Our Humble Little Dwelling

Chapter 3

It was 9:30 at night when Keith pulled up to Blue Velvet. After he hung up with Vincent, he called Kyle to see if he wanted to go. The boy refused to come to the phone. But Aunt Geraldine yelled up to her son in the bedroom that he was going and then told Keith he’d be ready at 9. With ebony hair groomed, shined, and perfectly styled, and dressed in fitted jeans, a black KISS vintage t-shirt, black leather jacket, and his favorite small gold hoop earrings, Kyle hopped in Keith’s car.

Keith was dressed in two, layered polo shirts (inside was fuchsia and the outer shirt was green), fitted jeans, a dark chocolate corduroy blazer, and had his shoulder-length hair pulled into a ponytail.

“You ready to have a little fun?” Keith asked his cousin, smiling as they walked into the club.

“…”

“Oh come on. You still mad at me?” Kyle only shrugged. “Will it make you feel any better if I buy you a drink?”

“Might.”

“Okay. Come on.” Kyle followed his cousin through the thick crowd of hot and sweaty clubbers to the bar and sat down. “Excuse me.” Keith called to the lady bartender.

“What’s your pleasure?” She smiled at the two good-looking cousins.

“Nothing for me yet, thanks. My cousin would like a drink, though.”

“What are you having, sweet cheeks?”

“How about a Mucho Mama?” Kyle asked. But he didn’t see Keith standing behind him, mouthing to the bartender, “virgin”.

The woman winked and nodded. “You got it.” It took her only minutes before she slid the large, red slushy drink into Kyle’s hands.

“Wow. That’s good.”

Keith smiled. “Can’t even taste the alcohol can you?”

“No.” Kyle was amazed.

Keith turned around to the dance floor and saw all the many people dancing. Up on a balcony, he saw the DJ’s booth. There, he spotted Vincent, dressed in a royal blue “Blue Velvet” t-shirt, a charcoal gray zip-up sweater jacket, jeans, and a royal blue NY Yankees baseball cap. He smiled as he watched his lover’s head bounce to the music of Beyonce’s song “Check on Me Tonight” he just started to play. Vincent finally caught Keith’s eyes and gestured for him to come up.

“Hey Kyle, I’ll be right back, okay? I’m going to go see Vincent’s friend.” Busy sipping his ‘alcoholic’ beverage, Kyle simply waved at him and nodded.

Walking through the crowd again to the other side, and going up the side steps to the balcony, Keith met up with Vincent. Vince pulled his headphones off and grabbed his lover into a hug. “Hey, baby.”

Keith kissed his cheek. “Hi.” He stepped back and caught sight of a guy behind Vincent. Dressed in dark blue jeans, a pink/ white/dark purple striped shirt, and a dark purple track jacket, the young man had a low shaven brunette head and very nice teeth. He was quite cute. Really cute.

Vince stepped back from Keith and turned to Leo. “Keith Agassi, this is Leonardo Stephens. Leo, meet Keith.”

Keith extended a welcoming hand. “Hello. It’s nice to meet you, Leo.”

“Likewise.” He shook the offered hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you. All good things, though. So don’t worry.” *From what I heard about your abilities in the bedroom, you don’t need to worry.*

Keith laughed. “I’m glad because you had me worried there for a minute.”

Leo started to sway from side to side with the music. “I’ve been trying to hold out for a bit, since I had to stay up here with Vince, but now that we’ve finally met, lets dance.” He pulled Keith by the arm down the stairs.

“Wait a minute…” The young man with the pale gray eyes looked back at his boyfriend. Vince, now donning his headphones again, waved at him.

“Come on, I love this song.”

Together, Keith and Leo danced to the remainder of the song. When it was over and another song started to play, Keith looked over Leo’s shoulder and saw his cousin. Kyle was still sitting at the bar, downing his third Mucho Mama. Suddenly, something in his brain clicked and he grabbed Leo by the elbow. “There’s someone I want you to meet.”

“What? Who?”

Pulling Leo behind him, Keith called out to his cousin. “Kyle! Kyle!”

The smaller boy with the raven hair turned around. “What?”

“I want you to meet somebody.” He stood to the side so Kyle could see Leo. “Leo, this is my cousin Kyle Agassi. Kyle, this is Leonardo Stephens. He’s Vince’s friend.”

Leo held out his hand. “Hi.”

Kyle was too stunned for words. With his straw still stuck in his gaping mouth, he just stared at the hot young man before him. When Keith noticed Leo’s uneasiness at holding his still untouched hand out in greeting, he smacked his cousin’s arm. “Snap out of it, will ya.”

“Oh! I’m sorry.” Kyle finally took the offered hand. “Hello, Leonardo.”

“Please, Leo is fine.”

“Okay. Leo.” Kyle smiled shyly. Leo wasn’t sure which name he preferred sounded better rolling off Kyle’s tongue. They both sounded sexy even if he knew Kyle wasn’t trying to be.

Leo had to confess, he was very happy with the results on what the Agassi cousin’s looked like. They were both equally gorgeous with their classic dark Greek facial features with hair as black as pitch. He was totally captivated once finally meeting Keith for the first time, with his long hair, full lips, fit lean body, and pale gray eyes. He would’ve bought him a car if he asked him to. But he knew Keith and Vincent had something serious going on and he was not going to break that up. After all, he and Vince were boys; that goes against the sacred “Friends Code”. But then he met Kyle. Kyle. He was younger than any of the other guys he’d been attracted to, but his looks definitely made up for that. A slightly younger image of Keith, Kyle’s black hair was short but had enough length for the cosmetologist to style it in a sleek, Casanova-esque, do that seemed to fit his character. His lips were full but more sharper and defined than his cousin’s. His eyes were also a mysterious pale gray color, and on his olive skin, lay a small but striking mole right below his eye. He wasn’t a scrawny skinny, nor was he a muscular fellow, but his frame did say that he was soft and delicate. Leo loved that in a boyfriend.

“Well,” Keith started, smiling at the obvious chemistry between the two. “I’ll leave you two alone. If you need me, I’ll be on the dance floor.” He removed his jacket, placing it on the bar stool next to Kyle, and left.

Kyle panicked a little when his cousin left. He didn’t want to be left alone. Not like he didn’t want to spend some private time with Leo, but he was nervous as hell. Kyle had never had conversations –male or female—with someone he was interested in. People, like his cousin for one, didn’t notice there WAS a difference in conversations, but there was. Kyle had seen Keith talk to Vince before. He saw how his body suddenly changed it’s posture, his eyelids drop a few centimeters lower than normal, he even heard the sudden softness his voice would take on when he talked to him. There was a difference.

Kyle knew he couldn’t do that. Atleast he wasn’t experienced enough yet to master it. *What should I say? Can you talk about the weather while you’re in a club? Do I wait for him to talk first? How should I sit? If I sit too straight, would I seem prudish? If I slouch a little, would I seem ‘easy’? Do I make a lot or a little eye contact while I’m talking to him? Should I flirt? What if I--*

“Kyle?” Leo waved a hand in front of his new friend’s face.

“Huh?”

“I said, do you mind if I sit down?”

“No. Yes. Um, sure. Pull up a chair…..or stool.” Kyle shook his head. *Way to go, moron. Make him think you’re nuts.*

Leo sat down next to the boy. “So, what are you drinking?”

“A Mucho Mama. I’ll probably be peeing the rest of the night, but I can’t help it. These drinks are so good and after drinking three of these, I don’t feel a thing.”

Curious, the brunette asked. “How old are you, Kyle?”

“Nineteen..” He watched his companion laugh. “What’s so funny?”

“You’re not feeling anything because there’s no alcohol in it.”

“What do you mean? You saying this is just a fruit drink?”

“In your case, it is. You’re drinking a virgin Mucho Mama.”

“Aw man. What? You know I wondered why that bartender winked at Keith.”

“More than likely, he told her to do it.”

Suddenly, Kyle pushed the rest of his drink away, no longer thirsty for it. The talking then stopped. Kyle wanted to say something, but knew nothing to talk about. Just as he was about to resort to the pitiful, “How’s the weather?” conversation, Leo spoke up.

“You normally this shy?”

“I don’t know. I don’t have too much experience talking with people other than family. Why?”

“Just wondering. You don’t seem like the ‘shy’ type.”

Kyle smiled, not looking at Leo, feeling that was better so he wouldn’t lose his ‘talking’ nerves. “You should see me at Keith’s house. He can’t get me to shut up.”

“So you lack the conversational experience? Maybe if you give me your number, I could help you with that.”

Kyle thought for a moment. “No. You give me YOURS.”

Leo laughed. “Oh wow. You’re not THAT naïve. Okay. I’ll give you mine, but if I do, you’ll have to promise me you’ll call. You promise?”

“Yeah. I promise.”

“Are you sure?” He joked with a smile. Kyle adored the perfection of his teeth.

“Yes,” he answered, laughing. “I’m sure. I’ll call you.”

“Okay.” Leo grabbed a napkin and wrote his home and cell number, then handed it to Kyle.

They were quite again, watching the people party hard on the dance floor. Vince was a very good DJ and he kept the party mood going, playing all the new popular, throwback, and remixed (he created) music the people wanted to hear. By then, he had taken his jacket off and turned his hat backwards, grabbing another record to play.

Kyle pointed to where Keith was. His cousin was currently in the thick of the people dancing. Sandwiched between a girl behind him and a man in front of him, his arms were up, pieces of his dark hair were falling in his face, and he was having a blast. Male and female groins alike were meshing together vigorously as they all danced to Sean Paul’s “Temperature”.

“I wonder does Vincent like that?”

“Like what?” Leo asked.

“Keith surrounded by all those people dancing….like that.”

Leo brushed it off. “I really doubt it. Vince has always been a truly nice guy, but he’s also vain as hell. He has this philosophy that he’s just too good-looking to be cheated on.”

“He’s never been cheated on?”

“Not yet. He’s just been a really lucky bastard, is all. He’s never had his heart broken.”

“Keith’s gonna be keeping him on his toes.”

“I have no doubt.” Another song began to play over the large sound system. It wasn’t necessarily a romantic slow song, but sexy and seductive. “You wanna dance?”

Kyle jumped at the question. Dance? “Huh?” he choked.

“Do you want to dance?” Leo repeated.

“Well, I ….I um….”

Leo grabbed his hand. “Come on.” Leo escorted Kyle to the dance floor and wrapped the boy’s arms around his neck. Kyle didn’t catch Leo’s height until they were standing before each other. Kyle was only two inches shorter than Leo; with the height of Kyle’s hair, he LOOKED an inch taller he. Putting his large hands about Kyle’s waist, he brought himself closer to the sturdy body next to him and rested his chin on his shoulder. “You smell nice.” He murmured into Kyle’s neck.

Kyle stood almost stiff as Leo made his small advances. His heart was beating so fast, at one point, he didn’t know whether he was dancing to his heartbeat or the beat of the music. *Relax, Kyle. Relax. You like him, don’t you? He’s reaching out to you, so reach back!* Kyle tightened his wrap around Leo’s neck and ran a hand down the back of his brunette head, down to his neck. The caress wasn’t exactly smooth like his cousin’s would be to Vince, but he made an effort and that’s what Leo noticed as well.

***

Around 1 a.m., the club finally closed. All four people too wired to just go to sleep, Vince, Kyle, Leo, and Keith went back to his place to hang out.

“Oooookay.” Keith said jovially as he walked back into the tv room from the kitchen. “Here we go. Three beers….” He passed out two bottles of Corona to Vince and Leo, and kept one for himself. “…and one rootbeer.” He handed it to Kyle.

“Damn Keith, we’re at your house. You could’ve at least let me have one beer. After all, you owe me for tricking me into believing I had a real Mucho Mama at the club.” Vince and Leo laughed.

Keith plopped down on the brown leather sectional sofa next to Vince. Kyle and Leo were on the same sofa, but relaxing on the recliner. “Hon, you’re 19, not 21. You’ll drink a rootbeer and like it.” Kyle rolled his eyes.

“So Kyle,” Vince asked. “How’d you like the club? Did you enjoy yourself?”

“Yeah, I liked it. I ended up having a great time.” He caught Leo’s smile from the corner of his eye.

Keith smiled. “Shit, so did I.” He took a drink.

Vincent looked at his lover critically. “Yeah, I know. I saw you dancing with all those people.”

Keith ran a hand reassuringly up and down his thigh. “Oh baby, you know I was just having a little fun. Those people didn’t mean anything. I only have eyes for you.” He kissed him.

Vince’s eyes reflected impishness. “You’d better.”

After an hour and a half of talking bottle after bottle of beers….and rootbeers, Keith caught Vince’s beautiful brown eyes gesturing upstairs. Smiling, he stood up and grabbed the hot DJ’s hand, pulling him towards the stairs. “Well, if you’ll excuse us, Vincent and I are gonna go upstairs for a minute—“

“Or two.” They all laughed.

“Anyway. We’ll be back down after a while.”

“We might.”

Keith rolled his eyes as they ascended the stairs. “You two have fun while we’re away.”

“And overlook any noises you may hear.”