The Phone Call

Chapter 3


Alton\'s POV

\"Uncle Alton, what\'s wrong? Did I say something bad?\" Mike looked at me worriedly. \"I\'m sorry if I said something to hurt you, please don\'t cry.\" He reached over and hugged me around the waist. I didn\'t even realize that there was a tear streaking down the side of my face.

\"Aw, Mikey, don\'t worry about your old Uncle. I\'ll be fine. I\'m just a little embarrassed, that\'s all.\"

\"But why?\" He looked up at me, confused. Fondly, I stroked his hair, my fingers running through the fine blond strands.

\"Mike, not everyone knows that I have a boyfriend. Some people believe that it\'s wrong for a man to have a boyfriend, or for a woman to have a girlfriend for that matter.\"

The young boy frowned. \"Well those people suck. Do you think Nathan\'s one of those people?\"

I thought back to the good-looking fireman we had left behind. If I could only use one word to describe that man, it would be \'strong\'. Not only physically, but there was a confident and secure aura that emitted from him. \"I don\'t know kiddo, but I sure hope not.\"

\"Yeah, me too. I like him. I think you should trade Alan in for him, Uncle Alton.\" I looked down at Mike in surprise.

\"Why would you say a thing like that?\"

The boy shrugged. \"I dunno. He seems cool, way cooler than Alan. And he talks to me too. Alan never talks to me... he just stares at me like he\'s not sure what to do.\" I considered this for a bit. Now that I thought about it, I never once remember Alan talking or acting comfortably around Mike, or any kids for that matter. I stared down at the young boy, amazed by his level of awareness of his surroundings. I\'ll have to stop underestimating Mike from now on.

\"Okay, smarty-pants, let\'s go see if your parents are home yet.\"

~~~~~

The red light on my answering machine blinked insistently. I pressed the \'play\' button in hopes that there would be a message from Alan.

\"Hello Alton. It\'s Alan... sorry I wasn\'t able to call you sooner; I\'ve been loaded with work. I\'m actually calling you now to let you know that I\'m going to be out of town for the next few days. I received an emergency call from a client and have to go help him prepare for an audit. I\'ll call you again as soon as I get home. Talk to you later dear.\"

~~~~~

There was a knock on the door and I looked up from the lecture notes that I was preparing.

\"Alt, buddy what\'s the emergency? I must have received three messages from you on my voicemail. Are you having a mental breakdown?\" Mark grinned as he closed the door to my office and fell ungracefully into the chair that faced me.

\"I think I might have fucked it up with Alan,\" I told him. The coach paused for a minute while he studied my face. I\'ve seen it this morning and knew that he wouldn\'t miss the dark circles under my eyes, nor the red blood vessels in them. It was all thanks to the insomnia I\'d been suffering from for the last couple of nights.

\"What happened? Are you alright?\" he quietly asked.

\"I don\'t know,\" I whispered. \"I tried that phone thing like you suggested. It was...I mean...it went fine. He said he liked it.\"

\"So what went wrong?\"

\"I don\'t know. That\'s what doesn\'t make sense. The next day he leaves a message on my answering machine and he doesn\'t even act like anything happened. He just said that he\'ll be out of town for the next few days and that\'s it. Not a word about anything else. It\'s like he\'s avoiding the subject or something.\"

Mark contemplated over this information. \"Buddy, he probably just needs to think this through. I wouldn\'t worry too much over it. Don’t start jumping to conclusions just yet; wait until he\'s back in town so that you two can talk it over in person. You know what...why don\'t you come over for dinner tonight?\"

I pinched the bridge of my nose and smiled tiredly. \"Thanks Mark, I just needed to get this off my chest. I needed someone to listen to me, and I\'ll think about tonight.\"

Mark stood up and moved over to clap me on the shoulder. \"Count on me anytime, Alton. Now I better go before the boys do something stupid...like set the gym on fire.\"

I frowned. \"Mark, where do you come up with these ideas? You can\'t seriously believe that they could set the gym on fire do you?\"

The coach raised his eyebrows at me. \"You know Alt, these lads surprise me sometimes.\" He quietly closed the door after him and left me pondering in silence. When I looked up at the clock on the wall, I saw that I had just over an hour left before my next class and I hurried to finish the notes in front of me.

>>>>> Nathan\'s POV

\"McCrae! Office...Now!\" I looked up from the poker game I was engaged in with 3 other guys and they \'ooh\'d\' and \'uh oh\'d\' in mock sympathy. Flipping them the bird in a joking manner, I threw my cards down onto the small table and made my way to the Captain\'s office. Ah hell, I had a bad hand anyway.

\"Cap\'n, what is it?\" I sat myself down on the foldout chair and faced the older man across from me.

\"You\'ve been wearing that goofy grin ever since you\'ve returned from that kitten rescue. Then yesterday you insisted on making the crew dinner even though it wasn\'t your turn.\"

\"Yeah so? I don\'t see anything wrong with that,\" I defended myself.

\"Don\'t you ever wonder why everybody always insisted on ordering take out when it\'s your turn to cook? You\'re not particularly good at it Nathan. In fact, I\'ll be honest and say that you down right suck at cooking.\"

I tried to look hurt. \"Sam, I know I\'m no culinary chef but must your words be so harsh?\"

The Captain rolled his eyes at me. \"You hum random tunes... you\'re screwing up the guys\' laundry... you\'re singing loudly in the shower, out of tune... you broke six, count \'em six plates when doing the dishes... and God please don\'t ever try to make coffee again.\"

\"What are you trying to say Sam?\"

\"You\'re driving everyone crazy! Stop trying to be so helpful!\"

I let out a breath of frustration. \"I don\'t get it, you guys are always whining about how I don\'t pitch in around here and when I do you guys complain some more.\"

\"We love you here Nathan. You\'re a damn good fireman, but we just never realised until now how awful you are at housekeeping. Let\'s admit it, some guys have it and some guys don\'t. Now why don\'t you let me know what\'s going on with this sudden urge in domestic behaviour.\"

I smiled. A sweet face with soft brown eyes and wild hair popped up in my head. It was turned slightly downwards with the eyes shyly peering up at me through half closed eyelids, the lips shaped into a small smile.

\"Helloooo...\" I jerked back into reality and blinked at Sam. The older man shook his head in quiet resignation. \"Whatever. Anyway, it\'s your turn to perform the monthly inspection at the college. Try not to screw this up, got it?\"

~~~~~

I looked down my checklist and scratched a fingernail along my eyebrow. There was one fire alarm that needed new batteries, and another that required rewiring. One fire extinguisher was missing and there were a few overheads that had power cords with more duct-tape on it than the roll it came off of. So far I had found nothing that was serious.

Unconsciously, I must have known that it would be a bad idea to stand around at the corner of where two hallways intersect, but another extinguisher caught my eye and I squatted down to inspect it. I hadn\'t been there for a few seconds when someone collided and fell over me. The air was knocked out of me as a body bounced off me. I heard heavy books drop to the ground and saw paper flutter all over the place, but it was the low groan that got my attention.

I sprung to my feet to help the man that sat on the floor, his back facing me. \"Hey man, I\'m so sorry, are you alright?\"

\"Yeah,\" he grunted. \"Just feeling somewhat bruised. But I\'ll be fine.\" He looked up at me and I stopped in place. The look of surprise on his face must have mirrored mine. \"Nathan?\" he asked.

\"Alton right?\" I reached over to lend him a helping hand. He took it and got up, looking somewhat flustered. Then his face fell as he looked around to see his paperwork all over the floor around him.

\"Oh no, I have a class in less than five minutes.\" He got down on his knees and started to gather up the sheets. Immediately I kneeled down next to him to help out. I saw books that were lying open on the floor and when I picked them up, I noticed that the spine of one of them had torn from the binding. I glanced guiltily at the man to my right, who was now busy trying to sort some sense of order to his notes. Damn, the book looked expensive too.

\"Um, Alton,\" I began hesitantly. \"Uh...\" I decided that it was best to just show him the book. I wish I hadn\'t.

\"Ah damn, I just bought that book. Do you know how long I had to wait to get that copy of Netter in?\"

\"Look man, I feel really, really bad. Let me make it up to you. I\'ll buy you another copy.\" I gathered up the other texts to make sure that they had not undergone some sort of damage as well. Satisfied to see that they hadn\'t, I handed them over to their rightful owner, praying that I wouldn\'t drop them in the process.

Alton took them and tucked them under the pile of paper he was holding. \"No, don\'t worry about it. A book\'s a book right?\"

\"Hey, at least let me buy you a coffee or something...anything, please?\" I offered him my most charming smile. He looked taken back, as if not sure how to deal with me. \'A nudge, McCrae, that\'s all he needs... just a nudge...\' I grabbed my clipboard and started to make like I had to leave. \"How about I just meet you here when you\'re done? When does your class end?\"

\"Um... in about an hour and ten,\" he reluctantly answered.

I grinned at him even more. \"Perfect, I should be done by then. See you in a bit!\" I quickly turned around and disappeared behind that blasted corner. Yes! I gave myself a mental pat on the shoulder and whistled away, in a rather cheerful mood, for the rest of the inspection.

>>>>> Alton\'s POV

I blinked, still standing stupidly there in the now empty hall. What the hell had just happened there? What were the chances of running into that fireman again? And damn if he didn\'t look good. The black hair was perfectly styled into a spiky look, golden skin free of grime and dirt, and his muscular physique was so much more imposing indoor than out in the open.

\"Dr. Knox?\" I started at the voice and saw one of my students staring at me with concern on her face. \"You alright? It\'s been ten minutes since class was supposed to start. We were just wondering if there\'s going to be a lecture today.\"

\"Oh yes, sorry. I\'m coming.\" I walked alongside the young woman towards my classroom and apologised to the class when I entered. I put the run-in behind me, and promptly began my lecture on the difference between lower and upper motor neurons.

When I finally noticed that the classroom was starting to get restless, I looked over at my watch and saw that it was about five minutes to the end of class. I knew that there was really no point in going on, so I gave them their assignments and dismissed them. It was then that I remembered that I had to meet up with Nathan. My heart skipped a beat at the thought and I quickly packed up my stuff, hoping to be out of there before the fireman returned. I was just about out the door when it suddenly opened. I moved off to one side, thinking that I was letting a student back in, when Nathan\'s head peered through from the other side.

The handsome face brightened up when he saw me and the rest of his perfect body appeared. \"I was wondering which classroom you were in. I was done early and I saw a whole slew of kids walk on out from here so I took the chance to investigate. So you teach, eh? What course is this?\"

\"Introduction to Neurology,\" I answered. He looked at me expectantly. \"What?\" I finally asked. It was unnerving to be standing in such close approximation to the other man, especially in the empty room.

He grinned at me again. \"Nothing. You ready to go?\"

\"Look,\" I started to smile at him. He grinned wider. \"You really don\'t have to do this. It was an accident, and it was partly my fault for being in such a rush and not looking where I was going and...\"

\"Hey, you\'re babbling. Are you nervous?\" He took a step closer to me and to my dismay, I found myself instinctively taking a small step back. When I saw that I was hugging my books, I forced my arms back down and stood to face Nathan. He was still grinning at me.

\"Let\'s go then,\" I said evenly. He stood to the side and held the door open for me. There was just enough room between him and the doorframe for me to go through, but not without brushing against his body. I quickly did so, trying not to think about the hard muscle that I was in brief contact with, and continued down the hall without bothering to look to see if he was following me. The rapid footsteps behind me told me that he was and when I finally glanced over to my left, I saw that the man was now walking silently beside me.

\"I was thinking,\" he started to say, \"that I haven\'t eaten yet. How about we make this a dinner thing instead?\" He looked over to me, his grey eyes large and hopeful.

I was about to decline the whole thing altogether when my stomach chose that moment to growl. Come to think of it, it\'s been almost six hours since I\'d last eaten. I could probably use some food in me right about now. Maybe dinner wasn\'t such a bad idea after all.

\"That\'s fine,\" I said. \"Just let me grab my bag and we can go.\"

>>>>> Nathan\'s POV

I couldn\'t believe my ears. Did he just agree to have dinner with me? I happily walked with him back to his office where he started to stuff his bag with his books and papers. Casually I leaned against the open door, watching him as he moved around the small room. He was dressed in jeans that were slightly worn and a navy golf shirt, tucked in. He grabbed a North Face shell off the back of a chair and strapped his backpack on. I smiled to myself.

\"What?\" he asked. He was staring at me. Uh oh, caught red-handed.

\"Nothing. You look you can be a student here you know.\"

He rolled his eyes at me and walked past through the door. I took the opportunity to inhale in the scent of his aftershave again. “Sure, if you say so. Let\'s get going, I didn\'t realise how hungry I was. There\'s a small cafe just across from campus actually. Interested?\" he asked.

\"Sure. I\'ll try anything once.\"

~~~~~

\"So, did you ever get a call from Alan that day?\"

Alton choked at bit on the sandwich he was eating. \"How did you know he was supposed to call?\"

\"Because you told me yourself that very day.\" I watched amused as he blushed. He was so easy to fluster.

\"Oh, well, yes he did call. Well, I mean he left a message for me. He\'s been out of town lately. He should actually be home any day now. And... What?\"

\"You\'re so cute when you babble on like that.\" I couldn\'t stop myself from saying it. But I wish I had when he froze in horror.

\"What did you say?\" he asked.

\"I\'m sorry, I shouldn\'t have said that. Pretend that didn\'t just happen.\"

It was an awkward start in conversation, but we soon realised that as long as we stuck to topics of general interest, it was easy to talk to each other. Eventually, we even discovered that we had a lot of things in common with each other. We didn\'t even notice that the cafe had started to empty out and it was near closing time.

\"Oh, I didn\'t realise how late it was,\" he said. By this point we were just nursing half-filled cups of cold coffee. \"I guess we better be going now.\"

\"Yeah. Well, I\'m just parked out front. I\'ll drive you to your car.\"

\"That\'s alright. I don\'t drive anyway; I take transit. Thanks for the offer though.\"

\"Oh hell no.\" I took him by the arm and started to drag him towards my vehicle. \"I\'m not about to let you take the bus at this time of night. It\'s friggin\' cold and dark now.\" Alton yanked his arm out from my hold and glared at me in disbelief.

\"What? Are you for real? I\'m a grown man and I\'ve been taking the bus by myself for as long as I can remember.\"

I held my hands up in the air in mock surrender. \"Look, Alton. I\'m sorry. I didn\'t mean to sound so pushy. But may I please drive you home? Humour me okay?\"

The look on his face began to soften. \"Well, it\'ll be a free ride home I guess. Which way now?\"

I led him towards my dirty Cherokee. Yeesh, how long had it been since I\'ve washed that thing? I went to unlock his door first and opened it for him. He looked at me questionably. \"The automatic locks aren\'t working,\" I fibbed.

I drove for a while as we sat in silence. Every so often Alton would speak up and give me the odd instruction to his place. Finally, I pulled over to the side of an old, small house. \"Well,\" he spoke up again, \"Thanks for the ride Nathan. We\'ll have to get together again when Alan gets back in town.\"

I followed him out of the car and walked over to his side. \"I\'ll walk you to the door.\" He stared at me like I\'d gone and grown a third eye. \"Please?\" He shook his head in resignation and walked off, leaving me to follow him.

\"I rent the basement. Student loans are a bitch to pay off.\" I chuckled at his comment. Then I noticed that it was unusually dark.

\"Don\'t you have a doorway light around here?\" I asked.

\"Yes, but it burned out and I don\'t have a ladder to change it. I\'m usually home before it gets too dark to see anything anyway.\" I could hear him fumbling with his keys, trying to find the keyhole in the pitch black.

\"Why didn’t you get your landlord take care of that?\" I demanded. \"This is a safety hazard, you can trip and fall or something.\"

\"I\'ve told him many times, but he never gets around to fixing it.\" I heard a soft curse along with a clang from the keys he dropped to the ground. We both kneeled down to feel around for them. I found them the same instant Alton did. My hand was on top of his and he jerked it out of the way. I swallowed hard and picked them up, silently handing them over to him. \"Thanks,\" he whispered. He turned around and, as if by magic, he was suddenly able to find the keyhole and had the door opened and lights on within seconds.

He turned around, probably to wish me a goodnight, but I had stealthily sneaked my way pass him and into his living room. I took a look around and saw that it was furnished with comfortable looking sofas, an old coffee table, bookcases packed with books, and there were picture frames scattered here and there. It had a nice lived-in look to it and it felt cozy.

\"Is there anything I can do for you?\" he asked. He dropped his backpack to the floor and stood with his arms crossed. I gave him a serene look and sat myself onto one of his sofas.

\"Yeah, a coffee sounds great.\" I watched as he fumed in place before finally stalking off into another room. It was probably a kitchen since I heard the water tap turned on and noise, which sounded like a coffee machine being handled. I hopped myself back up to my feet and walked into the kitchen, trying to see if there was anything I could help with. He must not have heard me come in, as he remained standing there with his profile to me, idly watching the coffee drip from the urn.

My breath caught in my throat; in that dreamlike state he looked so beautiful. I imagined that his eyes were soft like the way they currently were because he was thinking about me, and his hair mussed like that because I had thoroughly messed it up while in bed... I was literally standing right behind him by the time he even realised that I was there. He turned around and his whole body stiffened.

\"Geez, Nathan. Don\'t scare me like that!\"

\"Sorry,\" I apologized, but I didn\'t move from where I stood, which was only about a couple feet away. I took a small step forward and saw that he took a small step backwards. This continued until he was backed right up against the kitchen counter.

\"Nathan,\" he stammered. His brown eyes were open wide like a deer caught in the headlights, and he nervously licked his upper lip. I focused in on the pink flesh, wondering what it would feel like on my naked skin. \"Nathan,\" he tried again, \"W...what are you d...doing?\"

\"I\'m not sure,\" I whispered. I moved in closer and we were now only inches away from each other. My hands somehow had found their way to the counter, one on either side of Alton and effectively trapping him there.

\"Nathan, please,\" he softly pleaded, \"Don\'t do this, think about it for a minute.\"

I blinked and looked down on his lips. \"I just want to know...\" I leaned in and touched his lips with mine. It was a very light kiss, but once I\'d had a taste of it, I couldn\'t help but move in and deepen it. I moved my arms from the counter and wrapped them around his waist, pressing his body closer to mine. The body in my arms softened and I heard a quiet moan. I knew that I didn\'t make that noise, so there was only one other person it could have came from. Pulling back and breaking the kiss, I looked down at Alton’s face and saw his eyes were now glazed with lust.

The sight was one to die for and I couldn’t help but dive back in for a repeat of the kiss.

>>>TBC
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