Cold Touch

Chapter Five

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Giovanni whispered to himself as he frowned at his reflection in the bathroom's mirror.

He was flirting with Ashkii. He didn't mean to, but teasing people came so naturally to him that he couldn't help poking Ashkii a bit because of how flustered he was getting. The younger man seemed so naïve. A little confused, but seemingly interested. There was a high chance Giovanni was reading too much into his behavior, but he was able to tell when people were interested in him—or at least curious.

He sighed, shaking his head before brushing his hair behind his ears. He wasn't going to cross that line with Ashkii. The younger man would get hurt, and it would ruin their friendship. It had happened before with Leslie. Where the man had loved him with everything, he had but refused to be seen in public with him, refused to come out, and refused to admit to his sexuality. Of course, Giovanni wouldn't fall in love with Ashkii, but even if they just fooled around, the man might develop similar confusing feelings of resentment and attachment to Giovanni, and the bartender couldn't handle the mere thought of that repeating itself.

Giovanni dealt with open, confident men who had gone through all the confusing bits when they were much younger—no exceptions.

Giovanni gave himself one last look again before leaving the bathroom and heading towards the living room. Ashkii was still sitting on the couch, but now he was chewing and hand his hand hurried in a bag of chocolate with his eyes fixed on the screen. He didn't seem to be all that bothered about the past few minutes—at most he looked a bit drowsy, but that was expected from the drinking.

Giovanni figured he had probably had a mini panic attack in the bathroom for nothing.

He chuckled. Fuck Nate for putting this shit in my head. He said to himself in his head, before wandering over to the couch and taking a sit. He poured himself another glass of wine, taking a sip as he started to watch the screen of the T.V. He wasn't a lightweight. Years of working at the bar had hardened his stomach. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd been drunk beyond a slight buzz and a headache as the end result in the form of a hangover.

"Aren't you working tomorrow?"

Giovanni turned towards Ashkii's voice, noticing the man was staring at his glass of wine.

"I am," Giovanni said, taking another sip. "But it won't matter. My shift's in the evening and I'm not bad at handling alcohol."

"I wish that were me," Ashkii said with a sigh, sliding down a bit on the couch. Giovanni laughed, remembering the first time the man had set foot in his bar. Ashkii, with all due respect, couldn't handle alcohol to save his life. Now that Giovanni thought about it, he gave the younger man's face a good look. Although he had a beige, brown skin tone from being an Inuk from Alaska, one could clearly see the redness in his face from all the drinking. His eyes would also flutter sometimes as if he was having a hard time keeping them open. Goodness, the man had only had a glass of wine.

"Being a lightweight must-have sucked when you went to all those college parties, I'm guessing," Giovanni said, swirling his wine before taking another sip

"I didn't go to most of them. I tried to study," Ashkii replied, and there was a brief silence. "Even now that I'm in trade school, I don't really do much but study or work. I can't afford to flunk out again," he added, sighing before reaching for the remote and pausing the movie. "The noise is giving me a headache," he explained when Giovanni looked over at the television in confusion.

Ashkii didn't say anything after that. He quietly chewed chocolate bits until the bag was empty. After that he sat in silence, resting his head on an odd angle as he struggled not to pass out.