I Kept My Promise - #ModernLoveContest

Chapter 5

There was nothing left to do but go to my apartment at that point, and I decided to take the long way round because I wasn't sure if that's what I wanted.

"That's the Salt Bae restaurant." He was shocked.

I mentioned that my apartment was near the Boston location of the internet famous Salt Bae. He was already a famous chef from Turkey, but the memes just gave him more leverage to make multiple international restaurants.

Rick had the same incredulousness when I told him about the Boston Molasses flood in 1919, where a vat of molasses had burst in the summer heat, killing 21 people and injuring another 150. People swore years later that they could still smell it in North End.

Wow, the sweet stench of tragedy. I thought you were making that up.

I try not to embellish too much, or trick anyone into thinking something else. All of my stories are just absurd enough that they must be true.

"I'm scared," I admitted.

"Why?"

"The last guy I let into my apartment wouldn't leave."

"Wouldn't leave?"

"Yeah, I should have called the cops on him."

"You should have."

"I've been sexually assaulted multiple times."

"Ho, okay, wow." And then he promised, "Tell me to fuck off and I will."

I still made him walk past the Miyazaki-esque public garden filled with grocery store bought tulips, all sitting underneath my window, through the dog park where my co worker trains her golden retrievers, around the corner up and down the street once, past the weird art installation door with an array of plaster statues plopped on top of historical brick walls and doors...

"Okay, we're stopping at this door step?" He sat next to me.

"We're sitting at my doorstep."

"Oh, this is your..." He looked back at my apartment.

"Yeah, we can be here for a bit while we figure things out." The whole alley is a one way street covered in brick sidewalks and buildings. Almost all car spots were taken in a tight parallel parking way. I tried asking him about how I could see him next week since he still had classes and then RA duty on the weekend, and I still had to keep track of my regular 9 to 5.

I've never really understood making out. Kissing is pretty cute. Like a peck on the cheek, neck or shoulder. Resting your mouth on someone's forehead. But I don't think I had a proper make out session until I was 24 and I still didn't quite get the appeal of it. You want to suck my face off and then play tongue hockey in my mouth? This seems unnecessarily unsanitary.

Rick liked to suck on my tongue in a death metal grip which was kind of weird. I've had guys who kissed super sloppy, like a dog or a fire hydrant. Then another who pretty much just sucked my mouth straight in like a vacuum.

The best kisser I had wasn't really good at kissing. He was just really good at touching and pausing at the right time.

"That was cute," Rick laughed. "The smooch on the cheek."

"I was actually going for your neck, but... you moved so..."

"My neck?" he teased. "Like this?" He took my neck in his mouth and bent me too far back.

"Whoa, buddy."

"Oh. Yeah. Those are some really sharp railings you got there."

"Yeah, these steps are some pretty solid concrete too, so..." Some guy hanging out in his car was trying really hard to just look at his phone while his dog sat patiently in the passenger seat. "He's definitely been watching us."