Page 83 of Stepbrothers with Benefits
Not one to second-guess someone who had already been given the address, I thanked them for the ride, confident thatEli had tipped them well before making for the only entrance on that side of the building. I walked up and told the well-dressed host my name. The lighting was low but not horribly dim. The woman smiled after finding my name and led me through the restaurant with dark colors and wood throughout, which gave it a weird mix of cozy and ‘modern’ that I thought was overly done nowadays, but at least it wasn’t too much.
The booth where Eli was waiting was tucked into a corner. He looked up, beaming when he saw me coming, and tucked away his phone. The host left me at the table as Eli started to stand, and then he frowned, looking confused. It took me a minute, distracted by his red shirt, which went great with his complexion. My momentary relief that I hadn’t overdressed was overshadowed by the stirring in my gut at how good he looked. That was followed by realizing why he looked so confused, and I laughed as I sat across from him.
“You don’t have to get up to wait for me to sit,” I teased as I looked around for a drinks menu.
“I wasn’t...well, okay, I was,” he admitted with a snort. “Not sure how it goes, going on a date with a guy.”
“As a rule of thumb, we homos don’t usually fall into the trap of expecting...gentlemanly behaviors.”
“Did you just call it a trap?”
“I mean, yeah. I’ve heard you talking about dating in the past. Half the time, you don’t know if the girl wants you to act like you’re in the fifties, or if you’re supposed to nix all that. I haven’t gone on a date with a guy since I started dating, where someone might expect you to hold a door open, pull out their chair, or whatever other stuff still hangs around straight dating. Once you’re a guy with a guy, all that goes out the window. Sometimes they appreciate it, but it’s not a requirement.”
“Good to know,” he said with a smirk, pausing when the server came up and introduced himself before telling us thedrinks for the night. That got my attention since it wasn’t a drinks list in the classic sense and was more limited than I was used to. We mulled over our choice before the server left, and Eli cleared his throat. “Not that I really need to know how a date with a guy goes.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, just how to go on a date with you.”
I snorted. “I’ll pretend you didn’t inadvertently insinuate that I’m not a guy.”
“Don’t start,” he warned with a frown that made me laugh again.
“I said I was gonna pretend,” I winked, leaning back when our drinks arrived at record speed. “But what would make dating me different than another guy?”
He took a sip of his drink, twitching his brow, telling me he was pleased with it before setting it back down. “Well, if we take out of the equation that I’ve never had a date with a guy before.”
“Which, for the sake of conversation, we will.”
“Right. If we do that...I don’t know, how do you go on a date with someone you already know well? Dates are usually for getting to know people, but what the hell am I supposed to talk about?”
“I think...we can just have a conversation,” I said with a shrug. It was strange and new to me too, but where Eli had learned to deal with something unfamiliar or different, I had always been good at it. Now that things between us were...well, I wouldn’t pretend it wasn’t weird, and I wasn’t still nervous that all this was about to disappear, but it had been around long enough for me to feel some comfort. Enough to be more like my old self and not the nervous, constantly second-guessing wreck I was before.
“Kind of like how I should tell you that you should probably let me see you dressed up before you post it online?” he asked with a smirk.
“I guess that did spoil the surprise, didn’t it?” I wondered, pulling out my phone and seeing that there were, in fact, several notifications about the last post I’d made. Considering his co-ownership of the account, Eli had undoubtedly seen the post already.
“A bit,” he said, looking me over and smiling. “But that’s alright. A picture might be worth a thousand words, but no matter how good the picture or video is, they’ve never done you justice.”
I blinked at that. “Since when would you notice...before all this that I looked better in person?”
“I didn’t have to be attracted to you to know you’re a good-looking guy,” he said with a snort, eyes drifting around the restaurant. “And even if I hadn’t noticed, do you know how often I’ve heard people say something like that? I’ve always thought your overall looks got all the attention online.”
“Look, I’m cute, but I’m not ‘social media hot guy’ levels of cute.”
He shook his head. “That’s why I said overall looks. Sure, at first glance, you’re good-looking, you pay attention to your looks to make it obvious that you take care of yourself and have a certain look you’re going for. But it’s the rest of the stuff too, your personality, how you present yourself, stuff like that. A person can be physically attractive but not be seen as attractive if all they have is good looks. You’re goofy, ridiculous, have no shame when you’ve got one of your weird ideas, and just...I don’t know, you’re inviting. That’s going to take your looks and crank them up in people’s eyes.”
A warm feeling puddled in my stomach as I nervously fingered my drink. “I guess I never thought of it that way. But Ifeel like you’re leaving yourself out of the equation; you’ve been a part of the channel as much as I have, more in many ways. And before you say it, there have been plenty of comments about you...mostly that you need to get out from behind the camera more often.”
He snorted, leaning back and taking his glass with him as the first couple of dishes came out, much to my surprise and confusion. “That only started when you convinced me to do that God awful skinny dipping idea.”
“It wasn’t skinny dipping,” I pointed out, looking at the plates and realizing I had no idea what the hell I was looking at. One looked like scallops, expertly prepared from what I could see, but with...flowers on top? And a sauce? Had Eli ordered beforehand, or was this one of those gimmick restaurants? Well, only thing I could do was snap a few pictures just to be safe, it might make up for my lack of posting new content lately.
“Really?” he asked in an amused voice.
I looked up as I tucked the phone away. “What? I’ve been...slacking in posting lately. Gotta give them something...right? I can stop.”
He smirked as he took something onto his plate. “No, it’s just funny. I know you’ve always avoided doing anything with your accounts on a date...and it was practically skinny dipping.”
