Cookies by Nightfall (Yaoi/BoyxBoy) (Finished)

Chapter Five--Choices

Blue had been right. He didn’t call the next day. Or the next. Or the next.

A week passed, and still no word. At work, Orly played with his phone, willing it to ring. At this point, he’d take an unknown number in the hopes it would be Blue.

Chris took Orly’s phone and dropped it back into Orly’s apron. “Sanz sees you with that, you’re getting written up.”

The Kids’ Corner was quiet for a Saturday evening, but with both the circus and carnival in town, Sanz hadn’t expected a big crowd for the nighttime story time.

“Why hasn’t he called me?”

“Who? That guy from ITCOT? Doesn’t he have a chick? That sweet little thing that’s got hips with hand rests?”

“And?”

Chris flicked Orly’s ear. “And that means he’s off limits.”

Orly, scowling, rubbed his ear. “I never knew you had such high morals.”

Chris leaned over to straighten Everyone Poops. “I don’t. I’ll sleep with a single or married lady. But it’s nice for the drama not to be part of my life for a change.”

The boys meandered through the bio aisles and ended up at the electronics display, where a teen played with a set of headphones on a locked hook. As soon as the teen saw Orly and Chris eyeing him, he left the headphones and wandered over towards the candy section.

Orly clicked his tongue against his cheek. “They make it so obvious.”

“Just like you and your obsession with your damn phone. Try not thinking about it,” Chris recommended. “What’s that expression? A watched pot never bubbles?”

“Boils.”

“Whatever. Write a poem or something for that slam thing you do. You’re going to be sitting there, writing down some shit that rhymes, and boom. A text.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Orly stretched his hands behind his head and yawned. “How many more hours until this shift is over?”

Chris dug his cell phone out of his back pocket, and Sanz appeared out of nowhere. “What are you doing?”

“Checking the time for Orly.”

“Orly, I should write you up for making Chris take out his cell phone. Get a watch.”

A lady in yoga pants waved at the manager. “Yoohoo? Who has the better book? Jillian Michaels or Suzanne Somers? I really want to lose ten pounds.”

As soon as Sanz left hearing range, Orly punched Chris’s shoulder. “What’s your secret? You born with Teflon?”

“Genetics. And some good, old-fashioned charisma.”

Orly puffed out his chest. “I’ve got charisma.”

“About as much as a dead whale does.”

Orly felt like Chris had punched him in his gut. “But—”

“No buts. I’ve seen you at one of your slam thingies. Looking like you’d rather be anywhere but on that stage. You need to believe you are as good as all the other poets at that shindig. That you deserve to be one of them, although god knows why you'd want to be.”

Then, Chris tilted his face to the floor and mumbled.

Orly leaned in closer. “I didn’t catch that.”

Frustrated, Chris mumbled a little louder. “Need—like—more.”

“Look, just say what you gotta say ‘cause I can’t make out a damn word.”