The Phone Call

Phone Call
copyright 2002 Kai
revised 2005 Kaiiz

Yet again, thank you to all you wonderful people who took the time to review. I\'m revising as quick as I can :) As to Miss Lunapokema, I\'m glad we\'ve ironed out the little misunderstanding and hope you enjoy the rest of the story *smile*

Nathan\'s POV

\"Hey Nathan, isn\'t that your college friend?\" Kevin called out to me. I threw my sponge into a bucket of foamy suds and squinted my eyes against the sunlight. It was truck washing day and despite the cool weather, I had worked up enough body heat to be able to only wear just a T-shirt by this point.

Crossing the adjacent intersection, approaching us was a very un-amused looking Alton.

Uh oh...

\'Oh yeah,\' I thought dejectedly, \'he definitely knows that I have no ties to Alan whatsoever. Hopefully, I\'ll come out of this with only minor cuts and bruises.\' And despite the wrath that I knew was about to explode out of the other man, I couldn\'t help but think how incredible he looked. He was only wearing old jeans and an equally old looking blue hoody with the yellow letters UCFV emblazed on it, but damn he wore them well. It wasn\'t windy today, but as usual, his hair said otherwise.

I jumped down from the top of an engine and started to meet him halfway, which would be just on the edge of the driveway. We stood facing each other.

\"Nathan,\" he said. His tone was bland.

\"Alton,\" I greeted him. I was starting to fill with a feeling of unease.

\"Guess what I found out last night?\" he asked. His tone remained emotionless.

\"Um... smoking is bad for you?\" I tried.

He blinked once, then again. \"Alan told me that he has never heard of you before.\" I tried to look shocked, but I knew that the attempt was in vain. He narrowed his gaze at me. \"Why did you make up that lie?\"

I looked back over my shoulder to make sure that the other guys were still busy with washing the large vehicles. \"Listen Alton, I know you\'re mad with me...\"

\"Try pissed as hell,\" he interrupted in a low even voice.

Taking a small gulp, I continued. \"Pissed,\" I corrected, \"at me but I can\'t go into the details of it right now. Meet with me tonight and I promise, absolutely promise, that I\'ll explain everything to you.\"

He glared at me some more as he thought it over. I could see the side of his jaw clenching and unclenching. \"Fine,\" he said. \"No more bullshit, Nathan. The truth and nothing else.\"

\"Scout’s honour.\" I made a cross over my heart and held the pledge with the other. \"I\'ll be at your place around eight. Is that okay?\" He gave me a curt nod before turning around, back into the direction of where he came from. Slowly I walked backwards, letting myself watch the retreating figure until it turned around a corner.

\"Nathan, what the hell was that all about?\" Shawn yelled.

I shrugged and fished around the bucket for my sponge. \"Word of advice, never try to pull one over the good Doctor. It will blow up in your face.\" Clucking my tongue to the roof of my mouth, I climbed back onto the top of the truck and pondered about how I was going to make it up to Alton as I scrubbed the dirt off the metal.

~~~~~

Standing outside the door, I glanced at the bouquet of orchids I was holding and wondered how much longer this was going to work. Taking a look at my watch, I saw that it was finally 8 o\'clock. I\'d been standing out here for the last five minutes, trying to postpone the tongue-lashing for as long as I could. Sighing in defeat, I finally mustered up the courage to knock on the door. I could feel my heart beating heavily as seconds ticked by.

Hmm. It seemed like it had been an eternity but I knew that only a minute had lapsed. Now I was confused. The door was still closed. So I knocked again, but this time more firmly. I heard a thud come from inside and then quickly followed by the sound of someone fumbling with the doorknob.

The door flew open and a very disheveled looking Alton stood on the other side.

\"Nathan,\" he said breathlessly. I stared at him. He looked good, wearing just a grey tee and navy shorts. He rubbed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. \"Sorry, I must have fallen asleep. How long were you standing out here for?\"

My heart skipped a beat as I wondered if he knew how long I really was standing in front of his door. \"Oh, just a minute or two,\" I smiled.

\"Come in.\" Alton took a step back to let me through. I wordlessly handed him the bouquet as I passed by and watched for his reaction out of the corner of my eye. He stared at the light pink flowers in confusion as he closed the door.

I waited... holding my breath in...

His eyes slowly narrowed...

DAMN.

\"Are you trying to aggravate my allergies Nathan?\" he demanded.

DAMMIT.

I vigorously shook my head in denial and held up my hands in mock surrender. \"I\'m just trying to make things up to you, Alton.\"

He put the flowers down onto the coffee table and crossed his arms in front of his chest, giving me an even glare. \"You can start by explaining a few things to me.\"

\"Such as?\" I stalled.

\"Such as who you are exactly.\"

\"Nathan McCrae, firefighter,\" I honestly replied.

\"And you are associated with Alan Laurier how?\" he raised an eyebrow at me.

\"Well, er... that is... I\'m not.\"

\"Bastard,\" he swore. \"You lied to me. I trusted you... let you into my hous...\" he stopped abruptly and brought a hand up to his lips and stared at me, anger dissipated as a look of horror slowly dawned upon his face. \"Oh God,\" he whispered, \"I let you... you... and me...\"

\"No no no. No Alton, you have to let me finish explaining myself,\" I firmly told him. I took a step towards him, but to my dismay he jerked away. Sighing, I kept to where I was standing and ran a hand through my hair in frustration. \"Alright, I admit that I don\'t know anyone named Alan. But everything else I\'ve told you were true. I\'ve never meant to hurt you in any way Alton. You have to believe me. Please.\"

He stared at me warily. His brown eyes were narrowed again. \"Look, if you want me to leave, I\'ll understand,\" I quietly told him. I could see that he was conflicted. We stood there apprehending the other in silence. \"Alton?\" I gently prompted him.

He sighed and glanced over to the sofa. \"Have a seat,\" he said.

I let out a long breath of relief. Funny, I didn\'t even realise that I was holding it in until now.

>>>>> Alton\'s POV

\'Oh man, what did I get myself into now?\' I found myself pacing, my thoughts were of the man that was now sitting in my living room. His eyes... I could feel his eyes on me, studying me thinking about him. Me, thinking about him studying me thinking about... what the hell? I stopped in my tracks and gave myself a mental shake.

Think now, he claimed that he knew Alan. He kept up pretence and who knew how long he intended on keeping up with that lie. But on the other hand, he did seem sincerely sorry about what he did.

But was he truly sorry about lying to me or just sorry for getting caught? Damn, why did I have to be so pessimistic sometimes? I gave Nathan another wary glance and quickly looked away when he gave me a hopeful smile. Damn and damn again... why did he have to look so cute and pitiful?

I focused my attention on the coffee table and a splash of pink caught my eye. The bouquet of orchids was still lying there neglected. I thought back to all the other occasions when the other man surprised me with flowers. I could definitely say that I\'d never been treated to that before. I couldn\'t recall when the last time Alan was so sweet or thoughtful. ’After being together for over ten months he still didn\'t know how I liked my coffee’, I bitterly thought. Not even a phone call on my birthday. I looked over again at Nathan and scowled at him before glancing away once more. A guy like Nathan would probably be the type to call at midnight so that he would be the very first to wish me a happy birthday.

No, for whatever reasons behind his lies, the man was too sweet to have any hurtful or malicious motive. Then a thought came to mind...

\"If you don\'t know Alan, then how did you know his name?\" I suddenly asked him. He looked at me in surprise, then his face became flushed as a guilty expression slowly became evident.

\"I\'d rather not say,\" he said. I raised an eyebrow at him, not in amusement either.

\"You don\'t really have a choice here. You promised me that you would explain everything to me.\"

\"Oh, I did, didn\'t I?\"

\"Quit stalling McCrae,\" I snapped. I stood in front of him with my arms crossed in an attempt to appear intimidating, or at the very least somewhat imposing.

Nathan grimaced at me and moved one hand in a circular pattern in the air like he was trying to gain some momentum before he began to speak. \"How should I put this...\" he slowly began.

\"Try short and sweet, and preferably sometime by the end of this year,\" I said impatiently.

\"Alright, calm down Alton.\" The man had the audacity to appear annoyed with me. \"Just remember that it was you who assumed that I was Alan.\"

I blinked at him. What kind of obscured remark was that? \"What do you mean I assumed that you were Alan? I\'ve never set eyes on you before in my life until just over a week ago.\"

\"No, not when we first met. When you called me the night before that day.\"

>>>>> Nathan\'s POV

\"When I called you? I never cal...\" He stopped mid-sentence and I could almost pinpoint the exact moment when realisation dawned on him about what I was talking about. His eyes widened in horror and his mouth dropped. He began to make attempts to swallow and speak but no sound came out.

\"Alton?\" I nervously asked. I stood up and moved towards him. He caught my movement and took a step backwards.

\"No! Stay back!\" I froze where I stood and promptly sat myself back onto the sofa. I watched as he began to pace again. Finally, he stopped and stared at me intently. He began to imitate me, one hand beginning to wave wildly in the air as he considered his words. \"So... are you implying what I think you\'re implying?\"

\"If you mean if we had phone sex then yes.\" Ah well, there was no point in beating around the bush.

\"I see.\" He ran his hands through his hair and concentrated his focus onto a particular point on the wall behind me. After awhile, I turned around to look, almost believing that there was indeed something interesting back there. Upon seeing nothing but white paint, I turned my attention back to the other man and snapped my fingers at him.

\"Alton!\" He shook his head to clear it and looked at me blankly. After a few seconds of silence and empty staring, I sighed in frustration and waved my hand in front of his face in another attempt to gain his attention.

He blinked once... he blinked twice.

\"Sorry,\" he mumbled. Ah... more pacing here, more hair ruffling there. Finally, he stopped and the hand waving began again. \'This is starting to get old,\' I was thinking. \"Why?\" he finally spat out.

\"Why what?\"

He fixed his brown eyes on me, his stare intense. \"Why did you let me continue with...\" The hand gestures became more agitated and a slight pink flush started to develop on Alton\'s face. \"Didn\'t you ever begin to think that the call was out of the ordinary and that maybe you should hang up? Or do you normally get obscene phone calls at late hours of the night?\"

I carelessly shrugged as I considered my answer. \"Sure, I should have hung up on you, or demanded to know what kind of sick loser needed to get his rocks off by making crude prank calls. Actually, I originally did think that it was one of the guys back at the station playing a trick on me, but to tell the truth I didn\'t hang up because I was turned on.\"

Alton looked at me with a shocked expression on his face. \"You were turned on?\"

\"Hell yeah I was turned on.\" I stood up suddenly and before he could react I walked over to where he was standing and grabbed him firmly by the shoulders. Fear flickered across his eyes and I felt his entire body stiffen under my touch. I quietly cursed and slackened my grip on him somewhat, but never let go. \"Alton,\" I whispered, \"Do you understand that YOU turn me on?\" Before he had a chance to say anything, I pulled him to my body and kissed him hard. He gasped, which opened up an opportunity for me to slip my tongue through his lips in search of his own.

Unresponsive and stiff at first, the body held within my embrace finally yielded to its needs and holding Alton was like what it should feel like... absolutely perfect.

>>>>> Alton\'s POV

I started to wrap my arms around the back of Nathan\'s neck, giving as much as I was taking from that wonderful kiss.

\'C\'mon Knox, what on earth are you doing?\' Somewhere from the inside my head my subconscious was screaming out at me. \'This man deceived you remember? Hello?? Lying to you, ring any bells?\' Hands roamed down to my ass and pushed my pelvis into an equally hard one. The action emitted a moan out of me and a satisfied grunt from Nathan.

\'Think Alton, think! You remember Alan don\'t you? Tall, blond, good-looking man? AKA your boyfriend? Significant other? Lover of ten months?\' Nathan suddenly lifted me up and I helped him out by wrapping my legs around his waist, never once breaking away from the kiss. He steered us over towards the sofa and carefully dropped us into it; my back on the cushions and him comfortably between my legs.

\'People can\'t be lovers if they don\'t make love,\' I argued back to my sense of logic.

\'Well, yeah you\'ve got a point there,\' it receded. Then it was nothing... nothing but the pure pleasure that I was experiencing right then with thoughts of only Nathan in my head. Finally, I won over logic and I gleefully enjoyed my prize, moaning loudly into that amazingly skilled mouth as the handsome fire fighter ground his erect cock against mine.

That is, I was until the phone suddenly decided to ring.

I groaned in annoyance when Nathan broke the kiss and stared down at me, desire in his eyes. We were both breathing hard and panting for breath. The phone was on the third ring when I finally answered it.

\"Alton? Is that you? Are you alright?\"

\"Alan...\" I breathlessly answered. \"I\'m just a little out of breath, just came in through the doors when you called.\" Guiltily, I stared up at Nathan, whose eyes narrowed when he found out whom I was speaking to on the other line.

\"Alt, I feel horrible about what happened last night,\" Alan continued over the phone. \"I was hoping that I could come over tonight and make sure that you\'re alright.\"

\"I\'m perfectly alright,\" I assured him. \"There\'s no need for you to come over tonight.\" As I said this I noticed that the hand that was resting on my hip had possessively firmed its hold.

\"Please,\" Alan insisted. \"I think that there are some things that we really need to talk about.\" Sighing inwardly, I had to agree with him on that.

\"You\'re right,\" I admitted.

\"Very good. I\'m just about to leave the office now. I should be over in about half an hour. Does that suit you?\"

\"Yes, that\'s fine. I\'ll see you then.\" I hung the phone up and gave a quick glance over to Nathan. He didn\'t look too amused.

\"What do you mean you\'ll see him? Is he coming over?\" he angrily demanded. I realised then that I was in a rather vulnerable position. My legs were still spread out with him between them, and I decided to sit up properly before Nathan became further agitated.

He didn\'t put up a fight as I started to withdraw my limbs from around him, but he did look rather disappointed, and helped by sitting back on the other end of the sofa.

\"Yes, he\'ll be here in about half an hour,\" I responded. \"There\'s some stuff that he and I need to work out.\"

\"I see,\" he said. He stood up and straightened out his clothes. \"I guess I should be going now then.\" I nodded and stood up also as I began to straighten myself out, physically as well as mentally. I could feel the air of distance radiating from him and I respected his boundary by staying away, when inside I was dying to hold him in a tight embrace and never let him walk out that door.

I followed him towards the door in question and held it open for him. He was just on the other side of it when he stopped and turned my way, an awkward smile on his face and a sadden look in his eyes. \"Alton,\" he quietly began, \"I just want you to know that I am sincerely sorry that I had ever deceived you into thinking that I knew Alan, and for letting you continuing that phone call when it was obviously meant for someone else. But never for a minute believe that I regret what has transgressed between us. Everything else that I\'ve told you is true. And although we\'ve only known each other for a short period of time, I also want you to know that I have fallen in love with you.\"

I didn\'t know what to say in response and watched in shocked silence as he walked away from me and continued to be silent as he got into his jeep. He gave me one last look before finally driving away. Once the vehicle was out of sight, I stepped back into the room and closed the door, laying my forehead against the cool wood. \"I love you too,\" I whispered, too late, into the empty room.

>>>>>

TBC... feedback appreciated as always :)