Second story! Yay! Enjoy. :)
Mandolin Strings
Robert looked out the window of his office. It was a hot July summer day. The temperature was almost a hundred degrees but he didn't feel it in the air conditioned building. His eyes were focused across the street at the small park, at the person sitting under the shade of a tree. The business man couldn't hear from this distance but he could see the stranger playing a ukulele and singing. The bloke had shoulder-length dark red hair, that was the only detail Robert could make out from where he was.
He had been playing for days. He would start around ten or eleven and leave around six or seven in the evening. It had annoyed the businessman greatly at first and he hadn't been sure why. After a couple days though Robert didn't mind and had begun to wish he could actually hear him. Hell, maybe the singer was halfway decent. He thought about taking a walk after work if the man was still around and it wasn't so hot.
It was a little past six when Robert finished sending out the last of his emails, signalling the end of his work day. He sighed but was glad. Just two more days before the weekend, the only time he got off. He stretched and gathered his belongings before stepping out into the hall. The only good thing about working for his own mother was that he had a decent pay and he had his own office. He would probably go mad if he had to be constantly surrounded by people all day. Footsteps sounded in the distance but he paid them no mind. Until he heard his name anyways.
“Wolfe!”
He recognised that voice as one of the very few people that didn't grate on his nerves. He would even go so far as to call the man his friend.
“Hey, Luke,” he greeted as he turned around. “What's up?”
“You wanna go out for a drink?”
“Yeah, sure.” He wanted to go see the mysterious ukulele man but the bar was nowhere near there. “Your car or mine?”
…
Robert sighed and smiled as Luke drunkenly told the group around the bar another story about his awful ex-wife. It had just been the two of them at first but Luke's charisma had garnered others to join him. The brown-haired man soon found out why exactly his friend wanted to go drinking. His ex-wife (technically they were still married) was trying to sue him. Robert didn't pay attention to all of the details but apparently it was bad enough that Luke wanted to drink.
He was glad he wasn't in any sort of mess like that. Of course it meant he was alone but things were better like this. The last time he had let someone close...it ended badly. He didn't need that, didn't need to even think about it.
An hour later, Luke was practically sitting on Robert. An arm was thrown around the brunette's shoulders and he was leaning heavily against him.
“I think it's time for you to go home,” Robert muttered.
“What? Nah, Wolfie!” Luke exclaimed. “Hey...why don't you and I go pick up a few girls, eh? You don't got a wife, what says you?”
“I say no. Now come on, I'm taking you home.”
“Gah, no fun! Don't you wanna get laid?”
“No.”
He stood up, dragging the drunk Asian man along with him. They had taken Luke's car, which was fine. Robert didn't live too far away. He would just walk home and then take the train to work.
The brown-eyed man sighed when he finally made it home. He should have known better than to drink. It almost always ended with him being inconvenienced. Just because he didn't like to drink much didn't give others the right to pin all the responsibilities on him every time. Maybe he should speak up more.
Robert changed out of his work clothes and got into bed. As he did he distantly thought about the long-haired man that he hadn't gotten a chance to see after work. He would go tomorrow instead.
…
“Rob!” Max, his mother's assistant, called out. “Where's the papers I gave you yesterday?”
“Cheryl left them on your secretary's desk last night,” the man told him. He hated Max. The man was a pompous jerk and he couldn't understand why his mother kept him around. Probably because they were similar in personality.
“She said they weren't there.”
“I don't know then. That's where she left them.” He trusted his own secretary. Maybe if Max hired someone competent...
“Well, you better find them. Those are very important. I want them on
my desk in an hour, got it?”
“Yes, sir,” he drawled.
With a sigh he left his office to confront the slut Max hired for his secretary. She was lazy, in Robert's opinion, and he knew the only reason the man kept her around was because they slept together. How boring and cliché, he thought to himself.
“Ashley,” he called out.
“Yeah, Rob?” she asked in that grating voice of hers.
He wondered why she annoyed him so much. Then it clicked. She reminded him exactly of Melanie, Brad's girlfriend when they were in college. Brad had been his best friend since they started university together. Or at least he thought. But Robert didn't remember that. Instead he just focused on how annoyed he was with Ashley right now.
“My secretary put papers on your desk last night, about the Mason account. What did you do with them?”
“I didn't get those.”
“Yes, you did.”
She sighed. “I'll look again. I'll call you if I find them.”
“Okay, I need them within the hour.”
He returned to his office and answered a few urgent emails. Five minutes later, the phone rang. It was line one, the one people within the company used to speak with each other.
“Yes?” he answered.
“Hey, Rob. I found them. Turns out they ended up in the filing pile. I already handed them to Max.”
“Okay, good.”
He hung up, disliking her even more. He yawned and stretched. Robert hated this job, it was so boring. The only reason he stayed was because his mother made him. When she retired, he was the one who was supposed to take over. He dreaded it but didn't have the strength to stand up to her. It was almost noon, his lunch break. The only bright spot in his day at this stupid company.
“Maybe I should quit,” he mumbled to himself. He chuckled. Yeah, right. His mother would probably beat him and find a way to force him to come back.
A phone call came that he had to take and when he hung up, it rang again. Line one.
“Hello?” he answered.
“Robert, finish what you're doing and come to lunch with me,” his mother spoke.
“Alright, Victoria. I was just leaving.”
“Good, meet me in the lobby in five then.”
It abruptly ended but Robert was used to it. He slowly made his way to the elevators and to the ground floor. He dreaded lunch with Vikki but he had no choice. The woman could be brutal, especially to her only son.
“So why did you drag me here?” Robert asked once they were seated at a table. They were in some expensive French restaurant that only the woman liked.
“That's how you speak to me? I am your boss,” she replied, a cold air about her.
“Boss she says...not my mom?”
“What? No. Since you call me Victoria, I call you my employee. Anyways I called you because I simply wanted to spend time with you. It's been a long time.”
“That's never mattered before.”
“Stop being so difficult. You can't possibly get any girls that way.”
He glared hard at the beast (as he so fondly referred to her sometimes). She knew damn well that he was gay. Even if she hated it, she knew it was true. He hadn't been with anyone since his school days and he never told anyone after that, but he wished she would accept that he'd never be married to a woman.
“What?” she asked, ever present smirk on her face. “Have something you wish to tell me?”
“You're a bitch,” he hissed.
“Oh, hush, you fag. At least save that for the car ride back.”
…
Six o'clock couldn't come fast enough for the young man. He was desperate to leave for the evening and get as far away as possible from Victoria. He couldn't believe he was actually related to such a creature. It was amazing he hadn't turned out with more issues than he already had. He glanced out of the window then did a double take.
Outside where that stranger with the long hair usually was, was a man with hair as black as night and cut only a couple inches long. He saw him strumming some sort of instrument and wondered why the man had cut all his hair off. Suddenly a little bit of his irk disappeared. It wasn't as if he were in a hurry so he could go for a walk in that direction. Robert wasn't sure why he wanted to actually go so much, he didn't really want to think about such weirdness. Instead of denying himself (like he did with everything else), he decided to just go over there.
As the young businessman approached the pavement, he could hear the man singing more and more. He was playing what Robert believed to be a mandolin. A few people were standing around and clapping along at the appropriate times. The man really had a nice strong voice. Robert stuck around until the end of the song. He would have stayed longer but the busker announced that he was leaving for the day. He thanked everyone for listening and donating money. The brunette noticed that he had an instrument case full of dollars. Robert watched as someone talked to him and he packed his belongings. Then the person left and Robert froze.
He wanted to approach the stranger and speak to him, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He was a strong assertive person at work but around others he was prone to bouts of shyness. Quickly before the busker noticed he was staring, Robert turned away and walked towards his car.
…
On Saturday night, shortly after eleven, Robert sat alone at home. He wasn't in the mood for going out, he was tired. He had tried lying in bed for a while but he just couldn't fall asleep. The man didn't want to admit it to himself but he was lonely and upset. He missed having a boyfriend and being in a relationship. But he just couldn't risk it, not again, not after what happened the last time.
Tears came to his eyes as he tried not to think about his last year in university. Because of that incident, because of how Brad had betrayed him, Robert hadn't been in a relationship for five years. After what happened, he was no longer so open about his homosexuality. In fact, he hadn't told anybody since then. Robert had been forced back into the closet, and he was miserable because of it.
He fell onto his side on the couch, thinking about the past. Bitter and angry and depressed, he unknowingly fell into a fitful sleep.
…
“Hey, stop it!” a nineteen year old Robert laughed. He ran through the street until he made it to the open garage and ran inside.
“Never!” a twenty-one year old by the name of Scott called out playfully.
Scott and Robert had met when the younger one was just sixteen. It was the end of high school for Scott but they made fast friends. It quickly morphed into more over the last stretch of the semester and the summer. But then Scott had to leave the state for uni (he was going all the way to Colorado) so they split up. Robert understood. They agreed that when Scott came back to visit Massachusetts they would have their fun. But then during Robert's senior year, Victoria forced him to apply to a school in California so that she could branch her company there in a few years and they could work together.
But at nineteen Robert came back to Boston to visit Scott for their summer holiday. The two were staying at a friend's house that was out of town for a few weeks so they had the place to themselves.
Currently Scott was chasing Robert. The brown-eyed man only made it to the living room before the sandy blonde tackled him onto the couch. He pinned the man's wrists with one hand then tickled the hell out of Robert with the other. The brunette laughed and cursed. Scott's hand then went underneath his shirt and soon had Robert moaning instead.
“Mm, Scott...” he murmured as his nipples were played with.
The blonde released his arms then pushed the shirt up. He licked and kissed the muscular chest in front of him as he unzipped Robert's pants. The younger male spread his legs as a hand gripped his cock. He wanted Scott to get on with it and fuck him. Scott finally started stripping his pants off but that was as far as it went.
…
A twenty-eight year old Robert suddenly blinked open his eyes. He was stunned. He had just dreamt of a nine year old memory for the first time in ages and had a hard-on because of it. He finished the rest of the dream in his head. Scott had fucked him nice and hard on that couch then they went upstairs to have more sex until they could barely move. That had been a great summer.
He suddenly wondered how Scott was doing. After that summer they started drifting apart. By the time everything with Brad happened, they no longer even spoke. Things like that happened though, especially during those college years. With a sigh he sat up. His erection wasn't going down though. It had been so incredibly long since he had gotten laid and he was horny. Self-hatred welled up in him as he went towards his bedroom.
His back hit the bed and he guilty clenched his hands. Finally he gave in to himself and closed his eyes. He pushed down his boxers then gripped his dick in his hand. He squeezed it a few times before slowly stroking up and down. He didn't think back to previous sexual encounters, at least not with any of his real ex boyfriends. He tried to imagine just a hot strong man on top of him, kissing his body and touching him. Then suddenly the person was inside, thrusting hard and deep, making him writhe in absolute pleasure. Robert grit his teeth and jerked his cock faster. His other hand went under his shirt to pull and tease his nipples. After a few minutes it just wasn't enough. A blush stained his face as he knew what he wanted to do. Quickly he turned to go to his bedside table. Out of the bottom drawer he pulled two items: his blue vibrator and lube.
He spread his legs and positioned the vibrator at his entrance. Squeezing lube onto the area he slowly pushed. He tensed until the entire thing was inside. After a few moments he turned it on and moaned. He stopped jerking himself and focused on the vibrator moving in and out of him. He missed that, having a buff man fuck him nice and hard. His eyes closed so he could better pretend that it was someone's actual cock inside him and not just a toy.
In his mind he was pinned to the bed with his legs thrown over another man's shoulders. A pulsing hard uncut cock was spreading him open and a warm hand jerked him off.
On his bed in real life he arched his back and hiked his legs up as far as he could. He did feel embarrassed but he had no other choice right now. His breath came out in small puffs as he got close and a moan accidentally escaped his mouth. He thrust inside himself faster and his inner muscles contracted repeatedly. Then he was coming and he pushed the toy in deep and held it there until he finished.
When Robert was done he turned it off and flipped onto his stomach. He'd wash his sheets tomorrow. Although he just came, he had never felt so unsatisfied.
…
On Monday morning Robert watched the stranger from the window of his office again. It was only eleven but the weather was already blazing hot. How could that person stand it? He stayed outside for hours singing (and jumping around when he got really into it). When his lunch break came, the guy was still there. He knew he would be for hours. The brunette walked to his car and pulled out of the garage. He stared off in the direction of the stranger. Then he turned the opposite way to get away from the office for an hour.
Tuesday passed in the same fashion, so did Wednesday. Robert didn't approach the singer within that time. For a reason he couldn't fathom, the idea made him nervous. The hottest day of the week was on Thursday. Robert couldn't help it anymore. He grabbed a couple of water bottles out of the fridge in the break room then took his lunch. He walked outside but instead of going to the car lot, he went across the street. The stranger was talking to a few people but then they left. He waved to them before noticing Robert.
“Hi there,” the black-haired man said with a smile.
The brunette mentally cursed himself for just staring like an idiot. “Oh, uh, hi. Um, I see you out here all the time and it's really hot out so I brought you some water.” He held the bottles out.
“Thanks a bunch. I'm so thirsty.” He took them and drank half of the first one. “I'm Sam, by the way.”
“Robert.”
He thought for a moment. “I've seen you here once before. It was really brief though.”
“Oh, yeah, about a week ago. I didn't think you noticed me.”
“Yeah. I have a good memory.” He gestured toward the suit. “You work nearby?”
He pointed to the tallest building around. “There.”
“Ah, nice. A real job.” He grinned.
“I see you out here all day, every day it seems. That's a job in itself.”
He shrugged. “It probably doesn't seem like it, but it's tough. I have to find a way to be interesting and keep the audience's attention so that they'll want to give their money.”
“I can't imagine. You must be pretty creative.”
“So they say. I was surprised. This area is pretty hustling. For a busker anyways. I head to the town center on the weekends, that's been the best place so far. I moved here only recently but I've been around.”
“Oh, really? Where you from?”
“Connecticut, Hartford more specifically. I got bored though and my friend out here needed a roommate so...” He smiled. “This pays the rent and groceries, along with my savings. I did research in pharmaceuticals, have a masters in microbiology.”
“And you just gave it up?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Just wasn't happy, you know? This probably doesn't seem like much of a life but I've never felt better.”
“Eh, that's what's important. Not material things.”
“Exactly. So where are you heading?”
“I have an hour for lunch. I was just going to grab something quick.” He hesitated for a few moments.
“Ah. Yeah, I'm calling it quits early today. Have a few errands to run with the roomie.” He grinned his marvellous smile at the brunette. “Maybe I'll see you around, Robert.”
His eyes widened slightly. “Uh, yeah. I'll come around soon. Bye, Sam.”
They waved and then Robert walked away. As he crossed the street he wondered just why the hell he felt so nervous.
Robert didn't visit the busker during his lunch break on Friday. He didn't want to come across as too eager or creepy. As soon as the work day was over though, he went in suit and with briefcase to the park. The raven-haired man was there as always, a crowd surrounding him and clapping along. The instrument today was a button accordion. From what the brunette could see, it looked like Sam had a decent amount of money in his case.
The song ended and Sam said that was all for the evening until Monday. Robert waited for the other people to finish talking to him. When they started leaving, Sam turned towards him.
“Hey, Robert,” he said as he leaned down to put his things away.
“Hi. How are you?” he asked.
“Pretty good actually. Apparently people are more generous on Fridays. What've you been up to?”
“Just work. Nothing much exciting...”
“Ah, you off weekends?”
“Mhm. Are you leaving this area for the next couple days?”
“Yeah. You got any plans?”
He shrugged. “Not really. I'll just see where the evening takes me.”
He grinned. “This'll be the last time I see you. For the next week anyways. I'm busking this weekend then going to Hartford to visit the family.”
“Looking forward to it?”
“Yeah. I miss them. Gonna see my parents, sister, and a bunch of cousins. Should be fun.” He stood up with his accordion case in hand. “Where you heading?”
“My car's in the car lot across the street.”
“Oh, I'll walk you there then.”
Robert was mildly surprised but led the way. “So how did your family react when you quit your job and moved?”
“My sister was the one most against it actually. My parents supported my decision. They said I was an adult and if that was what would make me happy then I had to go for it. She's fine now, I think she just didn't like the fact that I was moving. She's a few years older but we were close. Do you have any siblings?”
“No. It was always just my mom and me. My dad...I'm not really sure what happened to him. Everyone just says he died in a car crash but I don't know.”
“Oh, I'm sorry.”
“Don't be.” He shrugged. “I'm alright with it. I never cared much about not having a lot of family. I had plenty of friends back in Boston.”
“Ooh, you grew up in Boston?”
“Mhm. Lived there until I was eighteen then came to school here. Well, a little north of here actually. See, my mom wanted to expand the business in California and be the one to run it so I applied here.”
“Oh. So Wolfe Inc. is your mom's?”
He nodded. “She's the CEO.”
“Oh, wow. Did she force you to work for her or did you go willingly?”
He fidgeted around. “She pressured me into it. It's not my first choice but I'm good at it and it pays well so...”
“But if it makes you unhappy...”
“I wouldn't say unhappy, necessarily.” He shrugged, not wanting to talk about it anymore. Luckily they were at his car. “Well, this is it.” He pointed towards the sleek, expensive black vehicle.
Sam whistled appreciatively. “Nice ride, man.”
“Thanks. Um, do you want me to drive you to wherever you're parked? Since you walked over here with me...”
“Oh, nah. I leave my car at home since I live close by.”
“In this heat?”
“It's not that bad in the mornings and evenings.”
“I can give you a ride, I don't mind.”
He smiled and winked. “Don't worry about it, Robert. I'll see you in a week and half.”
Robert watched as he turned and walked away. Then he quickly got in his car and drove off.
