Page 62 of The Jock
And now he had a dead battery.
“Fucking Mercury is in Gatorade or some shit, I swear.” Milo sent for an Uber and one promised to be here in five minutes. He climbed out of his car with his kit and slammed the door.
Then he called Gino while he waited for his ride. “You won’t believe the day I’m having.” After giving Gino a quick rundown of everything that was going on, Milo sighed and slumped against the side of his car.
“I’ll come get you at the shelter when you’re done and we can go for pedicures.”
“I’m supposed to practice after. I’m so rusty, Gino. What was I thinking, wanting to do this again?”
“Milo, stop sulking. It’s not cute,” Gino said. “You don’t have to be perfect, Milo. No one will care that you’re rusty.”
“I’ll care.”
“Care less.” Gino laughed. “Seriously, babe, you don’t have to be perfect. It’s supposed to be fun and you’re letting it stress you out.”
Milo sighed as a car rounded the corner. “I think my ride is here.”
“I’ll get you from the shelter when you’re done. Text me.”
“Okay, thanks, Gino. Love you.” Milo ended the call and wished it was that easy for him to tell Colby how he felt. But they hadn’t known each other that long, and they’d only been official for a short time. He didn’t want to seem like he was jumping the gun.
Maybe it was sentimental of him, but he kind of wanted the first time he told Colby to be special. He’d gotten millions of things wrong in his life, but Colby wasn’t one of them.
The car slowed to a stop and Milo popped the back door open.
“Where are we headed, Milo?”
Milo’s head turned at the sound of a familiar voice. “Randy?”
His coworker swiveled around to look at him. “The one and only. You can sit up front if you want.”
Milo took him up on his offer and quickly switched seats. He gave Randy the address of the shelter and tried not to hurryhim. With the way Milo’s luck was going today, he didn’t want to tempt fate.
“I didn’t know you moonlighted as a driver.”
Randy grinned. “There’s worse ways to make money.” Randy glanced at him. “You look nice today.”
Milo tried not to preen. His outfit and makeup were the only things that hadn’t gone wrong today. His top was a loose and flowy floral blouse. He’d dug into the bottom of his jewelry box and found a pair of long, dangling earrings, and his hands had cooperated with his eyeliner this morning.
“Thanks.”
“Hot date?” Randy asked.
“Not really. I’m volunteering at the shelter this morning. There’s a person who has a job interview later and I’m going to help them look nice. Give them a confidence boost.”
The smile Randy gave him was blinding. “That’s wonderful, Milo.”
“It’s kind of selfish. I helped one person, and it made me happy, so I wanted to keep doing it.”
Randy shook his head. “That’s bullshit, Milo. Of course it made you happy because you’re not a monster. It’s okay to like helping people.”
When Milo didn’t respond right away, Randy continued on. “I don’t know your history, but I do know this. You’ve been happier these past few months. You’ve smiled more in a week than you used to the whole time I’ve known you. So whatever you’re doing, keep doing it.”
“I have a new boyfriend, actually.” Milo’s cheeks flushed like he was back in grade school confessing a crush. “And he’s amazing.”
“Okay, so it’s less of a what you’re doing and more of a who.” Randy laughed at his extremely lame joke and Milo couldn’t help laughing too. Then he pulled himself together and gave Milo aserious look. “It’s okay to get something out of helping people. Some people do it because it makes them look good. Others do it because it makes them feel good. Who cares why they do it, so long as people are helped.”
“I never thought of it like that.” Milo toyed with the hem of his shirt. “I don’t want a lot of praise for it, I guess. It makes me feel weird, like I’m in the spotlight, which normally I don’t mind.” But helping people felt personal for Milo in a way that performing never had. It was different and he didn’t know why. Helping Taylor had healed a tiny part of himself that had just wanted to be loved and accepted for who he was. It was a part of himself that he hadn’t even realized was still hurting.
