Page 96 of Love, Luck & Clusterf*ck

“Perry… everything okay?” He sounded a bit surprised. I usually texted, not called.

“It will be. Hey, I’m really in the mood to have a drink or ten. Do you want to meet me somewhere?”

He didn’t say anything right away. That wasn’t good. “I’d love to but….”

“Hey, don’t worry about it. It’s fine. I didn’t mean to disturb you.”Shit. I’d probably just interrupted him with some woman. I could practically see it. Ugh. Now I wanted to splash acid inmyeyes.

“No, Perry. Wait. You’re not disturbing me. I can’t meet you anywhere because I can’t drive. I rolled my ankle this afternoon playing basketball and I have it iced right now.”

“Oh.” Okay, that was better. Not that I wanted him hurt, but…. “Sorry to hear that.”

“You can come here if you’d like. I’m sure you can find a drink or ten, and then you can tell me why you want them.”

“Oh.” That was different. I’d never been to his place before. I felt a bit too excited over seeing it. Almost giddy. “Yeah, okay. That’ll work.”

Another twenty minutes or so and I was pulling up to the curb. Huh. He lived on a city block with a small yard, and it couldn’t have been more different than his sister’s. Just like with his car, I was expecting something else.

I went up the walk and yelled through the open door. “Hello.”

“Come on in, Perry.”

There was a mudroom at the entrance so I kicked off my shoes, then rounded the corner.Holy shit!He was lying back on the couch with his leg propped on the table, wearing a T-shirt and shorts. I’d never seen him so casual before.Do not stare at his legs, Perry. Do not stare. Dammit.

“Does it hurt bad?” At least I had a reason to ogle him.

“No, it’s fine. I just need to keep it cold and wrapped, and it’ll be good to go by tomorrow.”

“Can I get you anything?”

“I should be asking you that. It’s my place.”

“Don’t be silly.” I noticed an empty beer bottle on the table. “Another beer?”

He smiled. “Sure. And help yourself to whatever I have. If it’s not sweet enough, there’s a full bag of sugar in the cabinet.”

“Ha-ha.”

It wasn’t as if I needed directions to the kitchen since the place was tiny enough. I went through what I guessed was the dining room and ran smack into the fridge. Aww, there were pictures of Daniel on there. Hmm. A few magnets, one shaped like a pizza slice. On the top sat a blender. I was suddenly fascinated by everything. I looked for any evidence of a female but couldn’t find one.

I opened the fridge door and checked that out as well. A couple containers of leftovers, eggs, milk, ketchup, barbeque sauce.

“Did you get lost?”

“Very funny.”

I pulled out his beer and then grabbed some bottled strawberry daiquiri thing for me. I removed the caps, then went back into the family room only to get flushed again at the sight of him. It was the closest I’d seen him to naked.

Shut up, Perry.

“I see you found something.”

I took a sip. “It’s not what I’d expect you to have on hand.”

“I had people over and someone’s girlfriend brought it.”

I plopped down on the couch. I hated that things went to hell at my sister’s, but I was really glad to be with Stephen right then. It’d be much easier if I weren’t so attracted to him, or if he were gay like Stu, but it was what it was.

“I like your place,” I said. “What I’ve seen of it, anyway.”

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