Chapter 12-Dinner for Two
Rob leaned back on his chair and folded his arms across his chest. His dark eyes were agleam as he looked across the table at his sister. She glowered at him. “Robert Alan Carleton,” she said softly, “Either you tell me, or I swear every person in my friends lists gets a copy of that photo by morning.”
Patrick rumbled with laughter as he sipped at a glass of iced tea and watched his wife wrangle with her brother. Rob sighed. “Geez, Anne, do you have to be so ruthless? I was just teasing,” he said.
Anne narrowed her eyes. “Don’t change the subject, Rob. I know how sneaky you are. So spill it.”
The rocker shrugged. “Okay, fine. We decided to have dinner at his house, and then watch movies together. And before you say it, it was his idea. I would have taken him to a restaurant, but he said that being out in crowded places makes him nervous sometimes. And he really wants to cook for me.”
She shook her head. “Lord, how do you always manage to be so lucky, Rob? A cute guy lives next door to you, and it turns out that he WANTS to cook for you and not make you pay for a restaurant and tickets to a movie theater? Sheesh.”
He chuckled as Patrick snorted into his iced tea. “Hey, what can I say? I’ve been lucky from birth. After all, I got the best sister in the whole world,” he added with a charming smile at Anne.
She rolled her eyes, but it was clear that she was pleased by his words. “You sweet talker, poor Thomas doesn’t stand a chance,” she remarked wryly.
Rob contrived to look innocent. “I’m just telling the truth,” he said. “And I’ll be speaking the truth to Thomas too when I tell him what a sexy, foxy little accountant he is.”
“Just don’t tell him that too soon,” Anne cautioned.
“I know, I know. I’m being careful. Which isn’t easy, by the way. God, he’s just so adorable!”
Patrick laughed suddenly. They both looked at him. “What’s so funny?” Rob asked curiously.
Patrick grinned and reached out to take his wife’s hand. “You remind me of myself just after I met Anne,” he said, looking into her eyes.
Rob smiled as he watched his sister melt at these words and grip Patrick’s hands tightly. ‘Somebody’s getting some tonight, even if it’s not me yet’, he thought. ‘And, God willing, maybe I’ll be getting some too in the immediate future. Here’s hoping’ he crossed his fingers mentally as he watched his sister kiss her husband. ‘Here’s hoping.’
Thomas flittered busily around his kitchen, preparing dinner. He was making stuffed pork chops, homemade scalloped potatoes, and asparagus, as well as dinner rolls. He’d bought a bottle of wine, and was letting it breathe. Rob didn’t exactly seem like the type who liked wine, so just in case he’d also gotten some imported beer. He fussed over everything, putting a sparkling white linen tablecloth over his small dining table, and setting it with his good china and sterling-silver tableware. He set a wineglass at both places, and two silver candlesticks went in the center of the table. The candles were beeswax, and would cast a soft, romantic light on the room if he dimmed the lights.
The accountant felt butterflies fluttering in his stomach at this thought. He was so nervous he could barely breathe with it. This dinner was going to be so intimate; who knew what might happen before the evening was through? Oh, man…he had to sit down for a moment and take deep breaths until he was calm again. Well, somewhat calm anyway. This was his first real date ever with someone, if you didn’t count the water park. And he didn’t, not exactly. So, here he was facing his first date with a man who made him feel excited and desperately nervous both at the same time…it was a little too much.
He leapt to his feet and hurried into the kitchen to check on the food, needing to be doing something to take his mind off of tonight. Rob would be here in a few hours. Oh, geez, Rob would be here in a few hours! He nearly flapped his hands in dismay and growing anxiety, wanting everything to be perfect, and feeling like a man trying to make a nice dinner while trapped in a wind tunnel. He shuddered, leaning against the kitchen counter. ‘Stop it, Thomas’, he told himself sternly. ‘Or you’ll have a panic attack.’
Finally, he moved over to the sink and bathed his face in cool water. He felt a bit better now. And then the oven dinged, so he had something to concentrate on instead of his nervousness. He used hot pads to extract the glass pan of scalloped potatoes, and then covered them with foil for the moment. He put the dinner rolls on a tray, and put them in the oven instead. While those and the pork chops were cooking, he began to put dessert together. He cut up an angel food cake into slices, and put raspberry filling and whipped cream between them. He sprinkled chocolate shavings over the whipped cream on top, and carefully covered the cake with saran wrap.
Dinner was done at last. After covering all of the food, Thomas went to take a shower and get dressed. He scrubbed himself almost obsessively, wanting to be clean and fresh-smelling. This was a part of his OCD, and he was pretty pink by the time he stepped out of the shower. He used a towel to dry himself, again a bit obsessively. Then it was time to go and decide what he was going to wear on the date tonight. He stood at his closet and stared at his clothes, but unfortunately most of his wardrobe leaned toward his working clothes – i.e., plain white shirts, crisp trousers and simple jackets. Nothing really spectacular. Thomas sighed, feeling frustrated. He should have gone and bought something yesterday when he got off of work. It just hadn’t occurred to him.
Then his brown eyes came to rest on an almost forgotten article of clothing at the back of his closet. It was a gorgeous silk shirt that he’d bought on impulse several years ago, just because he’d liked the color and texture. It was only when he’d brought it home that he realized that he had no place to wear it to, so he’d hung it in the closet neatly and simply got pleasure from looking at it once in awhile. Now he reached out to touch it, and then pulled his hand back quickly. Could he? Should he? Did he finally have a reason to wear this decadent shirt? Would Rob like the way he looked in it?
Feeling reckless, he reached out and pulled the shirt off of its hanger. Then he decided to wear some charcoal-colored slacks with it, and grabbed those too. Nearly holding his breath, Thomas removed the plain white shirt he was still wearing, and then his suit trousers. He put on the slacks first, hesitated over an undershirt, then decided against it and slid the cool, sleek silk shirt onto his body. It was blue, a deep dazzling blue that gave his skin color and made his brown eyes seem bright. He buttoned it up slowly, looking at himself in the mirror over his dresser. Was that him? Drab Thomas Merriweather? He could barely believe it. One of his slim hands rose to smooth the front of the shirt, marveling at its texture.
His front doorbell rang, making him jump. Rob was here! He nearly ran down the hallway to answer the door, feeling out of breath once more. When he pulled the door open, he saw Rob standing no his doorstep dressed in a black jacket and slacks over a cream colored shirt. His hair had been pulled back and tamed behind his head. He looked much less like a scruffy rocker than normal, and Thomas froze as he gaped at the handsome person who wanted to date HIM. It was just like some strange dream to him, one he just knew he’d wake up from at any moment.
Rob blinked, taking in Thomas’s finery. Then he whistled, long and low, making the accountant blush. “Wow, you look great,” the rocker said throatily.
“Thank you,” Thomas replied in a strangled voice. “As do you. I never expected to see you dressed so nicely…” he began, then realized what he’d just said and looked embarrassed.
Rob grinned and shrugged. “Hey, I don’t dress up much. Only for special occasions. This definitely counts,” his dark eyes ran over Thomas again blatantly. “So, can I come in?” he added.
“Oh, yes!” Thomas cried, blushing even darker as he stepped back hurriedly. “Please come in. Dinner’s ready,” he added swiftly.
“Great, I’m starved. I brought movies,” he added, holding up two plastic cases. “Not new releases, but I figured you hadn’t seen either of these anyway. They’re two of my favorites,” he went on.
“What are they?” the accountant asked, and Rob handed him the cases so he could look at them.
“L.A. Confidential and Equilibrium. No, I haven’t seen either of these,” Thomas said quietly.
“Awesome. You’ll really like both of them. Lots of action, but good storylines and great acting too. Plus, they’re both full of gorgeous guys,” he added with a twinkle in his dark eyes.
“Umm…” Thomas said uncertainly. The rocker laughed and snagged the movies from his hand.
“We’ll watch these later. I also brought some popcorn,” he said, pulling a packet of microwavable popcorn from his pocket. “Just in case you don’t have any.”
“No, I don’t.” Thomas said.
Rob laughed. “That doesn’t surprise me, since you don’t really strike me as a microwavable popcorn sort of guy. Hey, the table looks nice,” he said, looking over the accountant’s shoulder. “And something smells great, too,” he added with an appreciative sniff.
“Ah, yes. Please sit down and I’ll serve dinner.” Thomas bustled away, and Rob leered at his ass as he did so. The rocker sat down at the table gingerly, as the crotch of his trousers was pinching more than a bit from his erection. Damn, but Thomas in that silk shirt! That was something he hadn’t expected at all. The man was so uptight he never would have imagined that Thomas would have a garment that decadent. Made him want to rip that article of clothing off and taste all of the skin underneath it. Shit! His dick was in an uproar, twitching in his trousers like an angry snake. Rob groaned under his breath, rubbing at his face. How he was going to get through this entire evening without molesting Thomas was a question for the ages.
The accountant came back out of the kitchen and set a glass pan on the table. “Please, help yourself while I bring the rest,” he said to Rob. He went back in the kitchen, and the rocker took his mind off the disgraceful state of his penis by putting a pork chop on his plate.
Thomas came back out again with the pan of scalloped potatoes, and then the dish of asparagus and the dinner rolls. He took his own seat as Rob spooned potatoes onto his plate. “This all looks wonderful,” the rocker told him. “I hope that it all tastes as good as it looks and smells. I’m starved.”
Thomas filled his own plate as Rob put a forkful of potatoes in his mouth. He chewed, and then made a low sound of pleasure that made the accountant freeze and break out in a cold sweat. “Damn, this is good!” Rob remarked. “You are a hell of a cook, Thomas.” The accountant took pleasure from the compliment, but since he was also suffering from the same ‘trouble’ that Rob had at the moment, he was a little distracted too.
Thomas remembered the candles, and fumbled with matches as Rob looked at him questioningly. He managed to get them lit, then stood up on legs that trembled a little and went over to dim the lights. The rocker watched him with a small smile on his face. Who knew that Thomas Merriweather was a romantic? It was awfully cute. Lord, he was in real trouble here.
When the accountant returned to the table, Rob nodded at the candles. “That’s a nice touch. I don’t think I’ve ever had a candlelit dinner with anyone before. So, it's a new experience for me too.”
Thomas relaxed; as he’d worried that the candles might be over the top. They ate mostly in silence for awhile, enjoying the food and each other. Rob spent most of his time staring at Thomas’s cute little face across the table, for it was a pleasurable torture to watch a spoon or fork slide into that pink mouth. He longed to kiss those lips again, and hoped for an opportunity to do so a bit later. He was counting on Guy Peirce as Ed Exley (or maybe the luscious Christian Bale with his shirt off) to help precipitate a snuggly kissing moment. Mmm, cute guys helping him to make out with another cute guy. Life was good.
After dinner, Thomas served coffee and dessert. Rob asked him about his job, and Thomas grimaced slightly. “I’m an accountant, as you know. It’s not exactly a very exciting profession. Are you sure you want to hear about it?”
“Sure, why not? You already know what I do, and you’ve heard most of our songs played very loudly,” he said with a grin.
Thomas rubbed at the bridge of his nose; a gesture that Rob thought was pretty cute. “Well, I work for a law firm, as you know. Balancing their books can be interesting, since I can see the history of their cases in the numbers. Otherwise, it’s pretty dull, or most people would think so, anyway. I like it because I can be detailed and methodical. Numbers always add up, which is not the case for most of life. People, for example. They seldom add up properly or make sense. I don’t really understand people.”
Rob grunted a laugh. “People are all screwed up,” he agreed. “Which is why they can be fascinating sometimes, too. They do such weird stuff that it’s like watching a train wreck. You can’t look away.” He paused, and then glanced at his clean plate. “Did you want to watch the movies now? I’m stuffed full; it’ll be nice to laze around and enjoy good cinema.”
“All right. Just let me clear the table,” Thomas began.
“Hey, let me help. I’m not a slug,” Rob leapt to his feet and began to help the accountant carry dishes into the kitchen.
Thomas found that he was enjoying himself. There was something extremely homey and intimate about the two of them clearing the table together, scraping and rinsing the dishes and putting them in the dishwasher. Rob was humming under his breath, something that was probably natural for a singer. Thomas liked that sound. And when Rob walked by him so that they were almost brushing, he liked that too. Or certain parts of his anatomy really did, anyway. He felt shivers in the pit of his stomach. He couldn’t help but think of that kiss in his car, and wonder whether Rob might kiss him again sometime tonight. That would definitely be something to look forward to.
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Rob leaned back on his chair and folded his arms across his chest. His dark eyes were agleam as he looked across the table at his sister. She glowered at him. “Robert Alan Carleton,” she said softly, “Either you tell me, or I swear every person in my friends lists gets a copy of that photo by morning.”
Patrick rumbled with laughter as he sipped at a glass of iced tea and watched his wife wrangle with her brother. Rob sighed. “Geez, Anne, do you have to be so ruthless? I was just teasing,” he said.
Anne narrowed her eyes. “Don’t change the subject, Rob. I know how sneaky you are. So spill it.”
The rocker shrugged. “Okay, fine. We decided to have dinner at his house, and then watch movies together. And before you say it, it was his idea. I would have taken him to a restaurant, but he said that being out in crowded places makes him nervous sometimes. And he really wants to cook for me.”
She shook her head. “Lord, how do you always manage to be so lucky, Rob? A cute guy lives next door to you, and it turns out that he WANTS to cook for you and not make you pay for a restaurant and tickets to a movie theater? Sheesh.”
He chuckled as Patrick snorted into his iced tea. “Hey, what can I say? I’ve been lucky from birth. After all, I got the best sister in the whole world,” he added with a charming smile at Anne.
She rolled her eyes, but it was clear that she was pleased by his words. “You sweet talker, poor Thomas doesn’t stand a chance,” she remarked wryly.
Rob contrived to look innocent. “I’m just telling the truth,” he said. “And I’ll be speaking the truth to Thomas too when I tell him what a sexy, foxy little accountant he is.”
“Just don’t tell him that too soon,” Anne cautioned.
“I know, I know. I’m being careful. Which isn’t easy, by the way. God, he’s just so adorable!”
Patrick laughed suddenly. They both looked at him. “What’s so funny?” Rob asked curiously.
Patrick grinned and reached out to take his wife’s hand. “You remind me of myself just after I met Anne,” he said, looking into her eyes.
Rob smiled as he watched his sister melt at these words and grip Patrick’s hands tightly. ‘Somebody’s getting some tonight, even if it’s not me yet’, he thought. ‘And, God willing, maybe I’ll be getting some too in the immediate future. Here’s hoping’ he crossed his fingers mentally as he watched his sister kiss her husband. ‘Here’s hoping.’
Thomas flittered busily around his kitchen, preparing dinner. He was making stuffed pork chops, homemade scalloped potatoes, and asparagus, as well as dinner rolls. He’d bought a bottle of wine, and was letting it breathe. Rob didn’t exactly seem like the type who liked wine, so just in case he’d also gotten some imported beer. He fussed over everything, putting a sparkling white linen tablecloth over his small dining table, and setting it with his good china and sterling-silver tableware. He set a wineglass at both places, and two silver candlesticks went in the center of the table. The candles were beeswax, and would cast a soft, romantic light on the room if he dimmed the lights.
The accountant felt butterflies fluttering in his stomach at this thought. He was so nervous he could barely breathe with it. This dinner was going to be so intimate; who knew what might happen before the evening was through? Oh, man…he had to sit down for a moment and take deep breaths until he was calm again. Well, somewhat calm anyway. This was his first real date ever with someone, if you didn’t count the water park. And he didn’t, not exactly. So, here he was facing his first date with a man who made him feel excited and desperately nervous both at the same time…it was a little too much.
He leapt to his feet and hurried into the kitchen to check on the food, needing to be doing something to take his mind off of tonight. Rob would be here in a few hours. Oh, geez, Rob would be here in a few hours! He nearly flapped his hands in dismay and growing anxiety, wanting everything to be perfect, and feeling like a man trying to make a nice dinner while trapped in a wind tunnel. He shuddered, leaning against the kitchen counter. ‘Stop it, Thomas’, he told himself sternly. ‘Or you’ll have a panic attack.’
Finally, he moved over to the sink and bathed his face in cool water. He felt a bit better now. And then the oven dinged, so he had something to concentrate on instead of his nervousness. He used hot pads to extract the glass pan of scalloped potatoes, and then covered them with foil for the moment. He put the dinner rolls on a tray, and put them in the oven instead. While those and the pork chops were cooking, he began to put dessert together. He cut up an angel food cake into slices, and put raspberry filling and whipped cream between them. He sprinkled chocolate shavings over the whipped cream on top, and carefully covered the cake with saran wrap.
Dinner was done at last. After covering all of the food, Thomas went to take a shower and get dressed. He scrubbed himself almost obsessively, wanting to be clean and fresh-smelling. This was a part of his OCD, and he was pretty pink by the time he stepped out of the shower. He used a towel to dry himself, again a bit obsessively. Then it was time to go and decide what he was going to wear on the date tonight. He stood at his closet and stared at his clothes, but unfortunately most of his wardrobe leaned toward his working clothes – i.e., plain white shirts, crisp trousers and simple jackets. Nothing really spectacular. Thomas sighed, feeling frustrated. He should have gone and bought something yesterday when he got off of work. It just hadn’t occurred to him.
Then his brown eyes came to rest on an almost forgotten article of clothing at the back of his closet. It was a gorgeous silk shirt that he’d bought on impulse several years ago, just because he’d liked the color and texture. It was only when he’d brought it home that he realized that he had no place to wear it to, so he’d hung it in the closet neatly and simply got pleasure from looking at it once in awhile. Now he reached out to touch it, and then pulled his hand back quickly. Could he? Should he? Did he finally have a reason to wear this decadent shirt? Would Rob like the way he looked in it?
Feeling reckless, he reached out and pulled the shirt off of its hanger. Then he decided to wear some charcoal-colored slacks with it, and grabbed those too. Nearly holding his breath, Thomas removed the plain white shirt he was still wearing, and then his suit trousers. He put on the slacks first, hesitated over an undershirt, then decided against it and slid the cool, sleek silk shirt onto his body. It was blue, a deep dazzling blue that gave his skin color and made his brown eyes seem bright. He buttoned it up slowly, looking at himself in the mirror over his dresser. Was that him? Drab Thomas Merriweather? He could barely believe it. One of his slim hands rose to smooth the front of the shirt, marveling at its texture.
His front doorbell rang, making him jump. Rob was here! He nearly ran down the hallway to answer the door, feeling out of breath once more. When he pulled the door open, he saw Rob standing no his doorstep dressed in a black jacket and slacks over a cream colored shirt. His hair had been pulled back and tamed behind his head. He looked much less like a scruffy rocker than normal, and Thomas froze as he gaped at the handsome person who wanted to date HIM. It was just like some strange dream to him, one he just knew he’d wake up from at any moment.
Rob blinked, taking in Thomas’s finery. Then he whistled, long and low, making the accountant blush. “Wow, you look great,” the rocker said throatily.
“Thank you,” Thomas replied in a strangled voice. “As do you. I never expected to see you dressed so nicely…” he began, then realized what he’d just said and looked embarrassed.
Rob grinned and shrugged. “Hey, I don’t dress up much. Only for special occasions. This definitely counts,” his dark eyes ran over Thomas again blatantly. “So, can I come in?” he added.
“Oh, yes!” Thomas cried, blushing even darker as he stepped back hurriedly. “Please come in. Dinner’s ready,” he added swiftly.
“Great, I’m starved. I brought movies,” he added, holding up two plastic cases. “Not new releases, but I figured you hadn’t seen either of these anyway. They’re two of my favorites,” he went on.
“What are they?” the accountant asked, and Rob handed him the cases so he could look at them.
“L.A. Confidential and Equilibrium. No, I haven’t seen either of these,” Thomas said quietly.
“Awesome. You’ll really like both of them. Lots of action, but good storylines and great acting too. Plus, they’re both full of gorgeous guys,” he added with a twinkle in his dark eyes.
“Umm…” Thomas said uncertainly. The rocker laughed and snagged the movies from his hand.
“We’ll watch these later. I also brought some popcorn,” he said, pulling a packet of microwavable popcorn from his pocket. “Just in case you don’t have any.”
“No, I don’t.” Thomas said.
Rob laughed. “That doesn’t surprise me, since you don’t really strike me as a microwavable popcorn sort of guy. Hey, the table looks nice,” he said, looking over the accountant’s shoulder. “And something smells great, too,” he added with an appreciative sniff.
“Ah, yes. Please sit down and I’ll serve dinner.” Thomas bustled away, and Rob leered at his ass as he did so. The rocker sat down at the table gingerly, as the crotch of his trousers was pinching more than a bit from his erection. Damn, but Thomas in that silk shirt! That was something he hadn’t expected at all. The man was so uptight he never would have imagined that Thomas would have a garment that decadent. Made him want to rip that article of clothing off and taste all of the skin underneath it. Shit! His dick was in an uproar, twitching in his trousers like an angry snake. Rob groaned under his breath, rubbing at his face. How he was going to get through this entire evening without molesting Thomas was a question for the ages.
The accountant came back out of the kitchen and set a glass pan on the table. “Please, help yourself while I bring the rest,” he said to Rob. He went back in the kitchen, and the rocker took his mind off the disgraceful state of his penis by putting a pork chop on his plate.
Thomas came back out again with the pan of scalloped potatoes, and then the dish of asparagus and the dinner rolls. He took his own seat as Rob spooned potatoes onto his plate. “This all looks wonderful,” the rocker told him. “I hope that it all tastes as good as it looks and smells. I’m starved.”
Thomas filled his own plate as Rob put a forkful of potatoes in his mouth. He chewed, and then made a low sound of pleasure that made the accountant freeze and break out in a cold sweat. “Damn, this is good!” Rob remarked. “You are a hell of a cook, Thomas.” The accountant took pleasure from the compliment, but since he was also suffering from the same ‘trouble’ that Rob had at the moment, he was a little distracted too.
Thomas remembered the candles, and fumbled with matches as Rob looked at him questioningly. He managed to get them lit, then stood up on legs that trembled a little and went over to dim the lights. The rocker watched him with a small smile on his face. Who knew that Thomas Merriweather was a romantic? It was awfully cute. Lord, he was in real trouble here.
When the accountant returned to the table, Rob nodded at the candles. “That’s a nice touch. I don’t think I’ve ever had a candlelit dinner with anyone before. So, it's a new experience for me too.”
Thomas relaxed; as he’d worried that the candles might be over the top. They ate mostly in silence for awhile, enjoying the food and each other. Rob spent most of his time staring at Thomas’s cute little face across the table, for it was a pleasurable torture to watch a spoon or fork slide into that pink mouth. He longed to kiss those lips again, and hoped for an opportunity to do so a bit later. He was counting on Guy Peirce as Ed Exley (or maybe the luscious Christian Bale with his shirt off) to help precipitate a snuggly kissing moment. Mmm, cute guys helping him to make out with another cute guy. Life was good.
After dinner, Thomas served coffee and dessert. Rob asked him about his job, and Thomas grimaced slightly. “I’m an accountant, as you know. It’s not exactly a very exciting profession. Are you sure you want to hear about it?”
“Sure, why not? You already know what I do, and you’ve heard most of our songs played very loudly,” he said with a grin.
Thomas rubbed at the bridge of his nose; a gesture that Rob thought was pretty cute. “Well, I work for a law firm, as you know. Balancing their books can be interesting, since I can see the history of their cases in the numbers. Otherwise, it’s pretty dull, or most people would think so, anyway. I like it because I can be detailed and methodical. Numbers always add up, which is not the case for most of life. People, for example. They seldom add up properly or make sense. I don’t really understand people.”
Rob grunted a laugh. “People are all screwed up,” he agreed. “Which is why they can be fascinating sometimes, too. They do such weird stuff that it’s like watching a train wreck. You can’t look away.” He paused, and then glanced at his clean plate. “Did you want to watch the movies now? I’m stuffed full; it’ll be nice to laze around and enjoy good cinema.”
“All right. Just let me clear the table,” Thomas began.
“Hey, let me help. I’m not a slug,” Rob leapt to his feet and began to help the accountant carry dishes into the kitchen.
Thomas found that he was enjoying himself. There was something extremely homey and intimate about the two of them clearing the table together, scraping and rinsing the dishes and putting them in the dishwasher. Rob was humming under his breath, something that was probably natural for a singer. Thomas liked that sound. And when Rob walked by him so that they were almost brushing, he liked that too. Or certain parts of his anatomy really did, anyway. He felt shivers in the pit of his stomach. He couldn’t help but think of that kiss in his car, and wonder whether Rob might kiss him again sometime tonight. That would definitely be something to look forward to.
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