Page 24 of Love On Deck
Drew rubs the heels of his hands in his eye sockets. “Yeah, I’m fine. God, I’m sorry.” He fumbles with his phone and squints while he swipes at the screen. “Oh, man, I set my alarm for eight p.m. instead of a.m.” He glances at Connor and then his gaze snaps back and holds. An answering smile appears as if it can’t be helped. “What?”
“I accept your offer. It’s all I thought about after you left. I could barely sleep. Ballet takes some concentration, so the thought of an ‘us’ simmered in the background while I was on stage this morning, but otherwise, yeah.” He’d imagined all kinds of scenarios. Even arguments.
Drew eliminates the distance between them and seals the deal with a kiss. It’s just a press of lips against lips, but it’s tender and full of promise. He rests his forehead against Connor’s. “I’m glad,” he says into the space between them. “You must be starved. I can shower in like three minutes and then we can go.”
“That’s fine, or we can order room service.” Connor wants to start this boyfriend gig now, thank you very much, whatever that might entail.
“You don’t mind?”
Connor would just as soon stay put, truth be told.
“What do you want to eat?”
“Breakfast. A lot of eggs and bacon. Fruit. Coffee.”
“I, uh, need a shower too…” Connor says, pulling off clothes.
Andrew calls room service and orders breakfast to be delivered in an hour.
* * *
Connor lies sprawled face-down in the bed, when knocking draws their attention to the door.
“Probably breakfast,” says Andrew. “Go in the bathroom and shut the door.”
“Fuck that,” Connor mumbles into the pillow and pulls the sheet over his head.
Rattling and clanking mark the entrance of the cart as it’s pushed into the room. Drew exchanges pleasantries with a young man, and the door clicks shut a moment later. Connor throws back the sheet as Drew says, “It’s safe.”
Connor scoots across the bed, sniffing. “That smells great. I’m starved.”
Connor sits on the end of the bed and Drew on the opposite side of the cart in the desk chair. Quiet reigns while they eat. They share glances and smiles as they go. Drew props his foot on the mattress and brushes Connor’s hip with it. Bubbles of happiness pop in Connor’s chest.
“Now what?” Drew asks once they’ve pretty well decimated the food.
Connor glances at the alarm clock. “A nap. I could use a nap.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Conner gets comfortable, lying more on his stomach than his side, the sun slanting a warm swatch across the bed. Andrew climbs in behind him and scoots as close as possible. “Oh,” says Conner rolling to his side, effectively becoming the little spoon, and looking over his shoulder at Andrew.
“Is this okay?” Andrew asks.
Connor beams. He can’t help it. They’respooning.“Yeah…this is…this is amazing.” He pulls Andrew’s hand from where it rests on his hip and tucks it along his stomach.
* * *
Connor wakes, disoriented for half a second. The warmth and hardness of the body curled around him keeps him still, but he smiles into the pillow. He could so get used to waking up with a man in his bed. He can’t wake this way on a regular basis for another seven months, but come the off season, he’ll be spending a lot of time in Austin. Thank fuck the post season for the minor leagues is a single game and not a best of seven series like in the majors.
He searches out the digital clock to see that it’s just past noon.
Andrew stirs behind him. “Hey,” he says, burying his face into Connor’s neck. “This is nice. I’ve missed this kind of closeness.”
“Is it official? Are we boyfriends now?” Connor asks.
“Absolutely.”
“I hate that the baseball season just started.”
