I spend two days writing the article before giving it to Joshua to proof. Before I knew it Josh was calling people from pho-tog to meet with Clayton and it was due to become a cover page story. Joshua congratulated me on my hard work, telling me he was going to move me to the journalism department, same hours for now as I was just starting out, with interviews every other weekend. But I was over the moon with excitement.
It had been a week, and the magazine was due to come out in two more. I know Clayton already knew all about it, he had to due to the fact he was getting his picture taken and they would obviously tell him. But I had yet to call.
I kept his number in my coat pocket, every time I put my hand inside my fingers touched it and it made my heart skip.
But I wouldn't call him. I wanted to. But really what was the point? The interview was finished and I didn't need anything else from him.
"You need that booty."
"Don't be so stupid."
"No, no you're right. He needs that booty, you need that-"
I threw a pillow at Dryden, who caught it with a laugh and put it in his lap, his brown eyes hardly seeing as his cheeks lifted with his laugh. "It's not like hes interested anyways. He told me to call him if I needed more for the interview, not for a date. A good looking guy like that is defiantly seeing someone."
"Obviously that someone isn't important enough to mentioned in one of the biggest interviews. That man is someone who would gloat the fuck out of their partner, I'm telling you he is single."
I put on my coat on, prompting Dryden to stand up off the couch, already in his coat, with his shoes on.
Dryden was attractive, the first thing that drew me to him was his height, he stood tall at six foot five, he was bulky, but not fat. He worked out a lot and was a health nut. Which was half the reason he was taking me grocery shopping. He had brown hair that he didn't do much with beside brush, much like myself. And he had amazing brown eyes with bits of green that I used to love looking into once upon a time.
Now looking into them made me kind of sad, only in the sense that things weren't like they used to be before. We were never in love. But we had a bond that seemed to so far be unbreakable.
It's true I guess, some people were just better off as friends, even if it burned at your soul sometimes.
"I'm just saying shortie. You're going to regret not calling him, and at least asking him for coffee."
I rolled my eyes, getting into the passenger side of Dryden's beat up old Suzuki.
We got to Sobeys just after seven, I always said the best time to shop is Sunday between seven and eight-thirty, because normal people were out enjoying the last hours of their weekend and not shopping for food.
But Dryden and I were far from normal so this was the perfect place for us to be.
"Serious question." Dryden said as he threw a box of gluten free crackers in the cart, and then leans over the bar to the cart and walked slowly, eying everything around us. "Does he have cake galore?"
"I swear, you need to stop watching Rupaul."
Dryden gasped, his hand going to his chest. "How dare you!" He said dramatically. "My future drag queen husband is going to hate you."
"I have no problem with your future drag queen husband as long as he doesn't talk about a mans cake in the supermarket."
He huffed, walking a bit faster. "It was a serious question!"
"Yes, he had cake galore." I said rolling my eyes.
"Thank you, that's all I needed to know."
"Who has cake galore?"
"Clayton" I answered without thinking, then my eyes widened as I slowly turned around and faced the man I was just talking about.
I just told Clayton Cartwright he had cake galore.
"I'm just going to slowly back away and pretend I didn't just say that."
Clayton laughed, and leaning a hip into his cart while crossing his arms over his chest, a chest that again was in flannel, this time a light blue and white. "Oh no, no. I don't mind really. It's not everyday you get to hear people talking about your cake, which by the way I'm told is delicious."
Dryden stifled a laugh behind me, and I looked back at him just in time to see him turning away with his hand covering his mouth.
"I am so-"
"If you say sorry again I'm not going to ask you for coffee."
"I'm sorry, what?"
he laughed, moving behind his cart and taking to bar in his hand, getting ready to push. "I'm going to ignore that sorry and focus on the what, listen. Just call me tomorrow after you get off work so we can set up a time and a place. I wont disappoint you, promise."
And with that he was off, pushing his cart passed us saying a quick "Nice to meet you." To Dryden before walking off into another aisle.
"I think I'm going to be sick."