Stranded (10 page)

“Mom!” Kendall said indignantly. “It’s not the same.”

“I know, honey. So I take it this meal is sort of special,” his mother said.

“Yeah, it is.” Kendall told her about meeting Johnny at the party and about the carriage ride. “We’ve only kissed.”

His mother gasped dramatically; Kendall came by his theatrical talent honestly. “So this is a big deal.” His mother was familiar with his carousing ways. “What do you have?” she asked, and Kendall ran down the menu of steak, potatoes, green beans, and salad. “Honey, there’s nothing to it. Season the steaks with some salt, pepper, and garlic, if you have it, before you cook them. Put some water on to boil to cook the beans, and about fifteen minutes before you’re ready, microwave the potatoes. Do you have butter and stuff?”

“Yes,” Kendall said as he fished around in the refrigerator. “I have a bottle of red wine too.”

“Good. Don’t panic and take your time. You’ll be just fine,” she said.

“But how long do I cook the steaks?”

“It depends how thick they are, but three minutes a side is usually good to start. Cut into the one you’ll eat to make sure it’s done if you have to, and serve the good one to your guest.” His mother chuckled again. “You are planning to bring this young man out to visit soon, aren’t you?”

“I will,” Kendall promised and hung up. He set the phone on the counter and filled a pan with water before setting it on the stove to boil.

The door buzzer rang, and Kendall jumped, nearly scattering the bag of beans he was pulling out of the refrigerator all over the floor. He set them on the counter and verified it was Johnny at the door before buzzing him in. Kendall opened the apartment door slightly and returned to the kitchen.

“Hello,” Johnny greeted him as he pushed the apartment door the rest of the way open.

“I’m in here,” Kendall called, staring at the unsnipped beans. “I have to warn you, I’m not much of a cook.”

Johnny chuckled and took off his coat, draping it neatly over the back of one of the chairs before joining Kendall in the kitchen. “I’d say so,” Johnny said. “You need to take off the ends before you wash those.”

“Maybe we should go out,” Kendall said, ready to open the wine and say to hell with the rest.

“Or maybe we should cook together,” Johnny suggested. “I’ll clean the beans for you, if you like.”

Kendall felt so helpless. His mother was an amazing cook, but he’d never spent much time in the kitchen. Now he wished he had. Although with his usual diet of protein shakes, chicken, and salads, getting something to eat had never been a particular problem. The bodega around the corner also had great take-out food, so cooking had never been a priority. “Thanks. I need to season the meat and clean the potatoes.” He figured this would be a simple meal, and he knew Johnny liked beef from their meal at the restaurant the week before, so he’d played it safe. He had no idea cooking the stuff would feel like brain surgery. Kendall got out the steaks and pulled out the salt and pepper. He also found some powdered garlic he hadn’t known he had and set that on the counter as well.

“You don’t want to go too heavy,” Johnny told him, and Kendall began to sprinkle the seasonings. “A little bit more salt, and you can add the pepper and garlic.” Johnny watched him as he snipped the beans. “That should be good, now rub the steaks a bit so the seasonings stick, and turn them over to do the other side.”

Johnny bumped him with his shoulder, and they shared a smile. Once the steaks were seasoned, Johnny had him set them aside.

“Are the beans ready to go in?” Kendall asked.

“Just about,” Johnny said. “Do you have minced onion?” Kendall shook his head. “Then add some salt to the water.” Johnny washed the beans, and once he deemed the water ready, he put them in to boil and turned down the heat. “I can cook the steaks if you want.”

“Thank you,” Kendall said. “I feel bad about putting you to work.”

“Then you can pay me,” Johnny said with a wink, and he leaned a bit closer. Kendall was happy to oblige, and he kissed Johnny lightly at first, but deepened it quickly.

“That was just the down payment,” Kendall whispered after they broke the kiss, and Johnny’s eyes widened. Kendall grinned his best mischievous grin, knowing Johnny must be wondering just what he had in mind.

Kendall got out the potatoes to clean. Once they were ready, he put them in the microwave and started it. He then began getting out the stuff for salad. He and Johnny worked for the next ten minutes or so in his tiny kitchen, occasionally bumping into each other, but it was a good kind of bumping, and Kendall was pretty sure some of it was on purpose.

Johnny volunteered to fill plates, so Kendall took a minute to set his tiny table, which was just big enough for two. Then they sat down across from each other. To say the table was tiny was an understatement. In an apartment this size, space was a premium, and the table usually doubled as a computer workstation. They began to eat, and anytime either of them moved, their knees rubbed together. It was rather intimate in an almost comical way. The food, on the other hand, was amazingly good. Johnny spoke first. “I love to cook. I don’t get a chance to do it very often, though. My place is even smaller than this, and I have it crammed full of books and research material.”

Kendall took a small bite of steak and chewed slowly. “You can cook for me anytime, and I’ll definitely return the favor, somehow.” Johnny’s hand rested on the table, and Kendall reached across and placed his on top. “I’ve thought about you a lot this week,” he admitted.

“Me too,” Johnny said. “I mean, I’ve thought a lot about you too.”

“Now who’s the cute one?” Kendall said as Johnny blushed a bit. “Do you have plans for the holidays?”

“I’m supposed to go see my family.” Johnny didn’t seem very excited about it. “They give me no end of grief whenever I’m there. All my dad does is ask me what kind of job I’m going to get studying history, and my mother keeps shoving girls in my direction.” Johnny reached for the wine bottle and topped off their glasses. “They know I’m gay, but refuse to talk about it. They’re in denial and they’re not happy about it, although….” Johnny swallowed hard. “Who knows? This could be my last visit. The last time I talked to them, they told me it was high time I forgot whatever foolish New York big-city notions I had in my head, settled down, and got married.” He shook his head slowly. “How about yours?”

“You think they’d disown you?” Kendall asked, nearly dropping his fork. That was so far from his own experience he could hardly fathom it.

“Dad can out-stubborn a mule,” Johnny told him flatly. Then he began eating again, and Kendall figured Johnny might not want to talk about it.

“I didn’t come out of the closet, I tap-danced, belted show tunes, and kick-turned my way out of the closet,” he said.

Johnny chuckled, and his smile reached his eyes.

Kendall momentarily lost his train of thought when he saw that smile. “There was never much doubt, and my parents accepted me and encouraged me and my talent. They’re pretty amazing, and I’ll spend the holidays with Mom and Dad out on Long Island.”

“What does your dad do?” Johnny asked.

“He was an investment banker turned hedge-fund manager. He made more money than he and Mom need, so now he and Mom do volunteer work with children’s charities and travel. After Christmas, they’ll head to Florida for the rest of the winter. When they’re down there, Dad helps build houses for Habitat for Humanity and stuff like that.” Kendall took a bite of his salad. “He likes to keep busy, but now he can do what he loves to do.”

“Sounds ideal,” Johnny said softly. They continued eating, the conversation shifting to books and then on to art and other topics. When they were done eating, Kendall cleared the table and set the dishes in the sink.

“It sounds to me like you’re doing what you want to do,” Kendall said from the sink. “You’re passionate about history and the lessons it has for us today.” He walked back to the table and picked up the rest of the dishes, leaving the wineglasses. “That’s plain in the way you talk. I saw that the first time I met you.”

“But what if my dad’s right and I’m never able to get a job?” Johnny said, and Kendall watched as he picked up his wine glass.

“Then make your own job,” Kendall suggested. “Take the skills you have and carve out a niche for yourself. Other people get a history degree to teach, right?” Kendall ran the water to start the dishes. “So find a way to teach people other than in a classroom.”

“Sure,” Johnny said indulgently.

Kendall rolled his eyes. “My dad told me that he hated working on Wall Street. He was good at it, so he and his clients made a lot of money, but after he’d done the deal of his life and made a ton of money, he left, and now he’s happier than I can ever remember him being when I was a kid. He said if he had it to do over again, he’d skip the whole Wall Street thing entirely and he’d build houses for a living.” Kendall began washing the dishes, and Johnny stood up, then carried his wineglass to where Kendall was working. “And I think I can agree with him. There are few things more important than loving what you do.”

“Do you really mean that?” Johnny asked with a touch of skepticism.

“Of course I do. I love what I do and hope to grow old and one day, after my performance, go back to my dressing room after the bow and die… at a ripe old age, of course.” Johnny laughed. “It’s been done,” Kendall added. “Irene Ryan had a stroke during a performance of
Pippin
and died a few days later. That’s the way I want to go
—
doing something I love.” Kendall put the last dish in the drainer and let out the water. “If you could die happy doing something, what would it be?”

Johnny thought for a few seconds and then set his glass next to the dish drainer. He pulled Kendall into his arms and kissed him hard and full on the mouth. “You did ask,” Johnny whispered when they came up for air, before kissing him once again.

Kendall couldn’t think much after that, not that he particularly cared. Thinking was definitely overrated when being held and kissed like that.

Johnny gently guided him out of the kitchen area, and soon they fell and bounced on the bed in the corner. It was only a twin, but Johnny held him so close they only used part of it. “You’re very special,” Johnny whispered, kissing him again.

Johnny stroked his hands along Kendall’s side and tentatively slipped under his shirt like he was waiting for Kendall to object. Instead, he moaned softly as soon as Johnny touched his skin. “You’re pretty special too.” Kendall groaned when Johnny lightly plucked at one of his nipples. He loved being touched like that, and Johnny kept it up. With each gentle pluck, Kendall moaned a little bit louder, pleasure building with each touch.

“Dang, you’re responsive,” Johnny whispered.

“You have no idea,” Kendall came back, a bit breathlessly.

“But I fully intend to find out,” Johnny retorted, and Kendall stilled as Johnny tugged on the tail of his shirt, lifting his weight off and pulling the shirt over Kendall’s head. Johnny tugged off his own shirt as well and then pressed him back into the mattress. Skin to skin, Johnny’s heat set him on fire.

“You do?” Kendall pressed, and Johnny kissed him hard, erasing both the ability to speak and to think. After that Kendall had no thought of teasing. Johnny divested him of his shoes and the rest of his clothes with kisses and touches that left Kendall tingling. He would have begged for more, but his mouth was otherwise engaged, so he simply held on and returned Johnny’s kisses until they were both naked. Chest to chest, lips to lips, hip to hip, sliding his straining cock along Johnny’s skin, each movement brought a new round of cock-throbbing joy. He’d had sex, plenty of it, but none of those experiences had felt like this, and no one had taken the care Johnny was. “Johnny, please,” Kendall begged. The pressure inside had built to the point that little flashes of light twinkled behind his eyes, and yet he didn’t want it to stop.

Johnny broke their kiss and slowly slid down Kendall’s body, laying kisses along his skin as he went. Johnny stroked Kendall’s chest and belly, trailing his lips after his hands, adding warmth to warmth. There was no sex talk, no swearing or cursing. It wasn’t needed; none of it was. Johnny’s touch and taste said a hell of a lot more than words could ever express. And when Johnny ran his lips along Kendall’s length, Kendall nearly thought his time had come. Shortness of breath, tightening of the chest, tingling in his arms
—
Kendall figured he must be having a heart attack until Johnny swallowed him deep, sucking hard, and then he didn’t care. Nothing else mattered except the warm heat around his cock and Johnny’s gentle caresses of his leg.

T
HE
insistent dinging of the microwave pulled Kendall out of his daydream. He blinked and looked around, expecting to see Johnny sitting on the sofa, bent over his computer, but he was alone, very much alone. Kendall opened the door on the microwave and pulled out the pasta with meat sauce he’d been heating up and sat at the table. He opened his copy of the script and tried to review the scenes for the following day, but he could hardly concentrate. He closed it and pushed it back, unable to stop thinking about that first Christmas together.

Johnny got into an argument with his parents three or four days before Christmas, and they basically told him not to come home. At least that was what Johnny had told him. He’d been so upset he could barely speak. Johnny had called to tell him, and Kendall had told him to come over right away. He had hot chocolate waiting and ended up adding some additional fortification. “If I can’t live according to their expectations, then I’m not welcome under their roof,” Johnny had told him and then broken down in tears. Kendall had held him and let him cry. Then he’d taken him to bed and continued holding Johnny all night long.