“Someone kill your puppy or something?” I joked, but it went over like a fart in church.
With sullen eyes, gray circles coloring the skin underneath,he looked up at me and said, “No. Nothing. I’m okay. Just a long weekend.” He might not have known it, but I could tell he was lying. I just didn’t want to push it. Maybe if I could get him out of his apartment, and out of his own head, he would lighten up, have some fun.
I was in too good a mood to let his drag me down. Determined to pull him out of his funk, I looped my arm through his andsaid, “Good, because I’ve got one hell of a date planned for you tonight.”
His lips pulled into a small smile, and it was enough for now. In just a few hours, he’d be calling out my name and forget all about whatever was living in his head right now.
Five minutes into the car ride to the restaurant, he still hadn’t said a word. “You look nice tonight,” I said, trying desperately to spark someconversation.
“What? Huh?” He looked down at his clothes, dark jeans similar to mine, a maroon long-sleeved Henley shirt, and a black leather jacket, as if someone else had put them on him. “Oh yeah. Thanks. You do, too.”
“That’s what the guy at the gas station told me, too.”
“Yeah?” he responded with more distraction than a toddler in a room full of toys.
“Yeah, then he sucked me off in theback seat. It was really fabulous,” I teased.
Hoping my lie would snap him back to reality was a fruitless notion. Instead of offering any reaction, he stared out the windshield and simply said, “That’s nice.”
Laughing, I rolled my eyes and said, “You’re a piece of work. You didn’t hear a single word I just said, did you?”
“What?” The word tumbled from his mouth with a touch of incredulity.“Of course I did,” he boasted.
“Okay then, Slick. Tell me what I said.” Smiling like a fool, I looked over at him, waiting on the figurative edge of my seat to see what he would come up with. As if it would actually make him hear what I said, he scratched his head, trying desperately to recall the last thirty seconds.
“Fine, fine,” he admitted, running his hand through his hair. “You win. Ihave no clue.”
The car rocked forward as I pulled up to the valet. We both stepped out, and I handed the keys to the attendant. Chase walked around the front of the car, and when his eyes met mine, I could tell something big was on his mind. His brows were knotted together and there were dark circles under his eyes. “Sorry for zoning out. I’ll pay attention from now on.”
I couldn’t help butlaugh. “It’s not a lecture. It’s a date. I just want to know that you’re here with me.” Cupping his jaw with my hand, I pulled his face to mine and kissed his lips. “That’s all I’ll ever ask.”
Leaning his forehead against mine, he closed his eyes slowly and reciprocated the kiss. With his lips moving against mine, he promised, “I am. I’m right here.”
The hostess seated us at our table. She wasquickly followed by our waiter who poured us some water and took our drink orders. Almost simultaneously, we both said, “I have news.”
“You first,” Chase said.
I knew something was on his mind and it was clearly significant enough to distract him the entire way here. So instead of sharing my news, I insisted he go first.
“Okay,” he blurted, taking a deep breath. “I quit my job,” he admitted,almost shamefully.
“That’s great,” I called out. “I mean—”
“No, I know,” he cut me off. “It wasn’t exactly a dream job.” He laughed, rolling his eyes. “But it paid the bills, and now I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Hearing the panic in his voice, I reached out across the table, pulling his hands into mine. “It’ll work out,” I promised, even though I didn’t know how just yet. “What happened?”
He told me about Stacey and Gavin, about the fight he’d had with both of them. It all enraged me, but nothing more than hearing that she’d called him a fag. Echoes of my father’s curses rang in my ear. They were seared into my memory forever.
“We could do something about it, you know?” Keeping my eyes trained on the menu, I didn’t want to make a huge deal out of it, if it wasn’t something hewas feeling. “Sue her maybe? Or at least contact a lawyer.”
Waving his hand in front of us as if he were swatting a fly, he dismissed the idea, saying, “I don’t have the money for that, or the desire, really. I hated that place from the second I walked in there.” He chuckled as he told me, “Gavin actually tricked me into the entire thing. Bought me a few shots before I auditioned.”
“Now that’sa tape I wouldn’t mind seeing,” I said, laughing with him. He told me about how horrible it was, about how awful he was at dancing at first. I was proud of him for being willing to do whatever it took to take care of Benny, but I was even more proud of him for being able to walk away from it all when he knew it wasn’t the right place for him.
That thought got the wheels in my head turning. “Whatif you went back to school?”
A cynical laugh blew across the table. “Like that could ever happen. I can barely pay my rent, Noah. How the hell could I possibly pay for the last semester of classes and save for Benny to go to college.”
