Look Out For Me (ManXMan)

Chapter Three

They were interrupted not long after by some officiate. A man in a while suit who appeared to be with security. "Forgive our interruption, but you can't be in here."

Matt felt his face flush with embarrassment, he looked down at the carpet. Lucas on the other hand continued to hold Matt's face in his hands, and wore a serious expression. Matt was too caught up in his own head as he tried to decipher the hidden meaning. Was he making a mountain out of a molehill?

Lucas released his hold and the moment ended as quickly as it started. Matt had to glance downward the slated gray carpet before he willed his feet to move again. Lucas was not an easy person to understand, that much Matt knew well enough. Even though they'd been best friends for over a decade now, there were parts that remained unknown. Matt wasn't the type to go digging up things meant to stay hidden. He figured when it came Lucas, it would be like opening up Pandora's box.

Matt was only semi surprised as he shimmied between the security guard and white coat officiate. Mel appeared to me lost, torn, but wouldn't meet Matt's eyes. Matt immediately felt heat spread as the infinite possibilities raced through his mind. The night had done nothing to take away Mel's good looks. Matt made sure to smile softly as a, everything is ok. Mel might have nodded but Matt was well past him now.

Audrey, Natalie and Alyssa were still in the same cluster as they were left. Their backs were mostly turned towards him. He didn't bother to rejoin them. Instead he stood frozen in place as he faced them, but back towards wherever his best friend might be. It was strange that Lucas hadn't trailed in behind him. A relief that Mel hadn't followed him. In a strange way, it was like as if nothing had changed, even though Matt felt as though something certainly had. He just couldn't place his finger on it.

Two things crossed his mind as he continued to stand frozen where he was, wondering what to do next. The first, Lucas was straight but being a little weird tonight. There were plenty of opportunities for Lucas to come out if he ever wanted to. Besides, that was a line, a mental barrier Matt would never cross. Life didn't work out that way, at least not in reality. Matt had always accepted Lucas for who he was, just as Lucas had always accepted Matt without question.

The second, Mel probably wasn't even bisexual, but that didn't mean a spark of hope hadn't flared in Matt's secretly lonely life.

Matt didn't have to know Lucas had crept up behind him, it came with the territory that they'd known each other too long. Sure enough, when Matt finally turned, Lucas was there with a small knowing grin. Matt leaned in and they hugged before Matt wordlessly found his way out. The drive home wasn't a somber one, much less a questionable one, but if he had to be honest with himself, the felt hopeful.

Mel's blue eyes seemed to follow him home. They pleasantly haunted him as he willed himself to sleep, but sadly they didn't make it in his dreamless sleep. When Matt awoke, it was Sunday which meant he had no work today. Matt worked as a full time librarian in Dorford, Connecticut. Both Lucas and Matt moved and stayed ever since college from Ohio.

Dorford wasn't exactly a college town, but it did have the potential to be one. The population was somewhere around the 50,000 mark.

Matt kept busy throughout Sunday. First by hitting the ON button for the coffee machine as he got himself ready for his morning run. It was overcast and misty which helped keep Matt invigorated enough. He used the single staircase which always smelled of something old and new. The walls were freshly painted white while the staircase and banister itself stained in dark brown, sleek to the touch.

An hour later, he showered, made and ate breakfast which consisted of a simple bowl of cereal. He played some music and started to clean house. It was always a thing that kept his mind busy as he worked from the top down, but not today. He could not remove the blue eyed man named Mel from his mind. His heart felt like it turned into a butterfly at various memories.