Page 3 of Meeting Mr. Christmas
Noel kept his mouth shut as he met Jed’s clear, gray eyes.
Jed’s gaze narrowed. “Don’t even try it, Christmas. I could always out-stare you, and I still can.” Jed’s voice was deep and low, full of provocation.
A strangled, mewling noise Noel wanted to believe was Peter but knew wasn’t, made him look away just as Jed grinned in victory.
“Mason one, Christmas nil.”
“Fuck off,” Noel muttered, but when Jed started laughing, he couldn’t help but join in.
“You really gonna give this new app a shot? You may be short and skinny, and kinda odd, but you’d be a catch for some weirdo.”
“You’ve always had such faith in me.”
Jed’s shit-eating grin fell away, his sudden seriousness making him appear older. “I’ve always had faith. Anyone would be lucky to swipe right on you.”
“Maybe.” Noel shrugged and glanced away. Swipe right… the only man he wanted swiping right on him was seated opposite, but Jed swiping right on him was about as likely as finding a grilled cheese on the moon. But perhaps he should try the app. Widen his horizons a little, and his chances. If it worked for Kevin and Bruce, perhaps it could work for him. Hell, if he was really lucky, he could be the subject of Ms. Honey Sweeting’s next sugar coated article, smiling out from a fuzzy photograph, wearing a bad sweater and a ten-gallon hat and getting ready to celebrate his newfound happiness with a mountain of ribs and chicken tenders down at Randy’s. He could feel his spirits sinking like a brick. Was that really what his future looked like?
“Ouch! What was that for?” Noel rubbed his upper arm; Jed might create delicate floral beauty, but the guy who’d been a star football player in high school didn’t always know his own strength.
“For not listening to a word I was saying. You were miles away. Wanna share where?” Jed’s eyebrows arched in question.
No, I really, really don’t — and you really, really wouldn’t want to hear it…
“Just had a thought about work.” The little lie fell from his tongue; it was either that or tell Jed the truth, and that wasn’t ever going to happen.
“What I was saying, before you started to get a hard on thinking about coding or?—”
“What?” Noel gasped, looking down at his crotch. “You’re a jackass,” he huffed out. But it was always difficult to stay even mildly annoyed with Jed when he was aiming all his attention his way, and smiling so brightly the man could make an angel come. Noel cleared his throat.
“So, Christmas is coming up fast.” Jed casually leaned back in his chair, an arm draped over the empty one beside him. “You know what that means, right?”
Noel knew exactly what it meant. The annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Collier’s Creek was a tradition they had never missed. For as long as he could remember, his family and Jed’s had gone together and when they were old enough, he and Jed had started going alone. Just the two of them. It was their time, kind of like an extra special date night. Not that he’d ever said that to Jed.
“Sure. Come over to the apartment and we’ll have some of my famous hot spiced cider first, the way we always do, and?—”
“I was thinking, maybe this year we could switch things up a bit.”
“Switch things up? You want me to come to your place, or meet in Jake’s Tap first?”
Jed hesitated, and a twist of apprehension pulled deep in Noel’s chest. Noel knew, even before Jed spoke, that he wasn’t going to like whatever it was that was coming his way.
“I thought this year we could bring dates to the ceremony.”
Jed’s suggestion landed like a snowball to the chest, knocking the breath from Noel’s lungs. Now he got it, when he didn’t want to get it at all. So this was why Jed had mentioned that stupid article in the Chronicle about the dating app.
“Dates?” Somebody Jed was serious enough to want to bring totheirtradition. How could he have not known? He and Jed had shared everything, every secret, since they were kids. No, not everything… He took a sip from his chocolate, swallowing down the now cool liquid along with his disappointment, jealousy and bone-deep sadness.
“I’ve started seeing somebody. I mentioned the tree lighting, and before I knew it, she was getting all excited and saying we should double date… I just don’t feel I can let her down.”
“No.”But you can let me down, can’t you?Noel pushed the thought away. He didn’t own Jed. There was no carved in stone law that said the tree lighting ceremonyshalt in perpetuity be the special time dedicated to Noel Christmas and Jed Mason, even if he believed that was exactly what it was.
“No. Of course you can’t let your girlfriend down. Can you?”
Jed flushed. “Knew you’d understand,” he muttered.
“Who is she, anyway?”
“Cora. The cute little brunette who waits tables at Randy’s? C’mon, you must have noticed her?”
