He fucking loved odd little joints like this. It was why he loved Off Beat so much.
A boy wearing tight jeans under his green apron sauntered over to take his order. Van put in for a platter of oysters and a seltzer water with two lemon slices. This wasn’t a date, so Joshua could order whatever he wanted when he arrived.
His seltzer appeared first. A few minutes after three, tall, dark, and handsome strode into the place. Joshua’s laser-focused gaze found him right away, and Van kind of hated how his heart gave a little kick. Joshua sauntered over, hands inside of khaki shorts that showed off toned legs dusted with the same dark hair as on his head.
“I think I’m a few minutes late,” Joshua said as he slid into the booth opposite Van. “The entrance was tricky to find.”
“Keeps the tourists out.” Van used enough inflection to indicate he lumped Joshua into that tourist category, and it wasn’t a compliment. Might as well set the tone.
Joshua seemed totally unruffled, despite the general puffiness around his eyes. “So, I take it you know the place. What do you recommend?”
“I always get the raw oysters. I don’t know their supplier, but they’re the best oysters you can get that you didn’t harvest yourself.”
Joshua pulled a face. “No thanks. I don’t do raw fish.”
“No? You seem like a sushi kind of guy to me.”
“I’ve tried different kinds without the raw fish, but sushi doesn’t do it for me.” Joshua shrugged.
Van was usually good at figuring people out. Good bartending skill. “So what are you into?”
Joshua’s lips twitched at the intentional phrasing. “Nothing too crazy, but nothing too boring, either.”
“Try the beer-battered fish sandwich.”
“Sounds closer to boring.”
Van tugged the menu out of reach, then grinned. “Wait until you taste it.”
“Fine. Challenge accepted.”
When the waiter returned with Van’s oysters, Joshua ordered the sandwich, as well as two Cap and Cokes. At Van’s raised eyebrows, Joshua shrugged. “It’s been a fucking shitty two days.”
“Right. We are here to talk about that.” Van squeezed a bit of lemon juice over an oyster, then slid it down the hatch. Salty-sea perfection.
Joshua grimaced. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t mention Benji the other night. Our agreement is—wasonce and done with other people, no repeats. Most of the time, it doesn’t come up with a guy or girl. We have sex and then go our separate ways.”
“Guy or girl?”
“Bi guy here.” Joshua’s frown deepened, as if expecting Van to make an issue of it.
Van shrugged. “Pan guy here, nice to meet you.”
Joshua visibly relaxed into the booth. “Anyway, it’s been that way since Benji and I started dating, and so far it’s worked. At least, I thought it was working. It’s not like I was hooking up every other day. Once or twice a month, maybe, especially if we were apart for a long time. Obviously you know Ben is a musician, and I traveled all over for my job, so it left us free to get off when we were apart.”
Van ate another oyster, surprisingly intrigued by these details of Joshua’s love life. “You said you thought the agreement was working?”
“Yeah.” His two drinks arrived, and Joshua took a long gulp from one glass. “Don’t judge me, I walked here.”
“Sitting here not judging.”
“Sorry.”
“Dude, you’re the one who’s had a major emotional crisis this weekend, not me. Drink away.”
Joshua tipped his glass at him, then took another sip. “I feel so stupid now, looking back, seeing what was right in front of me the whole time. Except how was I supposed to figure it out, when Benji didn’t even know until a few months ago?”
“Know what?”
