Charlie breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad Scott had brought it up first, since he wasn’t sure he ever would have been able to.
He was also glad that Scott’s first words hadn’t been something along the lines ofI’m just not attracted to you.
He wasn’t, obviously, but Charlie didn’t need to hear that.
“It’s okay,” Charlie said. “I need to apologize for assuming you were interested.”
Scott shook his head. “No, you don’t. I’m flattered, honestly. And I feel awful for the way things went, and I just wanna be friends again.”
Charlie smiled a tiny smile, the best he could offer right now. He was disappointed that things weren’t going to go anywhere with Scott, but he wanted to be his friend, too. “We were never not friends. Not on my end, anyway.”
He’d been terrified that Scott wouldn’t want to be his friend anymore, but it didn’t seem like the right moment to say that.
“Okay.” Scott nodded. “Good. That’s… that’s good.”
“Are you still helping me with the display, or do you need to be somewhere?”
“I can help,” Scott offered without hesitation. “I never thought for a second about being a librarian before I met you, but now I can see the appeal.”
Charlie laughed. “I hear that a lot. It’s never too late to go into information sciences, you know. Although I think you’d make a great vet.”
“Yeah?” Scott asked, his whole face lighting up.
He was so pretty.
After staring for a half-second too long, Charlie nodded. “Yeah. You’re good with dogs. Good with people. If I was scared because my pet was sick or injured, I’d want someone like you there to tell me everything was going to be okay.”
Scott looked down at his shoes, blushing faintly. “Thanks, man. I think you’re the first person to say I’d be good at this.”
“Well, it’s the truth.” Charlie packed the last of the books onto the cart. “If I wander around the shelves grabbing books, will you carry them for me? The pile might get heavy.”
Scott grinned at him. “Hey, I might as well get some use out of all these construction work muscles,” he said, lifting his arm and flexing for effect.
Charlie barely stopped himself from drooling. He was happy with his body, but he wasn’t built like Scott. Scott looked like he could have bench-pressed Charlieanda stack of books without breaking a sweat.
“Well, if the whole veterinarian thing doesn’t work out, you could always take a shot at being an underwear model.”
Scott blushed all the way down to the collar of his shirt, looking down at his shoes again. “Thanks, I think.”
“It was meant as a compliment,” Charlie said. “But I let my mouth get away from me and you probably don’t wanna hear about how hot you are from another man.”
Scott laughed, still blushing. “No, uh…” he ran a hand through his hair. “I just… that’s the second time in the last few days a gay guy said something like that. Women never say that to me.”
An ugly flash of jealousy slapped Charlie across the face.
Other people were allowed to compliment Scott. Even if Scott had been gay, other people would still have been allowed to be interested, or just generally appreciative of what a beautiful man he was.
Charlie just… wanted him. He’d get over that. Hehad toget over that, if he wanted to keep him as a friend.
“Guys are a little more forward, I guess.” Charlie shrugged. “I bet women think it.”
“Maybe.” Scott rolled his shoulders back, straightening up. “Books?”
“Books,” Charlie agreed, leading him into the stacks. “There are plenty of single women in Hope Springs who’d love to meet you. I could set up some introductions if you tell me what you’re looking for.”
“Firstly, no. Nu-uh. No blind dates, I’ve seen enough movies to know how those go.”
“I didn’t say it’d be a blind date,” Charlie defended.
