Jamie pulled open the top drawer where he dug around.“Here.”He showed Joesph the white Calvin Kleins.
Joesph rolled his eyes.“Gawd, you are so boring sometimes.How are we even friends?”Then he sighed.“Okay, change into those.I am going to buy you somesexyunderwear.I think you just lost an entire stack of princess points!”
Jamie stared at Joesph for a few seconds.“Not all of us are all that concerned about our underwear.”
“You should be.Nowhurryup.”
* * * * *
“Candles.”Mike stoodclose to the small dining room table that sat between the kitchen and the living room.“Would that be too much?”He adjusted the folded napkins for the umpteenth time.“Naw...too much.Maybe...”he looked around the small living room.“Just forget the candle, numbskull.”
He looked at his watch nervously.Mike went into the kitchen and checked, once again, that he had everything lined up to make his not-so-famous Denver omelette and fresh asparagus.“Damn it, why am I so nervous?”
* * * * *
Jamie stood at thedoor of Mike’s apartment, holding the bottle of Veuve Clicquot Brut Yellow Label champagne.He raised his hand to knock on the door...and stopped.Am I ready for this?What if...And then he remembered what Joesph said about getting into his own head.“Here goes nothing,” he murmured and knocked three times.
Mike slung the door open.“Uh, hi.”He looked at Jamie and started laughing.Jamie opened and closed his eyes several times and joined in.
“Was there like a memo or something?”Jamie asked.“Did Joesph put you up to this?”
“Come in,” Mike said, holding the door open as he stepped aside.“No, I didn’t get a memo.Maybe it’s that great minds think alike?”
“At least I chose black pants, not that I have black shorts,” Jamie said as he entered and offered the bottle of wine to Mike.“I hope you like champagne?”
“I do.”Mike looked at the bottle in his hand, already chilled.“Wow, you know your wines.This is a good one.Did you know they use at least forty per cent pinot noir in making this, and it ages at least three years?”
Jamie laughed.“No, I didn’t know that exactly.I do know that it’s a good champagne.”He shrugged his shoulders.“I don’t know as much about wine as I should.My father keeps telling me I need to, though.Even offered to take me on a wine trip.”
“That’s an offer I wouldn’t refuse.I’d go back to France in a heartbeat.Although next time I’d like to do the cheese caves.They have fabulous cheeses.”Mike looked at the bottle again.“And this will go great with dinner!”
“Okay.What’s for dinner?”Jamie tried to peer around Mike.
“I’ll open this, but...”Mike turned towards his small kitchen.“I’m afraid I don’t have proper champagne glasses, so a standard white wine glass will have to suffice.”
“You’re killing me here,” Jamie said.“What are you cooking?”
Mike pulled down two glasses from a cupboard next to the refrigerator.“Omelettes.Denver omelettes to be precise.”
“Okay, I can’t wait,” Jamie said as he took the wine glass with the champagne.“You know, there is a movie about a restaurant in France that focuses on making an omelette.”
“The Hundred-Foot Journey,” Mike said, smiling.“I enjoyed that movie.However, I hope you don’t judge this like Helen Mirren did.I’d never make the cut, I’m afraid.”
“I promise not to judge yours as harshly.”Jamie held up his glass, and Mike clinked his to it.“Cheers.”
Mike took a sip, closed his eyes, and swished the wine around in his mouth.“Oh, that is good,” he stated as he opened his eyes.“I may need to get a few bottles of this to keep on hand.Not sure when I’d need them, but it is good to be prepared.”
“Were you a Boy Scout?”Jamie asked, mischievously.
“Yeah, I was, actually,” Mike chuckled.“Guilty as charged.”
Jamie shook his head.“I’m not even the slightest surprised.”
“I think that’s when I first started to notice boys.”Mike set his glass down and turned on the stove.“I had already noticed girls, but after one summer camping trip, I knew I had an attraction to both boys and girls.That was really confusing to me.I didn’t know anything about sex, much less sexual orientation or that bisexuality was even a thing.”
Jamie leaned against the opposite counter as he watched Mike start to cook.“I never thought of it like that.It would be confusing.I knew I was attracted to boys before I even came to live with Mamaw and Papaw.I never said anything to anyone about it till I was fifteen.”
“Who’d you first come out to?”Mike asked, glancing over his shoulder as he sautéed the vegetables and ham in a pan.
