Page 5 of Teach Me
“It continued to go downhill. They put blue cheese on the salad, not on the side. His steak was cooked wrong, the third sangria tasted a bit ‘off,’ though he was happy to continue drinking it and then request that it be comped. His knife had aspot on it…” I sighed. “On the way out, he asked the hostess if there was a customer satisfaction survey he could fill out.”
“Eww.” John tilted his head thoughtfully. “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could rate our dates on apps? Upvote or downvote them?”
“I’d have given him negative points. I definitely should’ve ended it there.”
“You didn’t?” John put a hand to his forehead and laughed.
“Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment. Did I mention he was attractive?” I groaned at my own folly. “I should have, but he said he’d been dying to go to Lush, and I suppose my lizard brain was still thinking there was a way to salvage the date somehow.”
“You mean fuck him.”
That was John, right to the point. “Possibly.” I shrugged. Being sick of the sight of my own hand had prompted the date in the first place. “Then I went to grab drinks at the club—water for him. Turned back around to find him with his tongue down some other guy’s throat.”
“Maybe he mistook the guy for you. You said he was drunk.” John cackled. The man loved to play devil’s advocate. Typical lawyer. “So did you go up to him and ask to make it a party of three?” He batted his lashes.
I threw a straw wrapper at him. “That’s not my style, you heathen.” My baseline had always been vanilla, mostly because I’d been too busy with my career and too married to a fellow vanilla lover to consider other options. Exploring my bisexuality post-divorce had occupied me well enough without bringing threesomes, orgies, or kink into the mix. Though apparently, that no longer precluded glory holes.
“Did you toss your drink on him?”
“No.” I laughed. “I didn’t care enough to bother with that drama. I just handed him his water and told him I was heading home.”
“Youdeliveredhis drink to him? Sucker.”
“Trust me, he needed the hydration, especially the way the two of them were going at it.” I topped off my coffee from the pot on the table. The drive back home felt like it’d taken an eternity, and I was feeling the lost sleep this morning. “He thanked me by accusing me of being uptight and judgy.”
“He definitely wanted to fuck you.” John smirked.
“God no. He’d probably have asked me for a customer satisfaction survey afterward, too. ‘Stubble was too prickly.’”
“Could not find my prostate.”
“Oh fuck off, I can find a prostate. He did not at all strike me as a prostate guy in the first place. The only thing I wanted to find at that point was an exit.”
“Ah well, better luck next time.”
“No, I don’t think there’s a next time.” I wrinkled my nose at the thought. “I’m hanging it up for a while. The semester is starting anyway, and I’ll have less time for frivolous things like…”
“Pursuing love and companionship.”
“That sounds like a paradox.” I waved a hand. “I’ve been ‘dating’ for months. I’m starting to think maybe I just don’t want to deal with all that. I want simple, easy.”
“Then stop going on dates and just hook up.”
“Maybe.” I shrugged. “This next semester will keep me busy enough, between classes and my book.”
It was on the tip of the tongue to tell him about my encounter in the bathroom. I wasn’t sure why I held back, considering John was my closest friend. But for some reason, the tryst was something I wanted to keep close to the vest, just for me. Just the thought sent a thrill up my spine that radiated through my groin at the recollection of the stranger’s warm mouth on my cock. I’d still not been able to pinpoint exactly what had motivated me to take up his offer, though it’d kept me up halfthe night. The experience left me staggered and weak in the knees, the knowledge that I’d let an anonymous stranger suck me off in a bathroom stall a combination of vulnerability and…empowerment.
Except I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it since. His mouth, the relentless suction of his lips, his hands, wondering what he looked like. I couldn’t create a picture in my head. For a guy who’d spent most of his adult life studying patterns and predictability, the mystery of it all intrigued me.
What I wanted was more of that. More mystery, more excitement, more thrill. Perhaps John was right that I should be seeking hookups rather than trying to date, but the mere idea of putting in even the bare minimum of effort required to make that happen made me tired.
“Here you are, gentlemen.” Cameron slid our plates in front of us.
“I’m only a gentleman on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” John said before pointing the end of his fork at me. “And he’s never been a gentleman a day in his life.”
“Put my food on his tab,” I replied drily, and Cameron laughed before bustling away to his next table. “You’re such a fucking flirt,” I accused, picking up my fork.
John shrugged. “Can’t help it. He’s gorgeous.”