Julian walked through the front door and into his little house in the woods, where he lived all by himself. Nick’s description of his dream vacation home looked like the house Julian was living in. It wasn’t pretty, and everything was old and broken, but it felt like a home, and nothing was there to distract him from his writing… nothing except for his new neighbors.

He didn’t quite know how to feel about them. He liked Nick’s company a lot, though Nick seemed confused around him all the time. Katie seemed to be a great woman… a little too flirty, but Julian could deal with that.

He’d never once imagined that he would get invited into their home. He didn’t know them and they didn’t know him. It just felt weird but in a good way. As long as he was wrong about his Hannibal Lecter theory everything would be just fine.

He’d been wanting to see the huge mansion from the inside ever since he’d arrived at his little house, and even though he’d only seen some of it he knew that it wasn’t for him. It was beautiful and classy, but it was simply too big for him.

He’d been a bit surprised to see that Katie was doing grocery shopping. He kind of expected a couple like them to have a chef to do all the work for them. But it was nice to see them being so… human.

He sat down on his squeaking couch and stared out into the thin air. There was something between Nick and him that he didn’t quite understand. It didn’t feel like a normal beginning to a friendship, but he didn’t know what else it could be. There was a spark between them that he wanted to explore, but he couldn’t. Nick was married to his beautiful wife, and Julian was not getting between them.

Both of them were acting weird around him… weird and flirty, and it was terrifying him. He might be wrong about his Hannibal the cannibal theory, but the idea of a sex orgy, or whatever they might have in mind was even worse. They wanted something from him, he just didn’t know what. He’d heard stories about some rich people and their special… kinks, and Julian didn’t want to be a part of any of that. Sex was too special to him to ever do something like that.

The upcoming dinner was making him more and more nervous, and he felt ridiculous.

‘’They don’t want anything from you, fucking idiot!’’ He said to himself as he laid down on the couch. His thought was always all over the place, and Julian blamed that on his creative side, which is why he called it writers brain.

He began thinking about the night he spent with Nick at the lake. Every time he got near that damn lake there was a buzzing feeling in his head he couldn’t explain, and it made him more reckless. The way he’d been acting around Nick was so unlike him. He wasn’t normally the flirty time, and yet he couldn’t stop himself when he was around Nick. When they had laid there in the sand, close enough to feel each other’s breathes against their lips he had wanted nothing more than to kiss him. He was seconds from doing it until he realized how wrong it was. But he was allowed to dream, which is why Nick’s face was the only thing he could focus on, and he opened his pants and shoved his hand into his briefs.

He was a sticky mess when he finished, so he decided to take a shower. His mind felt a little more clear after his release, but it wouldn’t take much for him to get distracted again.

As he was clean and dressed he sat down at the dining table in front of his computer and stared at the empty word document. His plan had been to write a fantasy novel, but all of his ideas seemed useless when he couldn’t think straight. He folded his hands in front of him and rested his chin on them. This was definitely not going as well as he thought it would be.

Julian was a good writer. He’d written books before, but they were too personal for him to publish, so he wanted to try something different, which was why he rented the little house in the woods, so he could focus on his ideas. ‘’You are here to work,’’ he mumbled, ‘’not to mess with other people’s marriages.’’ He cracked his fingers and rested his hands on the keyboard, but the words didn’t come to him, so he gave up after a while and closed the laptop.

He made himself a cup of coffee as he sat down on the couch once again. ‘’When the dinner is over with then everything will get better.’’ He promised himself, but it was a lie… everything was about to change, and Julian didn’t know if it was a good thing.

After a few hours of doing absolutely nothing, he decided to go for a little walk down to the lake. He needed its calmness and beauty to distract him.

He picked up his little black notebook and walked down to his little cozy spot underneath the big oak tree. He enjoyed the calmness around him as he sat there and began to scribble stuff down in the book. Sometimes he wrote about the beautiful lake… sometimes he just wrote simple words. It wouldn’t make any sense for anyone else but him, but at least he got a little bit of writing done, even though it was all nonsense.

He sat for a long time staring out at the beautiful blue water while chewing on the end of the pencil. It was a bad habit, but as a journalist, it was almost a necessity to concentrate.

The scent of the forest and the freshly cut grass from the gardens around him gave him a sense of inner peace. It was as if it stopped all his thoughts and allowed him to live in the present. All speculations and problems disappeared more and more for every breath he took, and his slightly dark past didn’t matter anymore. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the tree.

The sun was beginning to set on the horizon, which just gave the sky a soft pink glow. It looked like it would have a sweet scent… a mixture of the sprouted flowers of the nectarine tree and a faint taste of red berries maybe. He smiled up at the sky, almost as if he was expecting it to smile back. But it was not necessary, because its beauty was better than a smile.

As the sun was gone and the moon was high in the sky he decided to go home. It was late and he needed a good night’s sleep before the eventful day that awaited him.

As he lay down on the mattress, the bed began to creak, he laughed a little as he thought of Nick's comment. A creaking bed was what he wanted, but Julian was a little tired of it.

It took him a few hours to fall asleep because even though he was tired, he could not stop all the many thoughts that were floating around in his mind.

As he woke up the next morning the sun was shining in through the window. He rubbed his eyes tiredly before looking at his phone. It was twelve a clock already, though it wasn’t really a surprise. Julian could sleep until late afternoon if he was allowed to, and he wasn’t a fan of early mornings.

He got out of bed and went straight out into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. He hadn’t even bothered to get dressed yet, since no one was there to watch him anyway.

He sat down on the couch and enjoyed the silence around him while sipping at his coffee. Julian was nervous about the upcoming dinner, but a huge part of him was just looking forward to spending some more time together with Nick, and he hoped that Nick was feeling the same way. Besides, he hadn’t had a decent meal in ages. He wasn’t a fan of cooking, so he usually only ate take-away food. It wasn’t always healthy, but it was better than nothing, and as long as he kept working out as much as he did, it was fine. He did cook sometimes though but it never turned out good, so it was just easier to buy something on his way home from work.

Julian had promised himself to become a little more healthy on his vacation, but that wasn’t going well for him either.

When it was around five in the afternoon he decided that it was about time he got dressed.

He went through all of his clothes, looking for something that would be fitting enough for a dinner party like this, but he didn’t own anything that neat. Hell, he’d never even owned a suit.

He settled on a pair of tight black pants and a plain black t-shirt. It wasn’t nice, but it wasn’t the worst.

After that, he ended up spending fifteen minutes in front of the mirror as he tried to make his hair a little less tousled, but there was not much he could do about it. It had always been uncontrollable, and neither Nick nor Katie had seemed to mind it much, so it would have to do.

Julian had never been so anxious about himself as he was now. He’d never wanted to look absolutely perfect for anyone before because the people he knew usually didn’t care… he could walk around in his underwear and they wouldn’t even bat an eye at him. But this was different. He wanted to look good in front of Nick. He wanted to fit in with them and not feel like some kind of imposter. Before today he didn’t understand why people would spend so much time in front of a mirror, trying to make themselves as perfect as possible… he did now.

When it was six in the afternoon it was time to leave, and his heart was racing with each step he took on the dirt road towards the mansion. He imagined that both Katie and Nick were busy cooking dinner, and Julian would gladly help them out if they needed it… not with the cooking, but he could set the table.

He stood at the front door and bit his lip nervously before ringing the doorbell. He took a deep breath and relaxed his whole body before the door went up. He was met by Katie who looked at him with a big smile on her lips.

‘’Julian,’’ she said as she stepped away from the door, ‘’come on in. I’m so happy you could make it.’’ He smiled back at her and walked into the house. ‘’Nick is out on the balcony, so you can just join him while I finish up in the kitchen.’’ Julian nodded and walked through the huge living room and out on the balcony.

Nick was standing with his back towards him, looking out over the lake with a glass of wine in his hand. Julian studied him for a second before clearing his throat, and Nick turned around and smiled at him.

‘’I’m glad you came,’’ Nick said with a little smile as he stepped closer to him.

‘’How could I resist? The thought of a home-cooked meal and this beautiful view was very alluring.’’ He said.

‘’I hope you’ll enjoy it then… do you want something to drink?’’ Nick asked and pointed towards the wine bottle on the table. Julian had expected a cold beer, but of course, Nick and Katie wouldn’t be drinking that… it was probably too cheap for their taste, and he didn’t really mind drinking wine. The one Nick had brought with him to the beach that day was absolutely delightful, so it wasn’t the worst.

‘’Yes, please,’’ Julian said. Nick nodded while filling a glass before handing it over to Julian. ‘’Thank you,’’ they toasted with each other before taking a sip, and it was delicious. The taste was strong, smooth, and spicy, and Julian wanted to empty the whole glass in one swing, but he tried to be sophisticated, so he settled with a single sip.

Katie stepped out onto the balcony with two dishes in her hands. ‘’Just sit down,’’ she said with a smile as she leaned sat the plates down in the middle of the table. ‘’Dinner is ready.’’