Casual (Sex) Friday (66 Faces) (7 page)

He watched boats zipping by in the water. Maybe if he had a boat he'd have more fun. But he would still be alone. So maybe that wouldn't be fun. Maybe he should take up a hobby.

"Ben! Hi!"

Ben looked to his left, shocked. "Thank fuck," he said under his breath.

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Where have you been?"

Calvin pushed Ben's bag out of the way and sat down, immediately putting his arm around Ben's shoulders. "I didn't actually think you'd be here. The one day I—why didn't you answer your phone?"

"My … what?" Ben pulled his phone out of his back pocket. Three missed calls about an hour ago. "Sorry, I didn't feel it ring."

"I was over in Redmond. I was in meetings all day, my phone ran out of batteries, the bridge was
broken
. It took the bus a god damn hour to cross that god damn bridge."

Ben nodded; he could sympathize. He'd lost so much time of his life and been late to so many appointments because of that fucking bridge. He put his hand on Calvin's leg.

"When I got to the office you were gone," Calvin said. "I tried to call."

Ben glanced surreptitiously at Calvin from the corner of his eye. He was dressed casually in jeans and a wrinkled t-shirt. Ben was so happy that Calvin was there. If only he'd ask Ben out again, then everything would be perfect. They would go out, have a couple drinks, and maybe go back to Ben's place this time. But Calvin just sat there, quietly looking at the sparkling blue water. Ben was impatient and, after not receiving his expected weekly date request, just a little freaked out. "Calvin?" he said quietly.

"Hmm?" Calvin's face fell into worry as he looked back at Ben.

"Do you think … want to get a drink with me?"

It took a moment for the worry to fade into a happy smile, and then Calvin leaned forward and pressed a kiss on the corner of Ben's mouth. "More than anything."

Evie Kiels was born and raised in the Midwest, learned to appreciate the majestic beauty of nature in the Pacific Northwest, and now lives a hop, skip, and a jump away from the amazing Rocky Mountains (where she laments the lack of community composting but adores the abundance of sunshine). By day, Evie aims to make the world a better place by making websites more pleasant to use. By night, she reads about heroes searching for their happily ever after and writes about the same. When not working, reading, or writing, Evie enjoys hiking on warm sunny days and sewing on cold wintery days.

Visit Evie Kiels at http://eviekiels.net,
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