We got through all the awkward date stuff pretty easily. Irving got the tickets, insisting that he should because he was the one to ask me out, and I got us sodas and candy to say thanks for the ticket. I did most of the talking, just babbling on about every thought that crossed my mind, but Irving did a better job keeping up than I had expected. He even got in a couple of deadpan jokes, earning him a little more of my admiration.
“This is going to be amazing,” I said as we took our seats.
“So good itHertz,” he answered, nailing the laser pun.
We had a while to go before the laser show started. The auditorium was pretty dimly lit, and seated side by side like in the car, it was a little harder for Irving to get nervous and stare at the floor. The more he came out of his shell, the more I liked him. I was even beginning to realize he was happier than he usually looked, which was a relief.
“I caught the vandals,” I offered. “Or I guess that guy from the bar caught them, but I saw the whole thing.”
“Brick?”
“Yeah. I know you said he was an asshole, and I guess maybe he is, but I paid him fifty dollars to keep an eye on the shop when he was working at the bar. When I was hiding out last night, he caught the guys and gave them a piece of his mind.”
Irving frowned, and I suddenly wished I actually could see his face. I didn’t know how to read him yet, but the way his body shied away from me, I worried I had said something that upset him.
“That’s good,” he finally said. “You won’t have to deal with those guys again.”
I held out the bag of chocolates, offering him one, which he popped in his mouth. “Maybe. They got into an argument with Brick and threatened him with some guy’s name and a story about Philadelphia. I didn’t catch the whole thing, but it seemed like it shook him up pretty bad. He was out there kicking the wall and cursing about it for a solid five minutes.”
“What was the name?”
“I don’t remember. I wrote everything they said down while it was happening, though.” I tapped the side of my head. “Didn’t want to miss any clues, you know?”
Irving twisted his Converse, toeing the auditorium floor while pop music serenaded us over the speakers. I thought about what he had told me about Brick. Apparently, he had thought Brick was flirting with him, and then Brick had been an asshole in shooting him down. It made me really doubt Brick, even though he had shown up in a big way to help us out with the store the night before. I knew what it was like to have Irving ask you out, and it was nothing to be a dick about. Irving was gentle, even if he didn’t know enough to smile. Why couldn’t Brick just be nice to him?
“I guess you have to keep a look out,” Irving said. “There’s definitely more to the story, and your shop doesn’t seem to be in the clear quite yet.”
“I guess so,” I agreed.
The lights flickered and then dimmed further. In just a moment, the music started growing louder, the first beats of a disco-themed night of laser lights pumping through the auditorium. The lights flared and spun above us, and I bounced in my seat.
I leaned in close to Irving, rubbing shoulders with him. “Thanks again for bringing me here. I’m having a really nice time.” It felt good to be cuddled up close to him, and I felt my cock rising to attention. Suddenly, the space we shared felt way more intimate and way more like a proper date.
Irving leaned a little closer in response, our bodies warming together. “Thanks for coming.”
I grinned, staring up at the lights and tapping my foot to the music, and glad that I had the rest of the show to enjoy myself and Irving’s company.If dates are always this much fun, I thought,I really need to start putting myself out there more often.
