Word Vomit - One-Shot Book

1) Working it Out

Coming out of his thoughts, Michael continued to scroll through different tags. He passed by post after post but none were getting his attention. His interest peaked, however, when he came across a particularly attractive guy. The man was clearly Latino, his naturally bronzed skin reflecting the light off of his muscles enticingly. His curly black hair was shaved around the side with the top strands kept long. After letting his eyes travel down the man's impressive—and shirtless—physique, Michael zoned in on his large eyes squinted by his wide smile.

Instinctively, Michael bit his lip. The other men he had already scrolled past paled in comparison to this guy. He finally tore his eyes away from all the exposed skin and looked at the caption, snorting at what it said

Just finished a new ab routine. Is it working?

The twenty-seven-year-old thought he'd really found himself a wholesale douche. A month ago, Michael would have just scrolled past. Now, though, he didn't really mind. Maybe he was just getting thirsty-er with age, Michael wondered after his eyes trailed down the man's golden torso again.

Without thinking too much into the decision, he went to the stranger's page and followed him. If this stranger was offering up eye candy, he was going to accept it.

—————

Michael groaned noisily as he tried to stretch out his arms and back. The movements made his black spinning chair move a bit but he didn't mind. This was one of the days when he would come to the office to work and, as usual, the sound of relaxed chatter and people on computers sounded throughout the room.

Michael glanced behind him, looking away from his desk to take in the room. Bright colors were painted on the walls and clashed satisfyingly with the furniture and floor. Half of the space was taken up by long rectangular tables that people shared to do individual work, like the table he was sitting at. Circular tables and couches took up the rest, allowing for people to discuss ideas or work alongside one another while comfortably speaking.

Their bosses tried to keep the environment as welcoming as possible to encourage creativity. Michael actually liked it. It helped to relax people a bit when deadlines and projects got stressful.

Unfortunately for Michael, that situation did not apply at the moment. He was way ahead of schedule for what he needed to get done and felt bored out of his mind for sitting around with nothing to do. He quickly saved his current project for a second time out of habit and turned off the computer. Then, while staring into his own eyes through the dark screen, his mind drifted to his new favorite pastime. Before long he had pulled out his phone and had gone on to Instagram.

This was undoubtedly becoming a bad habit for him but it felt like he couldn't help it. Michael smiled at the sight of a new post from Andres. Even his name was sexy and Michael was getting a bit too sucked into the sight of him. For the past two weeks, Michael had been a resident on the stranger's page. He went through post after post, liking them even when he got to the creepy zone. But did Michael really care? Of course not.

Seeing photo after photo of such an irresistible man allowed Michael to daydream for the first time in a long time. He loved to imagine what it would be like to hold the man's attention, to be in his arms and in his bed every single night.

Such daydreams seemed vital to Michael at this point in his life. He wanted to be in a relationship with a guy who made him feel seen and made him feel special. But, it seemed like every guy he was interested in thought Michael was only good as a friend. The rejections started to get to him and for the past year, Michael had just stopped trying altogether.

The memories were harder for him to relive than he realized. Swallowing down, Michael focused back on what Andres' newest post was. He expected to be cheered up by it but instead started reevaluating whether he wanted to keep following this guy or not.