In the Silks (2 page)

“Cool, let’s go.” Ryan said gesturing toward the street. Henry followed his lead. He wondered what the hell he had done with his beer, because he could still use that drink, dammit. His mind was going in a direction that was off limits and he was very aware of the man walking beside him.

“There’s a pizza shop two blocks down. That good?” Ryan asked.

“Yeah, I know that one. Sure.” They walked and talked about school, mostly trying to figure out mutual acquaintances and professors.

When they reached the pizza parlor Henry asked, “Do you know what you want?”

Ryan shrugged his shoulders. “Do you want to just split a pizza?”

“Sounds good. Any preference?”

Ryan gave a lop-sided smile that sent a shiver down Henry’s spine. He couldn’t help but to smile back, because it was the cutest thing that he had ever seen. He had to resist the urge to try and physically wipe the cheesy grin off his own face.

“Pineapple and ham,” Ryan said.

“
Eww,
what?!” Henry asked, sounding disgusted. “Seriously, is that the weed talking?”

Ryan laughed and looked around the mostly deserted pizza parlor.

“Ha-ha nope, it’s a Hawaiian! I love it, but we can get whatever.”

Henry noted that even this dude’s laugh made his gut quiver, and he knew he was going to give in and eat the freaky-ass pizza.

“No, I’ll try it. I’ll try most anything once.” Henry immediately winced at his own words. He looked toward Ryan and saw that he was biting the corner of his lower lip and giving Henry a slight nod and a once over. Henry turned to the counter and ordered the pizza, standing there in relative silence for a few minutes before Ryan spoke.

“I’m gonna have a butt while we wait.” Ryan said, then turned and walked out of the shop.

Henry stayed and paid for the pizza and waited. The order was ready surprisingly quick. He pushed through the front door and out into the cold night with the hot, steaming pizza box in hand. “Ready?”

“Sure am, its friggin’ cold out here. My apartment isn’t far, only a few blocks down. Remind me to give you money for the pizza when we get there.”

Henry didn’t respond to that and tried to come up with something else to say. After several false starts all he could come up with was, “So where are you from, Ryan?”

“Darien, Connecticut. What about you? By your accent, I’m guessing you’re Boston born and bred.”

“You would be correct. I’m from Brookline. Is my accent that thick?”

“Wicked thick.” Ryan winked and nudged Henry’s shoulder with his own.

Henry blushed, “So, what about sports?”

“What about them?”

“Do you like any of them?”

“If I tell you that I’m not a Pats, Sox, Bruins or Celtics fan, are you going to ditch me right here and now?”

“Not only would I ditch you here and now, I would take your freaky-ass pizza with me, too!”

Ryan threw a hand over his heart and laughed. “Okay! I swear I am a diehard New England fan. Just please don’t take the pizza. I’m begging you.”

“You’re lucky you said that. Although begging is always a nice touch.”

“No shame in begging.” Ryan bit his lip and put his head down. “Not if it’s something you really want.”

Henry cleared his throat. He didn’t know what to say to that. All the innuendo had him beginning to sweat, which was incredible considering how cold it was. He knew he was putting himself in a situation that would not end well, but he had no desire to stop it.

There was something about this guy. Maybe it was his crystal blue eyes, maybe his chocolate brown hair. Or maybe it was the way he bit his lower lip, or that arresting crooked grin. Whatever it was, it made Henry’s heart beat just a bit faster and he wished like hell that it didn’t.

“So this is me right here.” Ryan pointed toward the triple-decker in front of them.

Ryan’s apartment was on the first floor. It was dark inside and Ryan didn’t bother with turning on a light. Henry stayed close behind him as they moved through the sparsely furnished living area.

“This is my room here, why don’t you go ahead and take the pizza with you,” Ryan said, pushing the door open and flipping a light switch. “I’ll grab some beers.” He walked away, leaving Henry alone to explore his room. Henry laid the pizza box down on the end of the bed.

The room was subtle. He didn’t have much on the walls. A twin bed stood against one wall next to a closet door. There was a blue recliner in the corner that took up a chunk of the space. On the opposite wall, there was a long, six-drawer dresser covered in piles of folded clothes. Above the dresser was a full-length mirror. It had some pictures taped to it, and Henry leaned in for a better look, hesitating momentarily when he heard mumbling from the other room.

One picture must have been from high school. It was on a school bus and appeared to have been taken by someone standing in the front of the aisles. Everyone was screaming, smiling, laughing, with their hands in the air. He searched every face for Ryan’s but didn’t find him.

Maybe he was the one taking the picture.

He moved on to the next photo- Ryan and several friends in what looked like a park, all smiles. The next picture really had his interest piqued. It was Ryan sitting at a table, maybe in a coffee shop. He was holding a cup and sitting next to another guy. They were leaned in tight. Henry looked the picture over, every inch of the four-by-six photo, and he noticed that right at the bottom edge just before the picture crops, he could clearly see that their hands were touching.

Henry attempted to swallow the lump in his throat.

At that moment, Ryan came back into the room carrying two Heinekens. “I hope you like.” He lifted one up and handed it to Henry.

“Yeah, actually I love ‘em.”

Henry accepted the bottle and backed up to sit in the over-stuffed recliner. Ryan went and sat on the bed parallel to Henry and put the pizza box in his lap. He opened it and inhaled dramatically, then tossed some napkins on the inside cover and pushed the box toward Henry.

“Try it. I want to see if you like it.” Ryan grinned and nodded toward the pizza.

“Okay.” Henry grabbed a slice, taking a big bite. He chewed and swallowed, grabbed a napkin and wiped his mouth before saying anything. He was purposely taking his time, messing with Ryan, loving the impatient look on his face.

“Well?” Ryan asked, rolling his eyes.

“It’s…really good.”

Ryan winked at him and started eating, satisfied.

They polished off the entire pizza pretty fast. They even had to split the last piece.

“Thanks man. You know, for buying the pizza, what do I owe you?” Ryan said.

“Hey no problem, you supplied the beer right? We’ll call it even.” Henry waved him off.

Ryan leaned back and closed the door with his foot, taking a pull from his beer before going over to the dresser. He moved a pile of folded clothes and turned on some music. Henry had to smirk because he had no idea anything was under the clothes. There were so many.

Ryan must have been a mind reader because he turned to Henry and looked embarrassed. “I’m kind of a clothes whore. No more room in the drawers or closet.” He shrugged.

Henry laughed and took a few long pulls off his bottle.

Ryan sat on the edge of the bed and started humming along to the song that was playing. Henry recognized the song,
Use Somebody
by a band he was really into,
Kings of Leon
. It surprised him that Ryan knew them, because not many people did. “You like Kings of Leon?”

“Hell, yeah,” Ryan said. “You know them? I would love to see them live. So hot.”

They talked about what they knew of the band while they finished off the beers and listened to the song. When the song ended, Ryan asked, “Want another?” Waving his own empty beer bottle at Henry.

“Definitely,” Henry said with a nod. Ryan left to get the beers.

Although he had been drinking and smoking and was semi-relaxed, Henry couldn’t help but to feel unease as well. The way the situation was playing out right now, it was vaguely reminiscent of another time in his youth, a day that he would always consider the worst day of his life. Henry did his best to shake it off because if he let his mind linger in that place, he would be on his feet and out the door in five seconds for sure.

When Ryan came back, he had four rather than two. This made Henry smile and raise an eyebrow.

“Yeah, why make another trip out there, when you know we’re going to want more anyway?” Ryan said with a wink.

This kid winked a lot, but Henry liked it a lot so, whatever.

Over the next half hour or so they finished off the four beers. They also had smoked another joint, were listening to music and laughing at nothing in particular. If it hadn’t been for the pizza, Henry wouldn’t have been as coherent as he was. Although he could easily admit he had a pleasant buzz going.

“Talk to me dude, I am way too relaxed. You don’t need me passed out on you. Once I’m out, I’m out,” Henry said.

“Oh really, good to know. What do you want to talk about? We talked sports, music, hometowns, school, and career paths. Oh, I know, relationships.”

Henry froze for a minute. He wasn’t sure where this was going or if he was ready to go wherever that was. When the
struck
dumb
moment had passed he replied, “What about relationships?”

“Are you in one? If yes; how long, who with? If not; why not?”

“That’s an awful lot of questions.” Henry let out a whoosh of air, tucked his beer between his legs and ran his hands down his thighs. “Well let’s see, I’m not in one. I need to stay focused on the end game. School is almost over. Even though I’ll still be here, I’m sure that I’ll be too wrapped up in law school to keep anything going. I don’t need the drama of leaving someone behind, you know?”

“Yeah I guess. So do you date at all?”

“Not really. I try to stay casual. But I’ve come to realize that I’m not a casual type of guy. I hate for people to have expectations, and there always seem to be expectations. How about you?”

“I date. I’m not in a relationship now. I can do casual I guess. But if I meet someone that I really like and want something more with, I’ll go for it. Bottom line, I do what makes me feel good. You only have one life right? Might as well enjoy it.”

Henry nodded trying to buy a few moments to process the information and ask his next question. “So when was your last relationship?” Henry chickened out on asking what he really wanted to ask
do you date guys or girls or both, Ryan?

Ryan squinted his eyes at Henry placed his bottle on the floor before answering. “Let’s see my last serious relationship ended about three months ago. It lasted about seven months, his name was Justin.”

Henry said nothing. Rather just sat and stared at Ryan, a flush slowly climbing up his neck.

“What about you, Henry? I’ve given you way more than you’ve given me. You owe me.”

“Girls,” he blurted out, “I mean, I’ve only dated a few girls. It’s been awhile, like I said before they always have expectations, and I hate to hurt any one's feelings.”

“So you really just need to get off once in a while and save the serious stuff for later on down the road. I get that.” Ryan gave him an agreeable nod.

They both sat quiet for a few minutes. When the next song came on, Ryan started swaying his head and singing along full force, as if it was one he really liked. Henry recognized it.
Paralyzer by Finger Eleven.
Henry watched Ryan enjoy the song, but something happened when the chorus came up. Ryan was looking right into Henry’s eyes as he sang.

“Well I’m not paralyzed. But, I seem to be struck by you.”

The suggestive words had Henry’s groin tightening instantly. He shifted in the chair to try to cover up his reaction, but it was probably too late. Ryan must have seen his awkward jerky movements.

“I want to make you move, because you’re standing still.”
The irony of the words were not lost on Henry.

Still singing the song, Ryan stood up and made his way over to Henry, a predatory look in his eyes. He slowly leaned over the recliner and rested his hands on the arms, moving in close enough for their noses to touch. Then he stopped, unmoving, waiting.

Henry looked up at him, gripping his empty beer bottle in his hands, wondering if Ryan was giving him an out or waiting for him to make the first move.

It felt like minutes, but it was actually only seconds before Henry dared to lean up and press his lips to Ryan’s. He felt like pulling back when Ryan didn’t respond at first, but the feeling passed when Ryan opened his mouth slightly, inviting Henry in.

When Henry’s tongue slipped into the warmth of Ryan’s mouth, his taste buds were assaulted with a mix of flavors: cigarettes, weed, beer, and something sweet, maybe the pineapple? The inside of Ryan’s mouth felt like silk. With all of his senses on overload, Henry let out a groan.

Ryan broke the kiss with a gasp. “Give me that.” He snatched the bottle out of Henry’s hands and tossed it onto the floor beside the chair. When his hands were empty, Henry used them to grasp Ryan by the hips. Ryan snaked his hands around Henry’s neck and crawled into the chair with him, straddling Henry’s lap. Henry shifted in an attempt to get them more comfortable within the snug space of the chair.