Me:Jesus.
Bowie: So, Callum?
Me:Callum
Bowie:Serious?
Me:Are things with Joseph serious?
Bowie:LOL. He left New York for me, remember?
Bowie: Oh.
Me: Oh is right.
Bowie: Do you like L.A?
Me:I haven’t seen enough of it to decide. It took me an hour to get to the beach on a Friday night.
Bowie: But you’re coming from a forest.
Me:I’m sorry, what?”
Bowie: I’ve looked up Landon’s house on a map before and Pasadena looks like it’s in the middle of a forest. Is it not a forest?
Me:Did you grow up in another country? Jesus, Bowie.
Bowie: Do you have anything to tell me that I don’t know? I was sort of in the middle of something when you interrupted me.
Me: Ugh. Stop. Goodbye.
Jack put his phone back into his pocket, not interested in knowing what Joseph and Bowie did to each other in that painfully red state they both lived in now.
With his distraction gone, Jack’s mind quickly drifted back to his earlier thoughts. He and Callum had talked about many things, but marriage hadn’t ever been one of them. Jack hadn’t talked about it with anyone because it wasn’t something he’d ever thought of as being a possibility. But these feelings were new, and these feelings were real and there were lots of things that he didn’t consider possible that might be now.
His phone vibrated and he removed it from his pocket, finding a text from Callum. It was just a picture of pouty lips and green eyes with the message,work is laaaaame.
Jack chuckled and put his phone away then stood, brushing the sand off the back of his jeans. He made his way back to the boardwalk, stumbling as the sand grew drier and finer near the concrete. He plopped down onto a bench and dusted off his feet, putting his shoes and socks back on before returning to Callum’s car and embarking on the long drive back to Pasadena.
He pulled into the parking lot at Rapture just before midnight and climbed the front stairs, the deep sound of a bass dance beat vibrating out of the building. He did his best to avoid the bar, not wanting to distract Callum from work and also maybe wanting to watch him a little bit. He wanted to see who Callum was when Jack wasn’t there.
Callum moved behind the bar so easily it was hard to picture him being anything besides a bartender. Jack experienced a quick pang of sadness when he remembered a conversation they’d had earlier in their relationship. Callum had confided his childhood dreams had revolved largely around the desire to be a veterinarian, but also a bagger at the local grocery store, so his sadness was fleeting.
Jack moved closer to the bar and pressed in against the wood. Callum’s head tipped to the side and he looked his way, as if he’d sensed Jack’s approach. His face split in a broad grin and he slinked down the bar toward him with a towel thrown over his shoulder.
“Daddy,” he said with a smile as he tossed a coaster down. “Let me make you a drink.”
“Surprise me, kitten.”
Callum smiled and stepped back, eyeing the wall of liquor bottles speculatively before grabbing a shaker and making him a drink.
“Surprise me, Daddy,” Verity purred in his ear a moment later.
Jack laughed and punched them in the arm.
“I’m not your daddy.”
“And what a shame that is,” Verity mused, “but it seems my loss is his gain.”
