“He was worth the wait,” I said with a hum. A milky cloud swirled in my coffee, and I poised the mug in the air for dramatic effect. “No exaggeration, I think he was the sexiest man I’ve seen all year.”
“Present company and your boyfriend excluded, of course.”
I took a sip from the mug, then nodded. “Goes without saying.”
“Give me the details. Who was this hunk?”
I smiled at the memory of Grayson. “He hadn’t been to the club before. Just got out of a relationship, I guess. He was a bit younger, cute as all hell with those dimples Demir just eats up.” I paused to grin, showing off my own dimples. “But there was something about him. He said he was nervous going out for the first time in a while, but he still had this maturity that really struck me.” I thought about it, trying to explain. “It was like I knew I could trust him, right off the bat.”
“You love a good, solid man,” Alex agreed. “And the sex was fun?”
I nodded. “We just played around a little. We didn’t go very far.” I thought about whether to mention the next part and quickly decided Alex was the right person to confide in. He’d been my best friend for years and had never spilled my gossip to our other friends. “He’s a trans guy,” I added, “although I didn’t realize that until we started hooking up.”
“Oh!” Alex thought about it, scrunching up his brow. “You dated a trans guy before, didn’t you?”
“Right before Demir,” I said, “but only very briefly. I should definitely be more educated, but I wasn’t totally out my comfort zone, either.”
“Will you see him again?”
I shrugged. “Unlikely, I would say. We didn’t exchange numbers afterward, and I don’t get the impression he’s going to come back every Saturday.” It pained me a little to admit it, remembering how good that touch had felt between the three of us, but not as much as it would probably pain me to sit around wishing Grayson would reappear every weekend.
I leaned across the counter, dropping my voice. “My sex life with Demir has been off the charts since it happened, though. As in I’m going through three pairs of underwear a day, you get what I’m saying?”
Alex laughed, then grabbed my hands. For a moment, my mind flashed to turning twenty, the night I had spotted him across a dance floor, flirting with the guy I had been chasing all month. We’d both been in full club regalia that night, with our makeup popping and our tightest looks on. For a split second, I believed I had met my nemesis, but then Alex and I found each other on the dance floor.
Three sweaty songs and an unforgettable dance-off later, we were best friends. Having someone who understood my experiences as a femme gay man was lifesaving, and the fact that we could dish about our sex lives so comfortably was always the icing on the cake.
“Is that enough gossip to distract you from inventory for a bit?” I teased.
Alex released my hands and crossed his arms over his chest. “Hardly,” he joked. “I’d need a lot more details about that threesome. But I won’t hound you now. How’s your work going?”
I rolled my eyes. “Another digital ad for the dance party.”
Alex cast his eyes around The Forty-Eight. “Remember when this wasn’t a dance club? And there was always an open table?” He chuckled. “Not that I’m complaining, exactly. I’m making as much in tips on the average Saturday night as I used to make over a busy weekend. But I wouldn’t mind a shift back in the other direction at some point.”
“I never wanted to manage the media and promotion for something like this,” I acknowledged. “I always cared about style and design, not marketing and social media metrics. But speaking of those tips you’re earning—can I tell you a business secret?”
Alex waggled his eyebrows. Insider info on the club was his second favorite type of gossip.
“Our profits have been through the roof, too,” I said. “And I think we’re going to make another large investment in the space.”
“What else could you possibly build here?”
I bit down on my bottom lip, nervous to hear Alex’s reaction to a plan I’d only discussed with Demir. “A proper dance floor? Almost like a dance hall? It would be a major addition, a second floor above this one with its own bar space.”
Alex let out a slow whistle. “Well, it would help accommodate the crowd.”
“Overflow,” I agreed. “And the line for the bar is impossible, I don’t need to tell you.”
“I’d welcome a second spot upstairs,” he said, nodding. “Wow, I’m surprised though. Is this Demir’s idea, or yours?”
“A little of both. It seems like the obvious move, and our accountant tells us the numbers are there.” I laughed, remembering her expression. “It’s apparently a ripe time.”
“You’ll be doing a hell of a lot more of those flyers, then.”
I let out a puff of air. “You don’t have to tell me. But we figured might as well lean in instead of fighting the change. It’s not like we can have the hottest new underdog club in Philadelphia again, anyway. Those days are long gone.”
“And we’re still here,” Alex said, lifting his own mug of coffee in the air.
“And we’re still here,” I agreed, clinking my mug with his. But as I finished my drink and prepared to return to work, I couldn’t help but feel a little sad, too. The addition would mean more years of hard work, and much less time with my man than I preferred. I knew the rewards would be there and that the money would provide for our futures, but I wasn’t feeling the magic of those first years, when Demir’s passion and our new love made everything seem exciting and right.
There will still be time for romance and fun, I told myself.Just as soon as the work is finished.
