The Phone Call

Chapter 5

Alton\'s POV

\"So you still haven\'t heard from Alan yet eh?\" Mark asked. I shook my head, wondering what in the world Alan could\'ve been up to. How busy did one have to be that they’re unable to make one simple phone call?

\"I don\'t know Mark, I\'m starting to get worry. What if something happened to him?\" It was another Friday afternoon and we were seated in our usual seats in the ol\' cafe once more.

\"Nah,\" he said. \"He\'s a grown man, Alt. He knows how to take care of himself. Now, how about you come over for dinner tonight? Dianne\'s making her lasagna, and Mike\'s been bugging me to bring you over all week.\"

\"Not tonight, Mark. I\'d love to though, but I promised Nathan that I\'d go with him to the Firemen\'s Auction this evening. For moral support.\"

Mark grinned at me. \"Nathan eh? You\'ve been seeing him a bit lately these last few days. And this guy just up and appeared out of nowhere. What\'s the story buddy?\"

\"No story, he just happens to be a friend of Alan\'s. I ran into him last week when I was babysitting Mike for you.\"

\"That doesn\'t make sense. How does a guy like Alan end up with a friend like Nathan? I thought he only had stockbrokers, accountants, and politicians for friends.\"

\"He\'s actually the younger brother of one of those stockbrokers, accountants or politicians,\" Alton muttered wryly.

\"Huh,\" Mark smirked and raised an eyebrow at me. \"He cute?\"

I felt the blood start to rise to my face. \"He\'s not classically handsome like Alan is, but he\'s pretty good looking... if you like the rugged, outdoors kind of look.\"

\"And do we like the rugged, outdoors kind of look?\" Mark teased.

\"I\'m happy with Alan,\" I insisted.

\"I never said you weren\'t. But maybe you would be happier with Nathan?\"

\"I don\'t think so Mark. Nathan and I are just friends. Nothing more,\" I firmly told him. Mark threw me a Cheshire smile and said nothing more. Sometimes he could be so infuriating.

~~~~~

I heard a car pull up so I quickly grabbed my coat and keys and went for the door. By the time I had the door opened, Nathan was already standing on the other side with one hand raised, ready to knock. \"You move fast,\" I told him.

He shrugged. \"Long legs take less time to get from point A to point B.\" I couldn\'t help but let my gaze wander over his long limbs and started to blush once I realised what I was doing. I took a step back and studied him as a whole.

\"Hey, you look awesome,\" I exclaimed. He did. He was wearing a simple black suit with a short mandarin collar, and underneath that was a crisp white shirt. The hair was worn slick back and I could smell the faint scent of his aftershave from where I stood.

\"Gotta look good for the ladies,\" he grinned. I noticed that he had a hand behind hidden behind his back and when he brought it around he held a single red rose in his hand.

\"Nice touch,\" I commented.

He held it up to me and shook his head slightly. \"It\'s for you actually.\"

\"You\'re amazing,\" I laughed. \"You\'re going to spoil me, you know that?\"

His eyes held mine and he suddenly looked serious. \"Someone has to,\" he said. I blinked and when I looked at him again, he was back to his carefree self. \"So... ready to go?\" he asked. Unsure of what had just transpired back there, I nodded and followed him to his car.

>>>>> Nathan\'s POV

I snuck a glance at the man sitting to my right. It was hard to focus on driving with Alton sitting next to me. Wow, he looked good, and he didn\'t even know it! He was wearing a dark grey suit with a dark blue shirt and matching tie. I could see that he had tried to fix his hair somewhat with gel, but only succeeded in spiking it. But hell, whom am I kidding? He could be shaved bald wearing nothing but a paper bag and I\'d still think he was beautiful. Wait a second, Alton wearing nothing but a paper bag? Now that was a sight I\'d love to see.

\"What are you smiling about?\"

Busted.

\"Oh, just some lame joke that one of the guys at the station said today,\" I quickly improvised. \"Something about finding himself a sugar momma.\"

\"Is that what you\'d want?\" he asked jokingly.

\"Of course not. I thought you knew by now which team I play for,\" I gave him a wink. In the dark I couldn\'t see him blush, but I knew him well enough by now to know that he was turning pink as we spoke. \"Relax Dr. Knox, tonight we\'re gonna have some fun.\"

~~~~~

I don\'t know which I enjoyed more, hearing the bets on me raise steadily, or me putting on a show for Alton. Well, and for the ladies too of course.

I strutted my stuff to the best of my ability up and down the makeshift catwalk. With every step, pause, and wink I did the crowds got wilder. And in the midst of it sat Alton, looking all embarrassed and shy as the women that surrounded him started to pay him unwanted attention.

Sam was the emcee for the night and all of us single firemen were required to give up one night of our lives to raise money for charity. It was a shame that the audience consisted entirely of women... well, I was the only one to think so anyway.

After putting in my contribution of raising almost five grand, my record high to date, I went looking for Alton. Taking a quick glance around the room, I couldn\'t find him and went into the washroom. He was standing by a sink, washing his face with water.

\"Having fun?\" I asked. He jumped, slightly startled.

\"Holy Jesus, it\'s crazy out there! And you do this every year?\" he asked incredulously.

\"A room full of estrogens can do frightening things to even the most timid woman.\"

He grinned at me. \"You did pretty well out there. Who\'s the lucky winner?\"

\"A nice girl, her name\'s Karen. I think she said she was a nurse. She\'s pretty cute... But what about you? You had quite the collection of fans going on out there.\"

He blushed. \"Yah, I had a few offers. Some were disappointed that I wasn\'t part of the auction.\"

\"I bet. Well, are you ready to go?\" It was almost comical the way he was nodding eagerly.

\"Hell yeah, let\'s break out of this hen\'s nest already.\" He lead the way out of the washroom, with me following close behind, and made a prompt beeline for the exit. He was oblivious to the appreciative stares he received from the crowd, and steered away from the women\'s advances. I merely grinned and shrugged at the trail of disappointed suitors the professor left behind.

~~~~~

We laughed and joked on the ride home. It was mostly at my expense, what my game plan was at seducing the poor girl who won me. By the time I had pulled over to where his place was, I had already described the restaurant I would take her to, and the entertainment that would follow.

\"...And we would go back to her place afterwards, perhaps for a cup of coffee and biscuits, or maybe we\'ll have carried on a conversation so intense we would have to finish it inside. But eventually, all things must come to an end and we say goodnight. Perhaps we\'ll keep in touch, perhaps we won\'t and the night shall always be a memory we\'ll both keep.\"

Alton was staring at me in rapt attention. His eyes shone in the moonlight, and his hair and smooth skin were softly highlighted by the same source. His lips were slightly open, and I had to force myself to keep my gaze from settling on them. \"Will there be a goodnight kiss?\" he asked.

Despite my efforts, my gaze broke down to those full lips before refocusing back on those brown eyes. \"There\'s always a goodnight kiss,\" I whispered. \'Ah hell, screw this platonic-close-friends-cover up... What would one kiss hurt?\' And I was so very close to leaning in for that sweet taste, had it not been for a sudden bright glare from my review mirror.

Annoyed, I turned around and saw that another car had parked up right behind me. \"For crying aloud,\" I muttered. \"Is that your landlord?\"

Alton peered over and squinted into the light. \"No, I don\'t think so. They have a driveway around the back, and they don\'t normally get visitors at this time of night.\" The blasted headlights finally turned off and we saw that it was a white BMW that was parked behind us. \"Oh my God, it\'s Alan,\" he happily exclaimed. His hand fumbled around in search for the door handle. He had the door opened and was ready to jump out before he stopped to glance over at me. \"Aren\'t you coming?\" he asked.

Trying to keep my disappointment from being too apparent, I shook my head and gestured for him to go. \"Nah, I\'ll let you two catch up. It\'s been a while for you guys. Another time maybe.\"

Alton stared at me, slightly puzzled. \"Okay Nathan.\" He stepped out of the car and was on the sidewalk, peering in at me. \"If I don\'t see you before then, have a great time on your date with the nurse.\"

\"Thanks, will do.\" I pasted a smile on my face, hoping that it looked sincere.

\"Goodnight Nathan.\"

\"G\'night, Alton.\" With a small smile, he closed the door and turned around to face the occupant that was getting out of the German car. In my rear-view mirror, I could see that the driver was giving my SUV the look-over before turning his attention to the man who just left it. With my heart deflating, I watched as Alton hurried into the arms of the other man. Having seen enough, I pulled away from the curb and sped off away from the scene.

I cursed to myself. Alton would eventually find out that Alan didn\'t know who I was and realise that I had been deceiving him. \'Will tonight have been the last time that I would ever get to see him?\' And if not, would the next time that I see him have me looking into his eyes filled with hatred and distrust instead of the warmth I\'d grown accustomed to? \'Hell, what did I get myself into? I\'ll be lucky if all I come out of this with is a broken heart.\'

>>>>> Alton\'s POV

\"Alan!\" I exclaimed. He broke his gaze away from the Cherokee and smiled at me. As usual, he looked flawlessly groomed. Alan was dressed impeccably in a dark blue suit, every strand of his perfectly styled blond hair was in place, his white teeth straight and even, and he was looking all around very pleased with himself.

\"Alton, look at you, you look wonderful.\" He reached out to me and embraced me in a quick hug, before letting me go so that he could take a step back to study me. \"You haven\'t worn a suit in a while, what\'s the occasion? Did you know I was going to come back tonight? Is that it?\" he teased.

\"No, that’s not it at all. I didn’t know when you were going to come home, but that\'s because I haven\'t heard from you in almost a week! Where the hell have you been?\" I knew I sounded angry, but the matter of fact was… I was angry.

\"Oh Alton, please don\'t get upset. I\'ve had a very grueling week and would much rather sit and relax than stand here in the cold arguing with you.\" He looked at me for a minute. \"Well, since we\'re both dressed presentably, how about we go to the Westin for a late drink?\" He wasn\'t really expecting an answer from me because he had already started walking towards his car and opened up the passenger side door for me. When he turned around to see that I had not moved from where I stood, he gave me a frustrated look. \"Alton, I haven\'t even gone home yet. The first place I went to is here to see you.\"

I turned to stare at the faint light that was the Cherokee before walking over to the BMW. As I sat there, waiting for Alan to walk around to the driver side, I went through the last few minutes in my head. Nathan had looked like he was going to kiss me. And the way he talked about the date... it was as if I could picture that it was me he was going to wine and dine.

\"Who was that in the jeep?\" Alan asked as he started the car up and pulled away from the curb.

\"Actually, you know him,\" I said. \"His name\'s Nathan McCrae. He\'s supposed to be the brother of one of your friends.\"

\"McCrae? I don\'t remember anyone by that name. What does he do?\"

A slight feeling of unease began to settle in my stomach. \"He\'s a fire-fighter.”

The handsome blond mused over the new information. \"No, I don\'t know anyone who has anything to do with the fire department.\" Alan turned to frown at me. \"What have you guys been doing together?\"

I felt my body turn cold as I thought about all the time that we\'d spent together. I had trusted him almost unconditionally under the assumption that he knew Alan. He even kissed me that first night; God knows what else he was capable of doing.

\"Nothing, just the occasional coffee and dinner,\" I finally managed to say evenly. \"We were at the annual firemen\'s auction tonight actually. He was just dropping me home when you arrived.\"

\"Oh really? So you\'ve been behaving yourself then while I was gone.\"

\"Of course. What did you think I would\'ve done?\" I was getting annoyed with Alan\'s suspicious tone. \"God knows I can\'t even manage to get my own boyfriend in bed with me, how could I possibly go out and try it with a complete stranger?\" I gasped as the car suddenly swerved over to the side. After throwing the car into neutral, Alan turned in his seat to face me, an expression of shock marring his handsome face.

\"Good heavens Alton, what\'s gotten over you?\"

I sat in silence, horrified at my outburst. I was stiff and not moving, staring at the other man, panic setting in. \"Oh my God,\" I whispered. I covered my mouth with my hand, wishing that I could just vanish into thin air. \"I didn’t mean a word of it,\" I insisted.

Alan was looking at me strangely by now. “I\'ve never seen you like this before. I mean, in the moonlight Alton.\" He reached over and to my surprise, he gently stroked a finger across my face and over my lips. \"So soft,\" he whispered, almost to himself.

\"Alan?\" I asked softly.

\"You\'re very beautiful Alton,\" he said. \"Sometimes I\'m intimidated by you.\"

I looked at him; this time it was my turn to look shocked. \"I intimidate you?\"

\"Of course you do. You\'re brilliant, beautiful, and extremely witty. I love the conversations we have together and the way your eyes light up when we talk about something you\'re passionate about. But I\'m quite content with just that, and I thought you were too. But I see that I was wrong. Alton, I have no interest whatsoever in pursuing a physical relationship with you.\"

\"Really?\" I blinked at him, not quite sure what to think, and started to feel just a little bit ill. \"You sure as hell fooled me,\" I bitterly retorted.

\"Alton, I\'m sorry if I led you on. I thought we were under a mutual decision that this was strictly an intellectual relationship.\"

\"No kidding. If you felt this way then why the hell did you give me hope that there could be a physical aspect between the two of us?\" I angrily demanded.

Alan stared at me like I should be strapped into a white suit. \"What are you talking about? When did I do that?\"

\"Don\'t act like you don\'t know. That phone conversation that we had.\"

\"What phone conversation?\"

\"The...the one I made that night before you left... last Friday. I called you late at night remember?\"

His blue eyes turned to confusion. \"You never called me last Friday, Alton. I received your messages that night, but I never returned your calls because I was already on the plane by then. I hadn\'t been able to reach you until the next day but you were out so I left a message on your answering machine. Didn\'t you get it?\"

Now I was filled with a sudden feeling of dread. If it wasn\'t Alan that I spoken with that night, then who? Had I engaged in phone sex with a complete stranger after all? This meant that some pervert had climaxed at my expense. I wondered for how many days the guy was able to get a laugh out of it. He probably even shared it with all his buddies.

\"Alton?\" Alan was staring at me with concern. \"Are you okay? You\'ve gone dreadfully pale.\"

I blinked my eyes furiously and tried to breathe deeply. \"I\'m not feeling very good right now. I think you better drive me home.\" My voice sounded dry and sickly. Alan nodded and hurriedly cranked his wheel to pull a U-turn. I opened the window a crack and let the cool night\'s air brush across my face. We sat in silence for the remainder of the ride.

By the time Alan had pulled over, I was quickly out the door and on my hands and knees, taking in deep breaths of air. I heard Alan scramble to my side. He seemed to hesitate somewhat, like he was unsure of what to do. Finally, he placed a hand on my neck and massaged. I thought about another time when it was another hand that gave me a massage.

\"Are you alright?” he asked.

\"Yeah.\" I took a deep breath of fresh air. \"I\'ll be fine.\" I shrugged away from his hand and stood up to face him. \"Listen, you\'re probably tired now. Why don\'t we just call it a night so you can go and get some rest? Maybe we\'ll talk more tomorrow when we\'re both refreshed.\"

Alan took a minute to consider and then nodded. This was followed by a brief moment of silence as we stood there, wondering what the other was thinking. Finally, he leaned over and, to my surprise, gave me a quick peck on the cheek. As he turned around to get back into his car and drive off, I stood there by myself in the dark contemplating that kiss. It was the sort of kiss that I would give to Dianne or my Mother. Actually, it was rather insulting. I can do very well without pity kisses.


>>>>>

TBC... Feedback appreciated :)