Going Up! (7 page)

“You didn’t talk the whole way down,” she mumbled against his back.

“I’m not exactly Mr. Personality in the best of times,” he said, ducking his head.

“Yeah, but Zach!” Leah moved around him but her arms stayed firmly planted at his ribs.

“God you’re short,” he said, wondering how he’d managed to work with her for three years and live without the hugs and the companionship and the crude sense of humor and the best friend who made him laugh.

“Why didn’t you ask the guy to come?” Jenn asked, squinting at him. Yeah, she looked like a plump little Persian kitten, but she was sort of damned smart. “I mean, yeah, we didn’t want to hear mansex, but if you’re treating to a suite and a trip to the aquarium—that’s almost, I don’t know, a college trip right there.”

Zach shrugged and tried to extricate himself. “He couldn’t make it,” he said, trying not to drown in self-pity. There were sea lions barking outside.
Sea lions.
Which, of course, they had in San Francisco, but somehow they were better in Monterey. And some of the best food in the world being served around them. Again, they had that in San Francisco, but Monterey also had the aquarium, which, as far as he could see, hadn’t gotten less fun since he’d been there in high school. And the ocean, which, well, he saw every day, but it was better when it was out another window.

“Wait.” Leah backed up. “I didn’t know you asked him?”

Work was still a little nuts from the move. They had actually not had time to do more than establish a time for when they’d meet to get the rental car before work had been out and they’d both been hurrying home to pack.

“Yeah. Well. It was this morning. He….” Zach smiled in memory. “He rode the elevator up to meet me.”

“So the fuck what?” Jenn asked, and Leah smacked her in the arm.

“So! That’s
huge.
That’s… that’s… that’s… breaking outside the code of elevators! Oh, Zach! I’m so happy for you!”

Zach beamed at her, because she understood. “I… well, he’s starting school next week, and it’s a new job, and he’s so excited. I just really… I don’t know.” He sighed. “I need a gesture.”

Leah grinned. “A romantic gesture?”

Zach smiled quietly back. “Yeah!”

Jenn rolled her eyes. “I would be more impressed if you showed up at his place with a condom and said, ‘I’m sick of this shit with the elevators already.’”

Leah shook her head. “No. Jenn, hon, he wants something that lasts longer than it takes for the jizz to cool.”

Zach backed away, cheeks flaming. “You guys…. God. Unpack. Dress. Jesus, let’s go eat.”

Jenn looked the three of them up and down—they were all wearing jeans and sweatshirts and tennis shoes—and she shook her head. “Baby, I love that you think we’re the kind of girls who dress for dinner, but after that drive? Maybe you should just take us to a bar.”

The Crown and Anchor sat in downtown Monterey, and they didn’t mind jeans.

“This is swank,” Jenn said, “but not intimidating. I approve.”

“I like the big brass plates everywhere,” Leah said. “And the dark beams with the white walls. It’s a lot like the pubs in England.”

Zach looked at her, surprised. Hawaii seemed far enough away. “You’ve been to England?”

“Yeah, summer trip to Europe, you?”

“Same.” He lost himself in his menu then, thinking about travelling with Sean, because he’d probably memorize all of the facts on the menu for his students, and he’d probably be looking for costumes and….

And he’d probably be just as wonderful in a restaurant as he was thirty seconds a day on the elevator.

He was probably even better.

“Zach? Hello,
Zach
—aren’t you going to order?”

Zach looked up from his menu and said, “Sean. I want one of those.”

Jenn and Leah groaned. “He’ll have the bangers and mash,” Leah told the bemused waiter. “And we’ll have a beer!”

But that right then was when Zach knew—knew for
sure—
that he was going to have to step outside of the box for good.

M
ONDAY
MORNING
,
he got up early enough to brew coffee into the new thermos he’d bought. Hopelessly dorky, it sported “World’s Greatest Teacher” written on the front, and a cartoon featuring a freckled, woebegone guy with a briefcase, a stack of papers, and, of course, a thermos of coffee. They’d stopped in Gilroy and picked up some cherries and melons on the way home from the beach, and he chopped up some of that and put it in a plastic cup, and added a fork and a little bit of packaged biscotti.

And then he made a sandwich and added carrots and a small bag of chips, all of which he’d picked up on the way home the night before.

When it was all assembled (and the coffee was still brewing) he got dressed, grabbed his briefcase, and put the whole works in a little basket that he tried desperately to balance.

The little hop from elevator to elevator at the nineteenth floor felt so smooth by this time, he’d forgotten that he was supposed to have an express elevator from the top floors to the bottom all along. (He hoped that one guy’s ghost wasn’t opposed to that, and that he’d forgiven his cats.) The doors opened at the fourteenth floor, and he checked his watch—he was about five minutes early, which was perfect.

He’d never realized that walking through a door was terrifying.

And, oh hell, someone he’d never seen before opened it—a tiny man in a bright-blue paisley shirt and red jeans stared blankly at him through fashionably thick-rimmed glasses.

“Uhm, Sean—?”

“
Sean! Prince Charming is here with coffee, get your ass in gear!
”

Zach’s hands started shaking from sheer nerves. “The entire fourteenth floor heard you.”

“Oh calm down!” With a little swish of his hand, the guy gestured Zach inside the apartment of chaos. Zach’s basket threatened to tumble, but the little man rescued it deftly. He peered into the mass of people moving, dressing, and (in one case) folding the hide-a-bed with deft movements. “Sean!” he snapped. “Man, stop mugging my boyfriend for toast, your guy here brought you breakfast. And
lunch
! Now get him out of here before we scare the shit out of him.”

Suddenly five sets of eyes were turned toward Zach, and Zach tried to take inventory. Wendy was in the middle of fastening her bra, and she gave a little head bob before resuming dressing from the pile of clothes that sat on a battered recliner. The other girl—taller than Wendy but no less thin, with brown hair—actually had a bra on, and even slacks, but she was shirtless and in the process of putting one arm in a dress shirt while using her other hand to slip on a very practical black pump. The straight guy (he had to be; he was at the hide-a-bed) and was wearing boxers, and, well, yeah, he was decked to the nines with muscles and a hairy chest and a nice ass, but he had sort of a vacant expression in his eyes that indicated a complete lack of self-awareness.

And there, by the toast, was Sean, next to a shorter—but still taller than his boyfriend!—man who was wearing a Japanese silk robe and bunny slippers.

Sean turned to Zach with a dreamy expression and said, “You brought coffee? And fruit? And biscotti? Oh my God—
marry me
!”

“Okay,” Zach said, completely overwhelmed. “Sure. I’ll be just outside.” And then he made his escape, closed the door behind him, and leaned against it with a thundering heart.

Oh hell. Talk about a madhouse! He… he couldn’t. All those
people,
all in that tiny space, and they all….

“Hey!” The door opened behind him, and Zach moved enough to let Sean out. Sean had his satchel over his shoulder and the little gift basket in his hand. “You brought me coffee! And everything—that’s
awesome
! Don’t bail!”

“People,” Zach said numbly. “You have more friends in that room than I’ve had in my entire life.”

“Ohmygod!” Sean muttered. “It’s like dating Rapunzel!”

That actually cheered Zach up. “Hey, we
are
dating. Excellent. Are you ready to go?”

“You made lunch too—and the bag matches the mug!”

Zach grinned, calming down a little from being faced with all of those people. “I did. I got them when we were shopping in Monterey—but my friends helped me pick them out.”

“See! You have friends!” Sean nudged him with an elbow and took a sip of his coffee. “Mm… that’s good, but, uhm, really sweet.”

“Too sweet?” Zach asked anxiously. Oh no. He made dessert coffee for someone who liked it black! The horror!

“I like it this way, but I’ll get fat really quick.”

Zach turned a little in the hallway as they waited for the elevator. Sean was wearing jeans, a black sport coat, and a neatly pressed white shirt with a thin red tie.

“You look great,” he said quietly, feeling privileged to be in on the ground floor of this outfit. “But your tie is crooked.” He set his briefcase down and straightened Sean’s tie and collar, and paused, his hands on Sean’s collar. Sean’s hands were full of his gift basket, so Zach did all the work, leaning forward and kissing him softly.

When he pulled back, they both smiled into each other’s eyes for a moment. “You’re going to do great,” Zach said, and Sean grinned.

“You already made it a good day!”

Ding!

Z
ACH
BROUGHT
him coffee every morning that week. After that initial shock, he got used to knocking on the door and walking into various stages of chaos (the worst being when Sean’s alarm had failed to go off and the entire household was naked
and
running in six different directions. Zach had simply shouted “I’ve got your lunch and coffee!” and then sat down in the corridor until Sean emerged.)

Sean hadn’t been wearing anything exciting—just his basic teaching suit—but as he’d emerged from his apartment every morning, the smile on his face to see Zach waiting for him—
that
had been pure magic.

On Friday morning, the elevator opened to the lobby with Sean in full cry about his students, and the ones who were already troublemakers and the ones who were terrifyingly smart, and it wasn’t until the traitorous “Ding!” that they both realized that, per their usual custom, their time together was at an end.

Zach—as usual—gestured Sean ahead of him, but once they cleared the elevator, Sean turned around.

“This can’t be the end for the week,” he said, smiling, and Zach shrugged.

“It’s Friday—I’m usually late on Friday.”

“How late?” Sean’s eyes were anxious, and Zach ducked his head shyly.

“After I work out and everything, around nine or ten.”

Sean’s face lit up. “Make it nine thirty,” he said, taking charge, and Zach blushed.

“Should I come get you?” He dreaded thinking about that apartment in the evenings, but he’d do it.

“If you need to,” Sean said, and then he captured the back of Zach’s head with his hand and kissed him, hard and deep enough to make Zach open his mouth and moan, then pulled back. “You’re a little better at kissing, but we still need to work on it.”

Zach nodded dumbly, and he swallowed, knowing what this meant, but so, so ready for it. “I could really use more kissing lessons,” he said, hoping.

Sean’s smile was sweet, and it pulled up at the corner. “Well, I’d be willing to tutor you after hours.” He kissed Zach pertly and then pulled away. “But first, our day awaits.”

Zach almost skipped to work.

“And here’s your coffee,” he sang, putting Leah’s coffee and croissants on her desk. “And what do you have waiting for me?”

Leah looked at him apologetically and gestured to his office. Three people sat there, two middle-aged women in tears and a thin-faced young man looking close to tears himself. “Zach, it’s bad.”

Zach blinked. “Bad. Explain bad.”

“They run the school’s GSA. The kids asked for a list of books they could read—these guys got a list of books from their local YA librarian, and the parents complained. Bam! Yesterday morning, they get taken out of their classrooms.”

Zach blinked. “That’s….”

“Heinous. Yeah, I know. But there’s three of them, and Edward doesn’t get here for another hour. It’s you and them. I’ve rescheduled most of your stuff until Monday, and I’ll get Lori here to mind the phones while I go in and take notes, but baby, we’re talking a two-hour interview and all the shit that comes after.”

Zach sighed. “Well, enjoy your coffee,” he murmured grimly. “I’m going to go get pissed off.”

Leah surprised him with a giggle. “
That’s
something. You know? A year ago, I would have said you don’t have it in you, but now? Kick ass and take names, kemosabe—I’ll just watch you work.”

And work he did. He interviewed and investigated and assigned and deposed—and, of course, dealt with the things he’d already planned on doing that day.

By the time seven o’clock rolled around, he realized he wasn’t going to be able to make it to the gym.

By the time nine o’clock rolled around, he realized that he needed to shove all of his briefs in his briefcase and take them home.

The thought was depressing.

“Goddammit,” he muttered. “I finally have someone waiting for me, and I have to bring my work home for the weekend?”

“Wait!” Leah had just stuck her head in—probably to say goodnight, and to have him walk her out to her bus stop. “You’ve got someone waiting for you?”

“Maybe,” Zach muttered, grabbing his coat and his scarf from the rack in the corner. “I brought him coffee every morning—I was… you know… sort of hoping….”

“For a real date.” Leah practically crowed. “Excellent—well, text him and tell him you’re on your way.”

Zach’s pained expression made her bang her head on the doorframe.

“Okay—so, how long have you known him?”

“Shut up,” he murmured.

“And you’ve actually kissed him—you told me that.”

“Several times.”

“You know his last name.”

“Mallory.”

Leah sighed. “Zach….” she whined. “Please tell me you’ll get his phone number this weekend?”

Zach found his smile. “I think, if nothing else, that could be arranged.”