“Well…” Human Corbin gave a little one-armed shrug. “Maybe. You can’t ever guarantee that he’s ever going to feel the same way about you that you do about him. The best you can do is try and hope it goes the way you want it to.”
Titan furrowed his brow, displeased with the uncertainty, but tried not to let it get to him. If he did his best—and his best was very, very good—then he was confident that Ezra would be unable to resist him. He would do human courting rituals and inform Ezra of all the great things about him, and Ezra would have love for him in no time at all.
“I believe that I—oh.” A buzzing in his pocket cut him off mid-sentence. He pulled out his ringing cellular device and sawEzra’s contact information displayed on the screen.
He looked at Human Corbin excitedly. “It is Ezra.”
“Speak of the devil.”
“He is not—never mind.” He was not fond of Human Corbin’s manner of speaking. Were all humans this unclear in their speech? He had not had enough experience to know, but that was of no consequence. Not when his heart was fluttering at the prospect of speaking to Ezra outside of a work setting for the first time in a week. “Cellular device, answer the call,” he instructed the device in his hand.
“You have to swipe up,” Corbin said in a faux whisper. Titan rolled his eyes. So inefficient. He used the pad of his index finger to swipe the green button up and held the device to his ear.
“Hello, Ezra, you are very beautiful,” he said as a greeting. He then held a thumb up at Human Corbin—a gesture he had learned from entertainment programs. Corbin held his thumb up in response, although his face was in a grimace for some reason.
“Uh… okay,” Ezra said on the other end. “Hi.”
“Why are you contacting me via my cellular device? You have never done this before.”
“Yeah, I know, sorry. I went to your room to try and find you, but you weren’t there. Where are you, anyway?”
“I am at Human Corbin’s residence. I received a ride from Carlos G. from the application called Uber.”
“Why are you at—you know what? Not important. Do you know when you’ll be back? I, erm, need to talk to you about something, and it’s kinda important.” It was hard to tell over a call, but Titan thought that Ezra sounded distressed.
“Are you well?”
Ezra let out a tight laugh. “That’s a loaded question, man. Listen, I don’t want to have this conversation over the phone. Can you just come find me when you get back? I’ll be in my room.”
“Of course,”Titan said, concern welling up in his belly. “I will contact Carlos G. for a return journey.”
“Yeah, maybe just see if Corbin can give you a ride?”
“Or I will follow this suggestion. You are very wise, Ezra. You are wise and beautiful and I admire these things about you.”
“I—sure. Thanks. I’ll see you soon?”
“Correct.”
“’Kay. Um… bye.”
The transmission ended. Titan lowered his cellular device and beamed at Human Corbin. “I believe I am already mastering being kind and romantic.”
“Yep, you’re a natural,” Human Corbin replied in a flat tone of voice.
Bolstered by the encouragement of his human mentor, Titan sprang to his feet. Just one conversation and Ezra had already invited him to his room! In no time at all, Titan would earn his love. He was sure of it.
“Thank you for your assistance, Human Corbin,” he said with a bow of his head. “I am in your debt.”
“Eh, it’s whatever.” Corbin waved a dismissive hand. “Just hook me up with a hot brother of yours or something. I’m getting tired of everyone having a piece of alien ass but me.”
17
Ezra
Ezra had never been this stressed in his entire life, which… well, honestly wasn’t saying much, since he was a pretty chill dude by nature, but was also a huge deal since his lack of experience in the stress department meant he had no idea how to cope. He’d tried sitting on his bed to wait for Titan, eyes closed in an attempt to find his zen, but it had come up as a 404 error—zen not found. So instead he was up on his feet, wearing out a path in his floor as he paced back and forth, wondering how he could keep himself from sounding like a hysterical teenager who had to tell her boyfriend that he’d knocked her up.
What was this conversation with Titan even going to be like? He had only just started to come around to the idea that maybe Titan wasn’t a total asshole—he wasn’t ready to settle down and start a family with the guy. He wasn’t ready to settle down and start a family withanyone.Commitment wasn’t something he did.
