Couture clothes, expensive perfumes, a freaking Lanvin blazer? There had to be a line drawn somewhere.
"Swash, why did you buy all this?"
"You don't like it?"
I did. But that was not the point. I looked at him sternly.
"I guess I could always take it back."
"You're not answering my question."
He looked away nervously. I wasn't sure what was going through his mind. Swash was the most unpredictable person I had ever met. He was impulsive and it was beginning to scare me. After a while, I exhaled deeply and turned to look at the stuff basically littering the room. My eyes were like a check-out counter. I did a mental calculation of all the stuff in the room. He had spent at least four thousand dollars on this stuff.
"How do you expect me to pay you back for all this?"
"You don't."
"You know I-"
"Don't take hand outs. I know. Think of it as birthday presents from every year you've lived since you were born."
"There are more than twenty things here."
"I'm also your uncle and aunty?" He grinned at the mental picture. I didn't. This was a lot of stuff to take at one time. Current amount owed: Over $5000. He walked into the room and stood in front of me, placing his hands on my shoulders.
"Stop it."
"Stop what."
"The mental calculation. You know I can tell when you're thinking about these things."
"Swash, I can't just take this stuff."
"Sure you can. Consider this my part to play in your lie."
"How?"
"According to your friends, you've been whisked away by a guy who paid about twenty three thousand dollars for your company. Shouldn't you have something to show for it?"
He was right, of course. I thought about Nathan. He genuinely thought I was rolling in money. Showing up in a Lanvin jacket and smelling like Acqua di Gio would give some substance to the claims. I sighed and closed my eyes. I heard Swash chuckle. I opened my eyes and he smiled.
"You're welcome."
He walked away. I was left, staring at all the stuff. I looked through the piles of clothes and grabbed some underwear, then changed into a t-shirt and lounge pants. Everything was my size. I really wondered how he guessed that. I left the room and went into the living room. Swash was already wolfing down his box of chow mein. He offered the other box to me and I took it. He passed the chopsticks that came with it and I looked at him in astonishment.
"You don't expect me to use that, do you?"
"Come on, it's easy". He raised his other hand to me and clicked his chopsticks together. He seemed so at ease with it and I wondered how he learned to use them so well.
"I'll just use a fork."
"Come on. A dumb jock like me could do it, I'm sure it'll be nothing for you. Besides, wouldn't you like to learn something new?"
I considered it and took the chopsticks from his hands. After a few lessons and some failures, one of which involved flicking a large piece of carrot into my face to the sound of his laughter, I got a hang of it. I started picking stuff in my plate at random, just so I could get a feel of it. I had to admit, it was a little fun when I finally knew how to do it. Swash was smiling and observing me. I stared back at him and smiled. He looked stunning, with his wet hair forming little clumps of waves. His moss coloured eyes seemed an even brighter shade, almost grass green. His was clean shaven and looked a lot younger; reminding me of the dreamboat he had been in high school. I stuffed noodles in my gaping mouth so as not to look awkward.
He got up and walked over to the couch and turned on his large TV. He flicked through channels and finally arrived at a soap opera. I watched from the kitchen, switching my concentration between the screen and my meal. I was still a novice at using the chopsticks so I had to be careful. When the adverts came on, he leaned forward as if he was studying the screen. I narrowed my eyes at him. I didn't see anything special about the adverts. He maintained this position throughout the commercial block and once the show resumed, he reclined back into the couch. I tossed my empty food pack into the bin, walked into the living room and sat beside him. The show had gone on for a few minutes before I asked.
"What was that about?"
"Huh?"
"The whole leaning and studying thing you did during the commercial block. You seemed more interested in the commercials than the actual show."
"I am."
"Is that related to your job or something?"
"Yeah. I study trends in advertising. A lot of sales changes can be made with just the right type of adverts. I'm looking at approaches to selling the product and the method of delivery. Many companies use different styles to get you interested. Some portray their products as being associated with feelings of joy or sex, often using clips of people enjoying themselves or images of pretty girls. Some try to seem like easily approachable while others do the complete opposite, trying to create a position of superiority which the consumer is supposed to aspire for. I'm currently studying which approach is more effective."
I took a few seconds to process. Mainly because I had never heard Swash ramble about work. But I got what he was saying. I got up suddenly.
"Where's your computer?"
"In my room. What's up?"
"Come with me. I need to show you something."
He switched off the TV, got off the couch and we went into his room together. Once he had turned it on and logged on, he offered the seat to me. I opened his web browser and loaded YouTube. I typed a couple of keywords into the search engine and sorted through videos. Once I found what I was looking for, I clicked the link. I cursed through the advert and wanted to skip it. Then I remembered that adverts were the entire reason we were here so I let it play. Swash was hunched over, with his head close to my shoulder, peering over me. His breathing tickled the side of my neck. I ignored it. When the advert was done, he sighed deeply. I squirmed a little. It really tickled. Then the video started playing. I wanted to show him Japanese adverts. Jason had showed me a couple of videos and I thought they were hilarious. After the advert was done, we found ourselves laughing. I had seen it before, but that didn't make it any less funny.
"Any more of these?"
His voice was so close to my ear. There was something vaguely arousing about the position we were in, him breathing against my neck and whispering in my ear. I snapped myself out of the thought. Focus, Michael, focus. I loaded a few more and we had our laughs. By the time we had reached the seventh one, Swash was laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes. I smiled. It felt good to make him laugh so hard, even though I had only directed him to the material.
"How was that one?"
"These things are genius. How did you find them?"
"A friend showed them to me." Jason. Please get well soon.
"They're incredible. The Japanese have a very unique approach to advertising. And the end result is that the products and companies are very memorable. I'm sure I could work along these lines." He smiled to himself.
"Yeah. I can imagine stuff like these showing on TVs here."
"That'll be really something." He looked at me. "Thanks Michael, for showing me this."
"Hey, it's the least I could do."
We stayed like that, staring at each other and not really saying anything. Suddenly, Swash's phone rang and he picked up.
"Hello Rod? Yeah? Oh he's okay. He just showed me some really cool stuff that I really think we should discuss. Sure. Yeah, see you tomorrow night." He hung up and spun around to look at me. "What?" I hadn't realized I was scowling because my mind was somewhere else. They had been discussing me at work, that much was clear. I also wondered what was going on tomorrow night. What were they seeing each other for? Was Rod Swash's boyfriend or something? I felt a strange pang of jealousy. Why did I feel jealous? Swash wasn't my boyfriend, and wasn't showing any interests in becoming one. Still, the feelings did not go anywhere.
"What are you thinking about?" Swash's question snapped me out of my thoughts.
Damn my transparent face.
"Were you talking about me to someone at work?"
"Yeah, Rodney. I called him this morning and told him I had an emergency, remember? He wanted to know details so I filled him in."
I widened my eyes at him.
"No, I did not tell him why you were hurt."
I breathed a sigh of relief and Swash laughed a little. I didn't want to ask if Swash and Rodney were in a relationship. It wasn't my business in the slightest, especially as I wasn't supposed to be interested. Swash yawned. He must have been tired after work and jogging and all the other stuff he'd done during the day. I had woken up barely a few hours ago so I was far from tired. I wondered how the rest of the week would go. It was a little torturous to have to live with such a hot gay guy and not be able to do anything about it. I got up from the chair before I felt the urge to think about his hotness any more and headed for the door. Swash caught me and wrapped me in a bear hug. I was a little surprised, but I hugged him back.
"Thanks." he whispered in my ears. I caught a whiff of the aftershave and shampoo he had used. It smelled masculine and earthy, and I loved it. I peeled myself back from him quickly before I got a hard on and made everything uncomfortable. He let me walk out of the room as he called back at me.
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight." I replied.
"Don't let the bed bugs bite."
"You have bed bugs?"
"Yeah, big ones. But don't worry; they have a softness for sexy men."
He laughed and closed his door. I blushed. Stop blushing, Michael. I walked back to my room and started clearing all the stuff on my bed, stuffing them into the closet. I piled the shoe boxes in too. I didn't open any of them. Some part of me still rejected all the stuff that Swash had bought for me, and I didn't feel the need to embrace them just yet. I sat on the cleared out bed and breathed hard. Ignoring the ache in my ass, today had actually ended up being a very good day. I walked back to the living room and turned on the TV. If I was going to be awake, I had to find something to entertain myself.
I went through several programmes. Nothing seemed interesting. I ended up on some medical drama series. Before my parents died and my life spiraled into the situation I was in now, I had always wanted to be a doctor. Now I had to settle for whatever bits of Medicine I could expose myself to. I had a fair idea about certain diseases and medical treatments and the stuff that went on in a hospital, but so did almost everyone else these days. They were talking about some sort of new treatment plan for a woman with an intra-abdominal tumour called HIPEC, and I guess I must have zoned out somewhere in the middle. My thoughts were on Swash and all the things he had done for me. I was still trying to figure out his motives. He was just being nice, not expecting anything in return, not wanting me to give anything back. I couldn't understand it. That's not how the world worked. Everything was a transaction. People dropped money and got stuff. Even the stuff that didn't seem like it was a transaction actually was. Women got the financial and emotional security of being in relationships while men enjoyed the sex on demand and mothering that came with the territory. Mothers took love from their children while children got protection and care from their parent. Even religion offered some sort of spiritual security while still finding ways to take your money. Nothing on this planet came for free.
So what was Swash really up to? I began to feel like he was setting me up for something. I was a little scared to find out what. But it would be really sad for him when after all this, I still went back with Malone.
Malone.
First time I had thought of him all day. I smiled at the thought and felt the need to call him. I reached for my phone and then noticed that it was off. And my charger was still in my apartment. Going back to get it wasn't a trip I could make right now, so I dropped the phone. Maybe I'll call him tomorrow. I hoped Swash could get me a charger. I yawned. Was I tired? I had not done anything to feel tired. I continued to watch the TV. The woman's cancer seemed to be in remission.
The living room was dark when I woke up. When did I fall asleep? My right leg was tingling as I had fallen asleep on it and compressed it. I unwound myself from the position I was in and tried to turn around but I guessed I was lying against the back of couch. My arm bumped into something and I tried to feel it with my hands. It was warm. It was moving. My eyes were beginning to readjust to the darkness. I suddenly felt air blowing against the back of my neck. My eyes could finally make sense of the surroundings.
I wasn't in the living room.
Swash was behind me.
We were in his room.
He was holding me.
Fuck.