Trevon Carter

I loved my family - even my weird sisters - but it still felt good to pull into my parking spot at my apartment building. I was home. I grabbed my bag out of the back seat and went into the building. I nodded to the concierge behind the front desk. My intention was to go straight to my apartment, but he spoke to me before I got the elevator.

"Mr. Carter, you broke up with that young woman right?"

"Yes," I said.

"Are things still well between the two of you? You didn't ask us to block her."

"I think they are okay," I said. "Why?"

"She came about an hour ago. I saw her get on the elevator, but I never saw her come back down. There have been some deliveries though and other guests I had to deal with so it's possible I missed her."

"Thank you," I said. I started to go back to my apartment, but he said, "Remember to tell us if you don't want her as a visitor anymore."

"I don't think it's come to that point yet, but I'll let you know if it does."

A delivery person came in then with a package so I left to let the concierge handle it. I rode the elevator to the top floor and got off. Alice was standing in front of my front door just staring at it blankly. That was a little creepy. Maybe I should leave and come back later. Except the concierge said she had already been there an hour. She might never leave if I didn't address it.

"Alice," I said.

She turned to me and smiled. It caused goosebumps on my arms.

"Hi," she greeted me. She wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary. She wore a pretty, simple yellow dress that had little pink flowers on it. She looked pretty. Not exquisite like Arthur. She had a paper plate filled with chocolate chip cookies covered with saran wrap in her hands.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

She giggled. "I'm not a stalker if that's what you are thinking," she said. She handed me the plate of cookies. My body reacted by taking it without me consciously thinking about my actions. "I made this for you and Arthur," she said. "To show there is no ill will."

"Thanks," I said. That was sweet if she was being serious, except I couldn't forget that she told Arthur I was just experimenting with him and that I would go back to her someday. If this was her plan, it wasn't working. And she had stood outside my door for an hour just to tell me that?

"You stood outside my door just for this?"

"I knocked but there wasn't an answer."

She didn't realize I knew she had been there for an hour. "I meant," I said, "that you could have left them with the concierge and relayed the message to him."

"Oh," She twisted her hands in front of her shyly. I'd never seen her do that. "I didn't think about that." Did she think this was appealing to me?

"Well, thanks," I said unsurely and held up the cookies for emphasis. Why did I thank her? Was that going to make it worse? I couldn't exactly take it back now.

She didn't leave. She just stood there in front of me - blocking my way to my apartment.

"Was there something else?" I finally asked.

"Oh. No. I just wanted to let you know I wish you and Arthur well. There are no ill feelings. It did come as a shock to me though. I miss you." Her eyes widened when she said these last few words. She rushed to say, "I should go." She brushed passed me and onto the elevator.

I went to the apartment door, but looked back just to make sure she had really left before I unlocked it. Everything seemed in order when I went inside. I looked around anyway. I inspected my bedroom, both bathrooms, the living room and lastly the kitchen. I put the plate of cookies on the kitchen island. I took the saran wrap off and sniffed them. They smelled okay. They smelled delicious actually. I picked up a cookie and almost put it in my mouth, but paused right before it could touch my lips.

Alice wouldn't have done something to the cookies. I didn't think she would. But I remembered the time when I was seven and my sisters were fourteen and they gave me some peanut butter cookies that I thought were going to be delicious. Overall they were. They tasted a little funny, but I hadn't thought much about it. I just thought my sisters had messed up something in the recipe. I thought it was sweet and caring that they would make me cookies so I ate all of them.

I ended up in the bathroom all day and night because they had filled them with laxatives. My mom had insisted it must have been an accident when I tried to tell her. My sisters still laughed about it.

I put the cookie back on the plate, picked up the entire plate and dumped them in the trash. They were probably fine, but I wasn't going to risk it.

I sent a text to Arthur to let him know I was home. I unpacked my bag and freshened up a little. When I checked my phone Arthur sent me a text that he just got home and would come over soon. I went into the living room and browsed my bookshelves. I had read all the books on them already, but I liked them enough that I wanted to keep them and read through them again. It had been a little while since I bought a new book. I should go to the bookstore. Maybe that could be a date night with Arthur.

Twenty minutes later, the doorbell rang. I set the book I had been reading down on the coffee table and went and answered the door. Arthur stood there handsome and captivating with a bag of takeout in his hand. His bright smile warmed my heart. He kissed me gently before he slid passed me and into my apartment.

"Hungry?" he asked.

I didn't think I was, but when I smelled the food my stomach grumbled. I followed him into the kitchen and got us some water while he took out the chicken and salad from the take out bag. There were two rolls with the dinner. He gave me both of them.

"I missed you," I said as I sat across from him.

"I missed you too," he said. I brushed my leg along his under the table. He pressed his leg into mine. A smile graced his beautiful lips. It was times like this I especially liked having long legs. I shifted my leg so it was in between his. I lifted my foot, put it between his warm, strong thighs and began to rub it against his crotch.

He shifted so his chair slid backwards along the floor. He had a smirk on his face as he said, "Eat first. We can play after."

I frowned, but took a large bite of the salad. He scooted the chair back into place.

"Do you want to go to the bookstore with me after this?"

He made a face as if that was the most disgusting thing he had ever heard.

"What?" I asked.

"Why do you want to go to the bookstore? You already have more books than I can count."

"I've read them all," I said.

"Fine," he said, "we can go to the bookstore." He made it sound like such a chore. "I'd also like to go pick up some more dance tights if you don't mind."

"And I dance belt?" I asked. I couldn't hide the smile that came to my lips as I imagined him in it.

He kicked me lightly under the table. "Stop imaging me in it."

After we ate, we went to the bookstore first. I browsed the sci-fi/fantasy section. I picked up a book where the book cover looked interesting and turned it around to read the back. I started a small stack of books to buy. After the fifth time I did this, Arthur sighed exasperatedly. "This is boring. Can you hurry please?"

"How can I know what I want if I don't read the blurb on the back," I said. "You can go look at books too," I said. "I'll buy you whatever you want."

"I'm not all that into books," he said. "I wonder if they have art books or dance books."

I pointed him in the general direction of the art section and he was off. I had selected several more books when Arthur came bounding back and in a loud voice exclaimed, "I found one about ballet!"

Several heads turned our way. Some had smiles because Arthur was the cutest thing ever, but some scowled. "Look," Arthur said still in that loud voice. He opened the book and pointed out a picture of ballet dancers. The expression on his face was excited and fluffy. We still had observers. I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek so everyone could know this sweet man beside me was mine. He looked up at me in surprise, but then a wide smile crossed his face. He turned his head slightly and presented his other cheek to me. I kissed it.

I took his book and put it in the hand basket with mine. "Are we done?" he asked.

"No," I said. "We need to get to the romance section. You can recommend something to me by Holly Emily Benito."

"Yes." He bounced a little on his feet excitedly. We went to the romance section and he selected some of his mom's books. Then he selected a few romance books for himself. Not his mother's books because he had read all those, but some others.

We went to the checkout stand and I paid for the books. Then we went to the dance store where he selected some tights. When we got back to my apartment, Arthur wanted to watch one of the reality shows he liked so I handed him the t.v. remote. I sat next to him on the couch and picked up the first book his mother ever published. I read it while he watched t.v. At some point he opened my legs wide and sat between them with both of his legs draped over one of mine. He rested his head on my shoulder as he watched t.v.

I put the book down beside us so I could wrap my arms around his waist. I put my head close to his, breathed in his scent. A mix of soap and cologne and the smell that was Arthur.

"Tell me about this guy you used to date that you told to call you if he needed to talk. Do I need to be worried about him?"

"No," Arthur said. "He was my first with a lot of things, first boyfriend, first kiss, first lover, first love, but that time has passed. I don't have any feelings like that for him anymore. He's still hiding from his family and everyone that he is gay. They are pretty conservative and religious and that doesn't necessarily mean they'll reject him, but I've been around his family and I think they will. He wasn't even supposed to be in our home town. He was supposed to be off enjoying college life somewhere. I'm not sure what happened, but he is home now and working in a toy store. He said his last boyfriend broke up with him because he lied about coming out to his family. I don't like to say this about people, but he seemed pathetic. He has no one to talk to."

"Is he the reason you don't want to date anyone in secret?"

He brought his hand over mine. Our fingers entwined. "No," he said. "Our relationship didn't end on bad terms, it was just time to move on."

"Who was the man you made that rule after?" I regretted it as soon as I asked because I was pretty sure it was Jackson. I suspected he might be the reason Arthur was so adamant about not dating cheaters too.

Arthur sighed and leaned back into me so our faces were right next to each other. "I don't want to talk about it yet," he said. "Other boyfriends asked and when I told them, it scared them away."

"I won't let it scare me away," I said.

He pulled back just enough that he could look into my eyes. His hand holding mine squeezed tighter. His other hand came up and gently caressed my jaw. "I believe you," he said. "And I will tell you when I'm ready."

"Okay," I said.

He smiled and kissed me gently on the lips. I tried to take the kiss deeper, but he pulled away. "What about you? Are you friends with any of your exes?"

"Not really," I said.

"Who was your first love?" he asked.

"The first girl I ever seriously dated was Genevieve in high school. We were juniors. She was my first in everything too. I thought I loved her at that time, but looking back, I don't think I really did. Our relationship did end badly when I found out she was hooking up with a college student on the side. I don't think I've loved any of my girlfriends."

"What about me?" he asked quietly. His eyes stared down at our entwined fingers.

"I meant it when I told my grandpa that I like you more than I've liked anyone. I think love is developing."

He smiled grandly at this and looked into my eyes. "Me too."