Page 10 of Oliver

“We’ll see you and Amanda in a month, then.”

“Yes, Father.” I hang up my phone and wipe more tears from my cheeks.

It’s shortly after I arrive back at my apartment that my phone rings again. I answer when I see it’s my sister calling.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Oliver, I hear congratulations are in order.” Her tone is more reserved than congratulatory, though.

“Christ, has Mother been spreading the word already? I only just told Father an hour ago. And I haven’t even popped the bloody question yet.”

“But you’re planning to, soon?” she asks.

“Very soon, in fact,” I tell her, shutting the door behind me and setting my keys on the hook inside, before toeing off my dress shoes. Why does the thought of washing these clothes make my chest ache? My trousers have precum on them that leaked through when that beautiful boy was touching me, kissing me, kissing my cock through them, and it made me so unbelievably hard I thought I might come before he’d even gotten them off. Everything I’m wearing smells of his apartment, his room. I don’t even want to shower because this is a scent I want to remember for the rest of my life. Christ, that sounds insane, but it’s true.

“And this is what you really want?” she says.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” I reply.

“No reason. I just want you to be happy, Oliver. If Amanda makes you happy, then I’m happy for you.”

“Thank you, I appreciate that. Though I’m not even certain she’ll say yes.”

“I guess you’ll find out.”

I manage a small smile. “I guess I will.”

HUNTER

Three months later

“Hey, you heading out soon?”

I turn to see my friend and roommate, Matt standing outside my door, his hand on the frame. He’s tall. Taller than me, with curly brown hair and deep brown eyes.

“Yeah.” I turn back to my empty suitcase and sigh, and a minute later jump when I hear his voice next to mine.

“You do realize that in order to pack, you actually have to put things in your suitcase.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “You can go back where you came from,” I reply, and he laughs.

“Seriously, dude, you’ve been in a funk for weeks. Months. Going home, getting a change of scenery, taking that trip, it’ll be good for you. You and your mom get along well enough, don’t you?”

I nod. We’re relatively close, since we’ve only ever had each other, and she’s always been accepting of me being gay. She had me when she was only eighteen and worked her butt off, even with a toddler, to put herself through college and law school. She’s been a lawyer in Scarsdale for twelve years. She’s kind of a badass, actually.

She got engaged to her boyfriend almost three months ago now and she wants me to come home and meet him before the wedding. They have a road trip planned that I’m supposed to join them on so we can bond before the big day. I’m not opposed to it necessarily, I just think it seems a little fast.

“Yeah, we do,” I say, “I’m just feeling kinda weird about everything. Don’t you think it’s a bit soon to get engaged when you’ve only dated for four months? And the wedding is in two months. Isn’t that fast?”

Matt shrugs. “Beats the hell out of me. My parents were engaged after six months. I don’t think there’s a timeline for these things. Just whatever works for the couple.”

I sigh. “Maybe you’re right,” I admit. I’ve been stuck in my head ever since I woke up to find that the sexy British man from the bar had left without saying goodbye, or even leaving a note, or his number. He was just gone. I told myself it wasn’t a big deal. It was just sex, but that didn’t explain how I’d found myself lying in bed with tears sliding down my cheeks at the realizationthat I would never see him again, and that apparently, he had no desire to see me again.

Fuck, my eyes are tearing up at the memory and I wipe at them quickly before Matt can see. It’s been three fucking months and I still can’t get him out of my head.

“Hey,” he says, placing his hand on my shoulder, “that guy was a douche, okay? He doesn’t deserve you.”

“Yeah,” I say. So why can’t I move on from him? Why is he in my every waking thought? Why have I had to convince myself that driving to Scarsdale to search for him isn’t a good idea? I’ll be close enough now that I’m going back home, but what are the chances of me running into him there? It’s not a huge town but it’s not a tiny one, either. And I have no idea where to start looking, or what I’d even say if I found him. I’d look so pathetic. He let me fuck him once, for Christ’s sake, and he doesn’t owe me anything.

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