeing them happy again, felt so much better that he hadn’t managed to ruin things permanently. But at the same time, it kind of sucked, watching someone who had everything that he wanted.

He tested himself as he stood there, trying to picture himself in their position, so fucking in love that it didn’t matter what anyone said or how much they stared. Yeah, he wanted it. Might as well, after the fight with Brock. The whole town was going to know about him soon anyway, if they didn’t already. Drew gave Amy one more smile and turned to go. He didn’t bother to wave at Lex and Tally. They weren’t going to notice anything but each other by that point anyway.

He wove through the crowd to the edge of the main area, where the grass was littered with booths that were cleaning up and shutting down for the night. Everything would be colorful and crowded again come morning, but as it was, the grounds looked a little sad and empty with most people at the dance. A tarp dropped over the front of one of the booths. The movement and a snapping sound caught Drew’s eye.

Oh, shit.

It was Mason. Mason, who’d apparently come to help Amy in the first aid booth and was standing there staring at Drew just like Drew was staring at him. Fucking awkward was what it was.
And I can’t freaking not say anything now that we’re both standing here.

“Um, hi.”
It would have been better not to say anything.
Drew wanted to wither up and sink into the ground.

“Hi.” Mason didn’t look any more comfortable than Drew felt.
“Sorry. I’m not stalking you, I just—” He prayed for some force to get him the hell out of there before he made an even bigger mess of himself than he already had. Drew lifted his hand in an awkward half wave and turned to go. He’d only gotten about ten steps when Mason caught up to him.

“Hey, Drew, wait.”

Drew stopped walking, but he cringed. Mason had already turned him down, things

couldn’t get any more awkward between them. What did he want? “Yeah?”

Mason held out a slip of paper. “Here.” “What’s this?”

A long breath. “It’s my number. I—just take it.”

“But I thought you didn’t want anything with me.”
“I don’t know what I want.”
I want to kiss you.
Drew reached out and took the slip. He slid it into his pocket and then stood there. There were so many things he wanted to say, but his tongue was tied up in his mouth.
“Um, thanks, so I’ll call you?” God. Way to sound like a thirteen-year-old with an awkward crush. Drew supposed he sounded like that because that’s exactly how he felt.
“Yeah. Call me sometime.” Mason backed away a step.
“I, um, have to go. I’ll talk to you later.” Drew didn’t have a single place to go, other than flat out escaping from his embarrassment. He waved good-bye and didn’t dare turn to look at Mason the fifty thousand times he wanted to between the booth and when he turned the corner and was out of sight.

Chapter Eight

 

W
AS
it a bad idea?
Mason had been worrying about giving Drew his number for two days. Ever since the slip of paper had left his hands. He was so attracted to the guy, more than he should be after only a handful of weird encounters, but Drew was complicated, with his job and that whole closet thing. Mason wasn’t sure if he was mentally ready for complicated just yet.
I shouldn’t have given him my number.
It was probably the third time in an hour that he’d wavered to that decision. Just a couple of hours before he’d been convinced that it was fine, and they were going to work out.
It’s okay. He’s not going to call me anyway. It’s already been two days, and I haven’t heard anything.

His phone buzzed on the coffee table. The number was local and unknown. Drew. Of course. Didn’t things always work out that way? Just when Mason had himself convinced that Drew was a bad idea, the guy was right there on the other end of his phone.

“Hello?” Mason’s voice shook. At least to him it did.

“Um, hi. This is Drew. I—” Drew coughed. “Shit, this is awkward. I swear I’m not usually so vocally challenged.”

Mason had to laugh. “I understand. All it takes is proximity to you and I can barely squeak out a sentence.”
Add to that unnecessary honesty. I can’t believe I just admitted to that.

“We did pretty well with “hi” a few times.”

Mason heard the smile in Drew’s voice. He found himself smiling as well. “Yes, but hopefully we can expand on that.”

They both chuckled, and glittery swarms of butterflies took off in Mason’s belly. “Listen,” Drew started, “I was just calling to say hi tonight. I think we’re both feeling a little wary, and I don’t want to make the mistake of rushing into anything.”

“I think I like you already. Hi, if I didn’t say it before. I’m glad you called.” And he was. Mason realized that he couldn’t stop smiling, that no matter how much he’d tried to tell himself it was an awful idea to meet someone new, he’d missed the rush of new romance, the excitement of getting to know someone he was interested in.

“I’m glad I called too. So, um, did you work today?”

How adorable. He really did just call to talk.
“Nope. I had today off. Did you work today?” Mason’s belly warmed, and he snuggled into his couch with a smile.

Drew laughed softly on the other end of the line. “I have my own business. I work every day.” “Yeah, that’s what Lex says. Even when he’s not working, he’s thinking about how he should.” “I always forget that we have the same friends. It’s kind of weird, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, we saw each other all over the place, and then bam, there you were, friends with my friend.
So
weird.”
Oh, God, I sound like a dork.
Mason grinned and felt embarrassed and giddy and a bit silly for caring so much that a cute boy had called him.

“What did you do on your day off?” Drew asked him. Happy that the call didn’t appear to be ending any time soon, Mason settled in on his couch with a pillow in his lap and a grin on his face. As bad an idea as it probably was, it felt good to have a crush again. Fun. He couldn’t help but to get excited.

“ I
FELT
like such a dork, Tal. Like I was in
middle school talking to some boy that I liked and I had
no
idea what to say.”

“Did Mason talk back at all?”
Drew grinned. “Oh, yeah. After the first few minutes it was actually fun talking to him, but it’s just that the calling itself was so painful. How did I get to be a thirty-two-year-old virgin? I feel like I’m starting all over. I should be cooler than this by now.” Not that he was
actually
a virgin, but it sure as hell felt like he was back in that place.

Tally thumped him on the shoulder with a smile. “Nah. If you really like someone, all that planned cool goes out the window anyway. I think it’s nice that you’re all excited over this. When are you guys going out?”

“We’re not. Not yet anyway. I thought it would be nice just to call and talk to him, ya know? No expectations, no dates. Just talk.”

“That’s adorable,” Lex said, coming into the shop from the back room. He planted a small, familiar kiss on Tally’s lips and bent over to rummage in the pastry bin for a snack. Tally reached over to caress Lex’s ass surreptitiously, but Drew saw. He saw Lex’s smile too, and the way he leaned into Tally ever so subtly when he stood. The way they looked at each other and shared a small smile. He wanted what they had, so badly—the familiar touch, the little casual kisses. Someone to come home to at night, share dinner, lounge next to them on the couch and watch TV. Drew didn’t want the fireworks and the lights. He wanted warmth, comfort, and love. Love most of all.

“Babe, no guy wants to be called adorable,” Tally admonished.

“What? I think it’s refreshing that he just called Mason to talk. I mean, most guys would equate a phone call with hooking up. The conversation would consist of a time and a location and then it would be over.”

“Hey, we weren’t like that!” Tally protested.

“Nah, we didn’t even bother calling. Tally just molested me in the back hallway,” Lex told Drew.

Drew laughed. “Is that how it happened?” He looked at Tally. “You just molested him in the hallway.”

“Well, we kissed once, and we both kinda wanted each other. Then Lex went on this date—” Tally cut off and Lex blushed.

“What, you two? That sounds like a good story that needs to be finished.”
“Um, I went on a date with Mason… but it was totally platonic! The second I walked in, we claimed friends, and that was the end of that.”
Drew chuckled. Lex had obviously thought he’d freak out. “I can’t see you and Mason together. Friends, yeah, but as boyfriends, you guys are too much alike. It would be weird—like dating your brother or something.”

“And what about
you
as Mason’s boyfriend?” Lex asked. He took a big bite of the cherry muffin he’d pulled from the case. “Does that seem weird?”

Drew grinned. “Nope. Not weird at all.” typical spot on the narrow old street where he lived. He’d been talking to his mother as he drove home from work, and as much as he loved Astoria, and liked being away from the town he grew up in, he really did miss her. A lot. It was great to have phone calls every week, and more often than not, a couple of times a week. He’d had a long day and evening at the hospital, and he trudged through the growing dusk, glad to be home, glad to be off for two days and able to sit on his couch and do nothing. Or talk to Drew. That was quickly becoming his new favorite pastime. They’d talked on the phone nearly every night during the week. Mason was hoping they could actually get together pretty soon, talk in person.