Page 12 of Nate

“Oh yeah? I was going to watch that too.”

Kevin looked down at Nate again. “Youwere going to watch it?”

“Yeah.” Nate crossed his arms over his chest. “You think just because I have muscles I can’t like comics and sci-fi? Way to pigeonhole me, Kevin.”

“Sorry, that wasn’t fair.” His apology was absentminded. The tape was just above his fingers. He pulled himself up once more, his hands landing solidly in the middle of the red tape. Kevin gave a celebratory shout and grinned down at Nate.

“Nice work. Now come back down the proper way, don’t cheat.”

Cheating was letting go and jumping into the bed of big squishy balls. Kevin snorted. “Way to suck the fun out of the fun gym.” But he followed Nate’s instructions and inched back down the rope until he was just above Nate’s head. Then he let go and fell backwards into the pit. He grinned up at his trainer.

“Cheater.”

Kevin just laughed. He lay there for a moment to catch his breath and bask in the fact that he’d reached his goal. His next goal was the black section three feet above the red.

“You should come over,” Nate said. “Unless it would be weird for you to hang with your personal trainer.”

Kevin sat up, surprised at the invitation. “No, it wouldn’t be weird. But I wouldn’t be crashing you and your friends, would I?”

Nate smiled. “Not at all.”

∞∞∞

Kevin looked in his closet for something to wear. He’d said it wouldn’t be weird to hang out with his personal trainer. But that wasn’t quite the truth. He’d accepted the invitation because he liked Nate. His crush hadn’t faded, although he thought he was doing a pretty good job of keeping it hidden. Except now that it was time for the Crime and Kaos marathon, he was nervous.

Other than Nate, he wouldn’t know anyone there. Like always, he found himself worrying that he’d end up standing alone, while the party went on around him. This time he was determined not to let that stop him. He’d made friends with a few people at the gym, he’d had conversations with, and become Twitter friends with some of the people in their row at the wrestling match he and Alex had attended, and of course, he was comfortable with Nate. He could do this.

There was just one problem. He wasn’t sure what to wear. With the exception of a few nice button downs and slacks he’d used when he worked in an office building, all he owned were his collection of graphic tees and jeans. It didn’t take a genius to realize he’d be way overdressed if he went to watch TV in business casual, so he chose a black anime T-shirt, dark jeans and a pair of navy suede tennis shoes. After he was dressed, he took his dreadlocks down from the loose knot he’d had them up in. Figuring he looked nice enough for a cartoon marathon, he grabbed his keys and left.

Thirty minutes later, he was riding his scooter down Nate’s street. As he pulled up to the house, he noticed there was only one vehicle in the drive. He’d never seen Nate’s car before, so he didn’t know if the sporty, dark blue crossover was his, or one of his friends. He parked behind it and got the snack he’d brought from the under-seat storage before he walked up to Nate’s one story, contemporary style home.

It was painted a light gray with a frosted glass door. There was a rock garden instead of grass in the front. Orange hibiscus grew in front of a big picture window. Kevin took a deep breath to inhale their tropical scent as he knocked. After a few moments, Nate opened the door, dressed casually in jeans and an untucked Polo shirt. He stepped into the foyer after returning Nate’s greeting.

“Glad you made it.” He nodded at the package of cookies in his hand. “And I see you brought your cheat food.”

“Yeah, I haven’t had an Oreo in a month. I might be looking forward more to the cookies than the show.”

Nate laughed. “Come on back.”

He followed Nate down the hallway and into a spacious and open living room. Kevin looked around. The walls were a soft gray, decorated with chrome framed black and white photographs. There was a giant throw rug patterned in various swirls of gray covering a large portion of the hardwood floor.

A veggie tray, large pizza, plates and napkins were on the thick glass coffee table. The couch, love seat, and armchair were covered in what looked like bleached burlap. Nate’s big screen TV was already tuned to the right channel, the volume turned down low. And that was it. Besides the two of them, the living room was empty of people.

Kevin set his cookies down and looked at Nate. “Am I the first one here?”

“What do you mean?”

“When are your friends getting here?”

“They’re not. I didn’t invite anybody else. I’m gonna get us drinks. I have iced tea, Coke, lemonade and water. What do you want?”

“Tea is fine.” Kevin watched, slightly confused, as Nate nodded and went off to the kitchen.

Kevin stood awkwardly in the middle of the living room. He hadn’t expected to be the only one there. Why exactly had Nate invited him over? When Nate came back with their drinks, Kevin was standing in the same spot. Nate set the glasses down on coasters and flopped back on the couch.

“Come and sit down,” he said indicating the space next to him.

Kevin went over to the couch. He couldn’t help but be aware that Nate didn’t take his eyes off him as he approached. When he sat down he noticed the couch was ... sturdy. “This isn’t a very comfortable couch,” he blurted out. At the look on Nate’s face, he closed his eyes in embarrassment. “I’m sorry, that was rude. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I don’t get out much.”

---