In The Mountains (Tennessee and Paxton)

Fishing

* Fishing. *

Paxton sat at his desk and then stared at the clock. The time was almost five o'clock, and that would mean another date with Tennessee.

He sighed.

It had been a week of going out, and it wasn't that Paxton wasn't having a good time. He was. They went to the movies, dancing with Mary-Jo, and dinners around town with Tennessee's friends. Every night Tennessee would take him to the door of the cabin and kiss him goodnight. It was all great, except Paxton had no idea when people moved from kissing to well... more. They had done one thing so far. Paxton gave Tennessee a blowjob on their first date, but since then, nothing. Paxton wasn't sure if it was because of the cop interrupting them at the end. Maybe that was why Tennessee was so hesitant for them to do anything together a second time. One thing Paxton was sure of, he wanted sex or at least some kind of release, but no matter what he did to show that he wanted sex, Tennessee seemed in no hurry for that. At this point, Paxton was questioning everything he thought he knew about sex and love. Sure, he was a sex worker, but didn't regular relationships graduate to more than a kiss goodnight?

He couldn't jerk off in the shower again. Tonight, he was going to get some action or die trying.

"Ready to go, cowboy?" Tennessee appeared in the office.

"Sure." Paxton slapped on a smile. "What's the plan for tonight?" He prayed Tennessee would say a dinner at home followed by going to bed together.

"We're goin' fishin' with Rusty. Rusty knows all the good spots."

"I've never been fishing." Paxton's smile wavered as he rose from his desk and put his pen in the cup. That was the thing. Tennessee almost always had someone with them. It was as if the man was afraid to be alone with Paxton, and he got them a chaperon.

"I'll teach ya."

"Sounds fun." Paxton followed Tennessee out the door.

The drive was short, and they headed past a two-story house in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere in the forest. They ended up parked next to a gently sloped bank of a creek. When they arrived, Tennessee jumped out of the truck and gathered items from the truck bed.

"Grab the basket and the quilt?" Tennessee asked as he carried a fishing pole and a bucket with a net.

Paxton nodded as he slipped from his seat and closed the truck door. He scooped up a wicker basket, a thick quilt, and a bottle of water before he followed Tennessee to a sandy part of the shore.

For the next hour, Tennessee taught him to fish. They talked about life and dreams and a little of their likes and dislikes. Like all their dates, the conversation wasn't lacking, but in the back of his mind, Paxton was starting to wonder if something more wasn't going in here. Maybe Tennessee had thought about the fact that Paxton was a prostitute, and he didn't want... what was the words? Damaged goods?

Tennessee had just finished tossing a fish back into the creek when he glanced over his shoulder and frowned.

"Ya hate fishin'?"

"No." Paxton shook his head. "It's great."

"I can tell when ya do that."

"What?"

"Say what I wanna hear."

"I'm not just saying that. I don't hate fishing. It's that I have some things on my mind."

"We can go." Tennessee sat next to him and set the pole to the side. "It looks like Rusty ain't comin' tonight anyway."

Paxton scanned the banks and smiled. Yes, no Rusty or Mary-Jo or whoever to babysit them. Well, if Rusty wasn't coming, maybe that meant he and Tennessee could be coming instead.