The Beard - 13. Chapter 13

“Now that was an interesting night.” Dale said as they made their way into the suite that Cole’s father had gotten for them. The main room was big, with plenty of room for a couch, several armchairs and even a desk. Large windows gave a beautiful view of the city outside, and after taking off his jacket and throwing it over the chair in front of the desk, he went to stand at the windows. He’d never imagined staying in a hotel room like this, nor seeing views of the city this way. It was absolutely beautiful, and worth wearing the damn tie that he quickly removed.

“You had fun.” Cole said from behind him. Dale could see his tall reflection a couple of paces behind him, and he shivered at the beautiful image the window reflected.

“I did.” Dale agreed. “That Davey was a blast.”

“You and he got along very well.” Cole agreed. “Brian and I actually got along tonight. He told me he might have misjudged me after last time.”

“Oh?” Dale asked. The tall, blond man was a fair-haired version of Cole’s handsomeness, and Dale had to wonder if Cole would look half as good in his forties.

“Yeah, he said he thought I was rather shallow the last time we met, and more interested in the politics than the people behind the politics.” Cole said with a loud exhalation of air. “I swear, I’ve never met two more blunt people in the business. No wonder neither of them ever ran for office. They’d tell the voters they are the problem with our society.”

“Well, they are.” Dale said with a laugh of his own as he stepped out of the dress shoes to relieve the pain in his feet. The shoes fit well, but standing in them for most of the last twelve hours was just too much. “Didn’t you hear the discussion I had with Mr. Jones? He finally convinced me in the end.”

“Jesus, why did you keep calling him that instead of Davey?” Cole laughed again. “I thought he was going to strangle you after the sixth time he said to use ‘Davey’ and you didn’t.”

“I was hoping I’d break his concentration and win the argument.” Dale admitted with a shake of his head. “The guy’s good.”

“He’s had a long time to sharpen his debating skills.” Cole said, taking a step closer towards Dale. Now Dale could feel Cole standing behind him. It was one of those moments that happened from time to time, when Cole would stand too close, or be too affectionate while they weren’t in public. “Can you believe how long they’ve been a couple?”

“Since the seventh grade, it’s unbelievable.” Dale agreed with a shake of his head. “I think their kids are just gorgeous too. Those girls would charm the socks off of anyone. When they hit puberty they’re going to break a lot of hearts.”

“Yes, they will.” Cole agreed, and Dale could see him move in the window’s reflection. That was the only reason he didn’t jump when Cole’s hand landed on his shoulder. “I…Dale, I think I need to apologize to you.”

“To me?” Dale asked with a slight squeak in his voice. There was a sudden tension in the room that had not been there just moments ago. Their eyes were meeting through the reflections in the window as they spoke.

“Yes, to you.” Cole affirmed. “I’m sorry Dale, for getting you involved in all this, with this whole beard thing. It was wrong of me.”

“I accept the apology, but I’m partly to blame too.” Dale said firmly. “I could have said no and I didn’t. When you explained your rationale, I said ‘yes’ to this whole mess. Besides, look at how much better my life has gotten since we did this. Most people would say I’ve made out like a bandit for my part, and well, my mother’s so much happier now. I wouldn’t want to take that away from her. Life’s been so unfair to her over the last few years. If I have to live my life with it being a little unfair to make things better for her, then so be it.”

“It’s amazing what we do for our parents, isn’t it?” Cole said with a sigh as he lowered his hand back to his side, off of Dale’s shoulder. Their eyes still met in the reflection though, and Dale felt a stab of guilt at what looked like the beginning of tears in Cole’s.

“Yeah, well, they’ve done a lot for us, right?” Dale answered, adding his own question as an answer.

“They have.” Cole agreed with a sigh. Then he turned away, facing towards the couches and this time Dale also turned away from the window, putting his hand on Cole’s elbow.

“What is it Cole?” Dale asked gently. “Something’s been eating at you ever since we left the Foundation party.”

“You don’t want to hear it.” Cole said in a resigned voice that also held a hint of anger to it. He jerked his arm out of Dale’s grasp and went to sit down on the dark leather couch, putting his feet up on the coffee table in front of it and looking out the windows with a dark expression.

“What the hell?” Dale said with shock as he watched Cole for a moment.

“I understand I’ve probably pissed you off with how this whole deception has unfolded, and you’ve made it clear you don’t want to hear anything serious, so why don’t you just go to bed and leave me alone?” Cole said miserably and Dale felt some more guilt creep up on him.

“What are you talking about?” Dale said with confusion. “I thought we settled this. I’m not going to ruin this for you.”

“Well maybe I don’t want to do this anymore.” Cole said angrily, still not looking at Dale. “I should never have done this in the first place.”

“What?” Dale exclaimed in confusion.

“I said I should never have done this, or I should have at least been honest from the first.” Cole said. Dale moved closer to him, choosing to sit on the couch, just a hand-width away from Cole. The pain in that handsome face reached out to him, and he couldn’t just ignore it.

“What’s the matter Cole?” Dale asked with compassion in his voice. He was tempted, and decided to give in to the temptation, reaching out to take Cole’s left hand in both of his. “Please, if you need to talk about it, we are friends, right?”

“Yeah, friends.” Cole said with a little snort, but he didn’t take his hand out of Dale’s. In fact, he leaned just a little closer to Dale so their shoulders touched, even though Dale was half-turned towards him. It was a very intimate position.

“So, share.” Dale said firmly, although some part of him was afraid to hear whatever it was Cole had to say.

“You know, I told my dad the truth that night.” Cole said with another sigh. “I really am bisexual. So, us dating, well, it’s not that much of a stretch for me after all. The reason I asked you to do this, well, I’ve always been a little attracted to you ever since I first saw you, and of all the people in the school, you’re the one I kept on wanting to ask out – just never had the guts to do it.”

“Why not?” Dale asked, stunned and yet not really surprised at what Cole had admitted. He’d known deep down this was true about Cole, although not about Cole’s real interest in him. It was embarrassing in a way.

“Well, there’s the whole ‘liking guys’ thing.” Cole said with a slight shrug. “Sure, I got away with it during this year, but two years ago?”

“Two years?” Dale was shocked by that. “You’ve wanted to ask me out since we were freshmen?”

“Yes.” Cole admitted, looking down at his lap as his hand squeezed Dale’s.

“Oh, wow.” Dale said, sitting back a bit to put space between them, although he kept his hands around Cole’s. “Why didn’t you?”

“Fuck, Dale, were you even out in our freshman year?” Cole asked him.

“No.” Dale admitted with a frown.

“Yeah, well, plus I’m the Congressman’s son.” Cole added a great deal of bitterness to those last two words, something Dale had never heard before, and there was moisture in Cole’s eyes as well. “I figured out pretty early I was bi, and you know, it didn’t really scare me all that much. With dad, and going to these conventions and stuff, I wasn’t afraid about being gay or anything, but you know, well, I was lucky ‘cause I was attracted to both guys and girls. I could just choose to ignore the gay part of me and focus on the girls, and it worked pretty much. Besides, I’m not really attracted to most of the guys I hang around, even Glen.”

“God I hope you weren’t attracted to him.” Dale said with a snort, and was glad to see the little smile form on Cole’s face.

“Well, there’s always been a bit of a physical attraction.” Cole admitted. “He is easy on the eyes, you know.”

“Yeah, but that’s about all.” Dale retorted. “Still, I can now kind of see why you’re such good friends with him.”

“I never really had to wonder what sex with guys or girls was like, I heard all about it from him.” Cole laughed. “It gave me a lot of material for the imagination late at night when I was alone.”

“I bet it did.” Dale chuckled, shaking his head as he did so. “So, when you asked me out, why didn’t you just tell me all this?”

“I didn’t want you to get your hopes up.” Cole said with a heavy sigh, and he looked away from Dale.

“What do you mean?” Dale asked with a frown.

“Dale, I’ve always wanted… I want a family.” Cole said with a heavy sigh, still looking away from Dale. “It’s more than just image, and yes I know gay people can have families, but I–I wanted it to be real. You know, the whole meet a woman, fall in love, get married, have kids and all that.”

“So you didn’t ask me out for real because you won’t want to ever marry me or anything like that because I’m not a woman.” Dale said with a sinking feeling.

“Yeah, that’s right, but, well, things can change, you know.” Cole said with another of those heavy sighs, and he still wasn’t looking at Dale.

“How’s that?” Dale asked.

“I like you.” Cole sighed. “Like I said, I’ve always been attracted to you, but the real you, it’s even better than I expected. I think I’ve fallen in love with you.”

“You’ve fallen in love with me?” Dale asked with disbelief.

“Yeah, it’s kind of funny when you step back and look at it.” Cole sighed again, and this time he looked over at Dale with a sheepish expression on his face. “Here I am asking you to play this game, while secretly getting what I’ve always wanted, to date you, and there’s probably no chance in hell you like me that same way now. Then, seeing Davey and Brian tonight, you could just see how much they love each other, and how happy they are together, and their daughters… well, in them I kind of saw how we could be. I mean, they were like in love all through school and made a life together, so it kind of showed me that we could too, but, well, you’re not interested me in that way. You’re interested in Jeremy, and I’ve really fucking messed up, haven’t I?”

“So, because you saw those two guys tonight you’ve changed your mind about what you want in the future?” Dale asked with disbelief. “C’mon, you’ve got to have met gay couples like them before.”

“Yeah, but I never saw myself in them.” Cole sighed. “Tonight I did, and I think I’ve been kind of stupid these last few months.”

“Try the last few years.” Dale snorted.

“You’re being awful nice to me right now.” Cole said sarcastically, and his lips twitched upward.

“I’m the nice guy, remember?” Dale said as a joke and the smile came into full bloom on Cole’s face. The contrast nearly took Dale’s breath away, and he felt deeply conflicted at that moment. “So, what are we talking about here?”

“I want to date you, for real.” Cole said as the smile slipped off his face. “I know I don’t have any right to ask that after the last few months, and I know you’re interested in Jeremy, but I’d like a shot.”

“What about this dream about the wife, kids and the picket fence?” Dale asked while his eyebrows furrowed slightly.

“I love how you do that.” Cole said softly, and now he did take his hand out of Dale’s to brush his fingers along Dale’s eyebrows. “You look so cute that way. When we were working on that project together, you’d do it every time you tried to figure out how to put something into the computer for the presentation program. I wanted to do this every single one of those times.”

“You could have fooled me.” Dale said, realizing his voice was getting huskier, and his pants a heck of a lot tighter at the feeling of Dale’s fingers on his face. “I kept on thinking you were uncomfortable working with me.”

“That was me trying to keep from doing this.” Cole said as his slender fingers caressed the side of Dale’s face. “I really do like you, and if there was anyone who could convince me that the wife and kids path isn’t the one for me, I think it’d be you.”

“That’s nice to hear.” Dale said as he reached up and gently grabbed Cole’s wrist, pulling that hand away from his face. “I’m not sure though. Is it what you really want or is it for some other reason.”

“What other reason would it be?” Cole asked with a frown, putting his hand back in his lap, a place Dale was doing his best not to look. Part of him wanted to see if Cole was having the same reaction as he was, but he didn’t dare or he’d lose all of his self-control that was keeping him from leaping into Cole’s arms, figuratively as well as literally.

“You didn’t get this way until I told you about Jeremy, who’s being a jerk lately, by the way.” Dale said, and then frowned as he wondered why he said the last part of the sentence. Cole didn’t need to hear that right now, and sure enough the words had put a look of hope on Cole’s face. “Besides, just because those two guys made it work between them ever since they were kids, doesn’t mean we will. You might be safer off with that hypothetical woman.”

“That’s the thing.” Cole said, his face showing determination. “I’ve not yet met a girl that makes me feel like you. When we’re together, I’m happier. Even dad’s noticed that and he barely sees us together at all.”

“Your dad told you that?” Dale asked with surprise.

“Yes, he did.” Cole assured him. “Another thing. I think that ‘dream’ of mine was just me trying to present the best image for my father, and everyone else. I’ve always been reminded to keep a good image for dad, as well as myself, and having a wife would do that.”

“Then what do you want?” Dale asked and Cole shifted slightly in his seat, turning so that he faced Dale more directly.

“I…I want someone that can make me happy.” Cole answered after a long moment.

“Isn’t that… selfish?” Dale asked with a frown. “I mean, what happened to presenting the right image?”

“It… my mother said something to me the other week.” Cole said with a sigh and a slight frown on his face. “She was worried about us, about how we were getting along. At first I wasn’t sure what she meant, but I think what she was trying to tell me that day was that I shouldn’t push you so hard on presenting the right image, that we both had to be happy in our relationship or it would be just empty, and in the end we’d both suffer. I don’t think she had any idea how right she was, but that’s what the last few weeks have been like for me, just going through the motions, and I think that’s the trap with worrying about what other people think. If I try to pick someone that will make others happy, I’m going to end up unhappy.”

“So you turn that into wanting to ask me out?” Dale asked with a confused shake of his head.

“The reason I’ve been feeling unhappy the last few weeks is because I didn’t have the nerve to just ask you out instead of this whole charade thing.” Cole said in a voice that held more than a hint of anger. He slapped his hands down on the leather of the couch and stood up with a big exhalation. Then he started pacing. “How the fuck could I have been such a god-damn idiot?”

“You’re cussing an awful lot there.” Dale said with a slightly sardonic grin on his face. Seeing Cole like this was amusing, and exhilarating.

“Yeah, I like to cuss.” Cole replied as he stopped pacing and stood with his hands on his hips as he looked at Dale. “Have I ever told you that I think you’re handsome?”

“So says the best looking guy in our school.” Dale snorted.

“No, seriously.” Cole said. “I have to work at it, keeping up the looks. It’s part of who I’ve always been, but you, I mean, you’ve got this whole ‘normal guy’ look going all the time.”

“Yeah, well I think you’re the one most people look at when we’re together.” Dale retorted with a slight blush.

“Good, then they’re not looking at you and plotting how to steal you away from me.” Cole said with a grimace that made Dale a little frightened.

“Cole, I’m not some possession of yours, even if we do date for real.” Dale said with a warning tone.

“So you’re at least thinking about it?” Cole said with a suddenly excited tone.

“I–I–I guess so.” Dale said with a sigh.

“What about Jeremy?” Cole asked with a frown. “I mean, I know you like him too. You said so.”

“Yeah, well, like I said he’s been a jerk lately.” Dale shrugged.

“But what if he stops being a jerk?” Cole asked. “Would that mean you’d dump me for him?”

“No!” Dale nearly shouted in surprise. “I’d never be that mean.”

“You kept talking about breaking up with me as soon as the election was over.” Cole said as he walked back towards the couch and sat down again. This time he sat very close to Dale, and he was the one who took Dale’s hand in his. Dale’s hand felt warm as it was covered by Cole’s. “I thought you were counting down the days until you were free of me.”

“That’s silly.” Dale said with a shake of his head. “No, I wasn’t doing that. It’s just… I wanted to make sure you understood I wasn’t… falling for you or anything, that I wouldn’t be all clingy when this whole thing was done with.”

“Were you falling for me?” Cole asked as he began to rub Dale’s hand.

“You can be really nice when you try.” Dale said with a sigh as he closed his eyes and enjoyed the contact of Cole’s hands over his. “Like the dates we’ve been on the last few weeks. There were moments when I forgot we were just faking it, and imagined we really were on a date.”

“Want to hear a secret?” Cole’s voice was just a whisper in Dale’s ear, and he realized Cole must be leaning in to him. The close contact made Dale’s pants even tighter and he barely kept from moaning.

“Yes.” Dale’s voice was husky, and he almost felt dizzy.

“We were on real dates.” Cole whispered into his ear, causing Dale to shudder in a very good way.

“How’s that?” Dale asked.

“I meant them to be real dates, just like any girl I ever dated.” Cole whispered. “More than that, really, because I don’t think I ever wanted any of them to date me as much as I want you.”

“You are just too good with words.” Dale whispered back as he felt his cheeks blush even more.

“Then shut me up.” Cole whispered and Dale took a deep breath before turning so their eyes met, and he could see both the twinkle of laughter and the desire in Cole’s eyes. He was so handsome, and in that moment Dale found he didn’t care about anything else. This time it was he who leaned forward, placing his lips gently on Cole’s.

They were as silky smooth as any other time they’d kissed, but there was something different about this kiss, a kiss that quickly deepened as Cole wrapped his arms around Dale at the same time as he leaned forward. Dale met his motion by leaning backwards, so he was lying on the couch with Cole on top of him, with their tongues wrestling as they kissed.

He was fully hard now, and he didn’t care if Cole noticed it because he could feel Cole’s erection as Cole began gently thrusting against him. Every nerve in Dale’s body was on fire as they broke their kiss only to have Cole begin kissing down Dale’s neck. Somehow their hands were still clasped together, with their fingers now interlocked, and Dale couldn’t ever remember feeling this way before.

“Oh god.” Dale murmured as Cole reached the collar of his shirt and began to nibble against his neck while still thrusting gently against him. Even with their pants still on, they could feel each other’s erections, and Dale had no doubts now that Cole was interested in him.

“You taste so good.” Cole murmured as he stopped kissing Dale for a moment. His head came back up into Dale’s view, and there was a big smile on his face.

“I think I could get use to this.” Dale whispered and Cole’s smile grew even wider.

“Me too.” Cole murmured, pushing his hips deeper against Dale’s. “I’ve never really done this before, you know.”

“What, kiss?” Dale murmured.

“No, this.” Cole said as he thrust his hips again. “I’ve always made sure the person I was with was sitting up and so was I, that way I wasn’t tempted to go further.”

“Are you tempted to go further now?” Dale asked.

“Fuck yes.” Cole growled, and his lips were locked on Dale’s again. They kissed that way, with Dale pushing his hips against Cole’s every now and then, and the passion inside Dale grew with each passing moment. His lips began to ache slightly from the pressure of Cole’s, and it felt good.

When the knock on the door sounded, Cole let out a screech as he jumped off of Dale to land on the floor next to the couch. Dale was left gasping, and then laughing as Cole struggled to get up off the ground. The next knock was even louder.

“This better be fucking good.” Cole growled as he stalked towards the suite’s main door. Dale tried to call out a warning, but he was giggling too hard. Cole’s shirt was half-untucked, and somehow Dale must have managed to unbutton the top four buttons while they were making out. From the glimpse that he got, Cole’s erection was still at full force, and that made it very, very visible.

“I hope… nope, make that sorry for interrupting.” The somewhat familiar voice of Glen said with unsuppressed mirth as Cole answered the door angrily. As soon as he heard the voice, Dale was sitting up on the couch, untucking his shirt so it covered his crotch and hastily buttoning up his shirt. Cole had managed to release all but the lowest of the buttons.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Cole growled as Glen swept into the room. Then it was Dale’s turn to be surprised as Jer followed Glen a second later, carrying two duffel bags and dragging a rolling suitcase behind him.

“Would you believe the hotel doesn’t have any rooms available?” Glen said with a shake of his head. “Lucky for us we saw your father downstairs and he mentioned you two have two bedrooms in this suite. You don’t mind if my new buddy and I sleep here with you, do you?”

“What are you doing here with him, Jer?” Dale asked as he gained control of his surprise. His big blond friend was standing there, looking around the room, and definitely trying not to look directly at Dale. He had a pained expression on his face.

“You mean this big lug here?” Glen said with his usual insensitivity. “I went and looked him up, of course. After our last little conversation, I had to know if he was going to be trouble for my best friend. Turns out he’s a handsome big lug, and well we kind of hit it off. We were bored back home this weekend, so we drove down here.”

“Wait a minute, you and him… you’re…” Cole stammered.

“I’m sorry Dale, but you made it clear that…” Jer started to say in a rush as his cheeks grew rosy.

“No, don’t even say it, Jer.” Dale said as he stood up. “What the hell are you doing here, and don’t give me any bullshit story about being bored.”

“It was my idea.” Glen said calmly, stepping in front of Jer as if to protect him from Dale.

“Why are you here, Glen?” Cole asked from behind them.

“It’s because of your boy-toy, Cole.” Glen said with a sigh. “He’s feeling guilty because we’ve been fucking around behind your backs and he wanted to make a confession to Dale.”

“You could have waited until we got back.” Cole said as Jer hung his head while Glen talked.

“I didn’t want to wait anymore.” Jer said meekly. “I couldn’t do it again until I’d told you.”

“Done what again?” Dale asked.

“Fucked my brains out.” Glen said firmly. “Dale, you have no idea what you’re missing out on. This guy can fuck like a fucking train.”

“Glen.” Jer said in a low tone as he blushed even more. Dale had no idea he could blush like that.

“What, you’re looking for my permission?” Dale asked in disbelief.

“Uh, I did kind of make a promise to you.” Jer said.

“Look, Jer, I never expected you to wait for me.” Dale said as he felt something lift off from his chest. To be honest, Jer had been the one sticky point in pursuing Cole for real. “If you want to fuck Glen, you have my blessing.”

“See, told you so, you big lug.” Glen said. “Now, let’s get settled in our room and get you out of your clothes.”

“Thanks Dale.” Jer said with a sudden grin as he turned, still carrying the bags and pulling the suitcase to head towards one of the bedrooms.

“Not that one.” Cole said instantly. “That’s mine.”

“Let me get my stuff.” Dale said at the same instant.

“What, you still haven’t fucked him?” Glen asked Cole who blushed.

“Who knows what would have happened if you and your latest fuck-boy hadn’t barged in here.”

“Hey.” Jer said to Cole with a hurt look.

“Sorry, Jeremy, didn’t mean to make you sound that way.” Cole said instantly.

“Fine, get your stuff lover-boy.” Glen said impatiently, and Dale didn’t wait long before he headed towards the room that had been his. He just grabbed a few things, the suit he’d wear tomorrow, and a pair of flannel pants he had for pajamas, and by the time he reached the door, Glen and Jer were already trying to get in the room.

“Thanks again.” Jer said before he shut the door in Dale’s face.

“What the fuck?” Dale asked in confusion, his head spinning.