Page 36 of Solo Stan

Kai

Of course, Kai had always known about the studio apartment above the shop, but he’d never had a reason to go up there. It had been vacant since he met Uncle Moodie, and only about a day before Elias arrived, the windows were boarded up to prevent break-ins and storm damage.

At the top of the stairs, the door to the apartment was open. Elias stuck his head out, a lazy, sideways smile spread across his face.

“What is it like looking up at me for a change?” he asked.

“It’s not bad,” Kai replied, his cheeks getting hot.

As Kai climbed the stairs to Elias’s apartment, he became acutely aware of his breathing.

The concrete walls sequestered the sound, and his footsteps were thunderous as they pressed down on the creaky wooden treads that dipped in the centers.

He considered turning around and going home.

After all, this was his coworker—someone he’d have to see every day.

His boss’s nephew, no less. He risked blowing up his entire life.

But then again, not all changes were bad.

Elias stood at the top of the stairs, waiting.

Backlit by the warm glow of his apartment and the neon purple shining through the singular window, only Elias’s silhouette was visible.

He was self-conscious of the amount of noise his footsteps were making.

He sped up to get it over with but then slowed down as not to seem too eager.

Blood coursed through his ears. Attempting to conceal his anxiety, he thrust his hands into his pockets.

However, he nearly stumbled and had to withdraw them to steady himself against the wall.

“That was almost a season ender,” Elias joked with a low melodic laugh. He looked up at Kai, not moving his head, only his eyes, as he pulled him the rest of the way into the apartment.

Kai bit his lip. They’d been alone all night, but this kind of alone, with a door closed behind them, was the first time they were truly in private.

Elias pointed to his right and said, “Living room,” then to his left and said, “Dining room,” and then behind him and said, “Bathroom.” Then he pulled Kai by the arm into the kitchen, which was only partially separated from the rest of the studio apartment by a partition wall with a small serving hatch.

“And I don’t think I have to tell you what this room is called.

” He then walked to the other side of the apartment and threw himself onto the bed.

It was only a mattress on the floor, with the duvet and pillows hastily thrown over.

“And here’s my bed,” Elias said with a grin.

“Behave,” Kai replied. “It’s cute,” he added, looking around. “Small, but cute.”

It wasn’t that Kai was expecting Elias to be messy, but he wasn’t expecting him to be this neat either.

Even his curtains looked like they might have been ironed or steamed; there wasn’t a crease in sight.

It reminded him of Bobby, who organized his closet by season, then fabric, and then color.

Kai shook his head and let out a small chuckle.

Bobby was, after all, his first crush, so it appeared Kai had a type.

Kai leaned back, propping his weight against the ledge of the serving hatch, observing Elias as he sifted through the fridge. Elias reached for a carton of eggs, then hesitated and withdrew. He repeated the process with the cheese. A laugh escaped Kai, capturing Elias’s attention.

Elias took a few timid steps toward Kai. “Don’t worry, I’ll feed you, but can I make a suggestion first?”

“Don’t ask permission.”

Elias stepped even closer, and Kai’s entire body stiffened. “I think you should let me kiss you now so we don’t spend the rest of the morning thinking about it.”

Kai’s eyebrows rose so far they almost left his face entirely. “Why would I be thinking about it?”

“Because we’re alone, this apartment only has one room, so we’re technically in my bedroom, and I’m about to cook for you. Trust me, you’re going to be thinking about it.”

“And what about you?” Kai asked with a playful nudge.

Elias leaned in closer. “I’ve been thinking about it. I thought I was pretty clear about that.”

There was a long stretch of silence. Elias stood unblinking; his mouth flickered with what Kai would have believed was annoyance yesterday but what he now knew was amusement or perhaps intrigue.

Although he wanted to feel Elias’s lips on his again, he finally said, “I’m not going to let you kiss me. We’re just going to have to think about it all morning. Maybe even all day at work.”

Elias’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “It’s like that?”

“It’s like that.”

Elias crinkled his nose and said, “I didn’t really want to kiss you anyway.”

“Oh yeah?” Kai said, raising an eyebrow. “Because there are cameras downstairs, so you’ve been caught in at least 720p lying your ass off.”

They stood like this for a few moments, watching each other, each waiting for the other to act.

The tension broke, however, when Kai’s phone started ringing, just out of reach of his fingertips.

Elias dropped his head, his eyes fixed on the floor.

Kai put some distance between them, but Elias swiftly reached out, catching Kai’s wrist before he could fully retreat.

He sat him down on one of the high barstools and said, “If that’s Bobby, don’t answer it. ”

Kai narrowed his eyes. “He called when my phone wasn’t working. I should let him know I’m safe.”

“It’s the middle of the night in his time zone. It can’t wait until the morning?”

“You don’t have to be jealous of him, you know. We’re only friends, and he has a girlfriend.”

Elias didn’t respond. He just started moving around the kitchen, preparing breakfast with a silent determination.

It was clear that Kai had made the right choice in having Elias primarily run the café portion of the shop, because everything he did seemed so natural.

His timing was always on point, so he was never standing around looking confused.

By the time the bread clicked out of the toaster, Elias already had the cutting boards and tools he used washed, avocados sliced, and shakers of salt and red pepper flakes ready to go.

He set the plate down in front of Kai. Taking a seat next to him, he dragged his stool closer by the foot spindle.

Kai took a bite and turned his attention back to Elias, who was still watching him through hooded eyes. “Are you going to stare at me the whole time?”

Elias wet his lips and appeared thoughtful for a moment. “I’m thinking of what to say to you. You just happen to be sitting in my thinking place.”

Kai shook his head and took another satisfying crunch of toast. “I’m listening.”

“I…” Elias began but then appeared to reconsider his words. “You know what? Just forget it,” he said, the same coldness from when they first met making a sudden return—when he wouldn’t even look at Kai while handing him the tissue.

The wooden floors creaked beneath his feet as he swiftly moved around the kitchen, gathering the ingredients to prepare a plate for himself.

With Kai at his back, all that resonated in the air was the rhythmic sound of Elias’s knife gliding across the cutting board.

Kai wrapped his arms around Elias’s waist and pulled him into a back hug but was immediately rebuffed.

Abruptly slamming the knife down, Elias let out an exasperated breath and spun toward Kai.

“What am I doing? Why am I treating you like this?” he muttered, more to himself than to Kai.

“All night, all I’ve wanted is your attention.

And when I didn’t have it, I just wanted to”—he turned Kai’s head to face him—“start screaming until you looked at me.” He took a deep breath.

“You say you want to be in a relationship, but are you aware that you’re already in one with your best friend? ”

Kai blinked hard, trying to process what he’d just heard. A relationship with Bobby? Of course he was in a relationship with Bobby. A friendship. Kai had made that clear plenty of times throughout the night.

Kai and Elias grew quiet for a moment. Elias fiddled with the hem of his shorts, picking at some of the threads on the bottom with his fingernails as he avoided Kai’s eyes.

He then gathered himself and looked directly into Kai’s gaze.

Elias, his skin slick with sweat, was even more beautiful than usual, shining like Carolina Gold.

“I get that you guys are close,” he said.

“Trust me, it’s a huge green flag that you have such a good friend.

But you guys kissed when you were kids, and even though it didn’t mean anything, you broke a barrier between friendship and romance, and now it seems like you’re somewhere in between.

Which is okay if you’re both aware and intentional about it, but it doesn’t seem to me like you are.

Every time you play flirt or call each other your little pet names, you just make it impossible to set boundaries.

Do you not see that? If you don’t make space for other people, everyone you date is only ever going to be a fling as long as you have this Bobby kid waiting at home for you.

But he isn’t home anymore, Kai. You chose to be apart from him.

He’s gone, so you need to let him be gone,” Elias said, leaning over the counter.

Kai squirmed under Elias’s unyielding stare. Elias hadn’t been this serious about anything all night. He’d even called him Kai for the first time. Kai’s lip twitched, unsure of what to say. “Are you really jealous?” was all that came out.

Elias’s jaw tightened. “Damn right I’m jealous.”

Is this really jealousy, or is it ego? Kai wondered, studying Elias’s face.

Elias was constantly sizing himself up against others; he had felt threatened by Bobby’s intelligence earlier in the night, and it was clear that Kai gave Elias a bit of a Napoleon complex.

But had Kai misread the situation? Could it be that Elias had been truly jealous all along simply because he liked Kai?

“I’m right here with you,” Kai said, sliding his phone across the counter. “But you’ve let me make all the first moves tonight. If you want my attention, then what are you going to do about it?” He held Elias’s gaze, as if he was issuing a challenge. “Well?”

“I’m waiting on you.”

“Waiting on me for what?”

Elias let out a breath. “If you make me stand on my tiptoes, I’ll never forgive you.”

Kai’s belief was confirmed—it had only ever been about Elias’s ego.

“Then you don’t really want it,” Kai said, defeated.

“I do,” Elias replied, determined.

“No, you don’t.”

“I do.”

“Then do it.”

“Fine.”

Elias was suddenly at eye level, and before Kai could register what was happening, Elias’s lips were on his.

It took a moment for Kai to get over the initial shock, but soon he was kissing him back.

Elias seized the drawstrings of Kai’s ridiculous hibiscus board shorts and pulled, gasping as the edge of the counter pressed into his back.

Kai swiftly hoisted Elias onto the counter by the waist, their connection unbroken.

In that instant, Kai had never been so glad to be wrong, as the current of the moment surged between them, taking him back to their first touch, when Elias’s aura burned bloodred.

Kai cradled Elias’s face in his hand, and Elias nuzzled into it, planting a soft kiss on his palm before returning to his lips.

This is happening, Kai’s mind screamed. As he finally relaxed and accepted the fact that Elias’s feelings for him were genuine, the beep of the alarm keypad downstairs sounded, and they abruptly broke apart, eyes wide.

“Oh, what now?” Kai whined.