Been Hit Before - Brian Quinn

Who?

At work the next day, I had been so extremely busy I hadn't even seen Q that much, just like I hadn't really seen him this morning after we had both overslept and made frantic rushes to get to work on time. Or somewhat on time as we were still both a half hour late. I still couldn't quite grasp what had actually happened last night. The last time that I had slept with Q, I had been too nervous to remove my shirt in front of him, so what made me so comfortable to do something like... I can't even say it. Not even in my head.

"What are you daydreaming about?" Murray walked in to the office behind me, with a container full of pasta.

"What? Nothing." I shook my head, completely unaware of the trance that I had taken myself of into whilst thinking about last nights... activities.

"The guys are coming, they were fighting over what they think you'd like for lunch."

"Why would they be fighting over that?"

"Because Sal thinks you'd be more of a spaghetti girl, while Q thinks you'd enjoy pasta."

"Aren't they both practically the same thing?" I asked, raising one eyebrow, confused on why that was the topic of debate.

"That's what I said." Murr replied, looking equally as confused. Just then I heard the loud voices of the guys returning from gathering a most likely hefty amount of food. You could always hear them coming, usually a long time before they were even near. They were always so loud and incredibly boisterous.

"Hey, I got you some lunch." Sal chimed as he entered the room, Q and Joe following behind him.

"We" Q corrected him as he sat opposite me at the table.

"Thank you." I replied, looking down at my meal that was not pasta nor spaghetti. No wonder they had taken so long.

As conversation flowed around the table, I couldn't bring myself to even look at Q. Every now and then I would feel his eyes on me, perhaps wanting my attention, but I was still feeling some type of way about what had happened in his bed the night prior.

After everyone had finished their lunches, they began making their way down to the cars to take them to set again, but Q lingered around the office a little longer, still not saying a word, but once again I could feel his eyes on me.

"You're embarrassed, aren't you?" Q asked, and I finally was able to bring myself to look at him.

"What, no?" I replied, before I even thought about a way to respond that somewhat contained at least a little bit of truth.

"Don't lie. Is this about last night?"

"I'm not embarrassed. It's just.."

"You're definitely embarrassed." he chuckled a bit, which made me relax, I was beginning to think he was taking it personally, rather than me just not being used to this type of stuff.

"It was just way out of my comfort zone. Like, you're supposed to just be able to look someone in the eye again after mutual masturbation with them?"

Just then Sal walked into the room, eyes wide from what he had just overheard.

"As much as I don't want to interrupt whatever this is that I just interrupted, you guys need to come down so that we can leave." Sal stated, before he closed the door and left once more.

Q stood up and began walking to the door, as he held his hand to grasp the door handle, he stopped to look around at me.

"Loosen up a bit. You might even enjoy yourself." he said as he opened the door and left.

Loosen up. I feel like I had done way too much "loosening up" since I had arrived in New York. But, nonetheless, I had to agree with him. I definitely needed to relax a little bit. Not every new action deserved a bigger reaction. I just had to let myself experience new things.

Later that evening when the work day was over, we decided to stop by to grab some dinner. After coming back from the restroom, the guys were already seated, an empty seat sitting next to Q.

"I saved you a seat." He smiled at me softly as I sat down next to him.

"Thank y-" I looked up, startled at what my eyes had landed on.

"What? What is it?" Q asked, trying to focus his own sight at whatever I was looking at.

"Nothing." I shook my head as I sat down. "I just had a really bad cramp."

After we had eaten, we were getting a couple of drinks in.

"Seriously, are you all good?" Q leant into me, voice low.

"I'm fine." I said, not looking him in the eyes at all.

"So then why do you keep eyeing the dude up at the bar?"

"What? No I am not."

"I see him checking you out too."

"What exactly are you implying here?" I finally turned to face him.

"You tell me. You're the one preoccupied."

"Can we just leave? Please?"

"Why?" he questioned, looking in no way ready to leave just yet.

"Because I want to." I said, turning to look at the guy behind the bar once more.

"Who is he, Serena?"

"It doesn't matter." I replied.

"You've been with him, haven't you?"

"No, Brian. Please. Can we go?"

"Tell me who he is first."

"It's Bobby. The guy I was telling you about. The reason I moved away."