“Butch, hey.” He fiddles with the strap on his bag and shuffles his feet as I come to a stop in front of him.
“Hey,” I echo. He’s dressed in a nice pair of slacks and a polo shirt. I’ve gotten so used to seeing him in his gym clothes that it’s strange to see him all academic, but it totally works on him. If all professors looked like him, I might have been tempted to go to college. Of course, school was never my strong suit, so I would have had to stop by during his office hours to ask for extra tutoring, a little one-on-one cramming, maybe an oral exam to make up for my terrible grades.
Percy clears his throat, yanking me out of my professor-student fantasy.
“Do you live around here?” he asks.
“Uh…” I glance around, squinting at the bus map to figure out where the hell I actually ended up. “Oh, yeah, kind of. I’m about four blocks North, on Hamilton. There’s a killer Thai place over there.”
“Cool.” He tugs his bottom lip between his teeth, and his eyes wander to my clothes, sweat drenched and clinging to my muscles, then back to my face. “So, you’re out for a jog?”
“Yeah. You want to join me?” Before I bumped into him, I was starting to think about looping back and finding my way home, but I think I just got a second wind.
He looks down at his clothes, then back at me with a laugh.
“You live near here, right?” I look around at the numerous apartment buildings surrounding us. “We can pop over to your place so you can change first.”
He hesitates for a second and then nods. “Sure, okay.”
I swallow down the urge to whoop so I don’t scare him into changing his mind.
“That’s me,” he says, pointing at the building two doors down. He rummages in the front pocket of his bag, artfully dodging other people on the sidewalk without even looking up as I follow him to his building. “I don’t think I have to warn you that I’m only going to make it around the block before there’s a real possibility you’ll have to carry me home, right?”
I bark out a laugh. “At least you’re small, if it comes to that.”
His face pinks and he leads me up the stairs. As soon as we’re inside, he slips his bag off and hangs it on a hook just inside the door, then toes off his loafers.
“If you need to get a glass of water or anything, help yourself.” He points towards the kitchen, which shares the main space with the living room, similar to the layout of my own apartment. “I’ll be right back.”
Percy hurries down the short hallway and closes a door behind him. I take him up on his offer of water, looking aroundhis living room while I wait. The layout might be similar to my apartment, but there’s no question about who lives here. Fender and I are simple guys with bare walls, dirty gym socks on the floor, and fitness magazines stacked on the coffee table. Percy’s apartment is tidy and smells like cinnamon. There are bookshelves lining one whole wall and every shelf is filled with books. There are textbooks on the coffee table and several different science magazines.
If I needed the reminder that Percy is way out of my league, this is it. That doesn’t stop the squirming in my stomach though, or the words forming on the tip of my tongue while I wait for him. I was wrestling with the idea of texting him and thenthere he was. I’m not a woo-woo kind of guy, but that feels like it means something.
After a few minutes, his door creaks open again, and he steps back into the living room. He must have gone shopping for some new gym clothes, because his obscene booty shorts have been replaced by a pair of full-length green joggers. He also has a new pair of sneakers and is wearing a plain white T-shirt that fits him just snug enough that I can see the peaks of his stiff nipples through it.
“Ready?” I ask gruffly.
“As I’ll ever be,” he says with a laugh, grabbing his keys and shoving them into his pocket before opening the door and waving me out.
“Oh, by the way, remember that camping thing I mentioned? Well, it’s on for this weekend.” That sounds casual, right? “If you’re up for it, we usually rent a van that’s big enough to fit all of us and head up on Friday afternoon once we close up shop.”
“Oh.”
He’s ahead of me on the stairs, so I can’t see his face, and the tone of that “oh”doesn’t give me much to go on.
“No pressure,” I hurry to assure him. “It’s low-key. I just figured, you got along with everyone at the pizza place that night, and it would be a shame to let your routine lapse just because I’m taking off for a couple of days…”
“So, um, is it like a training thing or more of a…” We reach the bottom step, and I finally catch the nervous look on his face as he turns towards me and leans into the door to push it open. “Like… social thing?”
I scratch the back of my neck. What answer is he looking for? Does hewantme to be inviting him socially or is he hoping I’m keeping things professional?
“Both?” I say uncertainly. “But more social, I guess? If that’s cool. Like I said, no pressure.”
“Uh…” He tugs on his shirt and sticks his hands in his pockets, then pulls them back out. “I guess that would be fine.”
The feeling that whooshes through me makes my knees quake, and I smile at him.
“Alright, kick-ass.” I lightly punch his shoulder and hop from foot to foot. “If it’s cool with you, I can get your phone number from your paperwork and text you all the details in the morning?”
