Page 46 of Meeting Mr. Adorkable
It took a while to push through the crowds. Many were making their way home, but just as many were moving off toward the bars. They’d all be crowded as the townsfolk stretched out what was left of Jake’s Day. Finally, they reached the parking lot, and minutes later, they were leaving the town behind them. As they climbed, taking one twisting road, then the next, Collier’s Creek finally disappeared, eaten up by the encroaching darkness.
“Thanks for today. I had a wonderful time.”
Arlo cast a glance over at Lucian. The dashboard’s muted lights lit up his face. He was smiling, relaxed and at ease — and still clutching the stuffed soft racoon toy that looked more like a piglet.I’ll treasure it forever… Every time I see it, it’ll remind me of spending this perfect day with you…
Lucian’s words, when he’d presented the toy to him with a flourish, now dug and gouged at his heart. He’d be a memory, something warm for a little while, before it cooled and faded away for good. Lucian’s brief stopover in Collier’s Creek would be nothing more than a line or two in the story of his life.
Arlo pulled up on a rough, leveled out patch of grass and cut the engine. Silence hung heavy and absolute, a thick, physical weight. Arlo cleared his throat. He needed to say something, anything, to pierce the silence.
“Not too many folks bother to come this far. There are lots of easier places to see the stars, and with better parking, but Jake’s actual lookout, according to local legend, is just a few minutes’ walk.”
“Where he stood, no doubt looking all heroic and butch.”
Arlo chuckled. “Come on, we can’t see anything from in here.”
The only sound to be heard was the rustle of a light breeze tumbling down the mountains. Up above them, the clear sky glittered with stars, every one of them pulsing and twinkling as though they were breathing.
Arlo glanced at Lucian, who stood so close he could feel the warmth of his body and the light brush of his arm against his own. Lucian was perfectly still, his neck craned back. His heavy hair tumbled behind him like a dark waterfall as he gazed into the heavens.
“I don’t have the words…” Lucian whispered.
It would have been so easy to make a quip, a little joke, a snarky remark, and Arlo might have, at any other time, but now any words he had melted away like the last of the winter’s snow.
“I thought the view was spectacular from your house, but… this.” He waved an arm toward the vastness. “The only time I’ve seen anything even remotely like this was when I was a kid. We stayed with some relatives in the far north of Scotland, miles even from a hamlet, let alone a town. They were dreadful people, even colder than their horrid old castle.
“Late one night, I snuck out and went down to the loch with a blanket and just stared and stared up into the sky. Never, ever, did I think I’d see anything as beautiful ever again. Or not until now.” Lucian turned to Arlo, his smile soft, his breath warm, his lips parted, damp and glistening.
“It is beautiful, but it’s not as beautiful as this.”
Arlo cupped his hands to Lucian’s face, feeling the first faint signs of scruff against his palms. Lucian sighed as Arlo’s lips brushed his, his mouth softening and opening, little moans escaping him. As their lips pressed together, so did their bodies. Arlo threaded his fingers through Lucian’s hair, shifting his head a little, repositioning him, so as he could kiss longer, deeper, harder. He should stop, he should pull back, because this was everything he’d told himself he wouldn’t do, taking risks rather than running from them, but whatever voice whispered to him, the thunder of his heart and the rising rush of blood through his veins drowned out every word.
Breaking the kiss, breathing in deep the clear mountain air, Arlo rested his brow against Lucian’s. The younger man was breathing just as fast, each breath as ragged as his own.
“I wasn’t supposed to do that.”
“No, and I wasn’t supposed to let you. But if this is what friends do out here in the mountains, I’d have made more of an attempt to make some when I first arrived.”
“Oh, Lucian.” Arlo laughed softly as he ran his fingers through Lucian’s hair.
“So what happens now?” Lucian asked, all levity gone. “Because in all honesty, I’ve got no idea. You kissed me before, then pulled back. Friends, you said. But friends don’t kiss under the stars. I—I’m not very good with mixed messages.”
“And I’m not very good at giving them. Or that’s what I always thought.” No wonder Lucian was confused, because he sure as hell was.
“Then why have you?”
Arlo hesitated, the answer he didn’t want to give burning on his tongue. But he’d made the move he’d vowed not to make, he’d been the one to blur the line. He owed Lucian an honest answer.
“Because I was scared. I guess I didn’t want to put myself in a situation where I might get hurt again. But Francine said something to me…” She’d said a lot, some of it he’d not been keen on hearing. He swallowed. “It—it kind of dug its way in and I couldn’t shift it. It made me think about the path I’d set myself on since coming back, and it’s not the one I want to be walking.”
Arlo’s heart clenched. Alone, and lonely even in a crowd of friends, looking in from the outside. You’re not meant to be alone… Francine’s words shivered down his spine.
“I’ve spent most of my life being scared. I don’t really know why. Mum says I’ve got a sensitive soul.” Lucian snorted. “Thin skinned, is what she means. Too thin. But what I know is that I’m sick and tired of it, because people sense it — men sense it — and it kind of makes me easy prey. They take advantage, and end up mistreating me, knowing I won’t make a fuss and I’ll put up with whatever scraps they throw my way. Coming here, I thought a change of location would give me the jump start I needed, but I’m still scared.”
“Are you scared of me?” Arlo swept aside the warm, silky hair from Lucian’s brow.
“No, no I’m not.”
Arlo licked his dry lips. “Then perhaps we can try to be… not scared together?”
