Lessons After Midnight (mxm)

Chapter 7

He arched an eyebrow, his words catching in his throat, clearly taken aback by his sudden realization.

"Oh," He commented, looking down at his coffee cup. "I wouldn't have guessed that," He said with a small, almost fake smile. I couldn't read him. I remained silent, trying to see how he felt about it.

With a lot of people these days, you could face some really hard headed extremists. Ben didn't seem like that at all, though, his shock at learning my sexuality could go either way.

"It's nothing I exploit. It's just a preference," I commented as I sipped at my coffee to avoid the awkwardness.

"Yeah, I mean as long as you're happy," He said bluntly.

There was a moment of silence before he spoke up again, breaking the awkward tension in the air.

"The dinner next week is Tuesday at seven, right?" He asked, switching the subject suddenly, though thankfully.

I released a short chuckle. "Yeah, I'll let you know if anything changes," I informed.

As we finished our drinks, Ben didn't ask any more questions about my date tonight, which was probably for the best, considering. He and I talked briefly about class and how it's been going. I wasn't very engaged in the conversation though.

Once we finished, Ben walked me to the parking garage. I said my goodbyes as I stepped into the elevator, releasing a breath I had been holding. "Well that certainly could've gone worse, I suppose," I muttered to myself. Seeing as he still planned to come to the dinner, I guessed he wasn't exactly against me being gay.

I shrugged my shoulders, releasing some built up tension from the weight of my bag. Whether Ben agreed with my sexuality or not wasn't any of my concern. If he didn't like it, then it was his problem, not mine, I reminded myself.

I had enough on my plate, I didn't have to worry for Ben.

Later that evening, I had gotten ready for tonight prematurely. I was seated at my desk, trying to get some work done, when a knock at the door interrupted my focus. Curious, I checked my notifications. Maybe it was a package delivery?

I stood from my desk, shutting my laptop in the process, work could wait.

On my way to the door, I glanced out the window, spotting a familiar silver Maserati parked in front of my condo. I paused for a moment, confused as I opened the front door to reveal the owner of said car.

"Hello, Sam," Erick greeted me, lips curling into a faint smirk at the sight of me.

"Erick," I replied. "You didn't have to pick me up," I said with a soft blush creeping its way onto my cheeks.

"Perhaps not," He spoke with amusement. "But I wanted to. It's far too cold for you to walk into town tonight."

I chuckled. "I do own a car, you know." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Would you have used it?" He asked in that teasing tone that had me rolling my eyes.

"Let me grab my things," I said, turning to fetch my wallet and coat. I left the door open behind me. "You can come in if you'd like."

Erick stepped inside, closing the door to stop the warmth from escaping as I disappeared into my bedroom. When I reemerged from my room, I saw Erick admiring the bookcase by the entryway. His attention was drawn to the collection of literary reads and informational texts lining the shelves.

"You like to read?" He asked as he looked over the spines of the books. A few were some of the classics like Moby Dick and The Great Gatsby.

"Of course, it's part of my job after all" I smiled. "I can't count the number of times I've had to analyze 1984 by George Orwell with high school students."