24 Years (MxM)

Chapter 9

It took a bit to get to the club. Josie broke a heel and we had to go back to the house so she could get a different pair of shoes. Seriously, who goes to a dance club in heels?

By the time we got there, the place was full again. We do our usual. Marla goes to get a table and I go to get the booze.

I notice James sitting there at the bar. Kind of surprising. He's in the same seat as last night. This time the seats on either side of him are empty. I'm suddenly not sure if I should stand next to him to order or not, but as they say, "fortune favors the foolish." I go to stand next to him.

He looks up from his phone. He really does have pretty brown eyes. My heart races a bit. "We meet again," I manage to say.

"Hi," he replies.

He looks down to play with his phone and drink his beer. I inwardly sigh as I would have liked a smile or something. He's so hard to read. I order three beers and give my card for the tab.

"Thought you were playing a video game," I say to him with a gentle smile. I'm trying to break the ice here. Help me out James!

"Ah, yeah. Got bored and wanted a beer," he replies.

"Alone tonight?" I ask. If he's not, I'd better just grab my beer and leave in peace.

He nods. "Yeah. My friend couldn't come. His kid's in town so he didn't want to go out."

My heart skips a beat. He's alone! But wait...

"Your boyfriend?" I ask.

"No, nothing like that. Just an old friend." He wouldn't come to a gay bar alone if he wasn't gay, right? Do I have a chance?

"Listen, grab one of these and follow me." I hope Marla doesn't mind.

"Uh," he says, looking a bit hesitant.

I grab two and point to the third and say, "Come on. Grab that one."

I turn and head out to find our table. I easily spot the one Marla found and head over to it. I put both beers on the table for them, and then grab the one out of James' hand for me. Marla gives me a questioning look, but I ignore her.

"Have a seat," I tell James. "These are my friends Marla and Josie. The world's cutest couple." It's true but I also hope to smooth things out with Marla before she switches into mom-mode and goes all overprotective of me.

"Hello," James says as he sits across the table from them.

"Hi," Marla and Josie reply. So far so good.

I sit down next him and decide to take a big drink of my beer to calm my frayed nerves.

"Ken," Marla says to me with a look that says I'm being bad. Then she looks at James and asks his name.

"Oh, I'm James." Gawd I love his voice.

"Hi, James. Nice to meet you," Marla says.

"How did you two meet?" Josie asks.

"Oh, well I was just here last night, and we happened to meet," he says.

I look at James, then look at Marla and say, "Yeah, then he came to my restaurant today." Should I tell her about the text messages?

Then Marla starts up. I was totally afraid of this. She riddles him with questions about his age, sexual identity, family life, his home, his work, and finally his preference in bed. I was mortified.

Josie slaps Marla on the arm. "Hey, stop it with the third degree." Josie looks to James with a kind smile, "You don't have to answer that last one."

Marla slaps back. "Hey, I just wanna know the important things. Gotta look out for our baby."

Baby! Oh my god, why did she have to say that! Everyone here at this table knows damn well I'm too young for him. Don't make it worse! Now James is going to think that I need to have a mother to take care of me. I want to hide in a hole and die.

But, I gotta do something to counteract this. I look up from my beer, make a face at Marla, then look at James and smirk. "Ignore her. I'm older than her and she acts like my mom."

"He is cute though," Josie says. I'm not positive but I think James may be blushing every so slightly.

James looks at me and asks, "How old are you?" Shit. It's game time. I can't lie, the girls are here.

"Twenty-four." I could see that James' smile fades a little. I think I just lost the game.

"Me and Josie are 23," Marla says. She then nods her head toward me and says, "He's single, gay, rents, and is trying to get his Bachelor's in Computer Science while working at his parent's restaurant, and a bottom."

What the hell? I glare at Marla.

"Marla!" Josie says while slapping her on the arm.

I'm too afraid to look at James now, but I am certain I must be blushing as I feel like I'm going to die of embarrassment.

"Come on Josie, let's go to the little girl's room," Marla says as she stands up. With that, they both leave for the restroom.