“Guess so.”
Joshua gave them one last, smoldering look at the door, then left. Benji noticeably tensed.
I’m an idiot, calm down, it’s fine, this is all fine.
Benji couldn’t stop himself from getting uptight now that he was alone with Van. Not that he expected Van to lunge at him or anything, but the guy was practically a stranger.
A stranger who kisses like a porn star and who just fucked your boyfriend. Calm down!
“Sorry,” Benji said, forcing his muscles to unknot themselves. “Is it cliché to say it isn’t you, it’s me?”
Van smiled, then eased off the coffee table to sit on the couch, keeping a respectable distance from him. “It’s okay. So pizza Pringles, huh?”
“I will inhale a can in one sitting, so I try to limit my purchases. Gotta stay in shape for my fans.” Not that he’d ever had major issues maintaining his weight. If anything, he’d spent much of his childhood and adolescence as too short, too small, too effeminate. It hadn’t done him any favors in school, either. “How about you? What’s your food crack?”
“Will you think less of me if I say it’s sharp cheddar cheese paired with fresh grapes?”
“I won’t think less of you, but I might look at you funny.” He raised one eyebrow dramatically in what Joshua called his Spock Face.
Van laughed. “Sorry. I eat an extremely healthy, mostly raw diet. Things like dairy and meat are super-rare treats.”
“Because of your heart issues?” When Van frowned, he added, “Joshua told me. When he was trying to explain himself over that kiss last month.”
“Yes, because of my heart issues.” Van seemed to debate something. “I left home as soon as I turned eighteen. The atmosphere was unbearable, so even though I barely had any money and no place to land, I left. Spent some time in New Orleans, and that’s where I finally embraced my sexuality. I did it all. Sex, drugs, alcohol, partying, eating. There was nothing I didn’t try back then.”
“Sounds freeing.”
“It was, but I was hard on my body. After a couple of years, I got restless and started hitchhiking north, taking work as I found it. Those are what I refer to as my professional hobo years. My diet was for shit, and I started getting dizzy spells and tinnitus in both ears. When I was twenty-two, I woke up in a Kentucky hospital after passing out on the side of the road. They said I had hypertension, which had also led to adult-onset diabetes, which totally floored me. I always assumed adult-onset was only in overweight people, but apparently not.”
Christ, that happened at the age I am now.
Benji couldn’t imagine facing a serious health crisis at any age, much less so young. “You started eating better afterward?”
“More than that. I found a library and read everything I could about nutrition, which helped manage the diabetes. Hypertension is more complicated, though, because it’s stress related, and I was incredibly stressed back then. And homeless. So, I took the meds they prescribed, got a job, found a room torent, and I stayed put. I learned yoga and that helped relax me. Meditation, too. Cut out all the bad crap I’d been eating, went mostly vegan and raw. It cost a bit more, but in the end, it was worth it. After a year, my numbers were back to normal so I got off the meds.”
“That’s incredible.” Benji had an insane amount of respect for the discipline it took to maintain such a healthy lifestyle—especially in a resort town where fried food and alcoholic temptations were on every block. “So how’d you end up here?”
Van grinned, and that devilish charm returned in the way his eyes crinkled at the corners. “I stuck a pin in a map of the States. I fell in love right away. Being in New Orleans gave me a love of the water, but seeing the Atlantic Ocean for the first time? It’s breathtaking.”
“I’ve seen the Pacific too,” Benji said, a bit smugly. “Army brat until I was fifteen.”
“Nice. How many states have you lived in?”
“Eight, including Pennsylvania, which is where my parents retired to. Well, my mom retired. From the Army. My dad does design, so he’s always worked from home.”
“Name them.”
“My parents?”
“The states, goofball.”
Benji chuckled. “North Carolina, California, Oregon, Colorado, New Jersey, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and PA. And you didn’t finish your story. How’d you end up working at Off Beat?”
“I didn’t want to necessarily deal with a huge touristy crowd, so I asked around about local joints that had a good vibe. I applied at a handful of places, but since it was off-season, not many were open or hiring, but Beatrice called me. We set up an interview, she liked my story, and that was that. I waited tables while I got my bartending license, and then I moved behind the bar. That’s been the last four years of my life.”
“You must enjoy it to have stayed.”
“It’s fun. I like slinging drinks. Plus Beatrice, Emmett, Sasha, they’re all good people. Can’t imagine leaving.” Van settled deeper into his cushion. “So: you. Did you always want to front a rock band?”
