Phone Call

The Phone Call By: Kai (wai808@yahoo.ca)

Disclaimer: This story includes graphic scenes of sexual nature between two consenting adult males. Do not read if you are under the age of majority or if reading such material is unlawful in your residing province/state/country.

Author's Notes: This story was originally posted up in 2002, November. Revisions have been made to make this story more grammar friendly.

The characters and the circumstances they are in are purely works of fiction. Any resemblances to real life situations are purely coincidental.

No part of this story may be published or reproduced in any way without the author's written permission. You may email him at wai808@yahoo.ca. The author has had to deal with plagiarism in the past and does not tolerate it.

Copyright 2002 Kai Revised 2005 Kai

THE PHONE CALL

Alton's POV

"Hey Alt, sorry I'm late." I looked up from the stack of papers I was grading and smiled at my tardy friend. Mark grinned and plopped down into the seat across from me. Then he flagged down a waitress to order the coffee and cherry pie special.

"So what's the story this time?" Mark always managed to give a new and creative excuse every time he was late.

"Damn kid rolled his ankle. He had mistaken himself for Michael Jordan again, and he landed badly. Of course, yours truly gets to stick around while the paramedics wheeled him away." Mark was the man in charge of the varsity basketball team at the college that we both worked at. He rolled his eyes and groaned. "Sucks too, the kid's one of the best forwards I have this year. This is going to take him out of play for the rest of the season... and we're so close to the qualifiers too." Mark let out a loud sigh of disgust before focusing his attention on me. "Whatcha doin'?"

"It's my Intro to Neuro course. A small essay on the disorder of their choice." I picked up the current paper I was looking over and waved it at him. "Sciatica, want a look?" Mark scrunched up his face at me and pushed it away.

"No way dude, keep your geeky stuff away from me." I grinned at him. It still amazed me, how despite our differences, we still managed to be good friends. I had a PhD. in Physiology and taught Neurology, Pathology, and basically anything that ended with an "ology." Mark looked after our basketball team, but was also a senior authority on the Athletic Department. Where I liked to sit in on lectures of the latest update in medical findings, Mark preferred to sit down in arenas to watch whatever game that just happened to be in progress. I wore khakis and he wore sweat pants, I was the nerd and he was the jock.

But as it was, we've been as close as friends could be for the last 5 years now. Despite how busy our schedules were, we still always met at the small cafe across from campus every Friday at 4pm.

"Buddy, put that crap away and let the weekend begin." He picked up my backpack off the ground and began to cram the papers into it.

"Hey," I protested and grabbed the essays back from him. "Be careful with that! How am I supposed to explain to my students why their papers are all torn and folded up?" Mark shrugged carelessly and offered me an apologetic grin. I rolled my eyes at him and proceeded to stack the papers into a plastic file. It was always hard to stay irritated at the man for long when he pulled that face. "So, what are you and Dianne planning on doing this weekend?" I asked. Dianne was Mark's wife and the older sister I never had.

Mark groaned again. "The in-laws are coming over tomorrow night. She had done nothing but clean like a crazy maid since the beginning of this week. If I so much as lean against a pillow she squawks at me for flattening it." He snatched a french fry off of my plate and looked around the busy cafe rather impatiently. "What the hell happened to my pie?" Then he turned his attention back to me and asked what my plans were.

I shrugged. "Nothing much really. Maybe I'll just finish grading these papers." Mark stared at me in disbelief.

"What? That's for Sunday night! What about that guy you're seeing? What's his face again?" Mark stared off hard into the crevice of his head, trying to remember my boyfriend's name. I widened my eyes at him and looked around to see if anyone had heard him. I wasn't completely out of the closet yet as I was still trying to come to terms with it. In fact, Mark seemed to have accepted my attraction to men far better than I was.

"Must you be so loud?" I complained.

"Oh, right," Mark gulped guiltily and looked around as well. "Sorry buddy." All was safe and he even noticed that the waitress was making her way towards them, the pie and coffee in her hands.

We stayed quiet until said food was placed onto the table and the waitress was out of hearing range. "His name is Alan," I said.

Mark snapped his fingers. "That's it! Alan... Alan the Accountant." Eagerly he dug into his pie, his fork piercing the bright red orbs of the fruit.

I cringed at the tag. "Why must you say it like that?"

Mark looked up at me, confused. "Like what? He's an accountant right? His name's Alan right? What's the problem?" The coach pointed his fork at me, "But you know what? Hate to say this to you Alt, but the guy kind of plays up to the stereotype too well. I mean, look at him... suit and tie, not a hair out of place, kind of dull..."

"But that describes me too," I protested.

"No it doesn't," Mark insisted. "First of all, you haven't worn a suit in awhile now." He paused and looked over at my khakis and golf shirt. "Second, your hair will never stay in place even if your life depended on it. It's as if it's permanently stuck on 'messy-mode'."

"It gets windy out here," I muttered. I caught my reflection on the cafe window. Winter months allowed it to be dark enough by now to let the panel of glass to double as a mirror. It's true; my hair looked like it didn't know the meaning of 'comb'.

Mark pushed his now-empty plate away from him. "And Alt, trust me when I say this... I do not make a habit of hanging out with dull people. Sure, you read too much, by my standards, and watch the most boring documents on TV, but you're fun to hang out with when you're not doing that stuff."

"Alright, you've made your point." I grimaced at him. "But these papers aren't going to mark themselves you know."

"That's what Sunday evenings are for," he repeated.

I sighed. "I don't even know if he's free tonight. Maybe we'll go for a coffee or something."

"How long have you two been seeing each other now?"

I frowned. "Um, almost about a year now I think."

"And the best you can think of doing is coffee?"

"Mark, it may not seem exciting to you but we enjoy each other's company. We don't need the atmosphere of the movie theatres or local bars."

"Oh for crying aloud Alton, you're only 36 and you're acting like you're 63!"

I sniffed. "I'm only 35." Mark rolled his eyes at me.

"Whatever. Tell me," the other man leaned in close, "when was the last time you two had wild, unadulterated sex? You know... letting down all your scruples and restraints?"

I blushed and moved in my seat uncomfortably. "Well, er..." I hesitated. Mark was probably my closest friend and I trusted him enough to not judge me. And it was rather pointless to even think that I could hide anything from him anyway as the man had a talent for prying out kept secrets. "We... Alan and I, we haven't really..." I looked down at my cup of coffee, which was now held secured with my white-knuckled hands.

I sneaked a peek up at Mark to gauge his reaction and saw the other man staring at me with wide eyes and a slacked jaw. "It's just something that we never explored or felt the need to," I rambled on. Oh, but who was I kidding? Inwardly I sighed and recalled all those nights when Alan would sit close to me on the couch, our hearts beating slightly faster as a result of a heated discussion. We would forget where we were and he would lean in close as I would lean in close. But never would our lips touch, as we would remember where we are and regain all composure once more.

Those nights I would go to bed, alone and frustrated, wishing that just once the calm and collective poise of my significant other would crumple and break, and ravish me thoroughly. I would dream that he would throw me onto the bed and take me to new levels of ecstasy that I have never experienced before. "We thrive on each other's intellectual stimulus," I finished lamely when I realized that Mark was still staring at me in disbelief. "Look, it's not something I can just force upon him. And besides, I don't think he's that interested in it," I whispered. "I really like him Mark, and I don't want to screw things up because I get horny once in awhile."

"But you're all for it, right?" Mark asked. His friend was no longer showing signs of shock and was now concerned.

I let out a whoosh of breath. "Of course I'm all for it! The last few months I've been starting to feel like a cat in heat. All I can think about is sex. But I just don't know how to go about bringing up a subject like that in front of Alan. He's too... proper."

"I have an idea. Why not try phone sex first before the real thing?"

I looked at him incredulously. "I'm not going to waste money on a 900 number to get my rocks off."

Mark sighed rudely and looked up heavenward. "I KNOW you have a PhD but I swear to God you can be so dense sometimes Alton. You call Alan and flirt over the phone," he said slowly as if talking to a mere child.

"Oh God no!" I panicked. "I can't. I'll be too embarrassed."

"Trust me, buddy. It's not as bad as it seems because you can't see the other person. Dianne and I do it all the time when the team's playing out of town. And believe me, it can get pretty intense."

"Geez Mark, I really did NOT need to know that about you two," I groaned.

Mark picked up a sugar packet and threw it at my forehead, hard. "Grow up already. Will you just give it a try? If all goes as planned then you two will be going at it like bunnies in no time soon."

"And if it fails?"

Mark shrugged. "I don't know, make up some lame excuse, like you were drunk and hopefully he'll buy it."

I sighed again. I suppose there was little to lose. And it did sound a lot more exciting than grading midterm papers.

For the umpteenth time I turned over and glanced at my alarm clock. The red numbers read 2:14am. A sudden case of insomnia must have set in and for the life of me I could not fall asleep. There weren't enough sheep in the world to even make me yawn.

My eyes traveled to the left of the clock where my phone sat. Clucking my tongue to the roof of my mouth for a bit, I finally sat myself up and reached for it. Quickly, I dialed the number to Alan's home phone before I could change my mind. The ring seemed extremely loud in the quiet dark. I could feel my heartbeat faster, and then nearly stilled when the other end picked up.

Nathan's POV

"Hello?" I mumbled sleepily. Glancing over to the clock I saw that it was a quarter after two. I yawned and rubbed my eyes, silently cursing the late caller.

"Hey, it's Alton." The voice on the other end sounded nervous. And since I didn't know an Alton, I was about to say 'wrong number' when the caller on the other end mumbled something I couldn't quite make out.

"I'm sorry? What was that?"

The voice came out in a very quiet whisper. "I'm horny." Curiosity got the best of me and I decided to play along. My phone number was unlisted and what are the chances of a male dialing me up by chance to have some late night fun? It was probably one of the guys at the fire hall. Apparently there weren't enough fires in the city to keep them busy at this time of night.

"Oookay," I replied noncommittally.

"Um, I'm lying in bed, all alone," the quiet voice continued. "I was thinking about you and imagining myself lying next to you, wrapped in your arms." Hmm... This was getting to be interesting. My libido certainly thought so. The voice was gaining confidence now, sounding low and husky. "I'm wearing nothing, just the soft warm quilt next to my naked skin... but I wish it was your own warm body that's next to mine instead. Are you naked as well?"

"I am now," I whispered. I reached down under the blanket and stripped off my boxers. Might as well get into the part. The receiver banged against my chin for a bit and when I settled it back against my ear, I heard low laughter on the other end. It was quite sexy actually.

"Sorry," I murmured. "Now, where were we?" That set off the low sexy sound all over again. Whoever the other guy was, he was good. I wondered how Sam managed to pull this one off, probably had a fresh rookie on his hands.

"I want you to hold me and lean into me, pressing me into the soft, soft bed with your solid, hard body. You seek my mouth and I surrender to you. And when you touch my body...ahh..." The inside of my mouth went dry at the sound of that light gasp. My breathing seemed to also have picked up and I was hanging on to every word that was said through the line.

"I hang on to you, never wanting to let you go. My arms are around your neck, my fingers through you hair..." Oh sweet lord, invisible hands weaved around me. Placing my own hand over that unseen force, I follow its trail as it made its way down my body. I wrapped my hand over my very hard erection and imagined it to be the hand of the other man. There was a low moan emitted from somewhere and eventually I came to the realization that it was from me.

"Your body covers mine completely and I succumb to you. I've been kissing your neck, your shoulder, anything I can get a taste of but now I'm hungry for your mouth again, and I yearn to have your tongue within me again. But my God, you taste so good..." I heard myself groan into the mouthpiece again at those tempting words. By now I'm a concentrated mass of raging hormones desperate for release. Rocking my hips against my hand, I vowed to uncover the identity of the man responsible for this phone call and fuck the hell out of him, not stopping until he is rendered useless for the following few days.

"With one move, you claim my body and make us one... oh God..." The voice drifted off into a low moan.

"Wait for me sweetheart," I growled. I was so fast approaching the climax, my head was whirling and I was beginning to pant for breath.

"Hurry," came a gasp.

"Now," I panted. "Oh God, oh God..." I erupted all over my chest, some on my face and probably on my pillow too. Faintly, I heard a similar proclamation on the other end of the receiver. I waited for my breath to return to normal before trying to speak. "That was incredible," I breathed.

"Did you really like it? You don't mind?" The nervousness was creeping back into the voice and wavered slightly from a loss of confidence.

"Like it? Geez, I loved it!"

There was a breath of relief. "For some reason I thought that you weren't into this kind of thing and I thought that you might think I'm crazy or something. Wow, I'm so glad I tried this after all..."

"Trust me, me too."

"Um, so this is something maybe we can think about pursuing in the future?" It was a hesitant request.

"Oh, hell yes." Note to self... thank Sam.

"Great. Well... I guess it's getting late. Maybe you can call me tomorrow afternoon?"

"Sounds good," I looked around for a pen and pad, but soon stopped.

"Goodnight, Alan."

Alan?? "G'night... Alton," I managed to whisper. When I heard a soft click, I slowly hit the "off" button and lay in bed, contemplating.

~Beep beep beep~... I reach my hand out from the blankets and blindly flung it around, searching for that damned snooze button. Was it 7 o' clock already? I laid in bed for a while and opened my eyes. It actually looked sunny today. And I don't feel too tired as a matter of fact. Hmm...

Oh... last night, I remember now. I wondered if the events last night had anything to do with my rather restful sleep. Either way, I'm not going to complain.

"Ah hah! I see you now!" A tiny body of fur sat crouched amongst the leaves. Small, yellow eyes blinked at me. The mews were sounding pretty pathetic by this point. Slowly, I reached out towards it and let it get use to my hand. The kitten eventually moved toward me and started to lick a finger. I took this opportunity to grab it by the collar. "Ah, hellfire..." I cursed as the small animal started to hiss and struggle away from my hold. Tiny, but sharp, claws protracted and wildly reached to try and scratch at my hand. "I've got the cat," I yelled down.

"Send it down!" Still cursing, I reached for the small mesh bag that was attached to me. It was connected to a rope that looped through the carabiner, which hung from my belt. The rope reached the ground and acted like a pulley.

Trying to be as careful as I can, I dropped the kitten into the bag and tightened the drawstring. The cat still tried to claw through the material at me so I held it loosely by the rope. "Incoming package!" The bag slowly descended as the guys below fed the rope through the carabiner. I stood, relaxing; my job at this point was to manoeuvre the rope so that the small package didn't bang against any obstacles.

It was a few minutes before the kitten was finally in the arms of its grateful owner. The crowd had cheered and was almost dispersed by the time I had reached ground level again. I stretched and wiped at the sweat on my brow. "This is going to hurt tomorrow," I groaned.

"Uncle Alton look, it's a fire truck!" My heart skipped a beat at the sound of the name... Alton? What were the chances of meeting an Alton? It wasn't exactly a common name. I turned around and saw a young boy dragging his chaperone by the hand. He was pointing exciting at the large red vehicle. Shawn, who was quietly rolling the rope back up by the truck, smiled at the boy.

"Do you want to sit behind the wheel?" he asked.

The child turned large, baleful eyes at his adult and jumped eagerly up and down. "Can I sit behind the wheel? Please Uncle Alton? Can I? Pleeease?" I had to hand it to the kid; he was persistent.

"Alright, but Mike, don't touch anything!" The words were barely out of the man's mouth when the kid scampered off to follow Shawn to the driver's side. He stood there, head shaking in defeat. I approached him and grinned.

"Energetic one isn't he?" I commented.

He looked up at me and I was rewarded with a small smile. "You don't know the half of it. I don't think I can keep up with him any longer." He returned his gaze back to the young boy and the smile widened. I pretended to watch as well, but had trained the corner of my eye to study the other man.

He looked to be about my age and was maybe a couple inches shorter than my own height of 6'3". A tad on the skinny side perhaps. His brown hair looked windblown, or perhaps bed tousled? I gulped as I felt myself reacting below the belt at that thought. 'Thank God for the bunker pants,' I thought wryly to myself. My focus would not linger from the hair; it looked so soft. I felt the sudden need to run my fingers through it. I had to shake my head clear. 'Get a hold of yourself, McCrae.'

When I looked up again, soft brown eyes stared back at me expectantly. I realised that I was asked a question. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I said my name's Alton." The man looked amused. "That kid is my friend's son, Mike." I returned my gaze back to the child that was now wearing my helmet.

"Nathan McCrae at your service." I took the hand that was offered, before I remembered how dirty and grimy my own was. "Oh crap, sorry about that man."

Alton wiped his hand against his cargo shorts. I continued down the length of the long legs and noticed that they were nicely muscled. He laughed lightly; the sound of it struck a chord of familiarity in me. Was that my Alton? The one who so sweetly seduced my imagination last night? But what were the chances?

"Don't worry about it. I've been dealing with Mike's ice cream for most of the afternoon already."

"Kids will be kids I guess," I commented. He nodded and smiled. His skin glowed golden from the rays of sunlight. Oh, what the hell, got to take the chance and find out. "Alton eh? That name sounds familiar." He looked at me with his brown eyes, full of interest. "Say, do you know a guy name Alan?"

His eyes widened. "Alan Laurier?"

"Yeah, that's it," I improvised. "Do you know him?"

"Yes. We're... pretty close friends. How do you know him?"

"Oh," Oh damn... think fast McCrae, think fast. "He's also a friend of mine."

Alton looked at me, disbelieving. "Really? You don't look like any of his typical friends."

'Well, he's actually a friend of my brother's. It's been awhile since the two of them have seen each other, since my brother's moved away to New York." I grinned at him, hoping he would buy my story. It must have worked because he rewarded me with another smile. I could grow use to being on the receiving end of that.

"The three of us will have to get together some day then; go for coffee or something."

"That'd be great. How is Alan these days anyway? I haven't spoken to him in a long time myself." Let's see what we can dig up about this other man... not that I was trying to find any dirt or anything.

"He's been well." A small frown appeared on Alton's face. "Actually, he was supposed to call me today, but he never did." I felt a twitch on my guilty conscience. "But then again, I haven't been home much today."

I shrugged nonchalantly. "It probably just slipped his mind," I offered.

"Yeah, it is getting closer to the tax deadline. I imagine that it's good to be an accountant at this time of year." Ah, so Alan is an accountant. "Listen, why don't I leave you with my numph..." Alton swayed and lost his balance as he was tackled from the side. I instinctively reached out to steady him and caught him in my arms. Wow, he felt good, and damn did he smell even better. My lips brushed against his ear and my nose was buried for that split second into his hair. It felt so right in that instant, but almost immediately, his entire body stiffened and he pushed away from me. His face was pink and he had a look of embarrassment on his face.

"I'm sorry," he apologised. Then he turned to stare sternly at his young company. "Michael, what did I say about jumping on me like that?"

"That your back is getting too old for that," he said solemnly. I grinned as the colour on Alton's face deepened. The boy suddenly noticed me, and moved to hide behind Alton's leg. He shyly peered out at me.

Alton sighed, exasperated with the situation. "Nathan, this little troublemaker here is Mike. Mike say hello to Nathan."

I squatted down to about eye level with the child and offered him my hand. "Hello Mike, pleased to meet you." The boy looked up at the adult he hid behind to make sure it was okay to speak to a stranger. When Alton nodded his okay, Mike reached up for his hand, for reassurance, before slowly coming out and taking my own.

"Hello," he shyly responded. "Are you a fire-fighter?"

"I am." I grinned at him. He returned it unabashedly and let go of Alton's hand, now full of confidence.

"Really? That's so cool! Is it fun? I wanna be a fire fighter when I grow up. I wanna wear a fire-fighter's hat and drive the fire truck all the time... and slide down the pole when the alarm goes off... and spray water all over the fire... and..." I had to laugh at the enthusiasm this kid had.

"Mike, don't ask so many questions," Alton admonished. "He's a friend of Alan."

The child blinked at me. "You know Uncle Alton's boyfriend?" I heard something that resembled a choke and saw that Alton had that lovely shade of red on his face again.

I raised an eyebrow up. "Boyfriend?"

"He...he's just a friend," he insisted. I could see him swallowing nervously. "Listen," he began, "Nathan... it was nice meeting you, but I should be getting Mike back to his parents now. See you around." He tugged at the young boy and turned to walk away. I sighed, wondering if I would ever get to see that face again. Then I saw that the guys were ready to leave now and I hopped into the passenger side, having earned myself shotgun since I did most of the work today. I whistled random tunes on the ride back to the station. At least now I was able to put a face to the sexy voice and then realised that my dreams were now about to get more interesting.

Alton's POV 3

"Uncle Alton, what's wrong? Did I say something bad?" Mike looked at me worriedly. "I'm sorry if I said something to hurt you, please don't cry." He reached over and hugged me around the waist. I didn't even realize that there was a tear streaking down the side of my face.

"Aw, Mikey, don't worry about your old Uncle. I'll be fine. I'm just a little embarrassed, that's all."

"But why?" He looked up at me, confused. Fondly, I stroked his hair, my fingers running through the fine blond strands.

"Mike, not everyone knows that I have a boyfriend. Some people believe that it's wrong for a man to have a boyfriend, or for a woman to have a girlfriend for that matter."

The young boy frowned. "Well those people suck. Do you think Nathan's one of those people?"

I thought back to the good-looking fireman we had left behind. If I could only use one word to describe that man, it would be 'strong'. Not only physically, but there was a confident and secure aura that emitted from him. "I don't know kiddo, but I sure hope not."

"Yeah, me too. I like him. I think you should trade Alan in for him, Uncle Alton." I looked down at Mike in surprise.

"Why would you say a thing like that?"

The boy shrugged. "I dunno. He seems cool, way cooler than Alan. And he talks to me too. Alan never talks to me... he just stares at me like he's not sure what to do." I considered this for a bit. Now that I thought about it, I never once remember Alan talking or acting comfortably around Mike, or any kids for that matter. I stared down at the young boy, amazed by his level of awareness of his surroundings. I'll have to stop underestimating Mike from now on.

"Okay, smarty-pants, let's go see if your parents are home yet."

There was a knock on the door and I looked up from the lecture notes that I was preparing.

"Alt, buddy what's the emergency? I must have received three messages from you on my voicemail. Are you having a mental breakdown?" Mark grinned as he closed the door to my office and fell ungracefully into the chair that faced me.

"I think I might have fucked it up with Alan," I told him. The coach paused for a minute while he studied my face. I've seen it this morning and knew that he wouldn't miss the dark circles under my eyes, nor the red blood vessels in them. It was all thanks to the insomnia I'd been suffering from for the last couple of nights.

"What happened? Are you alright?" he quietly asked.

"I don't know," I whispered. "I tried that phone thing like you suggested. It was...I mean...it went fine. He said he liked it."

"So what went wrong?"

"I don't know. That's what doesn't make sense. The next day he leaves a message on my answering machine and he doesn't even act like anything happened. He just said that he'll be out of town for the next few days and that's it. Not a word about anything else. It's like he's avoiding the subject or something."

Mark contemplated over this information. "Buddy, he probably just needs to think this through. I wouldn't worry too much over it. Don't start jumping to conclusions just yet; wait until he's back in town so that you two can talk it over in person. You know what...why don't you come over for dinner tonight?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose and smiled tiredly. "Thanks Mark, I just needed to get this off my chest. I needed someone to listen to me, and I'll think about tonight."

Mark stood up and moved over to clap me on the shoulder. "Count on me anytime, Alton. Now I better go before the boys do something stupid...like set the gym on fire."

I frowned. "Mark, where do you come up with these ideas? You can't seriously believe that they could set the gym on fire do you?"

The coach raised his eyebrows at me. "You know Alt, these lads surprise me sometimes." He quietly closed the door after him and left me pondering in silence. When I looked up at the clock on the wall, I saw that I had just over an hour left before my next class and I hurried to finish the notes in front of me.

Nathan's POV

"McCrae! Office...Now!" I looked up from the poker game I was engaged in with 3 other guys and they 'ooh'd' and 'uh oh'd' in mock sympathy. Flipping them the bird in a joking manner, I threw my cards down onto the small table and made my way to the Captain's office. Ah hell, I had a bad hand anyway.

"Cap'n, what is it?" I sat myself down on the foldout chair and faced the older man across from me.

"You've been wearing that goofy grin ever since you've returned from that kitten rescue. Then yesterday you insisted on making the crew dinner even though it wasn't your turn."

"Yeah so? I don't see anything wrong with that," I defended myself.

"Don't you ever wonder why everybody always insisted on ordering take out when it's your turn to cook? You're not particularly good at it Nathan. In fact, I'll be honest and say that you down right suck at cooking."

I tried to look hurt. "Sam, I know I'm no culinary chef but must your words be so harsh?"

The Captain rolled his eyes at me. "You hum random tunes... you're screwing up the guys' laundry... you're singing loudly in the shower, out of tune... you broke six, count 'em six plates when doing the dishes... and God please don't ever try to make coffee again."

"What are you trying to say Sam?"

"You're driving everyone crazy! Stop trying to be so helpful!"

I let out a breath of frustration. "I don't get it, you guys are always whining about how I don't pitch in around here and when I do you guys complain some more."

"We love you here Nathan. You're a damn good fireman, but we just never realised until now how awful you are at housekeeping. Let's admit it, some guys have it and some guys don't. Now why don't you let me know what's going on with this sudden urge in domestic behaviour."

I smiled. A sweet face with soft brown eyes and wild hair popped up in my head. It was turned slightly downwards with the eyes shyly peering up at me through half closed eyelids, the lips shaped into a small smile.

"Helloooo..." I jerked back into reality and blinked at Sam. The older man shook his head in quiet resignation. "Whatever. Anyway, it's your turn to perform the monthly inspection at the college. Try not to screw this up, got it?"

"So, did you ever get a call from Alan that day?"

Alton choked at bit on the sandwich he was eating. "How did you know he was supposed to call?"

"Because you told me yourself that very day." I watched amused as he blushed. He was so easy to fluster.

"Oh, well, yes he did call. Well, I mean he left a message for me. He's been out of town lately. He should actually be home any day now. And... What?"

"You're so cute when you babble on like that." I couldn't stop myself from saying it. But I wish I had when he froze in horror.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. Pretend that didn't just happen."

It was an awkward start in conversation, but we soon realised that as long as we stuck to topics of general interest, it was easy to talk to each other. Eventually, we even discovered that we had a lot of things in common with each other. We didn't even notice that the cafe had started to empty out and it was near closing time.

"Oh, I didn't realise how late it was," he said. By this point we were just nursing half-filled cups of cold coffee. "I guess we better be going now."

"Yeah. Well, I'm just parked out front. I'll drive you to your car."

"That's alright. I don't drive anyway; I take transit. Thanks for the offer though."

"Oh hell no." I took him by the arm and started to drag him towards my vehicle. "I'm not about to let you take the bus at this time of night. It's friggin' cold and dark now." Alton yanked his arm out from my hold and glared at me in disbelief.

"What? Are you for real? I'm a grown man and I've been taking the bus by myself for as long as I can remember."

I held my hands up in the air in mock surrender. "Look, Alton. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound so pushy. But may I please drive you home? Humour me okay?"

The look on his face began to soften. "Well, it'll be a free ride home I guess. Which way now?"

I led him towards my dirty Cherokee. Yeesh, how long had it been since I've washed that thing? I went to unlock his door first and opened it for him. He looked at me questionably. "The automatic locks aren't working," I fibbed.

I drove for a while as we sat in silence. Every so often Alton would speak up and give me the odd instruction to his place. Finally, I pulled over to the side of an old, small house. "Well," he spoke up again, "Thanks for the ride Nathan. We'll have to get together again when Alan gets back in town."

I followed him out of the car and walked over to his side. "I'll walk you to the door." He stared at me like I'd gone and grown a third eye. "Please?" He shook his head in resignation and walked off, leaving me to follow him.

"I rent the basement. Student loans are a bitch to pay off." I chuckled at his comment. Then I noticed that it was unusually dark.

"Don't you have a doorway light around here?" I asked.

"Yes, but it burned out and I don't have a ladder to change it. I'm usually home before it gets too dark to see anything anyway." I could hear him fumbling with his keys, trying to find the keyhole in the pitch black.

"Why didn't you get your landlord take care of that?" I demanded. "This is a safety hazard, you can trip and fall or something."

"I've told him many times, but he never gets around to fixing it." I heard a soft curse along with a clang from the keys he dropped to the ground. We both kneeled down to feel around for them. I found them the same instant Alton did. My hand was on top of his and he jerked it out of the way. I swallowed hard and picked them up, silently handing them over to him. "Thanks," he whispered. He turned around and, as if by magic, he was suddenly able to find the keyhole and had the door opened and lights on within seconds.

He turned around, probably to wish me a goodnight, but I had stealthily sneaked my way pass him and into his living room. I took a look around and saw that it was furnished with comfortable looking sofas, an old coffee table, bookcases packed with books, and there were picture frames scattered here and there. It had a nice lived-in look to it and it felt cozy.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" he asked. He dropped his backpack to the floor and stood with his arms crossed. I gave him a serene look and sat myself onto one of his sofas.

"Yeah, a coffee sounds great." I watched as he fumed in place before finally stalking off into another room. It was probably a kitchen since I heard the water tap turned on and noise, which sounded like a coffee machine being handled. I hopped myself back up to my feet and walked into the kitchen, trying to see if there was anything I could help with. He must not have heard me come in, as he remained standing there with his profile to me, idly watching the coffee drip from the urn.

My breath caught in my throat; in that dreamlike state he looked so beautiful. I imagined that his eyes were soft like the way they currently were because he was thinking about me, and his hair mussed like that because I had thoroughly messed it up while in bed... I was literally standing right behind him by the time he even realised that I was there. He turned around and his whole body stiffened.

"Geez, Nathan. Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry," I apologized, but I didn't move from where I stood, which was only about a couple feet away. I took a small step forward and saw that he took a small step backwards. This continued until he was backed right up against the kitchen counter.

"Nathan," he stammered. His brown eyes were open wide like a deer caught in the headlights, and he nervously licked his upper lip. I focused in on the pink flesh, wondering what it would feel like on my naked skin. "Nathan," he tried again, "W...what are you d...doing?"

"I'm not sure," I whispered. I moved in closer and we were now only inches away from each other. My hands somehow had found their way to the counter, one on either side of Alton and effectively trapping him there.

"Nathan, please," he softly pleaded, "Don't do this, think about it for a minute."

I blinked and looked down on his lips. "I just want to know..." I leaned in and touched his lips with mine. It was a very light kiss, but once I'd had a taste of it, I couldn't help but move in and deepen it. I moved my arms from the counter and wrapped them around his waist, pressing his body closer to mine. The body in my arms softened and I heard a quiet moan. I knew that I didn't make that noise, so there was only one other person it could have came from. Pulling back and breaking the kiss, I looked down at Alton's face and saw his eyes were now glazed with lust.

The sight was one to die for and I couldn't help but dive back in for a repeat of the kiss.

Alton's POV 4

"Oh Alton, I've been dying to do that all night." I vaguely managed to make out what Nathan was saying and felt my heart soar. My body continued to melt into his and voluntarily pressed itself closer into the hard body it was against, every cell in it reaching out for the other man. I heard myself moan again and my arms eventually wrapped themselves around the strong neck.

I let the tongue that entered my mouth roam freely, and shyly I touched my tongue back to it. It was very receptive to my touch as it reached out for me. Soon, I was giving back as much as I was receiving and found myself engaged in a very delightful tongue wrestle. The arms around me began to sweep down the length of my back before they stopped to rest at the top of my ass. Gripping me there firmly, I was pushed most insistently into Nathan's groin so that there was absolutely no mistaking that the other man was very aroused indeed. The evident bulge felt hard and heated against my stomach.

I sought for a much-needed breath when the lips on mine left to venture along my jaw, chin and throat. "You taste like heaven," he whispered. "Just like I imagined you would." I sighed in content and enjoyed the wave of euphoria that flowed through me. I had never felt so good; it was never like this with Alan...

I stiffened at the thought. Alan! I started to panic. Oh no, what am I doing? My arms reached out to push Nathan away, but it proved to be quite difficult...it was like pushing at a brick wall. The kissing never ceased and the constant stimulation on my skin made it very hard to keep my focus on Alan. "Nathan..." my voice was low and husky. "Nathan... stop for a minute..."

Finally, he heard what I was trying to say and pulled back for a moment, looking down at me with hungry grey eyes. I noticed that he never once slackened his hold on me. Oh shit, what was I trying to say again? Think Alton, think...

"It's Alan," I managed to lamely blurt out. The lust in his eyes died out and replaced with... what was that? There was anger, envy, regret?? In the end he let go of me, somewhat reluctantly, and took a step back.

"I'm sorry, Alton. I don't know what came over me." He shoved his hands into the back pockets of his jeans, which drew my attention to the visibly large swell that was in the front. I quickly drew my line of vision away but it was too late, he caught me staring. Nathan cocked his head to one side and grinned at me. "That's what you do to me. Are you sure you want to stop?"

My throat was dry and I found that I had to swallow a couple times before I was able to find my voice. "Y...yes. I'm sure. I try not to make it a habit of throwing myself at any man when my boyfriend just happens to be out of town." I straightened myself and stared at him, trying to void all emotion in my facial expression. It must have worked because I saw him stiffen his own stance.

"What makes you think that Alan's not doing the same thing himself?"

My jaw fell; of all the things I expected him to say that was not it. "Get out," I told him.

A look of regret fell upon his face and he took a tentative step towards me. "Look Alton..." I forcibly pushed him away and took the opportunity to escape from his hold. As quickly as I could I walked away from him and was almost out of the kitchen when a pair of strong hands grabbed me around the waist and pulled me tight against his equally strong body. Soft lips and a warm breath caressed my ears. I struggled to get loose, but the grip held me in place. "Do you deny you feel anything when I touch you like this?" One hand remained holding me secure around the waist while the other hand traveled towards my chest, slowly caressing up my flat stomach.

"Nothing," I replied evenly. My heart was beating hard and fast and I was hoping that he wouldn't be able to detect it. I tried to struggle again, still not willing to give up. A low laugh filled my ear at my futile attempts and eventually I tired out once more. He was a patient man; I'll give him that much.

"How about like this?" The wandering hand tried a different route and headed south. It paused below my navel where my pubic bone was, just short of the root of my semi-erect penis. That is, the hand was still, but the fingers continued to massage through the material of my pants.

I began to softly pant. "No," I meekly answered.

A tongue reached to lick my earlobe, and the hand finally moved further down to encase my genitalia. A series of strokes and pulls had me in a raging erection in no time. "Now?" he demanded. "Don't bother lying, your body tells me otherwise." I whimpered quietly. "Tell me," he demanded again. "Do you like this? Can Alan make you respond this well to his touch?"

I shook my head, humiliated by my body's betrayal. How could I be so easily affected by the other man's touch? "Please, Nathan," I implored. "Don't do this to me. He hasn't okay? He's never made me feel like this before... he's never even bother to touch me okay? Are you happy now? He won't touch me! Now please let me go..."

The hands abruptly let me go and I fled to the opposite wall, scraping myself along it until I was curled up into a ball on the floor. I pressed my head into the cool wall and I forced myself to keep from crying. I couldn't believe I just admitted that. "Just go," I whispered.

My eyes were closed, but I knew he was still standing there, probably staring down at me in disgust. After what seem like forever, I finally heard his footsteps as he made his way out. The knob turned and the hinge creaked when the door was opened. I finally opened my eyes when I heard no further movement. I looked up from where I sat and saw his grey eyes staring down at me. There was anger in them. Was he angry with me?

"He doesn't deserve you," he told me simply. And he was out the door, closing it quietly behind him before I had the chance to ask what he meant by that cryptic statement.

Nathan's POV

Cursing to myself, I slammed on the gas pedal and sped away from Alton's house. 'Oh crap, what did I just do back there?' I've never felt so low before in my life. The guy had begged... begged for God's sakes... for me to let him go. But did I? NO. I don't know what came over me; it was like all my senses of logic are out on vacation whenever I came near him. He must emit some sort of pheromone that makes one think of nothing else but him. It's intoxicating and damn near frustrating.

The odometre rolled up with every kilometre that I put between Alton and me. And with every kilometre the need to go back got stronger. I shouldn't have left him there curled up on the kitchen floor like that. But I doubted if he wanted me close to him anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if the guy decided to press charges against me.

I let out a breath of frustration. Staring out into the dark night as the blur of lights skimmed past me, I thought about what Alton had said. I was angry. Why would a man as smart as Alton stay with someone who didn't appreciate what he had in front of him? He deserved better, someone who would treasure him and the ground he walked on. Someone like... me. I let a smile slip out. I'd come to a decision... I was going to let Alan have a run for his money and do everything I could until I made Alton mine.

"Are you stalking me?" he demanded. I held up my hands in mock surrender before shoving the bouquet of roses in front of him. Alton took a step back and stared at them in shock. His eyes became large and wide, the annoyance in them dissipating.

I was still standing outside on his doorstep. Coast wasn't clear yet, still hadn't breached the perimetres. "Does this mean you're not going to slam the door in my face?" I offered him my most hopeful smile. He seemed hesitant to take the flowers from me. "The thorns are cut, trust me." Alton took them, but not before throwing me a glare.

Alton's POV

I wondered how often he used that puppy-eye look. It's lethal. I looked at the dark red roses and then back at him. "You didn't have to buy these," I told him.

He shrugged carelessly and waved a hand in the air. "I wanted to. And besides, even boys need flowers every so often." I was secretly touched by the thoughtfulness. I'd never received flowers from anyone before. Nathan continued to stand there, giving me his innocent look. Well, it was cold, and I was letting the heat out...

"You might as well come in." I took a step back to let him in. His face lit up like a 100-watt light bulb. He took a seat on one of the sofas and I made sure to sit down on the other one. We sat there for a few minutes in an awkward silence. I had been watching TV earlier and the Simpsons was on now. It was an episode I'd already seen but I pretended to look interested in it.

"We need to talk," Nathan abruptly interrupted.

"Okay." I turned the TV off and fixed him an even stare. "Why don't you start first? Why don't you start by telling me what the hell is going on here."

"Alton," he began, "I want you to know that I am really, really sorry about what I did last night. I had no right to question what was going on between you and Alan, and I had absolutely no business in coming on to you like that. I want you to know that I really respect you as a person, and I hope that you will find it in your heart to believe me and accept my apology."

I didn't know what to say. I wasn't expecting him to be so frank. Staring into his eyes, I could see that he was sincere about what he had said and meant every word of his apology. I smiled at him. "Nathan, I appreciate what you say. I can't forget what you did, but I'm sure I can put it behind me."

"Hey, I'll take that. I'm in no position to be choosy. How about we just start all over?" I stared at him, puzzled. Grinning, he offered me his hand. "I'm Nathan McCrae, pleased to meet you. And your name is...?"

"Alton Knox." I took his hand, feeling somewhat silly.

"Well Alton, I hope that this is the beginning of a long lasting friendship."

I smiled. "Yeah, me too."

I heard a car pull up so I quickly grabbed my coat and keys and went for the door. By the time I had the door opened, Nathan was already standing on the other side with one hand raised, ready to knock. "You move fast," I told him.

He shrugged. "Long legs take less time to get from point A to point B." I couldn't help but let my gaze wander over his long limbs and started to blush once I realised what I was doing. I took a step back and studied him as a whole.

"Hey, you look awesome," I exclaimed. He did. He was wearing a simple black suit with a short mandarin collar, and underneath that was a crisp white shirt. The hair was worn slick back and I could smell the faint scent of his aftershave from where I stood.

"Got to look good for the ladies," he grinned. I noticed that he had a hand behind hidden behind his back and when he brought it around he held a single red rose in his hand.

"Nice touch," I commented.

He held it up to me and shook his head slightly. "It's for you actually."

"You're amazing," I laughed. "You're going to spoil me, you know that?"

His eyes held mine and he suddenly looked serious. "Someone has to," he said. I blinked and when I looked at him again, he was back to his carefree self. "So... ready to go?" he asked. Unsure of what had just transpired back there, I nodded and followed him to his car.

Nathan's POV

I snuck a glance at the man sitting to my right. It was hard to focus on driving with Alton sitting next to me. Wow, he looked good, and he didn't even know it! He was wearing a dark grey suit with a dark blue shirt and matching tie. I could see that he had tried to fix his hair somewhat with gel, but only succeeded in spiking it. But hell, whom am I kidding? He could be shaved bald wearing nothing but a paper bag and I'd still think he was beautiful. Wait a second, Alton wearing nothing but a paper bag? Now that was a sight I'd love to see.

"What are you smiling about?"

Busted.

"Oh, just some lame joke that one of the guys at the station said today," I quickly improvised. "Something about finding himself a sugar momma."

"Is that what you'd want?" he asked jokingly.

"Of course not. I thought you knew by now which team I play for," I gave him a wink. In the dark I couldn't see him blush, but I knew him well enough by now to know that he was turning pink as we spoke. "Relax Dr. Knox, tonight we're going to have some fun."

We laughed and joked on the ride home. It was mostly at my expense, what my game plan was at seducing the poor girl who won me. By the time I had pulled over to where his place was, I had already described the restaurant I would take her to, and the entertainment that would follow.

"...And we would go back to her place afterwards, perhaps for a cup of coffee and biscuits, or maybe we'll have carried on a conversation so intense we would have to finish it inside. But eventually, all things must come to an end and we say goodnight. Perhaps we'll keep in touch, perhaps we won't and the night shall always be a memory we'll both keep."

Alton was staring at me in rapt attention. His eyes shone in the moonlight, and his hair and smooth skin were softly highlighted by the same source. His lips were slightly open, and I had to force myself to keep my gaze from settling on them. "Will there be a goodnight kiss?" he asked.

Despite my efforts, my gaze broke down to those full lips before refocusing back on those brown eyes. "There's always a goodnight kiss," I whispered. 'Ah hell, screw this platonic-close-friends-cover up... What would one kiss hurt?' And I was so very close to leaning in for that sweet taste, had it not been for a sudden bright glare from my review mirror.

Annoyed, I turned around and saw that another car had parked up right behind me. "For crying aloud," I muttered. "Is that your landlord?"

Alton peered over and squinted into the light. "No, I don't think so. They have a driveway around the back, and they don't normally get visitors at this time of night." The blasted headlights finally turned off and we saw that it was a white BMW that was parked behind us. "Oh my God, it's Alan," he happily exclaimed. His hand fumbled around in search for the door handle. He had the door opened and was ready to jump out before he stopped to glance over at me. "Aren't you coming?" he asked.

Trying to keep my disappointment from being too apparent, I shook my head and gestured for him to go. "Nah, I'll let you two catch up. It's been a while for you guys. Another time maybe."

Alton stared at me, slightly puzzled. "Okay Nathan." He stepped out of the car and was on the sidewalk, peering in at me. "If I don't see you before then, have a great time on your date with the nurse."

"Thanks, will do." I pasted a smile on my face, hoping that it looked sincere.

"Goodnight Nathan."

"G'night, Alton." With a small smile, he closed the door and turned around to face the occupant that was getting out of the German car. In my rear-view mirror, I could see that the driver was giving my SUV the look-over before turning his attention to the man who just left it. With my heart deflating, I watched as Alton hurried into the arms of the other man. Having seen enough, I pulled away from the curb and sped off away from the scene.

I cursed to myself. Alton would eventually find out that Alan didn't know who I was and realise that I had been deceiving him. 'Will tonight have been the last time that I would ever get to see him?' And if not, would the next time that I see him have me looking into his eyes filled with hatred and distrust instead of the warmth I'd grown accustomed to? 'Hell, what did I get myself into? I'll be lucky if all I come out of this with is a broken heart.'

Alton's POV

"Alan!" I exclaimed. He broke his gaze away from the Cherokee and smiled at me. As usual, he looked flawlessly groomed. Alan was dressed impeccably in a dark blue suit, every strand of his perfectly styled blond hair was in place, his white teeth straight and even, and he was looking all around very pleased with himself.

"Alton, look at you, you look wonderful." He reached out to me and embraced me in a quick hug, before letting me go so that he could take a step back to study me. "You haven't worn a suit in a while, what's the occasion? Did you know I was going to come back tonight? Is that it?" he teased.

"No, that's not it at all. I didn't know when you were going to come home, but that's because I haven't heard from you in almost a week! Where the hell have you been?" I knew I sounded angry, but the matter of fact was... I was angry.

"Oh Alton, please don't get upset. I've had a very grueling week and would much rather sit and relax than stand here in the cold arguing with you." He looked at me for a minute. "Well, since we're both dressed presentably, how about we go to the Westin for a late drink?" He wasn't really expecting an answer from me because he had already started walking towards his car and opened up the passenger side door for me. When he turned around to see that I had not moved from where I stood, he gave me a frustrated look. "Alton, I haven't even gone home yet. The first place I went to is here to see you."

I turned to stare at the faint light that was the Cherokee before walking over to the BMW. As I sat there, waiting for Alan to walk around to the driver side, I went through the last few minutes in my head. Nathan had looked like he was going to kiss me. And the way he talked about the date... it was as if I could picture that it was me he was going to wine and dine.

"Who was that in the jeep?" Alan asked as he started the car up and pulled away from the curb.

"Actually, you know him," I said. "His name's Nathan McCrae. He's supposed to be the brother of one of your friends."

"McCrae? I don't remember anyone by that name. What does he do?"

A slight feeling of unease began to settle in my stomach. "He's a fire-fighter."

The handsome blond mused over the new information. "No, I don't know anyone who has anything to do with the fire department." Alan turned to frown at me. "What have you guys been doing together?"

I felt my body turn cold as I thought about all the time that we'd spent together. I had trusted him almost unconditionally under the assumption that he knew Alan. He even kissed me that first night; God knows what else he was capable of doing.

"Nothing, just the occasional coffee and dinner," I finally managed to say evenly. "We were at the annual firemen's auction tonight actually. He was just dropping me home when you arrived."

"Oh really? So you've been behaving yourself then while I was gone."

"Of course. What did you think I would've done?" I was getting annoyed with Alan's suspicious tone. "God knows I can't even manage to get my own boyfriend in bed with me, how could I possibly go out and try it with a complete stranger?" I gasped as the car suddenly swerved over to the side. After throwing the car into neutral, Alan turned in his seat to face me, an expression of shock marring his handsome face.

"Good heavens Alton, what's gotten over you?"

I sat in silence, horrified at my outburst. I was stiff and not moving, staring at the other man, panic setting in. "Oh my God," I whispered. I covered my mouth with my hand, wishing that I could just vanish into thin air. "I didn't mean a word of it," I insisted.

Alan was looking at me strangely by now. "I've never seen you like this before. I mean, in the moonlight Alton." He reached over and to my surprise, he gently stroked a finger across my face and over my lips. "So soft," he whispered, almost to himself.

"Alan?" I asked softly.

"You're very beautiful Alton," he said. "Sometimes I'm intimidated by you."

I looked at him; this time it was my turn to look shocked. "I intimidate you?"

"Of course you do. You're brilliant, beautiful, and extremely witty. I love the conversations we have together and the way your eyes light up when we talk about something you're passionate about. But I'm quite content with just that, and I thought you were too. But I see that I was wrong. Alton, I have no interest whatsoever in pursuing a physical relationship with you."

"Really?" I blinked at him, not quite sure what to think, and started to feel just a little bit ill. "You sure as hell fooled me," I bitterly retorted.

"Alton, I'm sorry if I led you on. I thought we were under a mutual decision that this was strictly an intellectual relationship."

"No kidding. If you felt this way then why the hell did you give me hope that there could be a physical aspect between the two of us?" I angrily demanded.

Alan stared at me like I should be strapped into a white suit. "What are you talking about? When did I do that?"

"Don't act like you don't know. That phone conversation that we had."

"What phone conversation?"

"The...the one I made that night before you left... last Friday. I called you late at night remember?"

His blue eyes turned to confusion. "You never called me last Friday, Alton. I received your messages that night, but I never returned your calls because I was already on the plane by then. I hadn't been able to reach you until the next day but you were out so I left a message on your answering machine. Didn't you get it?"

Now I was filled with a sudden feeling of dread. If it wasn't Alan that I spoken with that night, then who? Had I engaged in phone sex with a complete stranger after all? This meant that some pervert had climaxed at my expense. I wondered for how many days the guy was able to get a laugh out of it. He probably even shared it with all his buddies.

"Alton?" Alan was staring at me with concern. "Are you okay? You've gone dreadfully pale."

I blinked my eyes furiously and tried to breathe deeply. "I'm not feeling very good right now. I think you better drive me home." My voice sounded dry and sickly. Alan nodded and hurriedly cranked his wheel to pull a U-turn. I opened the window a crack and let the cool night's air brush across my face. We sat in silence for the remainder of the ride.

By the time Alan had pulled over, I was quickly out the door and on my hands and knees, taking in deep breaths of air. I heard Alan scramble to my side. He seemed to hesitate somewhat, like he was unsure of what to do. Finally, he placed a hand on my neck and massaged. I thought about another time when it was another hand that gave me a massage.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah." I took a deep breath of fresh air. "I'll be fine." I shrugged away from his hand and stood up to face him. "Listen, you're probably tired now. Why don't we just call it a night so you can go and get some rest? Maybe we'll talk more tomorrow when we're both refreshed."

Alan took a minute to consider and then nodded. This was followed by a brief moment of silence as we stood there, wondering what the other was thinking. Finally, he leaned over and, to my surprise, gave me a quick peck on the cheek. As he turned around to get back into his car and drive off, I stood there by myself in the dark contemplating that kiss. It was the sort of kiss that I would give to Dianne or my Mother. Actually, it was rather insulting. I can do very well without pity kisses.

Nathan's POV 6

"Hey Nathan, isn't that your college friend?" Kevin called out to me. I threw my sponge into a bucket of foamy suds and squinted my eyes against the sunlight. It was truck washing day and despite the cool weather, I had worked up enough body heat to be able to only wear just a T-shirt by this point.

Crossing the adjacent intersection, approaching us was a very un-amused looking Alton.

Uh oh...

'Oh yeah,' I thought dejectedly, 'he definitely knows that I have no ties to Alan whatsoever. Hopefully, I'll come out of this with only minor cuts and bruises.' And despite the wrath that I knew was about to explode out of the other man, I couldn't help but think how incredible he looked. He was only wearing old jeans and an equally old looking blue hoody with the yellow letters UCFV emblazed on it, but damn he wore them well. It wasn't windy today, but as usual, his hair said otherwise.

I jumped down from the top of an engine and started to meet him halfway, which would be just on the edge of the driveway. We stood facing each other.

"Nathan," he said. His tone was bland.

"Alton," I greeted him. I was starting to fill with a feeling of unease.

"Guess what I found out last night?" he asked. His tone remained emotionless.

"Um... smoking is bad for you?" I tried.

He blinked once, then again. "Alan told me that he has never heard of you before." I tried to look shocked, but I knew that the attempt was in vain. He narrowed his gaze at me. "Why did you make up that lie?"

I looked back over my shoulder to make sure that the other guys were still busy with washing the large vehicles. "Listen Alton, I know you're mad with me..."

"Try pissed as hell," he interrupted in a low even voice.

Taking a small gulp, I continued. "Pissed," I corrected, "at me but I can't go into the details of it right now. Meet with me tonight and I promise, absolutely promise, that I'll explain everything to you."

He glared at me some more as he thought it over. I could see the side of his jaw clenching and unclenching. "Fine," he said. "No more bullshit, Nathan. The truth and nothing else."

"Scout's honour." I made a cross over my heart and held the pledge with the other. "I'll be at your place around eight. Is that okay?" He gave me a curt nod before turning around, back into the direction of where he came from. Slowly I walked backwards, letting myself watch the retreating figure until it turned around a corner.

"Nathan, what the hell was that all about?" Shawn yelled.

I shrugged and fished around the bucket for my sponge. "Word of advice, never try to pull one over the good Doctor. It will blow up in your face." Clucking my tongue to the roof of my mouth, I climbed back onto the top of the truck and pondered about how I was going to make it up to Alton as I scrubbed the dirt off the metal.