Attraction - 8. Chapter 8 – Romantic Heart

We did not do everything that night and it was not for lack of enthusiasm from Kent’s side. Nor mine for that matter. Much of that night and next morning we spent in bed, acquainting ourselves with each other’s bodies. I felt so self-conscious comparing my unwanted soft spots vs. the hard ridges that covered Mr. Hot Shot. Thankfully, he seemed to find everything delicious. Quite literally, for not one inch of my body did he not lick or bite or both. He seemed to do a lot of things by instinct, not needing much guidance from me. But there are aspects of gay sex one needs easing into. And since neither of us wanted anything about our coupling to be imperfect we decided to hold off on complete consummation. You see I had never let anyone be inside me. It must be a surprise, it was for Kent too. I have been kind of holding off on that one aspect of sex till I met the love of my life. I was very serious about it and Kent seemed to treat it with utmost respect. In fact there was a wild gleam in his eyes as he processed what I said. Was I encouraging a predator here? I hoped not. We still had a memorable time, quite likely the best I had had with anyone, before he had to leave for Seattle.

It was painful saying bye to him. To think that only a week ago he had been a complete stranger. I sat and processed that bit of information as Jon kept sending a barrage of messages going, telling me how much he missed me, and repeating all the things we did; all the times I had yelped out of ticklishness. We were so completely enamored with everything that had happened that next weekend seemed too far away. What was this guy doing to me? He called me as soon as he was in his house in Seattle and we kept talking well into the night, neither of us caring that work next day would suffer for our lack of sleep. To Kent’s point, we were going to stay awake thinking of each other anyhow, why not use the time wisely and fall asleep hearing each other’s voice.

Next morning as Brent, the Starbuck’s barista greeted me with a smile; he wiggled his eyebrows wondering if I had done too much partying over the weekend. I could only return a weak smile because what I was feeling was not much different from being hung over. All through my train ride and walking to the office, things Kent and I did filled my thoughts.

Trevor ran into me as soon as I entered the building and stopped midway in his stride. He gave me a head to toe look to say,

“Did Kent stay back?” Then he smiled impishly.

It took a moment for his joke become clear and I flipped him for it.

“He did. But we talked on phone.”

Clasping his hands he looked up, “Thank God for unlimited talk & text.”

I flipped him again and went to my desk. But yea, thank God for unlimited talk and text. Over the coming weeks I also thanked face time and Skype with equal gratitude, if not more.

My days and nights were filled with Kent, regardless of the day of the week, whether we were together physically or not. I started meeting Jenny on weekdays too, so as to keep my time with Kent free of any other commitments. Not that we did not meet other people. Every time he was down in Portland we would meet Trevor and Cara and sometimes also Jenny for either a lunch or a dinner. Both of us liked to be around other friends so it wasn’t an imposition. Once we went clubbing with my gay gang, Jenny also came.

Kent was doing all the traveling and although I wasn’t against going to meet him, I was reluctant to suggest it myself and waited for him to invite me. As with anything with me, it soon became a matter of great importance, something for me to stew over. It was over a month since we met and Jenny the snoopy bitch picked up on the particular detail.

“Say, does Kent not have good living arrangements in Seattle?”

“He does.”

“You lazy cow, why don’t you go over there one of these days instead of making him do all the driving .”

I just shrugged and said, “He never invited me.”

Jenny threw up her hands in the air. This dramatic gesture was made sitting on the sidewalk set tables of a Sushi joint. A few passersby took notice but didn’t care.

“You are impossible, Jon. Why can’t you ask him yourself?”

“I think he does not want me to go there.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Generally if he wants something he says so.”

Jenny realized the truth of my statement.

“Do you want to go?”

I nodded as an Ngiri vanished inside my mouth.

“Then what’s the harm in you doing the asking?”

I nodded again, chewing my food without answering her. Gosh, Kent was rubbing off on me.

“Jon, you need to talk to the person you are in a relationship with. Ok? You’ve gotta let him in.”

Jenny was sounding different, a little mellow. I narrowed my eyes at her. It dawned on me that she had asked to meet tonight unlike most times when I organize the time and place. So engrossed had I been in my Hot Shot saga that I was ignoring my friend and what might be going on in her life. An epiphany stuck and I decided to test my psychic powers,

“You’ve met someone” I accused.

Jenny was taken aback at my sudden finger pointing and choked on her Asahi. Wiping her mouth she smiled and said, “Yes.”

“You bitch, you’ve been holding out on me. Go on, out with it.”

Summertime in Portland, romance was everywhere. Couples, gay and straight, reveled in each other’s company all over the city’s streets and parks. Young and old enjoyed existing partnerships or sought new ones. Jenny, in the latter group till last week had met a chap on a night out with her girlfriends. He was going to PSU and allegedly a great dancer. Jenny was a sucker for movers. I suspected he was a bit on the young side but did not want to dampen my friend’s spirits. Let her enjoy this summer fling, I thought.

At night during our Skype session I told Kent all about Jenny’s new boy toy.

“Hey! That's mean?”

“Well that’s who I think he is. All Jenny could talk about was his great abs and cute face. Oh, and his killer moves.”

“You sound jealous.”

“Jealous? Why should I be jealous? I’m happy for her, she deserves her fun.”

“Hmm..” I guess I was rubbing off on Kent too as this was so my tone. “What else did you talk about?”

I went cagey and said, “Things”, adding a shrug for effect.

“What things?” It was impossible to get anything past this guy.

I sighed, “Jenny was asking me why I haven’t ever come to Seattle to see you, why you have to come every time.”

“Good question, why haven’t you?”

That annoyed me, “you never asked.”

“Neither did you. I assumed you wanted to keep it on your home turf.”

“What does that mean?” We had already gotten into arguments a few times, this wasn't first.

“It means” he explained calmly, “that I thought you like it better when I come and stay at your place, going to places you are comfortable in.”

“Oh so this is again about me isn’t it? Protect the screw up Jon. I have been to Seattle loads of times, OK? In fact I’d love to go to some of the clubs there with you.” I said accusatorily.

“Then who’s stopping you? Come down this week.”

There, the fight went out of me. Kent noticed that and managed to give his soulful look even across the stupid computer and hundreds of miles that separated us.

“We’ll make a trip or something, go to Mt. Rainier. What say? Will you come?” he truly wanted me to come, I could tell. He then moved in for the kill.

“God, I would love to have you in my bed, I’ve only had my memories of you for company so far.” His voice had turned all sultry. It managed to get me hot and bothered every single time.

Even as I let myself be cajoled and seduced by this Hot Shot who proved every day, inadvertently, that he was too good for me, I thought, God, am I altogether too lucky to have someone who I can be completely stupid around? Who has that?