8 – Date Night (1)

Once again, Maple found herself at a restaurant with a potential husband she had no interest in. Her brothers, as usual, were there as well. Not that it was out of the ordinary. They had to make sure Neil McNeil was a good fit.

Neil talked about his life “on the force.” Given how small Gilran was, his stories weren’t that exciting. A robbery here, a rowdy party there. So far, Maple guessed the protest was the highlight of his career.

“Tell me about yourself,” Neil said to Maple, mug of coffee in hand.

Maple started with what turned Jake off. “I’m 17 years old.”

Neil grinned. “Swight.”

Swight? Maple cringed at the outdated slang.

The grin stayed on Neil’s face. “I bet you’re looking forward to starting a family.”

“Not really.”

Carter kicked Maple under the table.

Neil laughed, glancing over at her brothers. “So young and rebellious.”

“We’re hoping her future husband will squash that out of her,” Walker said.

“Shouldn’t be difficult. I have experience handling rebels.”

A rolling cart wheeled itself over, carrying four plates of food. It stopped at their table, next to Carter and Walker. The two took their orders off of it, and it wheeled over to Maple’s side of the table. She and Neil grabbed theirs, and the cart zipped away.

Maple slurped her spaghetti, hoping to splatter some of it.

Neil cut into his steak. “I’ve always wanted a wife and kids. Never had time for them. But I’m thinking of switching careers. The work is starting to get to me.”

“Maybe I could work, and you could stay home with the kids,” Maple said.

Walker and Carter glared at her. Neil chuckled. “You are one funny girl!” He turned to her brothers. “I like her.”

Maple slurped at her spaghetti again. How to get him to not like her? She elegantly sucked a single noodle into her mouth. Bits of sauce flicked onto the table, and her glass. “I like reading books. My favorite one is about Nellie Bly. She pretended to be mentally ill so she could go to an asylum to check out the conditions.”

Neil once again laughed at her attempt to turn him off. “A girl who reads! You are hilarious.”

The weirder Maple acted, the more Neil seemed to like her. This hadn’t happened before. She’d act coy and well-behaved, but it would be obvious what she was trying to do. Besides, what if he liked that more?

“You’ve got sauce on your cheek,” Neil said.

Maple wiped her cheek, transferring the glob of sauce from her face to her hand. She made a show of licking it.

“Nice tongue,” Neil said, his voice one of amusement.

“Thank you?” Her stomach twisted uncomfortably at the compliment for an unknown reason.

The rest of the date went much the same. Maple only succeeded in making Neil want her more. She even tried knocking her glass of soda over to his side of the table. It was obvious she did it on purpose, though she acted like it was an accident. Some of it had spilled onto his lap. Still, he laughed it off. Her brothers weren’t even mad.

Before they left, Neil caught her alone. “That was a nice date.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And I know exactly what you were trying to do. Trying to act like you’d make a terrible wife so I won’t want you. I bet that’s why your brothers have such a hard time marrying you off.”

Maple wasn’t sure whether to admit or deny it. This man had her stumped.

“Lucky for them, I love a challenge.” Neil placed his hand on her shoulder, caressing it. “And you are a beautiful girl. I can’t wait to see you again.”

A second date? She’d never gotten a second date. Her brothers would approve of it instantly. She swallowed. “What if I don’t want any of this?”

“I’ll make you.” Neil squeezed her shoulder, and walked ahead to talk with her brothers.

How could Maple get out of this one?

~~~~~

Axel drove to Jake’s house for the first time. They agreed to hang out there, because his father wasn’t home. Not that his father would care anyway if Jake invited a friend over. It just ensured more privacy.

The house, like every houses in this particular neighborhood, was a large, intimidating one. He walked up the steps of the front porch, and rang the doorbell.

A man in a suit answered the door. Axel couldn't recall Jake mentioning anyone else living with him and his dad. Did he have the right house?

“Is Jake here?” Axel asked.

At that moment, Jake appeared behind the man. “I got this.”

The man walked away. Jake opened the door wider, inviting Axel in. “Sorry about that. I don’t know why we have a butler. I’m capable of answering a door myself.”

“You have a butler?” Axel never knew anyone who had.

“I know.” Jake rolled his eyes. “I don’t see the point. I told my dad it’s excessive, but he insists all the uppers here have them. According to him, it’s a status symbol.” He air-quoted the phrase.

Axel wouldn’t know a thing about that. He followed Jake through a foyer, up a set of stairs. Despite being huge, everything was almost barren. There was furniture, but no decorations.

Jake’s room was similar to the rest of the house. Nothing on the walls. Nothing on his dresser. A single lamp on his nightstand. The most interesting thing was a bookshelf containing several books. There was also a desk with a monitor on top of it, along with a chair.

After closing the door, Jake flopped onto his king-sized bed. Axel sat next to him. “This is the biggest bedroom I’ve ever been in.”

“I know. Who needs a room this big?”

“It’s nice. I wish I had a big room. The room I had before… you know. It was only a quarter of this size. I could fit a twin size bed, and a dresser. That’s all I had. For furniture, anyway. I actually had stuff on my walls.”

“That’s not really a thing in California. We only have essential items.”

It sounded depressing. Even Axel’s van had a few useless things laying around. His eyes wandered towards an open door, leading into a bathroom. “You have your own bathroom?”

“Yeah. I don’t understand that either. I mean, there’s already a bathroom two doors away. And there’s another one in my dad’s room. And two more downstairs...”

“Better than having no bathrooms.” It was Axel’s least favorite part about living in a van.

“Oh. Right.”

An awkward silence filled the air.

“If you ever need a shower, you can use mine anytime.” Jake leaned against Axel. “It’s big enough for both of us to use together.”

Axel gave him a flirty smile. “Is that an invitation?”

“Maybe.” Jake ran his hand up Axel’s thigh. He leaned over, and kissed his lips.

Axel kissed back, and they got off the bed to head for the bathroom. They continued making out, stopping occasionally to shed a piece of clothing. But Jake kept his glasses on. Axel asked him to.

It wasn’t long before they were down to their underwear. Still lips still locked, Axel pinned Jake against the wall, right next to the bathroom. Jake pressed his body against Axel’s, guiding them through the doorway. Axel finally stopped to view his surroundings.

To his right, there was a bathtub big enough for three people. To his left, a sink, next to a shower large enough for them to comfortably fit in, though there was only one shower head. Jake gestured towards it. “As promised.”

Axel draped his arms around Jake’s neck, touching his forehead to his. “I could use a shower.”

“These will have to come off first.” Jake fingered the waistband of Axel’s boxer briefs.

“Oh. Right.” Hard as he was, Axel wasn’t sure if Jake was the right person to go that far with. There were some acts he wanted to save for someone he loved. He only liked Jake.

“It’s okay if you’ve changed your mind.” Jake took Axel’s hands in his, and gazed up at him through his glasses.

The sight of Jake in nothing but a pair of boxers and glasses made Axel weak. The thought of him in nothing but those glasses… Fuck it. “I haven’t. Take yours off first.”

Jake slid his boxers down, kicking them aside. Axel’s eyes roamed every inch of his fit body in admiration. The man was beautiful. And that dick...

“Your turn.”

Axel took a breath to calm his nerves, and slowly slipped off his boxer briefs. Jake’s eyes went straight towards his erection. “Damn it. You’re bigger than me.”

“Not by much.”

Jake slid open the shower door to turn on the water. They both got in, Jake stopping to put his glasses on the sink. Axel had the privilege of standing under the faucet, and enjoyed the warmth of the water beating down on his head. He wet his hair, to prepare it for a glob of shampoo.

Jake, however, had other plans. He pressed his body against Axel’s, gripped his ass, and ground himself against him. It was better, so much better, without underwear. But also, Axel wasn’t quite sure what to do next.

Obviously, one of them should touch the other down south. But Jake wasn’t making the move. Was he waiting for Axel to go first? Should he ask Jake about it? Or would that ruin the mood?

The pressure building grew unbearable. This needed to go further, quickly.

So Axel sped things up by slipping his hand around Jake’s hardness, and jerked.

“Your doing it wrong,” Jake said into his ear.

Seriously? Was Axel so inexperienced, he didn’t know how to jerk off right? “How?”

Jake wrapped his hand around both their cocks, and rubbed.

It was, quite possibly, the greatest feeling Axel had ever felt. Why hadn’t he ever thought of that? He came almost immediately, nearly passing out on the shower floor in ecstasy. Jake shortly followed.

Once they recovered, they washed away their sin. Jake turned off the shower and left to grab a couple towels. He dried himself with one, and handed Axel the other.

“That was hot.” Jake squeezed water out of his hair with his towel.

Axel agreed, but his usual post-nut shame hit. The shame he felt every time he got off to fantasies of men. He brushed it off. “You could have been quieter. What if the butler heard us?”

“I doubt it. Around this time, he’s usually helping the cook in the kitchen.”

“You have your own cook?”

“Yeah.” Jake sounded about as thrilled about that as he did about the butler. “Something else we don’t need. I’m capable of cooking my own meals.”

Axel didn’t even have a place to cook his own meals. He and Jake continued drying themselves.

Someone knocked on the bedroom door. Axel gasped, and went straight for his boxer briefs, yanking them on. With a jolt, he realized all his other clothes were strewn around the bedroom.

The person knocked again, much louder.

“Stay here.” Jake pulled on a bathrobe from somewhere, and walked into his bedroom.

Axel peeked his head out from the bathroom, and watched Jake open his bedroom door. He couldn’t see who the mystery knocker was.

Jake turned his head towards Axel. “Were you planning on staying for dinner?” he asked loudly.

Axel flinched. “Sure.” It would be stupid to turn down a free meal. Almost as stupid as Jake answering his bedroom door in only bathrobe, with someone clearly in the room with him. What was he thinking?

“What would you like?” Jake called out again.

“I don’t care.”

“What?” Jake turned his whole body towards Axel, revealing the butler on the other side of the door.

Axel’s eyes met the butler’s. He jerked his head back behind the wall, hot with embarrassment. The butler probably noticed Axel wasn’t wearing a shirt. He probably noticed all of Axel’s clothes scattered around the room.

“Axel?”

“I don’t care!” Axel shouted, now having second thoughts about staying for dinner.

Jake walked into the bathroom, and sat next to Axel. “It was the butler. He said the cook is starting dinner and wanted to know if you were staying and what we wanted to eat.”

How could Axel face that butler, knowing what conclusions he probably jumped to? But his stomach rumbled, and he had already said yes.