Russian Roulette: Flashbacks [male x male]

Ch. 36: Why do you have that with you?

Then

Date.

He had been on a date.

His first.

And the world had not ended, nor had he fucked anything up. Jace actually seemed pleased with the efforts of the day and the time they had spent together.

Boyfriend wannabe Phoenix – one.

Clueless Phoenix – zero.

Phoenix put the phone back in his pocket and grabbed the champagne he had looked at in the fridge when he called Jace. It was nothing fancy, but it was a bottle of bubbly, and they were celebrating. Jace had agreed.

With a smile that was unfamiliar to him, Phoenix snatched some chocolate and a box of strawberries too. The shopkeeper gave him a smirk when he tallied up everything, but did not comment on the purchased items. Phoenix just winked at him and left.

He was about to walk up the stairs to his room for the fastest shower in known history, when the lady at the reception stopped him.

"Young man, that's not right."

Confused, Phoenix looked at her and wondered what he had done wrong. He had just walked in, nodded at her, and was going to his room.

"Are you going up to see the other young man you arrived with?"

Phoenix nodded, afraid he was in for an attack on being a homosexual.

"Then that there won't do. He smiled like he had won the lottery." She gave Phoenix a very knowing elevator look and pushed up her glasses with a sort of dirty smile that was not fitting a woman of her age. "By the looks of it, I'm sure he has."

There was no hiding it. Heat rushed to Phoenix's entire face, and he felt his cheeks burn with the candid woman's words.

"Why don't you give me that? I'll find an ice bucket, some glasses, and clean those strawberries for you. You come back down in ten minutes to get it." She held out her hands with a 'do not argue' look.

If Phoenix had not known any better, she looked like she was one of those scary ladies who would chase him with her handbag if he did not comply. He handed over his goods with a confused half-smile, not really sure what was happening.

"Go fix your hair or something, then come back down."

"Yes, ma'am."

Exactly thirteen minutes later, Phoenix came down the stairs. Water droplets rolled down his forehead, and some got soaked up by the collar of his shirt at the back of his neck because he had broken all records in his rush to shower and not keep Jace waiting. He was already late, as it were.

A tray with an ice bucket for the bubbly, a bowl of freshly washed strawberries, chocolates arranged on a plate, and champagne flutes stood ready on the reception desk. As he had expected. It was the can of whipped cream and the chocolate sauce that got his attention.

Raising an eyebrow, Phoenix eyed the elderly lady.

"Don't look at me like that, sonny. I was young once too." She huffed and straightened her back a bit.

"I didn't say anything..." Phoenix defended himself and threw his hands up to show he had done nothing.

"That look was enough. Enjoy yourselves." Gesturing at the tray, she urged Phoenix to take it and get a move on. "He's waiting, you know."

"Thank you." Phoenix checked the name tag on her chest. "Glenda."

"Young love," she sighed and returned to watch the tv under the desk.