“Why me?” Adam blurted out, feeling so out of place in the expensive car with a very handsome guy, who probably shouldn’t have even glanced his way twice.
Ru frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I’m not really the kind of guy... You’re so beautiful. I’ve never done this before. And me, I’m just—” Adam’s words failed as Ru unhooked his seatbelt and slid across the seat. A second later their lips touched, and all Adam could do was hang on for the ride. He closed his eyes and sunk into the soft warmth of Ru’s mouth. He tasted like breath mints.
For Adam’s first kiss ever, it probably ranked on a scale of like 150 out of 10. When Ru didn’t pull away right away, but let his lips linger in tiny little kisses, Adam had to open his eyes. Ru’s smile was sweet as they stared at each other. Close enough to share breaths and count his eyelashes, which were so long.
“I’m into you. Any more questions?” Ru asked, a light note of humor in his voice.
Adam shook his head, pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to form coherent-sounding sentences for the next five minutes or more. And the car had stopped. They were idling outside of Dimitri’s. Ru leaned over and pushed the door open. Adam moved to get out, forgetting he was still buckled for a minute, before struggling out of the car and onto the sidewalk, his cheeks burning with embarrassment.
Ru crawled out after, leaned in as the front passenger-side window went down to say something, then was back in a heartbeat at Adam’s side. He slipped his hand into Adam’s, and they walked into the restaurant together. His warm grip felt good, right. Some of the tension eased away as a waitress showed them to a booth near the back. Instead of sitting across from Adam, Ru waited for him to slide in and then followed, bumping hips until they could sit together, hands still clasped.
It should have scared Adam to sit that close to Ru. He should have worried that people would see them. But all that mattered was that Ru was there, and he seemed to truly be interested in being with Adam. Adam still really didn’t know what to say to him. What did people talk about on dates?
Ru’s smile grew a hundred watts, like he could somehow hear Adam’s thoughts. “So let’s start off with an easy one. What do you like on your pizza?”
Adam glanced away from Ru’s face for the first time and then down at the menu he had yet to open.Crap. Pizza was kind of messy. Maybe he should have suggested something else. What if he got spices stuck in his teeth or something? “Um...”
“I’m open to anything. You want veggies?”
“No onions,” Adam blurted out, thinking of all the date movies he had ever seen. People didn’t want to kiss after eating onions, right? Or was that garlic? He wanted Ru to kiss him again. “I sort of like pineapple on my pizza.”
“Okay, so peppers and pineapple. You want sausage, pepperoni? Extra cheese?”
“Um, sausage, I guess? And yeah, extra cheese is good.” He glanced at the menu trying to remember if Dimitri selection of toppings. “No mushrooms, maybe? If that’s okay?”
The waitress came back, and Ru ordered the pizza, which sounded like it would have to come with a fork and a knife since there was going to be so much on it, and a couple of Cokes. Then the menu was gone and so was Adam’s excuse not to look at his date. But he sort of liked holding Ru’s hand and sitting there with him. Adam realized just then that he knew nothing about him, not even his last name. And Ru obviously did not go to Adam’s school, since he had never seen him around before that day at the library.
“You don’t go to Northern?”
Ru shook his head. “I’m a homeschool kid. It’s awful at times. I mean, my instructor is great, but it’s lonely. My only interaction with other kids my age is through message boards, blogs, or e-mails.”
“School’s pretty bad. The never-ending race to conform.” Did he understand that Adam couldn’t be out at school? If people found out, he would get teased and bullied and probably beaten up in the locker room? Bas had been beaten up twice last year, bad enough to be taken to the hospital. Only stricter enforcement of the no-bullying rule at school had stopped that. Adam didn’t dare hope it was permanent.
Some of the jockstraps had already taken steps to push the boundaries of the no-bully rule. And he remembered what Bas had looked like after the last beating. Dozens of stitches and a face so mottled he had been unrecognizable had made Adam fear standing out. And that was sort of the point. Bullies picked on people not like themselves to make themselves feel better. They didn’t like people who shined or did their own thing or just wanted to be individuals. How could Adam tell Ru he was too afraid to be himself?
“I’ve heard that, but it must be amazing to just be around other people all day. Able to get into conversations. Ask questions and learn without just reading and writing papers.”
“Oh, we still read and write papers. And I’m not so sure the conversations thing is so great. Some of the guys at school can barely follow a ‘Good morning.’” Adam thought of some of Nate’s friends. He didn’t really consider them his friends because they didn’t talk, or at least they didn’t talk with Adam, usually just at him or through Nate to him. Maybe Adam was as much of an outsider as Bas was sometimes. “I’m not out at school. There is one guy who is, and a lot of the jocks make fun of him. Last year he got beat up a lot.”
“I get some of that too. But I’m out, pretty much to the whole world. You kiss one boy, someone gets a picture of it on a cell, and suddenly it’s front page news.” Ru sighed and stared off into space. “But I think it’s for the better. It’s a lot of work hiding who you are just to please people you really don’t care about. The ones who accept you are the only ones who really matter in the end.”
He had a point. Adam put his elbow on the table and leaned on his hand to study Ru. “So I’m assuming I’m not your first date.”
“No. Sadly. I would rather my first date have been with you. What about you?”
Adam glanced away, not wanting to seem inexperienced and stupid but also not willing to lie. “This is the first time I’ve been out with anyone, ever.” Other than an occasional after-practice meal or an evening studying with Bas, Adam didn’t spend time outside of school with anyone.
Ru reached over and touched his chin to get Adam to look at him. God, Ru was so beautiful. “First kiss, too?”
Adam nodded, gulping as Ru leaned in again. Adam wanted another kiss so bad it hurt to stay still. “Am I awful?”
“Not at all. It was just the first of many to come, as long as it’s okay with you?” Ru whispered, gaze steady.
“Yes,” Adam agreed. “Very okay.” Ru’s lips found Adam’s again. The world ceased to exist when they kissed, time just flying by, people moving around them. Nothing seemed to break the moment, so they were both somewhat startled when someone cleared their throat several minutes later.
The waitress stood there with their pizza. She gave them a sweet smile, set down the pie, and then handed them each plates and silverware. “You two are super sweet. Let me know if you need anything else.”
