Page 10 of Meeting Mr. Adorkable
“Hmm. That’s right. Mate.” Lucian picked up his coffee. God, it was still too hot. He’d paid $8.00 for the privilege and there was no way he was going to leave without finishing it. He’d just have to put up with Kurt, and his distracting teeth, for the next few minutes.
“I’m not from here either, just been brought in to do a job for a couple months. I’m from…” He mentioned a place Lucian had never heard of and was even less likely to visit.
Kurt droned on, and Lucian tried his best to keep up with how Bumfuck City, or wherever, was superior in all ways to Collier’s Creek. Next to them, a table became free. Would it be very rude for him to move—
“You’re cute. Do ya wrestle?”
“Wrestle?” What was this guy on? Why in god’s name would anybody think he wrestled? “No, I don’t.” What had happened to Kurt’s monologue about Bumfuck? He shoved his glasses up to the bridge of his nose, where they balanced at an awkward angle. It was difficult to sound affronted with wonky glasses wobbling on his nose.
Kurt leaned in closer. “We’re both strangers in town. I’m from Boomfurt. You’re from Austria.”
“Australia.” Lucian swallowed back the first tickling of a manic, rising laugh. Boomfurt? What happened to Bumfuck?
“Yeah, wherever. Means we’ve got a lot in common. Maybe we can find out if there’s more?”
Kurt grinned.
Fuck, those teeth were enormous… “I don’t think we have anything remotely in common. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Lucian shoved his chair back, ready to abandon his ludicrously expensive coffee, but it hit the coffee shop wall. He was trapped. Oh, god… He really didn’t want to make a scene, but the cringing embarrassment of doing so was being engulfed by his mounting indignation.
“I’m in a motel just outside town. Mountain View, you know it?”
“No, and I don’t intend to. Look, if you don’t mind—”
“There ain’t no view of anything,” Kurt said, cutting across, “other than the dumpsters behind the kitchen. But they do a fine breakfast. Lots of eggs.”
“Eggs?”
Kurt nodded and a tiny burp bubbled up on his lips, bringing with it the sulfurous aroma of lots and lots of eggs from that long ago breakfast.
“Fucking hell.” Lucian covered his nose to block out the stale stench. But Kurt was undeterred.
“My car’s five minutes from here, so we can—”
“Hey, babe, sorry I’m late.”
A shadow fell across the table and Lucian looked up. The bright sun dazzled him, but he didn’t need to see who stood over them. The deep, calm voice was more than enough to quell his rising panic.
Arlo pulled a chair across from the vacated table and sat down, casually resting an arm around Lucian’s shoulders. Lucian inhaled deep, the scent of rescue, and Arlo’s light, citrus cologne evicting the lingering stink of hours-old egg. Arlo smiled at Kurt, his mercifully not buck teeth bared, and Lucian shivered.
“This your boyfriend? Three’s the magic number, right?”
“Wrong.” Arlo leaned forward. He didn’t raise his voice, but its steely menace made Lucian’s blood run cold.
Kurt’s gaze flickered from Arlo to Lucian, back to Arlo, before he pushed himself up from the table, his short and bulky limbs clumsy and uncoordinated as he dragged on his jacket.
“See ya around.” A second later, Kurt was gone.
“God, I sincerely hope not,” Lucian muttered.
Arlo’s arm slipped from Lucian’s shoulders, taking its protective warmth with it.
“Babe?” Lucian stared up at Arlo, the word tingling down his spine.
Arlo’s lips lifted in a bashful, lopsided smile. “I was passing and saw what was happening. I could have called him out, but I thought you’d rather not risk any kind of public scene… Unless I misjudged what was going on here?” Arlo leaned back as a shadow of doubt clouded his eyes, and a bubble of panic rose in Lucian’s chest.
“No! God, you must be joking. He kind of barged in on me.” Lucian shuddered. “Thank you for helping me out.” Rescuing me…
Arlo shrugged, but said nothing. Lucian turned his coffee cup around, one way then the other. The silence dragged out and a mild panic pinched his nerves.
