The Set Up *~BoyxBoy Romance~*

Chapter Four

The Set Up

Chapter Four

I think my hands were the first thing to tremble. The sudden silence was so thick that I could barely breathe. I began tearing my napkin into little shreds just to keep my fingers busy and my eyes down, but then my feet started to nervously tap on the floor beneath me. And I was sure that Adam could hear it. I didn't even know I was doing it until the sound reached my ears. That only made me more nervous, and I had to consciously make an effort to stop. It was a chain reaction that got my stomach to flutter wickedly beyond my control. And when I peeked up into his bright blue green eyes, he smiled at me. I instantly slammed my gaze back down to the table, and my trembles got worse. I didn't know what the hell else to do or say, so I let a soft chuckle escape my lips, and shrugged my shoulders timidly. Not that it had any meaning, or that I had anything to laugh about, or.... I didn't know how else to break that silence! Okay? That was all my tormented sexed up mind could come up with.

 "So...Tyler, is it?" He said, his sweet voice tickling the whole of my insides all at once.

"Y-y-yeah?" I stuttered, clearing my throat.

 "What do you do?" He asked.

 "Do? What do you mean?"

 "What's your thing? Everybody's got one. I figure you're hiding a little special gift or talent in there somewhere. I'm curious as to what it is."

 I looked up at him briefly, and his eyes nearly paralyzed me. But I fought to look him in the eye anyway, for the sake of not appearing terrified. And, boy, was that a fight!

 "Oh...um...I don’t know, really. Nothing, I guess. Or...at least, I haven't found it yet."

 "Ahh, well that can be admirable, believe me." He said, turning my lame answer into something cool.

 This boy was pure magic.

 "The ones that take their time and define themselves before their goals often have the most passion when it comes to doing what they really want to do. So cheers to that." He raised his mug of cider, and after an awkward moment of not knowing how to respond, I raised mine as well.

We clinked glasses and took a hearty sip of the cooling cider with a smile. Our eyes met again for a brief moment, and something deep in the pit of my stomach felt like it was shrinking to the size of a marble. The strange thing is, it felt kind of good. Almost like it tickled. And I giggled a bit to myself again. My cheeks were burning. I had to have been so red in the face at that moment.

 Attempting to return Adam’s friendly conversation, I swallowed hard and asked,

 "So, Jake says you work at the news stand across the street, huh?"

 "Yeah. I like it. It's nothing special, just a temporary gig to keep some dollars in my pocket. But I get free snacks, I can read all the magazines I want when it's not busy, and at the end of the month, whatever they don't sell, I get to keep if I want to."

 "Really? You get to keep 'em?"

 "Sure. All we do is tear the front cover off and throw them away anyway. So anything I want, I just take home."

 "Cool." I said, feeling the increase of pressure as I realized that Adam and I were actually getting 'acquainted' here.

With no one else around, it was like an advanced game of hacky sack, with him speaking, and me trying to speak back to him, so scared that I was going to screw up and drop the ball. But the further the game went, the more it felt like my chest was tightening up. And shameless flirtatious grins seemed to appear on my face all by themselves, even though I didn't mean to do it. And just seeing that Adam seemed to get boyishly flustered by every one, only produced more effort on my part. If Adam isn't careful with all of this charm, he's going to end up with a hopeless gay crush on his hands.