Chapter Seventeen: Hot Fudge and Homophobia

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"I got an interview," Dan announces the moment I walk through the front door after work on Monday evening.

I stop dead in my tracks. "For what?"

"A job."

"Well, obviously!" I laugh, shrugging off my coat. "I meant what kind of job?"

"It's for a stocking position at the Asda five blocks down. It's really not that exciting, but hey, at least I wouldn't have to feel like a stay-at-home cat mum anymore," he giggles, glancing over at Phantom whose tiny eyes are peering up at us from the sofa.

"Well, stay-at-home cat mums are perfectly valid, but I'm happy for you," I smile, leaning in to place a kiss on his cheek. "When's the interview?"

"Tomorrow morning. I'm nervous."

"You'll do great. You have experience; they'll like that."

"Yeah, experience with being fired..."

"You don't have to tell them that... well, don't lie if they ask, but you know, you can try and phrase it in a certain way, like... 'My previous employer and I agreed that food service wasn't the best fit for me, so he said I should try something like stocking instead because of my physical ability and above-average organizational skills.'"

"Damn, how do you come up with this stuff? Can you make me some conversational cheat sheets or something?"

I smile, kicking off my shoes and grabbing his hand to lead him over to the sofa.

"You just gotta sell yourself." I fall onto the sofa beside Phantom, dragging Dan down with me. "Give yourself credit where it's due. Dig into all those great qualities of yours and talk about them with a subtle confidence."

"Oh? Tell me more about these 'great qualities' of mine," he prompts, leaning into me expectantly with amusement in his eyes.

"You mean your above-average organizational skills?" I tease.

"No, let's start with the 'physical ability' you mentioned prior," he says with a cheeky grin.

"Well you could say I was talking about your upper-body strength, but you're great in bed too," I reply boldly, settling my hand on his upper thigh and shooting him a wink. Then I lean in close and add in a whisper, "You might not want to tell that to the interviewer, though."

As I lean back, he bites his lip and settles a hand on top of mine. "Phil, I don't know if you know this, but... when you whisper in my ear like that, it really turns me on."

My eyes widen in surprise at first, but then I slowly lean back in and lower my voice to a whisper once more: "Noted."

He turns his head and soon enough we fall into a kiss. It's so satisfying to come home to this after literally thinking about his lips all day. As our kiss deepens, neither of us can help taking things further. As soon as I start tugging off Dan's shirt, Phantom lets out a meow and leaps to the floor, padding out of the room, leaving us to enjoy ourselves in private.

~~~

The next day when I come home from work, Dan informs me straightaway that he landed the job at Asda and starts training next week. I'm so happy for him that when I go in for a hug, I impulsively lift him a few centimetres off the ground and do a 360° spin. He lets out a laugh as he lands back on the ground.

"I'm proud of you!" I exclaim after finally breaking away from the hug. "Come on. Put on some shoes. We're going to go get ice cream to celebrate."

"Isn't it a bit cold for ice cream?"

"Dan... I don't think I can date someone who believes that it's ever possible for the weather to be 'too cold for ice cream.' Now go put on a coat."

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