Wider looked slightly embarrassed but nodded.“How about you come by my place later this week and I’ll show you?”
That sounded suspiciously like aninvitation for a third date. Trying not to smile too widely, I agreed. “Thatsounds like fun. I can’t wait to see them.”
I wasn’t just excited for the date. It wasmore than that. I’d been around enough creative people to understand that itwas their way of sharing themselves with someone. Wilder wasn’t trying to hideanything away from me, and that, more than anything, said how seriously he wastaking us.
“Are you going to cook for me?”
He laughed. “I’m not going to try tocompete with whatever smells so wonderful. How does Chinese sound to you?”
“Delicious.” Pointing to where the remotewas hiding, I stepped away. “Okay, I’m going to get things finished up, becauseI think the timer is going to be going off any minute.”
He glanced hungrily toward the kitchen. “Allright, anything in particular you want to see?”
“No, although I’m not much for comedies.”Most of them just weren’t funny.
He nodded and moved to sit on the couch.“Okay, I’ll see there’s anything new out. What’s your opinion on sci-fi?”
“That feels like a trick question. Am Igoing to have to debateStar TrekversusStar Warswith you?” Washe a closet geek as well as tattoo artist?
He laughed, shaking his head. “No, I’m oneof the few people who can appreciate both. It just depends on what kind of moodI’m in.”
Yep, he was a closet geek too.
“I don’t mind sci-fi, so you can pick.” Iwas really curious to see what he would choose. People revealed a lot aboutthemselves by the things they read and watched. That seemed to be even moretrue for Wilder.
I headed toward the kitchen while Wilderstarted exploring the television. I heard him mumbling to himself as I movedaround the room, but he didn’t seem to realize he was doing it. The timerstarted to go off just as I walked over to the stove. The manicotti looked perfect.As long as he liked it, it made all the time and mess worth it.
The meal was quickly finished up with saladand garlic bread, and soon everything was ready. Bringing it over to the table,I smiled when I saw Wilder flicking through the TV options. He was veryintense. I wasn’t sure if it was how he normally watched television or if hewas just trying to pick out the right movie, but either way, it was cute.
“Dinner’s ready.”
Wilder set down the remote and stood. “I’vegot it narrowed down to a couple of things, but you’re going to have to pick.Most of the time, I get sucked up into my work in the evening, so I don’t watchthat much television.”
“I can understand that.” Resisting the urgeto fidget or move things around the table again, I just watched as he walkedover. “What can I get you to drink?”
In minutes, we were both sitting at thetable digging in. Wilder was impressed at the food even though it was moremessy than difficult to make. But he appreciated it, which made me feel good.Occasionally, people from work would come over for dinner, but the most of thetime we went out. It’d been a while since everyone had been over.
Dinner went by quickly, the conversationrolling naturally. Nothing seemed forced or awkward, and I was glad. I’d wokenup afraid it had been a fluke or that I’d been remembering it wrong. But no,everything seemed to just get easier as time passed.
With everything going so easily, it made mecurious to find out what Wilder thought about it all. Especially the physicalside that would happen eventually. He didn’t seem to have an issue with thefact that he was dating a man, but just because I could see it working outdidn’t mean the problem wasn’t there.
When dinner was finished, and we were bothfull, I leaned back in my chair trying to look casual. “What do you think aboutall this?” I gestured between the two of us. “From the things that you said earlierI don’t think you’ve dated a guy before, so I’m curious to know how it feels toyou. If it’s not something you’re ready to talk about, that’s fine. But…”
Wilder shook his head, interrupting. “It’salright. I don’t mind you asking.”
He took a moment, not quite fidgeting butlooking like he was arranging the words in his head. “I’ve never dated a guy,or even seriously thought about it. In college, I was surrounded by alldifferent types of people, but the closest I came to an actual relationshipwith a man was trading hand jobs with a roommate.”
That didn’t surprise me with the way peoplewere more open to experimenting, but jerking someone off was a long way fromdating. Not wanting to interrupt, I nodded and stayed quiet while he continued.“I didn’t identify myself as gay or bi because it was just something casual,and I couldn’t see dating him. Looking back, that was probably because we werereally just friends and nothing more than that.”
He paused for a moment, a far-offexpression on his face. “Maybe if I’d looked around for ways to explore thatside of myself I would have realized that. But I was working my way through collegeas a tattoo artist, and between that and double majors, it was taking me longerthan average to graduate anyway.”
Wilder shrugged and relaxed. I could almosthear the internal criticism fading from his mind. It wasn’t a bad thing that hehadn’t seen it before. People figured that kind of stuff out on their ownschedule. “Taking the time away from work or studying in order to date anyone wasn’tsomething that was important to me at the time. And after college, I startedfocusing on building up my portfolio and making my art an actual career, so Iwas still very busy.”
With the way people were starting toperceive sexuality, it made sense. But I still kind of thought it was cute. Ormaybe interesting was a better word. “So the physical side doesn’t make youuncomfortable, you just never considered dating a guy?”
Wilder gave a half shrug, half nod that Iwasn’t quite sure how to take. “Yes, it sounds nuts, but guys weren’t on myradar before college, and my first experiences were casual things where I wastold someone jerking me off didn’t make me gay, so I never looked beyond that.”Then he smiled a little and gave me a heated look. “Until I heard my little stalker.”
I blushed and looked up at the ceiling. “Ican’t believe he did that to me.”
