“See, we might be smallies and old-fashioned, but love is love if you ask me and most folks around here. It don’t matter as long as you don’t cause no trouble.” Xavi snorted at that, and Lulu dug his elbow into Xavi’s side, pulling a grunt from him. “Heck, we’ve got our own gay couple in town. Well, two maybe…” Tilly looked like she had a lot more to say on the topic, but instead, she just reached for their plates and smiled. “Now, I’ll just pop back with these, and then I’ll bring you your sundae and two spoons. Don’t that sound nice, boys?”
Lulu’s back was starting to ache from sitting down all day and neglecting his stretches, but it did in fact sound nice, and he found himself nodding and smiling. It sounded fucking phenomenal sharing a Tin Roof Sundae with Xavi, his sweetheart, the guy he loved. It sounded as close to heaven as a gay guy could probably get.
“Holy shit,” Xavi laughed in that deep, sexy way of his once Tilly was out of earshot.
“I know,” Lulu gasped. “A gay couple in town. Or was it two? It sounded like there were two, didn’t it? Oooh, maybe there’s a gay bar, too.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t bet on it. Besides, don’t you think it’s weird going around sharing stuff like that with strangers?” Xavi frowned, playing with his napkin, and Lulu’s skin itched with longing, as he imagined those fingers playing him, making him shiver and pant and melt. Pushing back the building arousal, he shook his head.
“Ah, she meant nothing by it,mano. You could tell she had no problem with it. Shit, it sounded almost like she…”
“Like she what?”
“I don’t know. Like it was nor—”
“Don’t say it. We are. We are fucking normal,mano.”
“I know. You know I think that. But a big part of this country still thinks that we ain’t. That there’s something wrong with us. But Tilly didn’t act like that.”
Xavi nodded, then wiped at his face. “Still, you never know. No need to flaunt it.”
Lulu nodded, wanting to say that there was a fat chance they could hide it even if they wanted to with the way they—or at least Lulu—were dressed, but he gathered now was not the time.
Before the silence between them could reach an uncomfortable level, their hostess was back with a sundae that looked not only mouthwateringly delicious but also big enough to make even Noah break a sweat.
“Holy fuc—”
“Here we go, my lovelies!” Tilly singsonged as she placed the large glass between them, then a long spoon on each side. Leaning in conspiratorially, she whispered, “Mixed in a little homemade walnut brandy with the sauce. Reckoned you fellas could need a little extra warmth from being crammed into that sardine tin all day. Ain’t no weather for them fancy European cars.” She shook her head. “You boys get yourselves aFord. Or aJeep.” She frowned, biting her coral-painted bottom lip. “I’ll get our town mechanic to give you a run over before ya leave. Don’t want you boys stuck on the road somewhere.” She shuddered. “Wouldn’t be able to sleep at night thinkin’ about that. Now eat!”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Xavi had enough courtesy to say as Tilly rushed off to the kitchen. “Here.” He held out a spoon in front of Lulu. The tips of their fingers brushed as Lulu reached out and accepted it, a delicious zing shooting through his body.Fuck dessert, he wanted to say.I’ll be your fucking sundae,mano. I’ll be your fucking cherry on top, too.Images of Xavi licking him from top to toe washed over him, demanding fingers kneading Lulu’s skin, Xavi’s tongue making a meal out of Lulu’s famished hole. Fuck, he hoped he could one day convince Xavi to fuck him. He knew it would be fucking earth-shatteringly epic, that fat cock tearing him wide open, splitting him in two, then Xavi’s sweet, sweet cum gluing Lulu back together again.
“Eat,”—Xavi nudged his shoulder—“so we can get outta here,” he added, ill-disguised heat flashing in his coffee eyes amidst the tiredness. As if in a trance, Lulu nodded, then dipped the spoon into the chocolate-y vanilla ice cream, gathering a generous spoonful, making sure there were some of the salty peanuts on it too. Lifting the spoon to his lips, Lulu licked at the mixture, then swallowed carefully as sweet cream and salty nuts exploded on his tongue.
Closing his eyes in bliss, a moan escaped him, and suddenly he was no longer in a rustic diner in rural Nebraska but catapulted back in time to endless summer days in the streets of downtown Buffalo, kids screaming with happiness as they threw colorful water balloons at each other, their eyes blazing with glee, ice cream sticking to their fingers and corners of their mouths. Xavi and Joe were smiling wickedly at him before they chased him down the street, filled water balloons in their hands, voices raw from yelling.‘You better run,mano! You better hide!’And Lulu would run and run and laugh and laugh until his lungs were burning and his thighs were aching. Until his throat was raw from squealing. Until Xavi, because it was always Xavi, caught him from behind and twirled him around until he no longer knew what was up and what was down, only that Xavi was the center of everything. Always Xavi. Xavi, who always wore a shirt even on the hottest of days, when the rest of the kids, including Joe and Lulu, would be bare-chested, wearing only their low-hanging wet shorts. Xavi, who, when the streets had darkened, the kids disappearing into their respective apartment buildings, would bump his shoulder against Lulu’s and say,‘Stay. Stay over,mano.’And Lulu wanted nothing more than to say‘Yes. Always yes, forever yes,’but then there was the image of little hungry, snot-nosed Manu, and the still vivid bruises on Lulu’s body reminding him of his father’s drug-induced wrath, and what could happen to tiny, defenseless Manu if Lulu wasn’t there to catch the blunt force of those knuckles first, while Manu hid under the bed or in the closet. The words were always right there, though, burning on the tip of his tongue.I don’t wanna go home. I don’t ever wanna go home again.
Opening his eyes, he found Xavi glaring at him, his lips twisted into something painful and dangerous, a frown digging into the space between his thick brows.
“What?” Lulu leaned in, frowning back, as he dipped the spoon back into the sundae.
“Nothing,” Xavi mumbled, his gaze dipping back to the spoon in his hand. Lulu shrugged, raising the spoon to his lips, then noticing some chocolate sauce that had trailed down his hand. Shit, the last thing he needed was to get that stuff on his clothes. Sticking out his tongue, Lulu scooped up the sauce. The sharp taste of brandy powered through, burning his lips deliciously.Fuck, this was good stuff.
Xavi shifted next to him, grunting.
“Now what?” Lulu sighed. If Xavi was going to communicate with glares and grunts alone, they were in for a long night, but not necessarily the kind Lulu was hoping for.
“You were moaning.” Xavi’s gaze dipped to his own spoon, which hovered between them, melted ice cream dripping from it, spilling onto the tablecloth.
“Sorry.” Lulu blinked, then lifted the spoon to his mouth, closing his lips around it again. The sundae melted on his tongue, tasting of all things indulging and hedonistic. Salt, cream, sweetness. It tasted like fucking Xavi, and now it was images of Xavi with a tight grip on his fat cock that entered Lulu’s mind, rich creamy spurts of cum coating Lulu’s tongue, sliding down his throat.
“Quit. Fucking. Moaning!” Xavi hissed as his hot breath hit Lulu’s chin, and when he opened his eyes, Xavi was right up in his face, the lust in his eyes undeniable.
“I can’t. It’s so yummy,oso.” He dipped the spoon back into the sundae, then held it up in front of Xavi’s tight lips. “Here,mano. You gotta taste it. It’s so creamy. It’s li—”
“Stop!” Xavi gritted, then looked around the half-empty diner. “I know what you’re doing, but just stop, okay?”
“What am I doing?” Lulu whispered as he pushed the spoon against Xavi’s mouth, coaxing his lips to open. “I’m not doing anything.” He batted his eyelashes, digging his teeth into his bottom lip. “Unless you want me to do something. Do you?”
Shaking his head, Xavi mumbled something under his breath, but Lulu only caught the word ‘impossible’ and something that sounded like ‘the death of me.’ Pushing his chair back from the table, Xavi dug his hand into his jeans pocket and pulled out some bills, then threw a pile of twenties on the table. Shooting a final glare at Lulu, he spat, “Finish your fucking ice cream, Lulu,” before he stalked toward the counter, where he exchanged a few words with Tilly, who nodded and smiled, then pointed to something on the board behind her. Then, without so much as a backward glance at Lulu, Xavi steered toward the coat rack next to the door, grabbed his leather jacket, and disappeared out into the cold darkness.
