Chapter Twenty-One
After Seth left on Sunday afternoon, Oz had driven home promising himself that he’d be over him. He knew this was it between them, that Seth was going home and they didn’t have any excuse to see each other anymore, but…
He missed Seth. Whenever he let his mind wander, it wandered straight to him. The way he laughed. His dry, slightly dark sense of humor. The way he opened up when they were alone together, like Oz was seeing a secret side of him that no one else knew about.
His hands, his mouth, the soft little moans and grunts and whines he made while they were having sex.
He missed all of it, and never more so than when he was trying to wind down from a long day’s work.
Normally, he could rely on jerking off to switch his brain off and send him straight to sleep.
Tonight, all he could think about was Seth. And as soon as he thought about Seth, he thought about how he wasn’t there.
Oz had intended to be strong, respect Seth’s unspoken but incredibly obvious wish to be left alone, but he couldn’t do it anymore. He needed to talk to him. Needed to be sure that he was still alive and well and hopefully, not nearly as miserable as Oz was right now.
You busy?he texted, hitting send before he could lose the nerve. Maybe Seth would ignore him. He’d probably deserve that.
When the phone vibrated a moment later, Oz jumped.
It’s one a.m. on a Thursday. No one on Earth is busy.
People in other time zones probably are, Oz responded automatically. It was only midnight for him, though it felt a lot later.
Fuck time zones, Seth texted.
Oz laughed at that. He could imagine the look on Seth’s face as he said it, his nose wrinkling in distaste at time zones for daring to exist.
So now wouldn’t be a good time to ask you what you’re wearing?
I’m not wearing anything. I’ve been in bed for half an hour.
Oh. I won’t bother you, then.
Oz swallowed. He didn’t want to disturb Seth when he was trying to sleep, no matter how much he wanted to hear the sound of his voice right now. Just for a few minutes. Just for long enough to soothe his heart.
He kept wondering if he should say something about how he felt. About how much he wanted to see Oz more, even if he knew it’d be hard for both of them to do the long-distance thing. It was too much to ask of Seth, though. He deserved someone who could be with him, who could make him breakfast, who could curl up beside him of a night.
Their worlds were both too different and too distant to make anything serious work.
That didn’t stop Oz wanting it, though.
You’re not bothering me. I obviously wasn’t asleep.
Hope sprang up in Oz’s chest. Maybe he could get what he needed, after all.
You think I could call you?
Is this for phone sex?
Oz considered. His cock was still half-hard from his failed attempt to get off, so the idea was tempting.
Can be if you want it to be. No pressure.
Within a few seconds of Oz hitting send, a call came through. Oz answered it, unprepared but excited to hear Seth talking.
“Hey,” he said, keeping his voice low. He was well and truly alone, but this seemed like an intimate moment.
