“I’d forgotten how noisy
these places were,” Merlyn shouted over the beat of the music.
“It’s not noise; it’s the
sound of excitement, hot, sweaty young bodies moving to their primal urges.
Speaking on which…” Alton
homed in on one young man dancing wildly in the center of the crowd, obviously
oblivious, for the moment, to the men around him.
With a shake of his head
Merlyn left his friend to his pursuits and snagged a just vacated table at the
edge of the room. Setting his beer down, he propped one foot up on the other
chair and took a sketchpad from his bag. Alton
would undoubtedly scold him for not trying to be social and dance but he really
didn’t care. He was here as per his friend’s wishes. Alton could like it or lump it.
Twenty minutes later Merlyn
had filled several pages with quick sketches that caught the frenzied movements
of the dancers and several more of the men watching either with interest or
wistfully from the sides of the dance floor. He envisioned a series of small
sculptures, maybe done in clay rather than stone, designing them in his mind’s
eye. He was so involved in his thoughts he jumped when Alton arrived at the table, holding the hand
of one very young man, a second in tow behind them.
“Merl,” Alton said in exasperation, “why aren’t you
dancing? Well never mind sweetie, I have someone here who wants to meet you. His
name is Randy and he’s a budding artist.” Alton
leaned closer, murmuring, “Or so he says but who cares, he’s cute.”
Merlyn resisted rolling his
eyes as he looked at the twink in question. “What kind of art,” he asked,
dropping his foot off the chair so the young man could sit down.
Taking the seat Randy said
shyly but with some pride, “I design T-shirts.”
Hard-pressed not to laugh
outright, Merlyn nodded. “Like the one you’re wearing?” He didn’t add,
‘Barely’. The shirt was so tight, and so cropped, it was hardly counted as
clothing.
“Yes. Do you like it?” Randy
puffed out his thin chest, his hands behind his head to give Merlyn the full
effect.
The design on it was bad
knock-off graffiti, worse than some Merlyn had seen on alley walls. Politely he
told the young man, “It’s definitely interesting.” He looked around for Alton, hoping to use him
to get rid of the kid, only to see his friend disappearing towards the men’s
room with his latest conquest.
Randy sensed Merlyn’s lack
of enthusiasm and pouted. “I’ve been told I’m really quite good.”
“At what, sucking dick?”
Merlyn muttered under his breath. When the twink’s hand touched his thigh, he
had a feeling he’d been overheard despite the loud music. As the hand moved
higher he sighed, removing it. “Look… Randy was it? I’m not interested, okay.
Not in your budding career or your cute and probably very talented mouth. If
you’ll excuse me I’m leaving. Have a good evening.” Sticking the sketchpad back
in his bag, Merlyn stood up and quickly wove his way through the crowd to the
club’s exit.
Ahhh, poor Randy. LOL! One of the deals about not having a blurb to read you honestly don't know who the other love interest is like you normally would at the beginning of a story. So still kind of lost on this one and can't wait for more.
ReplyDeleteWith this story, not knowing who it will be is at the crux of the story. *G*
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