Pornstar (hiatus)

Chapter 12

Nervously, Warren shifted from one leg to the other as he waited at the parking lot of the Hashimoto Nursery on Saturday morning. He and Tanner had agreed to meet there at 10, but since Warren had been so nervous, he had arrived far too early. It was barely 9:45 and he had already been there at least 10 minutes, most of which he had spent looking at the various things displayed outside the store, such as raised beds and garden houses.

The rational thing would have been to walk into the nursery, but what if Tanner arrived and, upon not finding him, left again?!

Which probably wouldn't happen though, right? Tanner would wait, or call or something, right?

Warren swallowed nervously, fidgeting around with one of his bracelets. What was wrong with him? Why was he so nervous? He was just meeting up with his boss to go plant shopping - it's not like this was a date or anything.

Warren had never been on a real date. Alright, so once he had gone bowling with some Spanish guy called Antonio who had asked him out shortly after he had moved to L.A., but Warren's English had been so bad at the time that they hadn't been able to communicate properly, so the date had been filled with nothing but awkward silences. Antonio never called him again after that date, and Warren had made no attempt to contact him either.

With a sigh, Warren watched a young couple coming out of the nursery with a few plants in boxes that they stored in the trunk of their car while they laughed and chattered cheerfully about something Warren couldn't understand because he was too far away.
The woman closed the trunk after her husband or boyfriend placed the last box inside, before he leaned over to kiss her. It was a quick kiss followed by a bright smile before they both got in the car and drove off, with Warren looking after them until long after the car had disappeared into traffic.

Why didn't he have a relationship like that? Why couldn't he have someone he could randomly shop plants with on a lazy Saturday morning? Someone he could randomly kiss before getting in the car?
Warren's overactive imagination presented him with a beautiful image of himself and Tristan as they walked out of the nursery with a Tomato plant that they put in the car before kissing and-

No, wait! Wrong fantasy! It should be Jack! Yes, of course. Jack was the person he wanted to buy plants with and kiss and drive off with, and, and, and... And his name was Mister Tanner, not Tristan! What was wrong with him?

Warren groaned internally. He felt so pathetic. Was he really so lonely that he crushed on the first guy who was ever nice to him?
He didn't want to like Tanner! Tanner was just some random tramp who slept with anyone anyway. Because seriously, what kind of a person just picked up random strangers on the street?! Clearly, Tanner was just some player anyway; so not what Warren wanted. Warren wanted a faithful, romantic guy who was ready for a serious relationship, not one who just slept around with anyone.
Yes, exactly, he wanted someone like Jack.

Wait...

Before Warren managed to rethink that, however, mister Tanner's Audi pulled into the parking lot, driving up to where Warren was standing, a little away from the entrance.
After parking the car, Tanner removed his sunglasses which he left somewhere in the car and stepped out with a bright smile.

"Good morning!" he greeted cheerfully. He was wearing worn out jeans and a T-shirt with an airplane and some math thingy on it. It made him look like a completely different person. How was this the same man Warren saw at the office every day?

"Good morning," Warren returned a bit distracted as he began following him towards the nursery. Though mister Tanner was generally very attractive, seeing him in such random, casual wear just made Warren crush on him even harder. Great.