Icy - John Mulaney x OC

15 - An All-American Country Boy

We sat in the hotel room. Something was playing on the TV, but we were all on our phones. Suddenly, Laura, who was sitting beside me, jumped up.

"I have to go." She said, pulling her socks and shoes on.

I sat up. "What?"

"It's Margaret! She wants to meet up and I said yes! I'm going."

I snorted. "Okay. Um... have fun, then."

Laura finished getting ready and dashed out of the door.

I made eye contact with John, and we both started to laugh.

"Oookay," I said, smiling and glancing away. "Someone has a crush, I guess."

John smiled back at me. "Speaking of which," He said, sitting up in the bed he was in. "We should do something tonight."

"Like what?"

"Let's get dinner or something, I don't know. The wedding's tomorrow, and then we're going home, and we haven't done anything together yet."

I put my phone in my pocket. "That's actually a good idea!"

"Actually-?"

"I know a rodeo restaurant we can go to!" I said.

"A what???" John asked, confused.

"It's like a restaurant but it's themed like a rodeo. It has a mechanical bull, if you're into that."

"Sure," John said, getting off the bed. "I can't promise i'll ride the bull though."

"That's fine, I probably won't either."

While I looked for my shoes, John looked through the dresser. "Should I wear something Texas?" He asked.

I looked froze in tying my shoes and looked up at him. "What?" I asked.

"Like, country."

I blinked. "I mean... yeah? I guess? If you really want to blend in."

"Okay!" He said, taking off his shirt.

I quickly looked down at my shoe to continue tying it, my face red. When I looked back up, he had a flannel shirt on.

"Cute." I said, getting up.

John was still looking in the drawer. "Charlie!" He said. "Look!"

I looked in the drawer. There was another flannel shirt, and it matched the pattern of the one John was wearing. He looked at me, grinning.

I shook my head. "No." I searched through the drawer and grabbed a different shirt. I put it on over the white tee I was already wearing and buttoned it up. I turned around to go get my phone and wallet and stuff, but John laughed and pointed at my shirt.

I looked down. My buttons were all wrong! How did I manage to fuck them up this bad. While I stared down at the buttons, John snorted and started fixing them. I looked out the hotel window while he did that.

It was evening and getting kind of dark. I could only really see the tops of buildings, but it seemed like a nice day.

"You're good now." John said, patting my shoulder.

I pressed my lips together. "Thanks."

We got to the restaurant about half an hour later. We sat at a table and ordered our drinks. I persuaded John to get sweet tea instead of his gross normal tea.

He turned to me as the waitress left for our drinks. "What's wrong with regular tea?" He asked, smiling a little.

"Excuse you, it's pronounced Unsweet tea. And it's disgusting." I said, crossing my arms.

John laughed. "I disagree, but okay." He said.

I rolled my eyes, and something caught them. I looked over. Someone was going to try to ride the bull. I pulled on John's sleeve and pointed.

He looked over at the bull. "Is he gonna try to ride it?" He asked me.

I looked at him. "No, he's trying to pet it."

John laughed. "Okay! Sorry." He said.

I laughed too. "You should try that." I suggested.

He shook his head. "Yeahhh, that's probably not going to happen. I wouldn't last a second."

I smiled. "I know. It would be funny though."

"For you, maybe."

The waitress brought us our drinks. I took a sip. It was perfect! Sweet tea was probably the only good thing the south had ever brought to the world, although there was a debate as to whether or not Texas was even part of the south. I looked at John as he also took a sip of his tea.

"How do you like it?" I asked.

"Charlie, you're acting like I've never had sweet tea before. I have. I like it."

I smiled, resting my chin on my hands. "Right. I forgot." I said.

"How do you forget that stuff? Everyone has had sweet tea."

"I know, I know. I'm just being a hypocrite. I'm not exactly country material anymore either."

"Were you ever?"

"I was, actually!" I said. "I was never super buff, but I fit the whole 'small town southern boy who works at the local diner' aesthetic really well. As for you," I pointed at him. "I've watched all your Netflix specials. You haven't changed at all."

John clutched his chest. "Ow." He said.

I raised an eyebrow. "You said it yourself first."

"I did, i'll give you that."

I rolled my eyes as the waitress came back out to take our orders. Once she had gotten them down, she left.

John and I continued to talk until it was time to go.

"Look," I said to John, getting my wallet out for the bill. "It's not my fault you were raised a catholic twink. That's just life."

John laughed. "Whatever you say." He said, getting up.

We left the restaurant. The air outside was cold, and I shivered a bit. Beside me, John sighed and put his coat around my shoulders. I smiled at him and went to hold his hand, but I stopped myself when I saw all the other people outside. A few were looking at us curiously. I remembered living here. It was a small town in Texas. Jamie and Thomas kept relatively to themselves, they weren't flamboyant. Plus, this part of town was... sketchy, to say the least. I put my hand in the coat pocket and looked at the ground.

John noticed. "You good?" He asked, getting the car keys out of his pocket.

"Hm? Yeah, I'm cool." I said. "Just thinking about... a book I read."

"A book you read?"

"Yeah."

"Which one?" John asked. He unlocked the car and we both got in.

"I don't really remember." I told him.

He looked at me, and I looked at my hands. I didn't say anything. 

He started the car. "Was it all the people?" He asked, looking at me.

"What?" I asked. 

"The people outside the restaurant."

"What are you talking about...? Look at the road."

John looked back at the road in front of him. "You looked like you wanted to do something, but you stopped yourself. I might be reading too much into this, but..." He trailed off.

"I mean, no. You're not." I said. "I wanted to hold your hand. But the people... They were looking at us, and this is Texas, you can never be too careful." I said, examining my nails nervously.

"Well..." John said, glancing at me again and giving me a small smile. He held his hand out to me. "They're not here now."

I smiled and held his hand. "No, they're not."