Page 13 of Unscripted Love
“Well, you knock knocked on my door, so shouldn’t I be asking who’s there?” I asked Kyle. Maybe my reference to knock knock jokes wasn’t as obvious as I thought.
Kyle’s head bounced slightly to the left and right while he thought it over for a second. “Oh, I guess you probably should have asked that before you answered the door naked. Who don’t you want to hear me?” Kyle asked.
“The neighbors,” I answered, but didn’t get more specific. “And I’m not naked,” I argued.
“That towel is a little threadbare,” Kyle said, nodding in the direction of my crotch.
It had been a little over a week since I’d done laundry and I had indeed grabbed the shabbiest of my bath towels. I sent a silent prayer upward that my cock and balls weren’t playing peekaboo with Kyle before I glanced down. The hole wasn’t directly over my crotch, but one false move and my right testie would swung into view.
“Um, I’m just gonna,” I pointed behind me with my thumb, “get dressed. Come on in and make yourself comfortable.”
I heard him chuckle after I spun on my heels and hightailed it to my bedroom. “Get it together, Chaz,” I admonished myself.
I quickly dressed in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt before I returned to find Kyle sitting on my sofa. He looked up at me when I entered the room and smiled softly.
“You didn’t answer,” he said in the way of an explanation for his midnight appearance at my door.
“I had every intention of answering your call,” I said as I sat beside him, “but the sound of the phone startled me, and I knocked it into the bathtub.”
Kyle’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry, Chaz. Let me buy you a new one.”
“That’s kind of you to offer, but it’s not necessary.” I repositioned myself at an angle so I could look at him. “So, were you just in the neighborhood?”
“No,” Kyle responded with a smile. “I wanted to talk to you without being interrupted, so I drove over here, parked in front of your house like a creeper, and dialed your phone number. I followed through with my threat when you didn’t answer.”
“I wouldn’t call your visit a threat,” I remarked. Well, I thought it was quite possible that Kyle was dangerous to my heart.
“It was a chance I had to take because we keep getting interrupted or…”
“I run away,” I said, finishing his statement for him when he trailed off.
“It was only once.”
“Twice,” I amended. “I hid from you at the salon after your appointment.”
Kyle’s brow furrowed into a deep V and I saw how much my words hurt him. “Why?”
I opened my mouth to tell him the truth, but no words came out, only a chipmunk squeak that he seemed to find cute.
“I can tell that something heavy is weighing on your mind and you’re not comfortable talking to me about it. I hope to change that someday,” Kyle said tenderly. “Will you answer one question for me at least?”
“Yes,” I said breathlessly.
“Do you… are you…” Kyle rose from the couch with a frustrated growl. “I’m not exactly sure how to say this without sounding cheesy.”
I stood up and faced him. Maybe it was Kyle’s flustered state or perhaps it was the vulnerable look in his eyes that caused me to feel brave in his presence for the first time. “I feel it too,” I told him.
Kyle had released a long, shaky breath before he closed the distance between us. He pressed a kiss to my forehead before he looked into my eyes. “That’s all I need to know for now. Have sweet dreams, Chaz,” he said when I walked him to the door.
“You too.”
Kyle winked playfully at me and said, “I’ve seen you wet and almost naked, so I know I will,” before he turned and walked into the night.
My late-night visit to Chaz replayed in my mind for days afterward and brought a smile to my face each time. The awkward tension didn’t fade completely, but it was greatly diminished by the awareness that sparked between us. The attraction had always been there, but after that night it was more intense. Still, something held Chaz back, and it drove me crazy trying to figure out who, what, or why.
Was Chaz scarred from a bad relationship? I wasn’t a violent man, in fact, I had never hit another person, but some faceless guy who possibly broke Chaz’s heart made me want to Hulk out. Those feelings were completely new to me, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. As a kid, I was obese due to emotional eating, and it was a habit I could easily fall back on if I wasn’t careful. The ups and downs with Chaz—and not the kind I craved—were driving me nuts and wearing me down, but I couldn’t seem to walk away from him. I knew that something special could happen between us if we let it, and I was willing to wait for him to tell me whatever it was that held him back. I just hoped he didn’t take too much longer or I feared I’d mow through my weight in Oreo cookies.
The pending photo shoot added to my stress and kept me on edge. No matter how much time passed, I still often saw the chubby teenager when I looked at my reflection in the mirror. When I was fourteen years old, I weighed two-hundred-and-fifty pounds. At thirty-six years old, I weighed the same amount, but it was muscle instead of fat. I knew that my hard work had turned me into a fit man, but I was still caught off guard the morning of the calendar shoot when the photographer informed me that we’d be snapping several bare-chested photos.