Always an Expiration Date

Noon found Aidan standing in line at a fast casual restaurant downtown where he planned to buy Mike a vegetarian burrito bowl. She'd be ecstatic at the treat and pretend like she was upset at him bringing her so much food. He smiled to himself in anticipation of the customary exchange that would end with her devouring every bite and probably buying herself a chocolate bar for dessert. When he stepped up to order he requested extra guacamole and a side of chips and salsa with full knowledge it would earn him a scolding and was exactly what she wanted most.

He walked the short block between the restaurant and her office musing over the meeting he had that morning with his agent. She told him that the publishing company was looking for another sequel to his breakout novel series. They were prepared to advance him a hefty sum so long as he could complete it in time to bring it to printing the next spring. It was a tight schedule but he wasn't done with the characters yet and the money was definitely incentive to push himself on the next installment. He absentmindedly entered the elevator, already sketching out the character outline, never noticing there was another occupant until he'd bumped into the man.

"Oh, sorry, I wasn't..." Aidan looked up into dark eyes in the mildly amused face of the man he'd masturbated to only that morning. He felt his face heat up as he cleared his throat. "Ahem. Excuse me, I wasn't paying attention. My apologies."

The man chuckled and responded "No worries. What floor?" in a deep, slightly gravelly tone.

"Sorry anyway. Thirty-five, please." Aidan stepped to the back corner of the elevator when he saw the button was already pressed for his floor.

The man eyed Aidan leisurely, making him feel as if he was entirely on display. "Same here. What brings you up there? I haven't seen you around the offices?"

Aidan held up the bag from the restaurant. "Bringing my girlfriend lunch."

"Who's..." the man was interrupted by the elevator suddenly rocking and the power going completely out, plunging them into inky darkness. "Shit, earthquake. We should sit down."

Aidan nodded and then, realizing the man couldn't see the motion, said "yeah, we should. I'm in the back, right corner" before he slid to the floor. He could hear the man's shoes scrape across the floor over the rumbling of the earthquake as he mirrored the move on the other side of the elevator.

When the movement subsided the two men sat in silence for a few moments until Aidan realized Mike was expecting him since he'd texted he was on his way from the restaurant. He pulled his phone out, the screen illuminating the small space. He couldn't get a signal but swiped to the text app anyway, figuring that it would send once the cell towers regained power. The man eyed Aidan curiously. Aidan responded to the unspoken question as he typed. "I'm texting my girlfriend to let her know what's going on."

The man nodded. "Do you have a signal?"

"Nah, it looks like the towers are out but it will send as soon as there's power."

"Smart. I should do that. I'm expected upstairs for a meeting." The man pulled his own phone out and typed long enough to send several texts before returning his phone to his pocket. "Since it looks like we're going to sit here a while I should introduce myself. Jake Allred."

Aidan's was glad for the impenetrable dark that Mike's boss couldn't see the surprise on his face. "Aidan Greene. Glad to put a face to the name. My girlfriend is Michelle Santori in network security."

"I should have realized! I was thinking you looked familiar. She has a photo of the two of you at Victoria Falls on her desk. Good to meet the man behind my rockstar programmer." Jake's smile was evident in his voice. He kept to himself that he'd looked at that photo many times, finding Aidan's warm smile and friendly brown eyes incredibly attractive, although not as attractive as the real thing currently trapped with him in the elevator.

"Likewise, although it could be under a little better circumstances." The elevator rocked again and the lights flashed on momentarily before plunging them back into darkness. Aidan inexplicably found himself wanting very badly to seek comfort in Jake's arms.

Jake seemed to have at least partially the same idea because out of the darkness came a scootching noise and he spoke from directly to Aidan's right "I, uh, need to know someone's here right now. You don't mind me sitting close to you?"

Aidan patted around until he found Jake's hand and took it. "No, that's all right. I kind of feel the same way. You can lean against me if you want."

Jake gave a humorless little chuckle "thanks, man," before he scooted closer and wrapped his arm around Aidan's. "I'm more than a little embarrassed but unfortunately the dark's worse than the humiliation."

"You've got the dark. I've got the fear of falling even though I know elevators are engineered to stick tight in situations like this."

They sat together in a strange limbo between feeling awkward and more comfortable than warranted for a while. Jake broke the silence. "Tell me about you and Michelle. She's a little hard to read. How did the two of you meet?"

"It was the rare blind date that worked."

"It sounds like there's a story behind that. Right now we have all the time in the world, I'd love to hear it." Jake leaned his head on Aidan's shoulder as if to settle in for an intimate chat.

"There's not a whole lot to it. I went through a nasty breakup with a drama queen who stole everything, even my underwear, and left me moping around for months. A buddy of mine got sick of seeing it and forced me out on a double date with his wife and Mike. Then when I didn't do anything about it he did it over and over until we decided we wanted to see each other alone. That was four years ago. We agreed we wanted to be long term and moved in together a few months later."

"It's brave to put yourself out there after a bad ending. But why would she steal your underwear?"

"He. He liked to wear my clothes around the house because I was so much bigger than him and I guess between that and wanting to leave me with nothing it seemed like a better idea than setting them on fire on the lawn or something." Jake startled a little at Aidan's declaration he wasn't straight and Aidan noticed. "It doesn't make you uncomfortable that I dated a man, does it?"

A genuine laugh from Jake rang through the small space. "That would be pretty hypocritical of me since I've dated exclusively men. No, I was just surprised. I guess I assumed you were straight."

Aidan added his own to the laughter. "That makes two of us. I don't like putting labels on it. I date who I'm attracted to."

Jake nodded against his shoulder. "Same here. I just happen to never have met a woman I wanted to go out with."