Anything Could Happen (19 page)

“I got you something else,” Guy said.

“You didn’t have to do that!”

Then Guy pulled out a colorful envelope from his jacket. “Here,” he said.

“What’s this?” Austin asked, surprised.

“Open it,” Guy said.

And so he did. It was an autographed copy of the playbill for
Steel Magnolias
. “Oh, wow,” he said.

“Everyone was thrilled to sign it,” he said, “although I had to track them all down.”

“Look,” Austin said, holding it up for all to see. “This was the first play I saw in Kansas City. And Guy directed it.”

Everyone agreed it was a pretty cool gift.

“It’s very nice.” He went to Guy and hugged him. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

W
HEN
the show was over, everyone went upstairs, and he discovered where that staircase led. There was a fairly large area for dancing with huge video screens on two walls, and the music was loud and the choices perfect for a fun time. Guy dragged him out onto the floor, where Austin found himself dancing with another man for the first time. Sure, it was disco dancing, but he
was
dancing with a man. And not the high school jock version either.

It was a song Austin knew, thank God. Ke$ha’s “Die Young,” and Austin found himself lost in the irony of lyrics about how it was a shame he was here with someone else instead of the one he loved. He wasn’t—not physically. Boy, Todd was always there in his head, along with that fantasy of holding out.

But there was Guy and those lyrics telling him he should make the most of the night. Guy was dancing sexy, giving him deep smoldering looks, and dammit… the man was doing it again. Making his heart slam in his chest. Austin felt himself begin to sweat, felt that shifting in the crotch of his jeans. Would Guy notice?

Guy noticed.

And now I am crapping blushing again!

Then, to Austin’s surprise, the music took a very abrupt change in tempo and speed. It was a slow song, and while half the dancers left the floor, the rest fell together as couples. Austin froze, looked around him. Now it really
was
men dancing together. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing, and he was caught up in a whirl of emotions. What amazed him the most was how beautiful the same-sex couples looked—like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Yet, wasn’t it?

He looked back at Guy, who stood there looking deep into his eyes, arms held out in offering. Austin panicked for a minute and glanced to where his uncle had been standing a few moments before. Uncle Bodie was there—and he was nodding. “Yes,” he mouthed. He nodded again.

Austin turned back to Guy, and before he knew what he was doing, he stepped into the man’s arms.

Guy pulled him close and then began to rock in an easy slow circle, knowing somehow that Austin had no idea how to slow dance. With one hand, Guy drew Austin’s head against his chest, and he marveled at the muscles he felt. The eternal baggy clothes weren’t hiding a body he should be ashamed of. It was all corded steel, covered in sweet human flesh. He could smell Guy as well. He’d chosen the tiniest bit of cologne, so it accentuated instead of hiding the man’s natural manly scent. Austin shivered, marveling how it felt to be held by another man, happy tears threatening again.

“I know you aren’t cold now,” Guy whispered, and the warmth of his breath tickled Austin’s ear in the most delightful ways.

Austin pulled back just enough to look into Guy’s beautiful dark eyes. He overheard a line in the lyrics—something about somebody being so beautiful, and how the singer couldn’t believe his eyes. He knew the feeling, because wasn’t Guy beautiful? He’d thought it funny Guy used that word to describe him, but now he saw how clearly it applied to Guy. Handsome and sexy, yes. And beautiful. His heart began to pound. Surely, Guy could feel it? Feel it through his chest and their clothes. Surely, Guy could feel the hard length of Austin’s cock pressed against him? Austin shivered again.

“Not cold,” he said, realizing the man in his arms was hard as well.

Kiss me
, he tried to say with his eyes.
Do it. Please. Kiss me. Kiss me in front of all these people. There’ll never be another moment like this
.

Guy did. Austin felt a tremor run through him as those lips touched his, so lightly at first, as if waiting to see how he would react. Austin did not pull away. He closed his eyes and pushed his mouth against Guy’s, and then Guy was pressing back, his opening only the tiniest bit—his tongue touching Austin’s lips, softly at first, then demandingly.
Oh God!
thought Austin as he opened his mouth to Guy, gave that questing tongue entrance. He let Guy show him because he really had no idea what to do. Austin experimented with running his tongue against Guy’s, and he trembled again, and Guy moaned into his mouth.
This is what it is supposed to be like
, he thought.
This is it
. The most natural thing in the world.
And if he asks me back to his apartment, I’ll go….

L
OUD
music took over again, and they parted. Austin was given yet another drink, and his head was buzzing and the world swimming. He remembered Uncle Bodie hugging him and leaving—taking a taxi, he said, and Austin offered to go with him, and the old man laughed and told him it wasn’t anywhere near time for him to end his adventure.

Somehow, he found himself with several of his new friends in the leather shop and being encouraged to try on a black vest. He consented and started to slip into it, but Tony was having no part of it.

“Without that shirt,” the bear of a man said. “That’s how you’ll know if it’s right.” He reached for Austin’s buttons, and then Guy was there, batting the hands away, pushing the man aside.

Guy unbuttoned the top button, his eyes looking into Austin’s. He stopped. “Do you mind?”

Austin swallowed hard and shook his head. He didn’t trust himself to speak. He trembled again as Guy slowly undid each button, then gently pulled the shirt out of his jeans, letting it fall open and exposing his chest.

“Dear God,” Guy said. “Austin. You’re so beautiful.”

That word again. Beautiful. Austin couldn’t believe the words. Skinny. That’s what he was. He’d worked out for hundreds of hours with his weights, and the best he could say was that his chest was bigger than the little man-boy’s from downstairs. Skinny except for a bit of gut, and he covered it, suddenly self-conscious.

Guy pushed the hands away. “You’re beautiful, Austin.”

“Frigging hot is what he is!” Tony growled.

“Tony, I feel like dancing,” said Grant. “What do you say, Mark? Shouldn’t we all three dance?”

“You’re right, Grant. We should,” Mark said, and they dragged their lover away.

Then Guy was slowly pushing Austin’s shirt back off his shoulders, his fingers touching bare skin, and Austin thought he might cum in his pants. Gooseflesh broke out over his back and down his arms as Guy stepped behind him and helped him into the leather vest. Guy gently guided him over in front of a mirror, and Austin gasped.

Sexy. I look sexy.

“I’m buying this for you, Austin. You have to have it.”

Austin started to protest, but Guy wouldn’t hear it.

“But I do want you to put your shirt back on,” he said. “Otherwise they’re going to be all over you when we get back out there.”

“Over me?”

“Yes,” said the man behind the register. “If you weren’t so obviously with this guy, I’d be breaking all kinds of rules about not touching the customers.”

Austin ducked his head, embarrassed. He couldn’t believe it. People were making such a big deal about him. At first he’d chalked it up to it being his birthday. Tony had been flirting, but his lovers were keeping him on a leash. And now this shopkeeper? It seemed impossible.

Guy helped him back into his shirt, even buttoning it for him. Was it an accident when those fingers grazed his nipples? They tightened into hard knots instantly, and more goose bumps rippled over Austin. He tucked his shirt in by himself and then shrugged back into the vest. A quick look in the mirror showed it looked good either way, but now he saw the appeal of the bare flesh and wondered how Guy would look dressed the same way.

So they danced some more, and Austin let his buzz and his youthful energy pull him through one song after another, with new dance partners among his friends taking over when the last one stepped away. It all became a blur of pounding music and flashing images and bodies. He let himself get lost in it—the wondrous power of it all. Lady Gaga’s “The Edge of Glory” slipped into the Scissor Sisters singing “Let’s Have a Kiki,” which made way for Gossip’s “Move in the Right Direction.” It was like Rihanna and Carly Rae Jepsen and Swedish House Mafia were serenading him and him alone.

He felt infinite.

F
INALLY
, they all decided to go out for breakfast and wound up in a place called Chubby’s, which looked very fifties but didn’t have the fifties prices. But there was no worry—even though Austin could afford it, no one was letting him pay. He couldn’t decide what he wanted—pancakes or biscuits and gravy or eggs and sausage and hash browns—so his new friends ordered him the latter and then shared their meals as well. He got at least a taste of everything he’d wanted.

What’s more, Guy held his hand under the table, and it was all he could do not to giggle. This was what it felt like to those kids in high school when they went on dates at the local soda shop. This was what he’d been missing. The hand felt so good in his. So strong. A man’s hand. Austin wanted to shout out his bliss, and he left feeling stuffed and as content and fulfilled as could be.

When he and Guy finally got home, his stomach turned into a clenched fist. What would happen now? Would Guy simply walk him to his door? Or invite him upstairs?

I’m drunk
, he thought.
Good
.
Invite me upstairs. Please. Do it. Do it!

“Did you want to go to bed?” Guy asked him as they let themselves in through the two sets of doors and into the building proper.

Your bed
, he wanted to say. There was no way he had the courage, even with all the rum and Cokes. Maybe the huge breakfast had sobered him up more than he realized.

“You’re probably tired, huh?”

Austin shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. It was the best he could do.

“Or you could come up…,” Guy offered, almost shyly.

Austin nodded. “Sure. I’ll come up,” he said and could barely hear himself answer because his heart was slamming in his chest so hard.

Guy smiled, and it only made Austin’s heart beat all the harder. Guy’s smile was simply gorgeous. He followed Guy up the stairs, watching the muscles of his round ass flex through his jeans, and he wondered if he would see it naked before the night was over.

“Beer?” Guy asked as he let them into his apartment and flicked on the stand-up lamp just inside the door.

“Do you have any of that—”

“Double-Wide I.P.A.?” He nodded, winked. “Of course I do. Sure you’re not too drunk already?”

“Breakfast is taking my buzz,” Austin said.

“Well, we can’t have that, can we? Sit down.” Guy waved at the couch.

Austin sat as Guy left the room and then came back with a beer and a Pepsi.

“You’re not drinking?” Austin asked.

Guy gave a half shrug. “I want to maintain my senses.”

“Oh?” Austin wagged his brows in a way he hoped was sexy and took a big gulp of beer, desperate to retrieve that warm, floaty feeling.

“Yes, indeed. Because I am fighting jumping your bones this very minute.”

Austin’s mouth went dry, and oh-oh-oh, that warm, floaty feeling was back.
What do I say? I have no idea how to do this
. He relaxed back into the cushions, let his legs fall open, rested his arms across the back of the couch—hoping all these gestures were enough to say what was on his mind.
Do it. Jump my bones
.

“Goddamn, Austin….”

Guy was staring into Austin’s lap, and when Austin looked down, he realized he had an erection. He looked up nervously.

Time seemed to stand still.

Finally Guy spoke up. “Austin… I…. Jeez….” He looked away, took several steps, crossed his arms in front of him. “Maybe you should go home.”

Austin was shocked. “What? But….” His tongue seemed to stick, stopped working. He didn’t know what Guy would say, but he hadn’t expected this! “G-Guy…?”

“Oh, Austin….”

“I-I don’t understand….”

Guy turned back around, and the look on his face surprised Austin even more. He looked… afraid? Upset? Austin wasn’t sure how to read him.

“Austin… you’re drunk.”

Austin sat up, his hands shaking. “I’m
not
drunk,” he cried.

Guy shook his head, gave Austin a disbelieving look.

“Okay… I’m a little drunk.” He held up a hand—stop! “
Tipsy
. I’m tipsy.”

“And you’re a virgin.”

Austin sat up straighter. “Not exactly….”

Guy shook his head again, arms still crossed in front of him. “We’ve covered that.”

Austin jumped to his feet. “No, we haven’t. You’ve been totally confusing. All you’ve been is confusing, goddammit!
You
said I can’t
not exactly
be a virgin.
You
said that if orgasms were involved, I’ve had sex.”

Guy’s shoulders slumped. “That’s not exactly what I meant.”

“Then
tell
me what you crapping meant,” Austin shouted, not worried if neighbors heard him or not.

Guy took a step closer to him, uncrossed his arms, started to reach out, but then dropped them at his side.

“What I meant
then
was that sex is sex, even if it doesn’t involve blowjobs or fucking.” The man actually blushed. “I was saying that because I’ve always argued that you don’t have to
fuck
to be having sex…. I mean…. Oh, goddammit.”

He started to turn away, but Austin reached out, grabbed his elbow, and turned him back. “
Tell
me, Guy. Please. I don’t understand.”