Vintage Rob

Chapter 24 - Bada Bing Bada Boom

Mark hugged one bent knee and stretched his other leg across the carpet. The ends of his tight black jeans were tucked carefully into his dark green cowboy boots. The Western-style shirt stretched across his meaty pectoral muscles and lean midriff. His friendly smile appeared to be pleasantly neutral, but he had knocked Rob off balance and had to know.

Everyone took in Mark gazing at Rob. They probably thought he was starstruck, but the sparkle in his eyes wasn't just pride at being the center of attention. Mark gloated.

The young man in paisley and purple stopped babbling. Uncertainty and general decency stopped Rob from hauling Mark off his smug ass and out the door, but so did curiosity and shock. How had Mark charmed Lynn's crowd? What was he doing here? To find out, he followed Mark's lead and did not let on that they were already acquainted. "So... who do we have here?" Rob looked around the room. "Debbie, I know..."

Lynn swept her arm around the circle. "You remember Pam, Sarah, Minkyoung." She introduced the other women in the circle too, then, the men. "The young stud is Julian."

Julian offered a slender hand to Rob. "How do you do?"

Rob did not kiss Julian's hand. He awkwardly shook it.

"The cowboy is Mark," Lynn said. "When I told Julian I was living with a fifty-year old, he thought that was wacky. Now he dates Mark, not that he's as old as you or anything." She grinned with playful, passive-aggressive intensity.

Julian dipped his head, pretending to blush. He fluttered his eyes at Mark. When Mark threw him a kiss, several people laughed, but Rob had trouble processing everything. He had sensed that Mark found men attractive, but Mark had also ranted against gays, hadn't he? Didn't he?

It occurred to Rob that Julian could be in danger, but that also felt melodramatic. The FBI had trouble profiling people, and Rob understood the pitfalls.

Mark grinned. "I'm not fifty."

"Me neither," Rob said. "I'm forty-seven."

Mark stroked his thigh before looking up. "I'm forty-two."

Julian spread his fingertips across his chest. "As for me, I'm nineteen." He spoke the words like nineteen was a delicious treat.

"Enough, guys," Debbie said. "What will you compete about next? Manicures?" Mark held out his hands for Debbie. She took them and peered closely. "Nice."

Rob almost asked Mark to come to the kitchen, because he had to figure out his game. In the meantime, he preferred the fiction that they were strangers. He glanced at the beer bottles on the coffee table. "Want one?" Lynn said.

"Sure. Anyone else?" After counting hands, Rob walked down the short hallway, thinking of Mark flirting with Julian and how different he seemed. The last time they met, Mark asked Rob to recruit him into a spy agency. Was that normal Mark, or was this? Could meeting Julian be a coincidence? Was it possible Mark didn't know Rob lived here?

Rob lined up four beers on the table and popped off their metal caps. Mark said something in the living room, and loud laughter erupted.

Fancy that. Mark got a laugh from Lynn's friends.

Rob sipped a beer.

Did Mark act like he expected Rob to arrive? Maybe. His new personality was also suspicious. Rob had to probe, lob a few artillery shells Mark's way, and see what kicked up with the dust.

When he returned to the living room, he passed out the three beers. "You're a fantastic waitperson," Julian said. "Is that what you do?"

He assumed all Lynn's friends knew he was Vintage Rob. "No," he said, surprised.

Lynn and some of the other women laughed. Rob did too, at his own egotism.

"Julian's being coy," Lynn said. "Don't worry, he knows you're special."

Julian giggled and rocked back and forth, because he enjoyed the spotlight. Spending a lot of time with him would be exhausting. Did Mark really enjoy that? Was Julian actually important to him? "Being nineteen, you must have graduated from high school recently," Rob said.

"I hated it, HATED IT."

"Oh? My old high school has a Gay Lesbian Alliance," Rob said. "But not in my day. Look at you - the clothes, the confidence. I suspect gay men of my generation had it harder. What do you think, Mark?" Rob reached for his beer on the coffee table and took a long swig. "I could be wrong."

Mark crossed his legs. He rubbed his knees and looked down into his lap, as if thinking. A few of the women on the other side of the room started a side conversation.

Rob put his beer back on the coffee table. "Were you out of the closet at nineteen, Mark?"

"All of us have stories," someone said.

"Even Rob has stories." When Debbie grinned and winked, Rob thought of the sex with Lynn. Debbie put up her thumbs.

Truly, there were no secrets between them. Lynn laughed and twisted Debbie's thumbs down.

Mark looked up from his lap. He did not pay any attention to Debbie and Lynn. "It took me longer to find myself than Julian, yeah."

"But you're comfortable now, aren't you, honey?" Julian placed his hands on Mark's shoulders and massaged them.

Mark rolled his neck and smiled. "Yes, I am."

Someone clapped.

A feeling of relief washed over the gathering, and maybe Rob looked like an asshole. Maybe. But he wanted to out despicable Mark, not gay Mark. The nice guy routine did not fool him. Behaving decently put a strain on Mark. It showed in his long silences. Mark also looked tense. Julian massaged him for a reason.

Maybe Rob misjudged him, but Mark had threatened him. Revealing that they were already acquainted was his secret weapon. He listened to the conversation and bided his time. Mark glanced over. His mouth was a thin line but somehow a sarcastic smile came out. At one point, Lynn frowned and slashed a quick line in the air between Rob and Mark with her finger.

"Lynn, could you come to my room for a moment?" Rob said.

"Not today, Rob. We have guests."

Most of the women laughed. They all knew!

"It's important."

"Don't forget the ground rules," someone said. "No secrets."

Mark hugged his knees, as if that proved he was relaxed. "What about you?" he said. "How long have you been comfortable about being gay?"

"I still can't bring myself to admit it." Rob laughed, rose onto his knees, and surprised himself and everyone else by leaning over and kissing Julian's lips. Many of the girls laughed, a few hooted, one clapped and clapped and clapped. For the first time that evening, Julian was at a loss for words. He did not even move his lips away.

The kiss did not thrill Rob. Afterwards, he fought an urge to wipe his lips with his hand. He sloshed beer around the inside of his mouth like mouthwash.

Lynn snapped her fingers in front of Julian. "Wake up." She looked around at her friends. "Has anyone ever seen this? Julian, stumped."

Julian opened his mouth. "Well... that was..."

"Orgasmic?" someone said.

"Not exactly," Julian said.

Mark stayed on the floor, looking away. "I have no idea why I did that," Rob said. Mark stood, grabbed his coat, and walked out the door.

"Is he jealous?" someone said.

"I don't know," someone else replied.

Julian stood. Rob barred the way with his arm. He needed to be alone with Mark to find out what was going on. "Wait. Mark and I have a history. I'll tell you later. Right now, please let me talk to him alone."

What do you think of Mark?

Do you think Mark cares about Julian?

Star light, star bright - enough said!