A deep bass of a laugh poured into my ears, quickening my pulse at the fact that I wanted that sound to play on a loop in my head for me at my leisure. “I know, your name came up as you called.”
Why am I such an idiot?“Right, right. Sorry.” I laughed again, annoying the shit out of myself because I was not this much of a mess when I was pursuing women but something about Qwill made me have an unusual lack of charisma.
I could still hear the smile on his lips as he spoke. “Is there something I can do for you, Thayer? I’d love to chat but I’m on my fifteen minute break at work and it’s sadly coming to a close. We can talk later if that works for you?”
“No!” I shouted, a little too loud. “I mean, no, sorry, this’ll only take a minute. Honestly, I just need to ask you something and then I’ll leave you to your work.” It dawned on me that I had no idea what Qwill even did for work and I needed to amend that if I was going to pursue him properly. Hell, that’s what I was trying to do in the first place. Get to know him better. But if I didn’t watch it, I was completely about to blow it.
“Ask away.”
Right, just fucking do it, Thayer. Just go for it!
“Iwaswonderingifyouwannagooutonadate.”
“What was that?” Qwill huffed, a smidge of amusement in his voice that made me want to crawl into my bed and never awaken. “You spoke pretty fast there.”
Staring at myself in the bathroom mirror, my towel still tucked in itself around my waist, I thoughtYou’re fucking blowing it, Nguyen. Take a deep breath and just go for what you want, just like you were talking to anyone you were interested in. This is no different!
The mental pep talk working wonders in my head, I steeled myself, pushed out a chaste breath, and said, “Sorry, I’m a little nervous. I was just wondering if you’d be interested in going on a date. With me. I was hoping you’d be interested in going out on a date with me.”
Silence filled the other end of the phone and I’ll admit, I was beginning to doubt myself. This was my first time asking out a guy, after all. And my first time asking out an Orb at that. My mind ran back to my past interactions with Qwill. The lap dance, the admission that he’d been harboring a crush on me for longer than I was aware of, the day at the marsh. Why the hell was I so sure that he wasn’t interested in me? The doubt in my head was nothing more that that, just self doubt. How could I forget how visibly aroused he’d been during that lap dance? This dude was fucking into me! The only thing that had changed was the fact that I was attracted to him as well.
So why wasn’t he saying anything?
After what felt like a plethora of lifetimes, I finally heard a rush of air fall out of Qwill’s mouth. “Thayer…I…” He chuckled to himself, and before I could mentally spiral about what it meant, he continued. “I wouldloveto. I just want to make sure you’re sure that you want to.”
“Was the last time we were together when I shoved my tongue down your throat not enough to convince you?” I chuckled, feeling more like myself as confidence returned to me, remembering the night we’d made out in the private suite at the club. “I’ve had time to think things over and I can’t deny that I have some pretty…primal feelings for you. And I’d like to see where they go. If that’s something you’d be interested in as well, of course.”
“Are you kidding?” He chuckled again. “When are you free?”
A rush of excitement throbbed in my veins, and it felt so good as the smile upturned my lips. “I work all this weekend but I’m off Tuesday night. What’s your schedule look like?”
“I can make any day work, really. Tuesday night is perfectly fine with me.”
“Great so…Tuesday night then?”
“For sure.” Qwill stated, and I could imagine that goofy smile on his face in my mind. But then his voice turned down a hallway of tone I hadn’t been expecting. “But would you be interested in a…well, less than conventional first date?”
Curiosity bristled my brow. “What did you have in mind?”
“I was wondering if you’d be open to the idea of spending the night at Gossamer, the club near your apartment?”
Normally, I might have taken the pause at having a first date at a nightclub. While I enjoyed the random night at the club here and there, I didn’t do it very often because of where I worked. I was engrossed in the nightlife scene more than most tended to be. And on a first date? How were we going to get to know each other if there were other sweaty bodies and loud music thumping around us?
An image of being at Gossamer the night that Bas first confronted Kroven about what was happening between them. Granted, that hadn’t been their first date, but it sure as hell had been the start of them being something so much more. They had a cat now, for fuck’s sake. Maybe igniting this thing with Qwill at Gossamer would spurn similar results. Couldn’t hurt, right?
“You know what? That sounds great.”
“Awesome. I’ve just been feeling to need to let loose lately.” Qwill admitted. “We can meet up at Gossamer on Tuesday night at, say, nine?”
“Sounds like a plan.” I smiled back. “Until then, I’ll let you get back to work.”
The sound of Qwill’s minuscule laughter really was the best sound I was lucky enough to hear repeated throughout this call. “Looking forward to it, Thayer. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Alright. Bye, Qwill.”
Euphoria coursed through my body as soon I hung up the call and slid my phone across the bathroom counter. Staring at my naked torso, landing on the emphasized smile on my face, I felt accomplished as fuck. I’d set my sights on asking Qwill out and I’d done it. Better than that, he was really excited for it. Maybe even more than I was. The size of my own anticipation over the date soared higher than I could have expected.
My mind quickly flashed to the realization that, thanks to Troian, I now had an absolutely ridiculous amount of money in my bank account. Which meant I could go all out on this date with Qwill, both in whatever we chose to consume when the night finally claimed itself around us, as well as whatever I decided to wear that night.
