The Party Boy's Guide to Dating a Geek (Clumsy Cupids) (17 page)

shoulder.

"She writes male-male romances," Gwen said

with a big smile while Emma blushed.

"What's that?" Ash asked. Outside of the books

Fee had shown him, Ash hadn't picked up anything

but a textbook in over a decade.

Emma shrugged. "It's a regular romance, except

both main characters happen to be men."

Ash's eyes got wide. "They make those?" he

asked, and both Gwen and Emma nodded. "I gotta

read more."

"Yes, you should," Fee said.

"Why didn't you show me those?" Ash bumped

against Fee's shoulder, and Fee blushed. He

quickly cleared his throat and took a step away

from Fee. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"Now that I know you're such a voracious

reader, I may have some you can borrow," Fee

said. He started to raise his hand, like he wanted to

touch Ash, but he pulled it back at the last second.

"Ugh. Men." Gwen rolled her eyes and slumped

forward, the perfect picture of exasperation.

"Come on, Emma. We can share a cab."

"I really would like to read your books," Ash

said.

"I can email you some links. Fee's got my info,"

Emma said before she started down the stairs after

Gwen. Ash heard them giggling from the first floor.

He stood next to Fee for a minute before turning

to him. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to out you."

Fee shrugged. "They know about me."

"But still, I should have been more careful. I

don't care what people think about me, but this is

your group."

Fee wrapped an arm around Ash's shoulder.

"No, it's our group."

Our group.
Ash liked the sound of that.

"Fee?" Donovan called from behind them.

When they turned around, the look of disgust

Donovan gave Ash made him shiver a little. Fee

pulled him closer, and Ash recovered enough to

return Donovan's look with his cockiest smirk.

"Are you chilly?" Fee asked.

"Uh, no."

"Fee?" Donovan was still eyeing Ash like he

was a piece of litter in the street. "Can we talk for

a minute?"

Ash smiled coolly then turned to Fee. "You

know what? I need to go. I'll see you around, Fee."

He left Fee's arms and gathered his bag, only

making it two steps before Fee stopped him.
Yes!

Ash thought.

"Do you work this Sunday?"

"Nope," Ash said with a grin. "Another blissful

night off."

Fee took a deep breath and nibbled on his lip.

"Would you like to come over for dinner and

maybe a movie?"

Ash's insides jumped. "At your place?" He

ached to jump into Fee's arms and kiss him, but not

with Donovan standing there, wearing Fee's shirt

and glaring at Ash.

"Yeah, my place. That's what come over

means." Fee laughed.

"I'd like that."

"Say seven o'clock? I'll fix dinner, and we'll

stream something from the web?"

"Sounds great. I'll bring dessert." Ash had to

concentrate hard on not saying 'I'll
be
dessert' and

really embarrassing Fee.

"I'll text you the address. See you Sunday."

"See you then," Ash said. He couldn't resist one

last look at Donovan. "Great meeting, guys. Good

night, Donovan." He put a little more swagger in

his step as he made his way down the stairs and

out the front door. Once he made it to the sidewalk,

he pumped a fist in the air. A couple of teenagers

walking down the street stared at him, but he didn't

care. He pulled out his phone and texted Jae and

Carley. They were already at Leroy's so he

splurged on a cab to meet them.

Sunday night couldn't come quick enough.

Chapter Eight

CODE WARRIORS

Geeks live on code. They pride themselves on being able

to pore through line after line of source code (the text

that makes programs work) to find errors. They are

usually good at script writing (the computer program

kind, not the movie kind). Each geek has his own script-

writing style. Some are very neat and clean, documenting

every line from beginning to end. A layperson can read

those scripts and understand the purpose of each line.

Some are barebones script writers, only providing the

code with no explanation. Either way, he still lives by his

code. How does your code match his? Are you open and

inviting, sharing equally with everyone, or do you rely on

the bro code to provide your moral guidance?

8.1

"Hey, Jae. How's it going?"

Jae paused with his knife above the tomato he'd

just quartered and looked sideways at Ash, one

slender eyebrow arched in amusement. "I know

that tone," he said with a soft laugh. "What do you

need?"

Ash plopped onto one of the stools that sat in

front of their breakfast bar, watching as Jae went

back to efficiently dicing the tomato. "So, Fee

invited me over for dinner tomorrow night …"

Jae used the knife to sweep the tomato chunks

into the bowl on the counter next to him. "Mmm-

hmm?"

"He's making Mexican food," Ash went on, "and

I sort of said I would bring dessert."

Jae glanced at him again, a smirk pulling at one

corner of his mouth. "And this is your subtle way

of telling me you want me to make it?"

Ash gave Jae his most winning smile, all

sunniness and charm. Greater men than his

roommate had fallen for that smile over the years.

"Would you?"

Jae laughed and shook his head in exasperation.

"Sure. But only because I don't want you to have to

resort to buying one of those over-processed,

sugar-laden monstrosities from the grocery store.

You'll have to go pick up the ingredients for me,

though." Jae grabbed an onion and cut it neatly in

half. "You said he's making Mexican? How are

you getting to his place?"

"Yep. And I'll be taking the L and then walking

the rest of the way. I checked the directions. He's

not too far from one of the Brown Line stops."

"So it needs to be easily transportable then.

Hmm …" Jae tilted his head sideways, looking

contemplative. "I've got an idea. I'll write you a

list when I finish this. I can make it for you before I

leave for work in the morning."

Ash grinned. "You're awesome, Jae."

Jae waved the hand that wasn't holding the knife

and went back to his chopping. "Yeah, yeah, I

know."

An hour later, Ash was on his way back from

the store with all the ingredients from Jae's

shopping list. Jae had decided he would make

homemade mini cinnamon churros with ancho chile

chocolate sauce for dipping. Something fun, he'd

said, that would both travel well and be simple to

warm up once they were ready to eat.

Of course, at Jae's words, Ash's mind

immediately strayed to the places he'd like to coat

Fee in cinnamon … or chocolate sauce. He wasn't

particular so long as he was the one who got to

lick it off. Ah, to dream. Ash doubted he'd be

licking anything off Fee the following evening—at

least not from anywhere interesting.

He hadn't seen Fee since the book club meeting

on Thursday, but they'd talked in some way every

day, either through instant messages or texts or the

occasional short phone call. Ash was anxious to

see him again, but he hadn't let himself get too

hopeful about the possibility of their dinner

leading to happy, sweaty fun-times. Whatever he

and Fee were doing—dating? hanging out?—they

were moving along at a snail's pace.

Ash didn't mean to be impatient, but he hadn't

gone this long without sex in … well, ever. Not

since he'd lost his virginity anyway. He needed to

figure out just what it was he and Fee were even

doing before he developed carpal tunnel syndrome

from overusing his hand. Kisses were great—

better than great—but Ash needed more. He felt

like a bastard for needing more, but he also

couldn't help himself.

Sex was … maybe not the be-all and end-all,

but it was vital. How long could he wait for Fee?

He'd never had
to
wait. He and Fee had only been

kind of seeing each other for maybe a month, if he

counted the shopping day and the night at the club,

but only consistently for the last couple of weeks,

ever since their trip to the museum. If it had only

been a month, that would've been one thing. But

technically, Ash hadn't had sex since the night

before he met Fee at Jack's apartment, which put

his dry spell at closer to two months. And two

months of no sex in Ash time translated to almost a

year.

Ash sighed as he dug his keys out of his pocket

with one hand and opened the main door to his

apartment building.
It'll be okay. We'll talk about

it.
And hopefully Fee would be willing to throw

him a bone—literally. At this point, Ash was ready

to take whatever he could get. He just needed

something to take the edge off, something that

didn't involve his own hands for once, before he

exploded in a fountain of frustration and sexual

longing.

With that decidedly unpleasant image in his

head, Ash entered his apartment, left the bags of

groceries for Jae on the kitchen counter, and went

to his room to get ready for work.

8.2

The trip from Ash's place to Fee's only took

about twenty or so minutes door-to-door. Even

from the outside, Fee's building was impressive—

dark red brick, bay windows, wrought iron fencing

and railings, and a small but meticulously

maintained front garden. The property was on a

large lot and obviously well cared for, unlike a lot

of similar buildings in the city. Ash imagined the

apartments inside would be the same, and his

guess was proven right a couple of minutes later

when Fee let him inside.

Fee grinned at him as Ash stepped into the

apartment. "Hi. Want me to take that?"

"Hey. Sure, thanks." Ash passed Fee the bag he

carried and then shoved his hands into his pockets

so he wouldn't give in to the urge to jerk Fee close

for a hello kiss. He took a slow glance around,

instantly impressed, and if he were being honest, a

little envious as well.

Fee's apartment was open and spacious with

dark cherry floors and white walls on three sides.

The other was exposed brick, which Ash loved. A

large, rectangular painting was the only thing on

that wall. At first it appeared to be nothing more

than sporadic blocks of color on a black canvas,

but after a few seconds, Ash realized that if he

tilted his head sideways, the blocks made up a

picture of a man's face.

"Is that … Han Solo?" he asked.

Fee shrugged, looking sheepish. "Yeah."

"It's a cool painting. I like the style."

"A friend gave it to me for Christmas a couple

of years ago." Fee glanced at him curiously. "Do

you paint at all?"

"No. I never got into it. I've always preferred

drawing."

"You'll have to show me some of your stuff

sometime."

Ash nodded, excessively pleased by the fact that

Fee wanted to see his work. His exes hadn't cared

much, save for the one who'd asked him to design a

back piece, and then broke up with Ash almost the

moment he handed it over. "Yeah, of course. I'll

bring my tablet the next time we hang out."

Fee smiled slightly. "I'll look forward to it." He

turned and gestured to the rest of the apartment.

"Well, let me give you the grand tour. This is the

living room, obviously."

"Nice." Ash stepped closer to the black leather

couch that backed up to the brick wall and reached

out to rub the buttery soft material covering one of

the arms. There was a matching ottoman in front of

it, a table with a lamp to its left, and on the right,

the bay window. Across from the couch, a massive

flatscreen sat on a low entertainment unit. A few

tastefully-framed movie posters lined the wall

behind the television—the original
Star Wars

trilogy, Ash noticed, proud of himself for

recognizing them.