Mint and apricots

13. The things I would do to you

- Drinking Violet, around midnight between 25th and 26th July 2009 -

"So what was it?" Sam asked immediately after taking a seat on one of the high stools and indulging in another sip of Sex On The Beach.

He had taken the cocktail glass before moving to the far end of the counter, where he had found a fairly intimate place to talk. Luc, who was the one proposing that they got closer to the drink dispensers, gave him a confused look.

"What was it?" he repeated, perplexed.

"Yes," Sam nodded, nibbling the straw in the same smug manner sported by Luc a few seconds earlier, when the man had nonchalantly revealed his intention to offer him more drinks. "What drove you to offer me a drink while staying in the dark and without even knowing what my name is?"

Luc gave him a smile that could have been capable of stripping Sam of his soul, let alone his new, fragile mischievous attitude. As Luc raised two fingers to get the nearest bartender's attention, Sam shivered, feeling naked all of a sudden. And in the best way he had ever experienced.

After giving instructions for a Vodka Tonic, Luc immediately returned to his eager eyes.

"I like the dark. It allows me to observe without haste. It allowed me to observe you," he considered, handing a ten dollar bill to the bartender in exchange for a glass of clear liquid, ice and lime slices. He took a sip and pulled his lips in appreciation before making a gesture with which he clearly meant to point everything that involved Sam. "Not that it took me more than twenty seconds to figure out I was screwed, of course."

As soon as he realized it was an appreciation in no uncertain terms, Sam barely shook his head in disbelief, feeling his lips tremble on the edge of the smile he had shown before. Damn it, he had to stop blushing like a third-grader.

"You don't even know me one bit," he observed softly, studying the other's face to catch even the slightest trace of sarcasm.

But he found nothing ironic in the way the man was returning his gaze.

"Which explains the drink. I want to get to know you," Luc explained, bringing their two glasses together with a cheerful jingle. "I'm sure there are at least a thousand more reasons, other than those eyes and that smile, to fall at your feet."

And let's say farewell to the promise not to behave like a schoolboy, Sam thought, burying his gaze on the fingers he had entwined on his lap.

"I don't... I don't think I have an answer to this."

That sentence only accentuated the complacency painted on Luc's determined face.

"My God, look at yourself. Tell me the truth, you are one of those who like pretending to be delicate."

Sam jerked his head up.

"What?"

"Aren't you? I'm just saying you're adorable. You don't know the things I would do to you," Luc grumbled after taking the last sip of a short-lived Vodka Tonic. Sam didn't even have enough time to react, though, because Luc's hand was already raising as a sign of apology, although the man didn't look uncomfortable at all. "Forgive me. Too much alcohol. I shouldn't have taken this, too," he added, pointing to the now empty glass with a look that was only vaguely contrite. "But I was nervous after offering you that drink."