Chasing the truth

The attraction

On Saturday morning, Ethan thought of giving his luck one more try. After feeding Cherry, he took the ball given by Christian's mom and lay down on his bed. He started sweating after concentrating for a couple of minutes and his breathing became shallow. He had to come out of his trance to save himself from choking. Cherry left her bowl still half  eaten and rushed to Ethan.

He was gasping for air, trying to breathe evenly. Cherry continuously barked at him, moving to and fro around Ethan. He went to the window and opened it to get some air. After a few moments, he came back to himself. He sat down on the floor with Cherry sitting at his side, comforting him by pressing her nose on his unbandaged arm.

"I don't know what that was, Cherry!" Ethan placed his head in his hands, going over the last few minutes.

"It felt like someone was strangling me. I know this sounds stupid, but it felt so real. Cherry, is there a ghost in our house? Do you see anyone?"

Cherry tilted her head in response.

"Are you mocking me? I had a near-death experience. Okay, fine. Not a near-death experience, but it was close, and all you can do is mock me about it!"

The dog un-interestingly placed her head on the ground.

"Now you're ignoring me. Just great. I need a smoke and coffee. So I'm going out. And I'm not taking you with me."

Ethan pointed a finger to Cherry, to which, she didn't respond at all.

"Fine. I'm leaving.", he stood up and headed to the door, "just think of what you did. And when I come back, I want you to apologise to me."

Cherry sat still, nonchalantly.

Ethan rolled his eyes and left his apartment.

As soon as he was out, he lit a cigarette and started towards his usual coffee shop. Blowing the cigarette off, he put the bud in the dustbin and went in the cafe. He ordered his regular latte and sat at the corner table, mulling over the incident. He scratched his forehead and tried to find a reason for whatever he encountered that morning. To his distress, his hands were trembling as he held on to his coffee cup. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves down. Just as he took a sip from his latte he heard someone calling his name and before he could response, he was met by Jay's cheery smile.

"Hi, Jay." Ethan tried to ignore the butterflies flying in his stomach.
"Hey. May I?" Jay gestured towards the empty seat opposite to Ethan.
"Sure."

Jay settled on his chair with a cup of espresso.

"I thought I might find you here, and voila!"

Jay winked at him which made him even more confused.

"You were looking for me?"
"Well, I thought you'd call. I waited for a week. And I was getting impatient. I had to know how you're doing."

Ethan huffed a mumbled laughter and said, "I need to have your number in order to give you a call."
"Check your phone." Jay smiled mischievously.

After giving Jay a confused look, Ethan checked his phone for Jay's number, and as predicted, he didn't find anything under the name of Jay or Sanjay.

"Nothing. Nada." Ethan sipped his coffee.
"Did you try typing officer?"

Ethan did so and snapped his mouth agape as he found the officer's number.

"Officer good looking? Seriously? You have to be so self obsessed to have saved your number under this name."
"You saved it. I didn't", Jay smirked as he finished his espresso.

Blinking multiple times in disbelief, Ethan stared at his phone for a while.

"I didn't. I mean, did I?"
"You don't remember?"

Ethan shook his head and a look of disappointment spread across Jay's face.

"Do you remember anything after the doctor gave you a shot?"
"I... Kind of. I remember touching your arm and being impressed by that. Ugh! This is embarassing."

Ethan buried his face in his palms as Jay laughed.

"It's okay. I promise I won't mention it again if you agree to go for dinner with me."

Ethan swallowed at Jay's surprise proposal, though he didn't specifically invite him on a date. He nervously traced his finger on the rim of his now empty coffee cup, as he considered Jay's offer.

"I would love to but... I can't. I'm in a middle of something, trying to process it and somehow failing in doing so. There's a lot going on with me, and..."
"Are you going through a break-up? Still not over your ex?"

Ethan coughed at Jay's sudden assumptions.

"What? No. Nothing of that sorts. I wish I could explain." Ethan shrugged.

His heart was hammering in his chest, aching to say yes to the dinner. He was craving for Jay to take him in his arms and not leave until he felt calm again. But he knew better not to add insult to injury by burdening Jay with his situation.

"I'm not asking you to go on a date with me. Let's just have dinner. Unless you don't eat at night."

Jay gave him a roguish smile.

Ethan grunted in exasperation and cursed himself internally for what he was about to do.

"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Dinner sounds good", Ethan confirmed.

Jay stared at Ethan in incredulity. After processing Ethan's reply, he asked for Ethan's address so he could pick him up.

"I'll text you the address, officer good looking."

Ethan felt like a horny teenager as he spoke that out loud and gave him a mental snap. But seeing Jay's bright brown eyes that smiled along with his mouth, Ethan felt a little less disconcerting.

"Alright, I'll see you at seven", Jay said and stood up.

Ethan nodded and blushed at the realisation that he was about to go for dinner with Jay.