Signs (16 page)

“We’re not most people.”

Caleb nodded.

I wanted to say thank you. For letting me stay here. And for being so cool with my relationship with Luc.

It took a bit longer to write that, but Ilse waited patiently until he flipped the image around for her to read. When she was done she looked up at the open door, where Luc was still lying on the couch, watching the movie.

“He’s so happy,” Ilse said. “Before he met you he wasn’t happy at all. I was actually thinking of sending him to therapy so he could learn to express his emotions through something other than obnoxious rock music.”

Caleb pressed his lips together to hide his smile.

He makes me happy too
.

“That’s good. You’re welcome here whenever you want.”

“
Thank you
,” he signed.

“So, I was going to make a vegetable lasagna for dinner, since that’s Luc’s favorite.”

“
Sounds good. Can I help
?”

Ilse smiled and shook her head. “You don’t have to help, sweetheart.”

“
I would like to
.” Strangely, he wasn’t just saying it to be polite. Spending some time with Ilse appealed to him.

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll just go shower. Then we’ll get started.”

“
Okay
.”

While Ilse disappeared upstairs Caleb rejoined Luc on the sofa, offering him one of the sodas and accepting the kiss Luc offered in return.

“
Help Ilse dinner
,” Caleb signed in quick succession.

“Me?” Luc asked. Caleb laughed and pushed his shoulder lightly.

“
No. Me
.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“
I want to
.”

Luc nodded and tugged on Caleb’s wrist until he complied with another slow kiss. This time Luc licked at Caleb’s bottom lip, asking for more, but Caleb pulled away with a little shake of his head. He was still getting to know Luc’s family. He didn’t want to make Ilse feel uncomfortable by pushing things, especially when they were in the family room.

Still, when Luc arranged Caleb’s arm around his own shoulders so he could snuggle, Caleb complied, guessing this wasn’t too inappropriate.

Ilse tapped him lightly on the shoulder when she returned, smelling like flowers and girl. She’d changed into loose cotton lounge pants and a tank top, her long dark hair piled on top of her head. Caleb squeezed Luc’s hand lightly and stood to follow her through to the kitchen.

“I don’t really have a recipe,” Ilse said. “I just sort of make it up as I go along.”

Caleb laughed. “
Okay
.”

“So, tonight I’ve got zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions… and mozzarella and parmesan to go on top.”

“
Sounds good
.”

“I think so,” she said. “It’s pretty easy. I’ll stick the vine tomatoes in the oven to roast down, but the rest of it we just chop up.”

“
I can do that
.”

Ilse winced, clearly not understanding.

“
Good
,” Caleb tried again.

“Okay,” she said with a relieved sigh. “Do you want to start chopping?”

They worked together easily, Caleb at a counter with a big pile of vegetables, which he periodically tossed into a pot on the stove. Ilse worked on the sauce, adding garlic and herbs to a can of chopped tomatoes and letting it simmer until the smell started to waft enticingly around the kitchen.

“Like cooking?” Ilse asked as she stirred the sauce.

Caleb nodded. “
I cook lots
,” he signed. “
My mom is a nurse
.”

“Does that mean you have to help out around the house a lot?”

“
No
….”

He quickly washed his hands and reached for the iPad to write a message.

My dad works in an office—he’s a manager for an insurance company. So he’s home by five or six most nights
.

“That’s still quite late.”

Caleb shrugged.

I get home and do my homework. By the time that’s done someone’s usually home. That’s unless my mom is on night shifts. She’s a midwife
.

“That’s cool.”

“
Yeah
.”

“So, Luc’s told me a little bit about how you met online….”

She was clearly fishing for information, but Caleb didn’t mind sharing. Making the dish took time, so Caleb wrote things down as Ilse worked, then let her read his words while he took care of the next stage of preparations. It took a while, but when the lasagna was made up and set in the oven to bake, they returned to their previous positions, sitting across the center island in the kitchen to chat. Normally situations like this would make Caleb almost painfully uncomfortable, but Ilse had a way of making him relax.

We both have Tumblr blogs
, Caleb wrote.
I can’t even really remember now how it got started. We just started sending each other messages. Then he asked me to chat on IM, and it sort of went from there
.

“How modern,” Ilse said with a wink.

I guess
.

“So, do you have plans for the rest of the week?” she asked.

Caleb shrugged. “
Rain
,” he signed.

“Yeah, that sucks. But there’s plenty of things to do in this city that are inside.”

He wrinkled his nose. “
Cold
.”

“Or you could just stay here.”

“
Yes
,” he signed emphatically. “
Warm and dry
.”

She giggled. “You definitely sound like Luc now.”

That night Ilse went to bed early, and Luc’s mom didn’t come home at all. Caleb wondered if he should ask where she was and decided against it. Luc never really talked about either of his parents. If there was ever any question around permission to do something or anything Caleb considered parental, Luc would defer to Ilse.

They went to bed together, and Caleb felt awkward, knowing Ilse was in the house tonight, and she surely knew they were going to be sleeping together. He wasn’t sure if sex was a possibility, if Luc would want to do it when there were other people in the house.

That question was answered as soon as Luc locked the bedroom door behind them. He turned to Caleb, his eyes hot, lips twisting into a sensual grin.

“
Can Ilse hear us
?” Caleb asked, still worried.

Luc shook his head emphatically. “
No. Her room is at the other end of the house
.”

“
Okay
.”

Grinning, Luc reached behind, pulled his T-shirt off, and tossed it into a corner. Caleb watched, throat dry, as Luc’s slim fingers pushed the heavy black sweatpants down over his thighs, leaving him wearing just tight, tight black boxer briefs.

Caleb stepped closer, eyes fixed on Luc’s slim chest, narrow hips, and the growing bulge in his underwear. The dark red birthmark on his shoulder was a sharp contrast to his incredibly pale skin, and Caleb reached out, trailing his fingers along the line where burgundy skin met cream. He ducked his head and kissed Luc’s neck, his lips skimming from the hard collarbone up to the soft earlobe, where his teeth nipped at the pliant flesh.

His hands wrapped around Luc’s hips, holding him in place as Luc leaned in, demanding those kisses on his lips now. They kissed with a renewed confidence that came after the first hundred kisses shared, knowing now what the other liked. Caleb walked backward toward the bed, pulling Luc with him, then lay back so Luc could crawl up his body.

Caleb was breathing heavily when Luc rubbed their noses together, then tapped Caleb’s wrist. Caleb opened his eyes and felt his breath catch. For someone who had never been attracted to a man before Luc, he’d come a long way, now overwhelmed by another man’s beauty.

“Can I suck your dick?” Luc asked, his expression both shy and wicked.

Caleb gave a choked laugh and nodded before he could think too much about it.

Luc pulled off Caleb’s pants and underwear, settling between the strong thighs with their light dusting of hair. He ran his hands up and down Caleb’s legs a few times, then settled down on his belly with his face pressed into Caleb’s hip bone.

Caleb forced himself to breathe normally, even as his fingers curled in the bedsheets and his toes curled with pleasure. When Luc licked a line up his cock, Caleb thought he might embarrass himself right then and there.

It was a slow torture, letting Luc explore his body like this. Now Caleb understood why men in porn films grabbed the back of their partner’s head and pushed it down onto their dick—he wanted nothing more than to encourage Luc to take it in his mouth, all of it.

Luc looked up, his lips shiny red, and Caleb reached out automatically to touch them. Luc obliged with a kiss on his fingertips, hands still gripping the base of Caleb’s cock.

“Does it feel good?” Luc asked hesitantly.

Caleb nodded. He wasn’t sure his fingers worked, not in the way he needed them to in order to communicate, so he signaled for Luc to shift around until Luc understood and flipped his body. Now Caleb only had to stretch his neck and he could lick and suck at the head of Luc’s cock too, sorry with himself that he hadn’t thought to do this before.

When Luc pressed a small bottle of lube into Caleb’s hand he knew what Luc wanted and fumbled to get it open. He knew how to do this, to twist one finger, then two inside Luc’s body, the sweet, smooth heat beckoning him inside.

Luc finally let go of Caleb’s cock and rolled onto his back, throwing one arm over his face. Caleb quickly scooted into position and crooked his fingers, enjoying being able to tease his partner like this. They were equals. That mattered.

“I’m ready,” Luc said, trying to make his words clear and confident. Caleb caught his eye. “Now, please.”

Caleb kissed him again, hard and quick, and carefully removed his fingers. It took a few moments for them to figure out the condom, and Caleb giggled nervously as Luc helped him smooth it down his cock. When they were done, ready, Luc lay back on the bed and reached out, cupping Caleb’s neck.

After shifting about on the bed, Caleb found himself between Luc’s knees, looking down at his boyfriend. His lover.

Carefully, so carefully, Caleb pushed inside Luc’s body. Even though they’d done this before, it still felt shockingly intimate. He kept eye contact with Luc this time, watching Luc wince in pain and then go slack-jawed with pleasure. Caleb was only halfway, his hips nudging a little bit at a time to ease his way inside Luc’s welcoming body.

Luc’s hand went to his cock, and Caleb watched this too, as Luc pleasured himself slowly and brought his knees up toward his chest. Caleb shifted, and a long, low exhale rumbled from Luc’s chest.

As Caleb started to move, slowly at first, then thrusting into Luc’s body with increasing surety, Luc reached his other hand down and grabbed hold of Caleb’s ass. He squeezed it gently, and Caleb huffed a laugh, rubbing their noses together. This was everything he’d hoped sex would be: sweet and loving and fun. Luc leaned in for another kiss and swept his tongue into Caleb’s mouth.

They found a rhythm together easier this time, experience dictating how Caleb rocked his hips just so, the head of his cock rubbing at that place inside Luc that made his eyes roll back in his head. He pushed against it again and felt Luc’s hand grab at his own balls.

Shifting his weight slightly, Caleb released one of his arms so he could sign to Luc one handed.

“
Okay
?”

Luc nodded. “
Good
,” he signed back.

Caleb pressed his hand back into the bed, and his biceps flexed as he used the momentum to thrust harder, give Luc more of what he so clearly wanted. Their movements together became increasingly frantic, giving and taking in equal measure. Caleb came first, his hips snapping once, twice, then thrusting into his deepest point and holding there as his body trembled and shook and gasps of pleasure fluttered over Luc’s skin.

Luc sped up the movement of his hand over his own cock and came too, spilling between them and catching Caleb’s lips in tiny kisses, over and over again.

One of Caleb’s arms wrapped around Luc’s shoulders, palm flat against his back and fingers sprawled. The other rested lightly on Luc’s hip, and it was this one that Luc found and twisted until his hand was enclosed in his boyfriend’s. Then he stretched out his index and pinkie finger and thumb, pressing them against the flat of Caleb’s hand.

It was the shorthand ASL sign for “I love you.”

He felt Caleb tremble lightly underneath him, soft lips brushing over his hair. Then the unthinkable.

“I love you,” Caleb croaked.

It was the most perfect thing Luc had ever heard. Overwhelmed, he held on tight and let himself fall asleep in Caleb’s arms.

13. TEA

“
H
OW
WAS
New York
?” his mom asked when Caleb was done shoving dirty laundry from his duffle straight into the washer.

He hesitated for a moment, deciding that telling his mother he’d had a lot of sex this past week wasn’t the best idea in the world. “
It was great
,” he signed instead, grinning. “
I met some of Luc’s friends
.”

“That must have been nice.”

Caleb nodded. His mom smiled and pulled him into an impulsive hug. Caleb towered over her, and she pressed her face to the side of his neck, then kissed his cheek.

“
I’m happy you found someone
,” she signed. “
He wasn’t what I expected for you, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this happy before
.”

“
I think I love him
.”

She smiled again and pressed her hand to his cheek.

“
Can I go see him again next weekend
?”

His mom sighed, as if she were resigned to this now. “
If your schoolwork is done. Yes
.”

That night Caleb was exhausted, but he’d abandoned his homework that weekend in favor of spending more time with Luc, so he had plenty to catch up on. After dinner he worked steadily through two Bio worksheets and mapped out an English essay, ready to write the next night.