“Annie?” Dylan stepped into the apartment, nodding at Ryan on the couch and letting out a relieved breath when Annie came out of the kitchen.
“Hey, Dylan, are you ready for your date?” she asked, looking him over. “You look nice!”
Dylan looked down at himself. “You think it’s okay?”
Annie nodded. “Very cute. Not too formal, and those pants make your ass really pop.”
Dylan looked over his shoulder and down at his ass. It did look nicer than usual.
“Dude, you’re going on a date? Good luck,” Ryan said, turning away from his laptop and looking up at him. “Anyone we know?”
Dylan shook his head.
Melissa sat down next to her boyfriend. She gave Dylan a very critical examination and shrugged. “You look fine. Solid seven and a half out of ten.”
“Melissa,” Ryan protested, frowning at her. “He’s like a nine, at least. Look at that adorable face and that tight little body. He could make a fortune doing twink porn.”
Melissa, Annie and Dylan all looked at him, saying nothing.
“What?” Ryan shrugged, unconcerned and turning his attention back to his laptop. “I have eyes. I don’t have to be into him to know that he’s cute.”
That actually made Dylan feel really good about himself. Melissa, on the other hand, did not look pleased.
“Thank you, Ryan,” he said. He felt like grinning, but that would be obnoxious and so he resisted the pull on his cheeks.
“Maybe don’t do twink porn.” Annie spoke up next to him.
Dylan just gave her a look.
“Hey, I don’t know. You’re kind of going from zero to one hundred here, who knows what you’ll do next?”
“It won’t be porn,” Dylan said.
“Just be careful.”
Annie looked genuinely concerned.
“I will be.” Dylan checked the time on his phone. “I’m going to head back down to my apartment. I’ll call you tomorrow and let you know how it went, okay?”
“Do that.” Annie moved in for a hug. “And I hope you have fun.”
Dylan nodded, moving toward the door. He said goodbye to Ryan and Melissa, but the two of them were engaged in a very quiet argument and didn’t respond.
He left the apartment and walked back down to the second floor. He sat down on his bed and let himself fall back, staring up at the ceiling as he waited for the buzzer to ring. It was almost seven, and his heart was racing with excitement.
It had been ages since he’d been on a real date, and he was looking forward to it.
Blinking, Dylan looked at the spot of water damage on his ceiling and wondered if it had gotten bigger. The maintenance company had been by a few weeks ago, checking the damage and pronouncing it safe, and since the leak on the floor above him had been fixed, replacing the stained plaster was not a priority.
A sharp buzz cut through the apartment with a screech, the unpleasant sound making Dylan jump off the bed and run to the intercom. He pressed the button to activate the line.
“Hello?”
He waited with bated breath, heart pounding even faster than before.
“Hello, Dylan. It’s Ryker and August.”
Dylan couldn’t tell which one of them was talking – the electric distortion of the old intercom system rendered the voice nearly unintelligible – but he didn’t care.
