Valentines Day

Another romance for you all. Not my usual style, but hey ho, it's a day for love! 

All characters are 18+

He hasn’t taken his eyes off me since we walked in. Every time I look over, he’s looking back. Am I giving off vibes that I’m not aware of? Have I said or done something that I shouldn’t have? Perhaps it’s all in my head, and the young man across the bowling alley is simply deep in thought, and I happen to be in the way of his gaze. Yes, that must be it. I continue, and score a strike for the third time.

“You didn’t tell us you were a professional” Tina jokes, but I just smile and return to my seat, because now the interesting stranger has intrigued me, and I must know if it is, in fact, me, that he’s staring at.

He’s looking away now. Talking to someone about something, laughing and pointing at the scoreboard. They’re friends, and I can’t help but envy the other man. I’d quite like a friend like the stranger. He’s very handsome.

“Dude, are you even here tonight?” Jasper has appeared next to me and he’s waving in my face so I turn my attention to him, just in case he traces my gaze to the handsome stranger and finally puts two and two together.

“Yeah, I’m just bored” I lie, because I’m not bored. I could sit here all night if that guy would just look back over at me.

“This was your idea” he reminds me, “you said you wanted to have a chance with Tina”.

“Tina?” I say the name mindlessly, like it’s just a word that I’ve forgotten the meaning of, “oh yeah, Tina”.

Jasper cocks a brow and gives me that look that says what is wrong with you? and I realise how weird I’m actually being, and snap out of it.

“Yeah” I say, smiling, “sorry, I was just thinking about stuff”.

“Right” he replies, not fully convinced, and when he tries to look over at the stranger, I stand up.

“I’m gonna get something to eat. Do you guys want anything?”

“Aren’t we going for dinner afterwards?” Tina asks, and I feel bad, but I want to tell her to shut up so I can pursue someone I actually want to go to dinner with.

“Yeah, I’m just a little peckish”.

He doesn’t look at me when I walk by. Even when I stop to tie the laces on the stinking bowling shoes that they insist everyone wears. Even when I walk so slow that I nearly stop. He’s talking to his friend again, and I begin to wonder if they’re actually more than friends until I hear his voice.

You can tell by people’s voices most of the time. He’s not gay. I’m sure of it. I’m not gay, either. Or, that’s what I’ve been telling myself for as long as I can remember, anyway. So here we are, two straight boys in a bowling alley.

His friend nudges him and nods towards me, and I snap my head up and pretend I’m looking at their scoreboard.

“Are you good?” The friend asks, and I get the irritating impression that he’s just like Tina, and I hope that the handsome stranger has just as much of a distaste for him, as I do for her.

“Yep” I say coldly, for it’s not him I want to speak to. In fact, I don’t want to speak to either of them but I’ve been caught, and now I have to think fast about how on earth I can get out of this.

“Can I get you anything?” He continues, and again, I want to tell him to shut the fuck up, but I don’t.

“Nope”.

Fuck. Why am I being so weird? I’m not actually weird. I’m not actually like this at all, but the stranger’s name is Zach, and I know that because I’m still glaring at the screen, and the other guy doesn’t look like a Zach.

Fuck. My brain’s being awkward now, so I walk away and turn increasingly puce until I reach the counter and forget why I’m there.

“You’re in love, sweetie” the old lady behind the counter says, and I gawp. She knows. She knows before I know. She knows before Zach knows. “I can see the way you look at her” she continues with that all-knowing smile that older adults sometimes use. I roll my eyes, and she gives me a sour look and takes my order.

“You’re the only one I’ve ever seen who does that” the voice comes from behind me, and when I look, Zach is standing there, and some of my milkshake dribbles down my chin. He laughs, grabs a napkin and hands it to me, and I freeze because… what?

“Milkshake and fries” he continues, “it’s good, right?”

“Right” I say, wiping up the spilled milkshake from my shirt, “I mean, yeah, it’s good”.

He looks at me with a sparkling grin. His eyes smile, which is the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. They twinkle like little stars, and then I realise that he’s waiting for me to move so he can make his order.

“Oh shit, sorry” I say, and shuffle sideways, knocking into a very large man who’s complaining that there’s not enough cheese on his nachos. He grunts at me, Zach sniggers and nods toward the man before puffing out his cheeks. I laugh, too.

“What’s your name?”

“Dylan” I tell him, and I wonder if I should follow it up with what’s your name? Because by not doing that, he’ll either think I’m rude, or he’ll think I’m weird because I already know it. “What’s yours?”

“You already know it” he tells me, and I cringe because he’s right, and now he knows I’m a creep.

“Are you here with you girlfriend?” He presses, leaning on the counter top with such coolness that I’m in awe, “a little Valentines date?”

“Yeah… I mean, no… Not really, she’s not my girlfriend… Yet”.

He nods his understanding and then nods toward his friend who I don’t like.

“He’s an asshole, isn’t he?”

I don’t know whether to agree, so I shrug instead.

“My sister set this up” he continues, “she thinks I need a boyfriend, but he’s not really my type, you know?”

My face gives me away. I can feel the blood rush into it and I’m instantly lost for words. “Y… You… You’re–”

“Gay” he smiles, “and I know you are, too”

My secret is destroyed in the blink of an eye. Years and years of barricading it up behind locked doors and chains, and a handsome stranger named Zach has just blown it all to pieces.

“Is it that obvious?” I ask, because there are no reasons left to lie to him, and he doesn’t seem bothered, not even slightly.

“No” he tells me, “I wasn’t even sure until right this second”. His white teeth shine through his open, plump, pink, perfect fucking lips, and I realise that he’s just bluffed me, and I’ve fallen for it.

“Here” he says, when he finally receives his milkshake and fries, and I watch as he dips a fry into my milkshake and holds it to my mouth.

I open and feel it slide along my tongue, but before I bite down, he slides it back out, then in, then out, and he’s not smiling, or joking, he’s watching, and now I’m hard.

“You’re easily pleased, Dylan” he grins, and leans forward, coming so close to my face that I can smell the soft hint of cologne and shower gel from his flawless skin. He bows his head, slurps my milkshake and stands back up.

“How about I buy you another one when this is over?”

Tina comes into my head. Jasper, too. I wonder if they’ll make a good couple, because my plans have instantly changed, and I’d rather walk through a mile of Lego bricks on bare feet than miss an opportunity like this.

I nod. He nods. We both nod, and return to our aisles. I’m not hungry anymore, or thirsty, or interested in fucking bowling. All I’m interested in is Zach and sucking his chip, or whatever else he wants me to suck, and then I turn around and Tina and Jasper are glaring at me like I’ve murdered their cat.

“If you don’t want to be here, just say it” Tina says, so I do say it and she gawps with an open mouth and turns to Jasper who, in fairness to him, is stifling a laugh. “Wanna take me to dinner?” She asks proudly, as though I’m going to fall at her feet and beg her to stay.

“Sure” he shrugs, and when Tina scurries by me with a look of vicious thunder on her face, Jasper stops and says “good luck, bro”, and he winks and me and nods toward Zach who is now standing right behind me.

He knows now. Jasper, my best friend, knows I’m gay, and I don’t even care.

“I know a nice place” Zach tells me, and I follow him from the bowling alley, and down a lane.

“Have you ever kissed a boy?” He asks as I trail behind.

“No”.

He spins, I stop, and suddenly there’s hands on my face, and his face on my face, and excited sweat on my face. Our lips are pressed together, his tongue is pushing gently, but not enough that he’s actually in my mouth yet, but like he’s teasing me until I do it back and now we’re kissing. We’re actually kissing.

“Now you have” he tells me, and steps back to admire the awe on my face. “Come on”.

His hand takes mine, and now we’re running and the rain that annoyed me earlier is now the best feeling on the planet, and our feet splash in puddles, and I can’t understand how this has all happened so quickly, but I don’t want to understand it, either, because then I’ll think about it, and then I’ll wonder if all of this is real, and what if I don’t like the answer?

But it is real, and what follows is so explosive that no words could ever do it justice, so I won’t write it. For this is not a tale of sex and passion, but a tale of how love can strike at the strangest moment, and even when you’re sitting in a stinking bowling alley with stinking shoes and a milkshake running down your chin, you can still find your Zach.