Page 7 of Four Letter Feelings

“Don’t look now, Jer, but you’re verging on being trendy.”

Jeremy snorted in response as he followed Blake’s gaze and realized he hadn’t taken his eye off the server since he sat down.

Jeremy grinned, and took a pull of his beer before shoving Blake playfully.

“What?”

“Don’t look now, Blake, but you’re verging on being desperate.”

Even in the dim light Jeremy could tell he was blushing.

“Fuck. Was I that obvious?”

“There’s a pool of drool on the table, man. Shameless!”

Blake raked his hands through his hair. “It’s been so goddamn long,” he groaned, through gritted teeth.

“Tell me about it!” Jeremy agreed.

“Nuh uh. This isn’t one of your two-week dry spells, Jer.”

“How’d you know it’s been two weeks?”

Blake took his beer from the server, thanked him and took a sip from the glass before turning his attention back to Jeremy.

“’Cause it’s you, Lupes. You never go more than two weeks without getting laid.”

“True story,” Jeremy answered, with a smirk, taking a long pull from the bottle and smiling at the old nickname. He’d never seen the resemblance himself, but a coach from his high school days thought he played like Joffery Lupul of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the name stuck. Jeremy was never really sure how people knew about it, but everywhere he went, the nickname seemed to follow him and he leaned into it like an old comfort blanket.

The restaurant was starting to get busy, so they ordered food and Jeremy ordered a second beer from the list of local offerings.

“So,” Jeremy continued, when the server, Ben, had walked away having taken their order. “Just how long has it been?” he asked, with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

“Months,” Blake announced with an exasperated sigh. “I just wasn’t in a good place when Stephen and I broke up, y’know? But now…” Jeremy watched as he took another drink of his beer and glanced across the room at Ben, who was staring back at him. “Well, now, I think I’m ready to jump back into the dating pool.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Jeremy replied, with a grin. “Here’s to getting your fine ass laid, man.”

“Amen brother,” Blake answered with a grin of his own and a clink of his glass against Jeremy’s outstretched bottle.

“You wanna go get his number?” Jeremy tried to keep a casual note to his voice, pointing his chin towards where Ben was standing.

“Fuck no. I’m not there yet.” He drained his glass as Jeremy finished his appetizer and leaned back into his seat.

“Want me to do it?”

“No, Jer. I most definitely do not want you asking our server for his number. For one, he might think you’re the one interested in him and then I’m screwed, and B, you’re not exactly the king of subtlety now, are you?”

“I can be subtle!” Jeremy argued, chuckling at the look of skepticism on his friend’s face. “Ok, fine. I won’t, but you should. How’ve you been anyway?”

It had been a while since they’d spoken, but as with all good friendships the time and distance between conversations didn’t really matter. The two picked back up where they left off as though it hadn’t been a couple years since they’d seen each other.

“Oh, you know. Same ole, same ole. Nothing exciting compared to the great Lupes going global. How was it, man? Was Europe everything you expected it to be? Did you get laid every night? I bet you got laid every night. I’m so jealous!”

Just as he’d finished his sentence, Ben appeared with their entrees, causing Blake to blush again. Jeremy watched in amusement as Blake spluttered an embarrassed thank you and hung his head in his hands when Ben left the table. “Great, now he thinks I’m a desperate horn-dog!”

“He wouldn’t be wrong… I think it’s cute though.”

“What is?”

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