Kiss Me

Part Four

Walker

"If you wanna pull over sometime soon, I’ll take over driving the rest of the way," I said, watching as snow capped trees whizzed by outside the window. We’d already crossed the border, not the ordeal Marcus had expected it to be and there were only a couple of hours of solid driving left.

"You drive?" He asked.

"No," I smiled to myself. "But it can’t be that hard if you’re doing it."

"Can’t tell if you’re serious or if you’re still paying me back for walking in on you in the shower earlier."

"I’m serious about the driving and you’re not the first person to see me naked. You’re not even close. Trust me, I’m not mad about that."

"You’re being nicer to me than you ought to," Marcus said. "Why?"

I snorted. "I’m starving and if you pull over I can get something to eat," I said. "Also, I don’t want you driving fatigued, and the dark circles under your eyes are making me nervous. It’s not selfless."

He started grinning. "Sure, then let's pull over at the next services," Damn he's just too good. I guess most people would dislike a guy like Marcus, but not me. I just wanted to curl up next time and let him tell me everything and anything. I wanted to be his pillow, his security blanket. I'd be anything he wanted me to be. This crush was definitely becoming more of a damn crush. "You're definitely Kyle's brother."

I snigger a little. "I know, have been my whole life even."

"Same sense of humor," he said. "Not funny."

"Ahh, minus the tons of tattoos and cock piercing."

"There is that, which by the way still plays on my mind."

"What, my cock or the piercing?" I laughed.

"Shut up or I'm not stopping."

"Fine." I said and did that zipping up my mouth motion. But stare at him instead. He turned a bright shade of red. Which made me think he was definitely thinking of my cock.

"I was kidding, you can talk. In fact it's weird if you don't."

"Okay, so what would you like to talk about? My cock?"

"Nope, actually please don't talk." I couldn't help myself. His reactions are just too damn cute. "You're still not funny."

"Actually I pride myself on being funny enough that my clients forget about the pain and the nerves," I said.

"Well," he said, flicking his turn signal as we approached an exit that promised there was food nearby. "If I ever lose my mind and decide to get a tattoo, I’ll come to you for it."

"I hope so. Maybe a butt tattoo."

"Butt tattoo?"

"Yep, I'd get a good gander at your butt."

"Seriously," he breathed out as we pulled into a car park. "Get food, that'll shut you up."

I chuckled, I couldn't stop myself. "Sure sure, lets get fries. Maybe a milkshake."

"Right sure." he mumbled as he stared down at his phone.

"If you walk while on your phone, you'll trip and you will end up in hospital."

Finally he looked up as we approached a restaurant. "Happy?"

"Marginally," I grumbled as I held the door open for him and found an empty table. Then a young pretty cute waiter came bobbing towards us. So like me I ordered for both of us instead I had milkshake and he had a coke.

"Thanks for that." I wasn't sure if he was actually thankful or being sarcastic. I didn't really care either way.

"You think the waiter is cute?" I teased once I was sure he was out of earshot, watching Marcus’s cheeks flush in response. Making him blush could’ve easily become my new favorite hobby.

"How do you know?" he mumbled, playing with a sugar packet he’d picked up. He’d always had nervous fingers, and I was thrilled to see that hadn’t changed.

Because I’ve wanted you to look at me like that for two years, I thought.

I could have looked at his eyes all day. I could still have looked at his eyes all day. I’d always wanted to. No, no, two years ago Walker had it right in ways I couldn’t have imagined. I liked the awkwardness. I liked that Marcus wasn’t used to the attention, that he had no idea how hot he was, that I could’ve made him blush as much as I wanted. "Lucky guess I think." There was no luck. The guy has practically become a fucking monk. Swearing to never have anyone again when he was drunk talking. Well, fuck. I'm about to change that. No, I'm definitely changing that.

I hummed a little as I shoved the fries the waiter just brought to us in my mouth. "Good," I mumbled around my mouthful of food. Then looked at Marcus who was only fiddling with his. "Are you not hungry?"

"Not really."

"Thinking about the wedding?"

He nods. "I guess."

"You know there's a trick to it," he looked at me perplexed. "Don't think about it."

"Easier said than done I'm afraid."

"Well think of it this way," I said waving a fry at him. "It's not your mom's wedding, it's Lily's and you'll also have friends there. So you won't be alone."

"I guess, oh...and you too," He'd started fiddling with the sugar packet again. I wanted to grab his hand and make him stop, but I guess he really does have shit to think about. Personally I don't know his family. I'd only met Lily a handful of times and she's fantastic. So for Marcus to be this damn nervous the rest of the family must be crackers. I'm actually starting to worry, which is unlike me. But then again if he needed a shield the whole time we're there, I'd be his damn shield. His parents' words may hurt Marcus, but they sure as hell won't hurt me. "You're more confident than me anyway." He added.

"I’ll shut up," I promised. "You can just tell me to do that, I know I’m a little… much. For some people. Most people, probably."

"You’re not too much," Marcus said. "And you shouldn’t let people tell you that. You’re supposed to be Mr. Confidence. If you can’t be sure that your company is worth having, what the hell chance do the rest of us have?"

"Mr. Confidence?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. People called me all kinds of things, but that was a new one.

Marcus shrugged. "You seem to have enough to spare," he said. "From my perspective, anyway."

"There’s a difference between not taking any shit and actually being confident. Underneath all this ink and nail polish and weird clothes, I’m… a constant morass of self-doubt."

"Morass," He repeated. "That's cute."

"Cute, really?" I could have melted into a puddle of goo under the table. It wouldn’t even have made any difference to the overall stickiness of the floor. He said cute. Well I knew I was going to be a happy man the rest of the drive.

"You finished eating? I kinda want to just get going."

"Sure." I said, shoveling the rest of my fries into my gob.

He smiled and thanked the waiter and shoved some bills on the table, but his attention swung back to me the moment he was gone. "So, tattoos huh. Are they that painful?" He asked as we left.

"Or is that just, like, some kinda bullshit we let people believe because it makes us seem tough? That what you’re asking?" I teased. I’d answered this question a million times, but I didn’t mind doing it again for Marcus.

"I wasn’t gonna put it that way,"

"Depends where you get it, honestly." I replied as we got back in the car. "I have a lot, like the one on my arm that goes to my chest was okay, until it hit the chest bone and the hip was a killer."

"I see."

"Can’t speak for everyone," I said. "But for me, it’s about taking ownership of the awful flesh prison I live in. I, umm. I do a lot of work with people who have scars they wanna cover up, and I guess for me it’s a less intense version of that."

"You mean your scars aren’t visible," Marcus said. And for a handful of seconds, all I could do was blink stupidly at him. The thought had never occurred to me in those terms before, but he was right. He’d seen right through me in a way I’d never even seen through myself.

"Yeah," I said, swallowing past a lump in my throat. "Yeah, uh. I guess that is what I mean."

"Did I say something wrong?" He asked, nervous all over again. No. Nope. I wasn’t losing him now, not when I’d had a taste of what he was like when he was comfortable.

"You said something so right it broke my brain a little to hear." I said instead. Whatever we had right now, a budding friendship, maybe, I didn’t want it to go away. I wanted to water it and tend to it and make sure it was getting enough sun to grow into a beautiful flower. Maybe that's a little deep, yet it was definitely true.