As Lucas’s next reprimanding message pinged in, Oscar spied a dash of green darting past the glass window. His mouth went dry, heart clenching like it was being pressed in a fist, palms going sweaty.
Not as sweaty as Aaron’s face when he appeared alongside the booth.
Fuck, he was gorgeous. Better than Oscar remembered. His face was flushed, wet short bangs feathering his brow, plastered to his skin. He wore glasses, like his avatar, but they were a different shape, and he was wearing green.
“Running from the law?” Oscar asked.
As though this was a time to be funny. As though he wasn’t about to implode from sheer attraction. Suddenly aware that he was still sitting like an idiot while Aaron stood in the aisle between their table and the next, Oscar stood,bumping his hip into the edge of the table and biting back a curse as the future bruise traced itself out beneath his jeans.
“Hi.”
“Hi,” Aaron said.
Well, now what? They didn’t know each other well enough to hug, Oscar supposed, and shaking Aaron’s hand would be too formal. So why the fuck had he stood? He gestured at the leather seat opposite his.
“Sit,” he said, dropping back down.
Sit, he’d said. Like he was the CEO of the coffee house. Aaron shuffled in, still breathless, although reasonably paler than he’d been a second before. His nose was dotted with freckles. To Oscar they seemed like the stars, although Aaron was far too close to be the sky, close enough that Oscar could touch him if he wanted to.
Oscar wanted to.
But he was a wuss. So he wouldn’t. Instead, Oscar pushed his glass of water Aaron’s way.
“I haven’t touched it yet,” he said.
Aaron nodded, lifting it to his lips and drinking it all at once. His gulps echoed as the water went down his throat, and when he put the glass down, his lips were wet. Pink and wet and beautiful.
“Thanks,” Aaron replied, heaving out a calm breath.
“It’s not roofied or anything,” Oscar said. Forsomereason.
“I guess we’ll find out.” Aaron’s lips twitched, and the tension broke. “God, I thought you’d have left.”
“I think you have me confused. This is the church ofOscar, although I suppose thatdoesmake me…hmm…” Something lit up behind Aaron’s eyes. “Andleave? Because you were fifteen minutes late?” Oscar leaned back into the seat, letting out a puff of air. “Wow, you’re traumatized.”
“Indeed, I am.” Aaron reached for the laminated menu, tracing a line with his finger. He had freckles on his fingers,too. Oscar wanted to learn their patterns, to trace them like the connect-the-dots coloring books Papa used to get him and Lina. “I thought I’d be more late. The bus went by a little too early, and I decided to walk.”
“You have to get a bus to come here?” Oscar asked.
“It’s only fifteen minutes. But it takes far longer on foot. And I kind of forgot. Like…I haven’t been to this place before, but I looked on the map, and I kind of knewwhereI had to stop. I didn’t consider that I’m very physically unfit or that there’s an uphill segment on the route.” Aaron ran a hand through his hair. It was shorter than it had been at the clinic. “And I didn’t text you because I didn’t want to waste time.”
“I don’t have any other plans. You could have texted. I’d have waited.” Oscar shrugged. If he knew Aaron better, if he had the guts, he’d reach out and cover his hand. He wanted to do it anyway, but his gutless body disagreed, threatening him with vomit and doom. “You didn’t have to run here.”
“It’s fine. I’ll know for next time.” Aaron’s words landed in Oscar’s chest like an arrow, bursting the chrysalis that encased his heart and sending it aflutter. “Pancakes?”
“Yeah. What are you drinking?” Oscar asked.
“Coffee, of course.” Aaron’s mouth split into a grin and suddenly all the lights in the coffee house seemed dim and the sun outside second-rate.
“Whyof course?” Oscar arched an eyebrow.
“You’ll find out.” Aaron’s eyes crinkled. “Coffee and I…we’re practically an old married couple. Soulmates, if you will.”
“I didn’t know you were spoken for. Damn, now I feel like a third wheel.” Oscar wished he wasn’t so awkward, his stomach clenching. What if Aaron thought he was weird and decided running back would be more pleasant than sitting in this booth with him?
“We’re open.”
Aaron’s smile deepened, and Oscar’s stomach allowed him reprieve. He opened his mouth to say something else, but stopped as the waitress flitted to their side, eager to finally take their order.
