1550 Loring Lane - 3. Chapter 3 - Prince Ladd

Chapter 3 – Prince Ladd

A man in a bright blue gingham shirt was sitting in the middle of Loring Park furiously sketching. In front of him was the lake itself, shimmering in the warm afternoon sun with a bright golden color. Around this man there were trees with leaves in bright reds, browns, and yellows. Beside him was a garden with the last blooms of October hanging on for dear life in these last warm days of October.

The gingham shirted man wasn’t sketching any of these things. Instead, he was working diligently on some figures, a young prince, hair the color of flax and a tunic of deep purple. He was trying to get the features of the face just right. This was his first chance at being published and he didn’t want to screw it up. Kyle was sure this little series of comics published in the regional gay magazine would start his career as an artist. If he got this right, he’d have a shot at getting even better gigs with doing illustrations for art shows and even maybe some cool websites.

Kyle sat back and pushed his rolled sleeves further up his arms. The afternoon sun was so delicious on his freckled skin. He was just losing the remnants of his summer tan and tomorrow the forecasters promised, the first bite of winter would hit. Just a freezing rain, but it would be a taste of the long cold Minnesota winter that must be endured until April.

Now, the gingham shirted man thought, I need Prince Ladd’s competing consorts. He’d gotten the idea of a modernized gay romance tale stuck in his head and luckily the editor of of the magazine had agreed to publish it. Just three short tableaus with several cells for each issue. Prince Ladd was going to be handsome, even beautiful, but he would also be strong, discriminating, and sharp. The prince may be looking for love but it wasn’t going to be that simple fairy tale love. No, Prince Ladd would demand his suitors court him and earn his love.

Two knights, Kyle thought, could compete for the prince’s attention. No, not two knights. A knight and a wizard. That would be different. And there would be two quests and at the end a battle for the heart of Prince Ladd. Kyle smiled at that. It could be modernized but to fit the genre it would still have to be a silly little love story. That was okay. It was the illustrations that mattered.

Kyle paused and pictured the knight. He’d be a dark haired man, a warrior with a beard and short hair. The knight would be strong, brave, and resourceful. What about the wizard? The wizard would be a sandy blond man who was cunning, intelligent, and passionate.

Kyle quickly sketched outlines of the two men, so different, yet so archetypical. It was best to keep the types true to form and make their behaviors different, more realistic. The warrior would have a strong name like Sir Hunter the Magnificent. The wizard would be Mage Trace the Indomitable. Okay, maybe Kyle would just call them Hunter and Trace. Prince Ladd would have to choose which one would be his consort to rule the kingdom.

Kyle chuckled as he finished up his outlines and put away his pencils. This was really kind of silly, but it was also something that people loved to look at and read. It would display his broad ability to use shape, color, and form.

He’d decided the first quest Prince Ladd charged the two with was to get a magic potion to wake his enchanted sisters. Prince Ladd wanted to resurrect his two sister who’d been cursed by an evil witch named Maudlin. Okay, gotta work on that some. Creating characters wasn’t as easy as it looked.

Tomorrow he’d work on it, but in the meantime, it was happy hour at the Saloon. It was time to get a couple of cocktails and see who was out and about.

***************

The next morning, Kyle heard the alarm go off and hit snooze a few times. His head was killing him. Kyle climbed out of bed and made his way to the kitchen. Outside, he could hear the tip-tapping sound of sleet on the windows. He looked outside and saw a glistening world encased in ice. The trees were covered in a thin sheen of sparkling ice and the sidewalk looked treacherous. Kyle was definitely working from home today.

“Shit,” he said looking at the empty coffee can. “Not today. I cannot be out of coffee on a cold morning with a vicious hangover,” Kyle said to the coffeemaker sitting there, taunting him. That’s when he heard the knock on the door.

“Yeah,” Kyle said opening it. “Hey Lee.” It was his neighbor from down the hall. Lee was a cute little number with dirty blond hair and a shy, little smile. Kyle smiled through his headache.

“I’m running down to Dunn Brothers, want a coffee?” Lee asked.

“You’re a life saver,” Kyle said and gave the cute guy a bigger grin. “I’d love a caramel latte.”

“Your wish is my command,” Lee said and after saluting Kyle went racing down the hall toward the front door of the apartment building.

Kyle watched as Lee scampered through the cold sleet toward the coffeehouse a block away. Why didn’t he date someone as hot as Lee? Kyle figured he was available and certainly played for his team. Lee was the perfect man for him. Too bad he lived right down the hall. Kyle loved his apartment and it would be so awkward to meet Lee in the hall if it didn’t work out.

That wasn’t worth it, Kyle thought.

He returned looking at the park and saw Lee had gotten two cartons of steaming beverages and was hurrying toward the apartment building. Kyle could almost taste the sweet, rich goodness.

“Oh shit,” Kyle said as he watched Lee slip and fall both coffees spilling its dark goodness onto the sidewalk. “Oh no!”

Kyle watched as Lee picked himself off and shook the cold wetness from his hands. Lee turned around and went back to the coffeehouse. Kyle smiled. The guy wasn’t letting a little adversity stop him from getting the coffee. Kyle felt a little twinge of warmth at the adorable guy’s persistence. If only he could find a man like that.

****************

The day warmed and Kyle had to go into work for a while. The October ice had melted in the warm afternoon sun and the drive wasn’t as bad as he feared. Kyle got to his cubicle and was about to get a spreadsheet opened when he heard a voice. It was Darrin.

While Lee was the epitome of a cute blond beach boy, Darrin was the perfect tall, dark, and handsome man of dreams. Darrin was so flirty and always talking about how he needed to meet a great guy. Kyle flirted back but knew it wasn’t going anywhere. He worked with the guy for fuck’s sake. His dad always said, ‘don’t shit where you eat.’ That meant, don’t screw up your work life with dating your coworkers. No, Kyle wasn’t going there.

“Quite the storm this morning huh?” Darrin said and gave Kyle a dazzling smile.

“I was going to work from home all day but they need these figures so I had to come in,” Kyle returned the smile and could see Darrin’s eyes widen.

“I was just going to get a coffee. Want one?” Darrin said still grinning.

“Sure,” Kyle winked at him.

“Caramel Latte, right?” Darrin said and disappeared. He would be making it too. The office had a cool coffee maker with all the bells and whistles of a coffeehouse. Darrin would often make Kyle a delicious coffee, sometimes without even being asked. Darrin was a pretty cool guy. If only Kyle could date a guy this considerate, not to mention gorgeous.

Too bad.

*******************

Kyle went home and got out his sketch pad. He’d finished the first scene and it was perfect. The mage and knight had both gotten Prince Ladd the magic potion. The knight fought a dragon and secured the elixir. The mage had mixed up the magic potion and delivered it to him.

Now, what would be Prince Ladd’s next task for the two suitors? How about saving a damsel in distress? No, that was stupid. How about in this quest they must each capture something that is lost? It couldn’t be the same thing as the last quest. What if they had two different items to find? The knight would have to find the prince’s scepter or crown or something from a dark, scary dungeon. The mage would have to get Prince Ladd’s scrying glass so he could see the future.

That would work. It just might work, Kyle thought.

After finishing up the rough sketches for the second strip, Kyle decided to run to the store. He wasn’t going to get caught without coffee again tomorrow. As he was leaving, he saw Lee was locking up his bicycle to the rack.

“Hey Lee. Thanks again for the coffee this morning,” Kyle said walking over to him.

“No problem. Do you want one tomorrow morning too?” Lee asked with a grin. God, he was so cute Kyle thought and he began thinking about how sweet he was. Kyle was twisting his ring as he appreciated Lee’s kindness. It twisted wrong and slid right off his finger.

“Shit,” Kyle said. “Dammit. I dropped my ring.”

“Where is it?” Lee said with a concerned look.

“It rolled into that crack in the foundation. Fuck, that thing cost me a fortune.”

“I’ll get it for you,” Lee said. “Just wait here.”

Lee ran into the building and down the creaky steps into the basement. Kyle heard a loud bang and a screamed ‘fuck’ from inside the building.

“Are you okay?” Kyle yelled into the foundation crack.

“I’m fine. I just tripped on some rags,” Kyle heard Lee’s voice faintly answer. Boy, that man was a klutz.

A few moments later, Lee returned to the front doorstep. “Here you go,” Lee said breathing heavily. The blond had dirt streaks on his face and cobwebs in his hair.

“Where’d you find it?” Kyle asked.

“It was in the crawl space.”

“Thank you so much. That was so cool of you. I hope there weren’t any spiders,” Kyle said feeling like he’d love to kiss the guy. He couldn’t imagine having to go into a dark, dirty crawl space for someone else. Lee was that special.

“Maybe a few, Lee said with a shiver. “Well, I better get into the shower. Wanna go out tonight?” Lee asked. Kyle smiled and said he couldn’t. That kind of made him feel bad, but he shouldn’t lead Lee on. That wasn’t fair.

The next day at work, Kyle was thinking about the weekend as he was entering figures into the database. Quinn’s party was on Friday night. He wished he had a date for it. Lots of people would be there. It was the pre-Halloween event of the season for gay men in their twenties. This party was always the best.

There was something in his eye. It felt like a log or something. Maybe if he just…

“Dammit,” Kyle said. “I can’t believe I just lost my contact lens.”

“You lost what?” he heard someone say. Kyle looked up and it was Darrin looking at him with concern.

“I got something in my eye and when I was fooling with it, my contact popped out,” Kyle moaned.

“Wait. Maybe I can find it,” Darrin said. “Just don’t do anything for a minute.”

Kyle smiled. Here was Darrin, ready to help him, again. Kyle hoped he could find it. He couldn’t see a thing out of his right eye.

“Okay,” Darrin said, returning to Kyle’s cube. “I found it. Here.” Darrin reached out a finger with the tiny little disk on it.

“Thank you so much,” Kyle grinned happily at the tall dark, and handsome man. Kyle grabbed some saline out of his desk drawer and hurried to the bathroom to put it back in.

*******************

That night, Kyle finished up the sketches he’d planned the night before for Prince Ladd. They were looking pretty cool. He hoped the magazine liked it. Kyle was beginning to like this character, an old-fashioned man who still believed in romance and two suitors so willing to prove their love. It was sweet. Did anyone do things like that anymore? Kyle sighed.

Well, onto the last scene. The knight and the mage would be fighting for Prince Ladd’s honor. His cousin, who wanted the throne for himself, was trying to embarrass the prince in front of the whole court. Who would do this? Would Hunter fight the upstart and banish him from the kingdom. Would Trace enchant the pretender to the throne and chase him off? Then, Prince Ladd would make his decision. He’d choose one of the two to be his consort and help him rule the kingdom.

Kyle figured he could work out the rest this weekend, just in time for his meeting on late Monday afternoon with the magazine editor. He hoped it would go well. This was a great chance for him to get his work out there and see what people thought of it.

*****************

Friday went quickly and soon Kyle was ready for the party at Quinn’s. He wasn’t sure whether to wear the purple gingham shirt or the pink one. Either way, he was ready to party and meet some nice guys. Who knows? Maybe there was a sweet, romantic out there like him just waiting for the right moment.

“So, the guy was so hot. I’m telling you, he was even better than his picture,” Ted bragged. Ted was always bragging about his conquests. Each one was hotter, better in bed, and richer, according to him.

“Where’d you meet this guy?” Kyle asked. Even if Ted was full of it, he wouldn’t ignore a place to find just the right man.

“On Grindr, of course. It’s like a smorgasbord of men, all for the taking,” Ted laughed and took a drink. “But, you have to have the right look and attitude to get the smoking ones.”

Kyle watched as Ted looked him up and down, a snarl on his lips.

“What?” Kyle asked him getting a little angry. “You don’t think I’m good enough for that meat market?”

“Honey,” Ted said, and the others around them seemed to listen more closely. “You ain’t gonna catch a cool dude wearing fucking prissy ass shirts and slacks. No wonder you’re alone.”

Kyle was about to respond to Ted’s little putdown when he heard a voice behind him. “At least he doesn’t have a frequent flyer card for the free clinic.” It was Darren, coming to his rescue. Kyle didn’t even know he was coming tonight. “I live in your building and seen the nasty ass creeps you’ve got crawling into your bed.”

“That’s fucking bullshit,” Ted said. “I only date the best. I’d never let someone as irrelevant as Gingham boy in my bed.”

“Irrelevant? I saw you crying in the corner at the Saloon sitting on the lap of some old guy,” Kyle heard another voice say. He turned and it was Lee, red as a thai chili and just as hot. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone look so pathetic.” Lee winked at Kyle who just stared back.

Ted extricated himself from the group and left shortly thereafter. Kyle chatted easily and with pleasure, first with Lee and then with Darrin. It was good to see them and he felt they were both such great guys. He and Lee had so much in common and Darrin was the funniest guy he’d ever met. He was so different from when he was at work.

The evening ended with Kyle giving both men his phone number, separately of course. It was good to know a couple of decent guys, finally. He hoped one of them would call.

*******************

Monday evening, at Kyle’s apartment…

“That bitch,” Kyle shouted throwing his portfolio on the table. “How could he be so nasty about it?”

When Kyle had arrived at the magazine’s offices, he’d been surprised when a young guy had appeared for their discussion about Prince Ladd. The previous editor had been fired and now this new guy was supposed to assess his work.

He hadn’t liked it. At all.

The guy, Kyle couldn’t even remember his name he was so mad, had thumbed through the sketches with a distracted and distasteful look on his face.

He called them “childish” and “tired.” He didn’t like Prince Ladd or the set up or the story. The guy, that’s right, his name was Karl, had said it wasn’t “edgy enough” for today’s readers. Romance was out. Kink and troubled, flawed characters were in. Kyle’s attempt to modernize the fairy tale and make it gay wasn’t the direction the magazine was going in now.

Karl offered to look at a second attempt but, in his words, “make it dirtier, grittier.”

Kyle told him no thanks and left quickly. Maybe he’d been too hasty but he like the tender, gentle, noble romance of Prince Ladd. There were still people who liked to find love and take care of each other, weren’t there? He hoped so. If that was “out,” he’d rather be a little old-fashioned than trendy.

Oh well. He was glad he hadn’t worked all day on Sunday to conclude the comic. That would have been just more wasted work. A little part of Kyle wondered who Prince Ladd would have chosen. Would it have been the handsome, brave knight who was so taken with the prince’s charms? Or would it have been the clever, passionate mage who was mesmerized by the prince’s character?

“I guess I’ll never know,” Kyle said.

He looked at his phone. He opened it and saw he’d missed two calls. There was one from Lee and another from Darrin.

Kyle wondered what they wanted. Then, he smiled, shyly.