Starstruck

Chapter 1

It had all started out innocently enough.

One night Jude had gone (okay he'd been dragged) to a club with his friends. It was getting late, and Jude had almost finished sipping his drink. All his friends had left him and Jude was sitting in a booth by himself, getting ready to pay his tab and head home. That was when a stout man who looked to be about his age sat down across from him. He had dark, sandy blond hair, with bright hazel eyes and a wide, toothy smile.

"C-can I help you?" Jude asked, wondering why this other man had sat down with him. Jude wasn't the kind of guy that others chased down in clubs. And this guy was not the kind of guy who would be chasing after someone like him. He was far too attractive and way out of Jude's league.

"You looked a little lonely," the other man shrugged. "I thought you might like some company for a while."

"That's really nice of you, but I was actually just about to head out," Jude replied flatly.

"Oh," he said, his face immediately falling. "That's cool. I'm sorry to have bothered you."

"But you know, I guess I could stay a little longer," Jude rapidly interjected. He looked a bit like a kicked puppy and it made Jude feel guilty about just leaving without at least chatting for a few minutes. And there was just something in this guy's eyes that Jude felt drawn to.

"Okay!" he chirped, grinning widely. "My name's Connor."

"Nice to meet you Connor, I'm Jude," Jude answered, reaching out and shaking Connor's hand.

"Oh, like The Beatles song!"

"Yeah, like The Beatles song," Jude giggled. Connor may be a large, burly man, but his enthusiasm and energy was far more reminiscent of a young child than an adult.

"I'm sorry, you must be tired of hearing that," Connor said.

"Not really," Jude lied. He was tired of hearing it, but for some reason, he didn't mind when Connor said it. With Connor's smooth, soothing voice, he could say pretty much anything (within reason) and Jude wouldn't mind the least bit. "Those are some nice muscles. You look like you must be an athlete," Jude continued, smiling as he made flirty small talk. Or at least he was trying to; Jude had almost no experience with flirting and he was clueless as to whether he was being successful or not.

"Professional baseball player," Connor answered proudly. "Last year's third round pick of the San Diego Padres."

"I'll be honest, other than the baseball part, I didn't understand any of what you just said," Jude said with a frown.

"Don't worry about that," Connor chuckled. "I'm surrounded by people talking about baseball every minute of every day and it gets tiring."

"I can imagine," Jude chuckled. "So you play for the Padres huh?" Baseball and the Padres, that was the extent of what Jude got from the things Connor had said.

"Well um, I actually don't," Connor mumbled. "Not yet anyway. I'm just some guy in their minor league system with a dream of making it to the big leagues."

"Well I'm sure you'll get there some day," Jude assured, giving Connor a gentle pat on the shoulder. "I mean, you said you were like picked third or something, right? I mean, I don't know anything about baseball but I remember that in high school gym class getting picked in like the top five was always a big deal; it meant you were really good."

"You know, you're the first person that's looked at it that way," Connor laughed. "I guess maybe you're right, I will get there someday. But anyway, enough about me, tell me what you do," Connor inquired, resting his elbows on the table and his head on his hands, tilting his head to the side ever so slightly as he studied Jude intently. Jude felt himself blushing under Connor's gaze. Connor wasn't looking at him like he was judging him like some guys did, or even like a piece of meat as a small few did, but rather like he was curious, simply taking in and observing Jude's every feature.