Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 03:10:46 -0500
From: music teacher <musicteacher2002@hotmail.com>
Subject: "This is the Night" chapter 2

Disclaimer:  I have an overactive imagination, the result of which is this
story.  I do not know Clay Aiken or any other celebrities mentioned in this
story, and I do not intend to imply anything about their true sexualities.
Simply file this in the "Wouldn't it be nice...?" portion of your mind.  Also,
if you are under legal age to be reading this sort of stuff (18 in most
areas), then leave now.  All the rest of you who ARE of age, please enjoy my
little mind trip away from the land of reality.

***

CHAPTER 2

***

"So?  What did he have to say?  You guys seemed to be pretty deep in
conversation over there."  Lee was very eager to hear what happened when I
talked to Clay.

"Well, uh...to be honest, it's all kind of a blur.  It seems, though, that we
are going to have lunch tomorrow afternoon," I told him.

"WHAT?!" Lee shouted, then immediately quieted down as he realized we had
not yet left the furniture store.  "How did this come about?"

I recounted my conversation with Clay to Lee as we paid for the bed we had
chosen.  When I was done, he grabbed me in a huge hug.  "This is so great!
I'm so happy for you!"

"Wait a sec, calm down, Lee," I said.  "It's just lunch.  He probably
doesn't even consider it a date."

"You're right.  He probably does this kind of thing all the time.  In fact,
he probably wasn't even really buying that bed.  He was just cruising for
guys," Lee said sarcastically.

"That's not what I meant," I replied, frustrated, "He's such a nice guy that
he probably didn't notice the fact that I was practically drooling over
him."

"Or maybe," Lee said with a mischievous glint in his eye, "he DID notice.
Granted, I couldn't hear exactly what you guys were saying from where I
stood, but from my perspective it looked like he was just as into the
conversation as you."

"You think?"  I asked.

"I'm sure of it.  Now, we've got to find you something to wear!"  Lee said,
so we climbed into his car and drove off in the general direction of the
mall.

Have you ever noticed that two gay men and a shopping mall do not make a
good combination?  That is, unless you're a sales clerk who works on
commission.  Three hours later, Lee and I left the mall (reluctantly, and
only because it was closing time) with four bags of clothes - each.  Lee
then drove me back to the furniture store to pick up my car, which we had
left there.

"Well," he said, "Thanks for helping me pick out a bed.  I really appreciate
it."

"Hey, no problem.  It was fun...for MANY reasons."  I said with a grin.

"I expect a phone call tomorrow after lunch telling me every little detail."

"You know it.  Goodnight!"

I went home to my apartment and took my new clothes inside.  The day's
events having thoroughly worn me out, I immediately got ready for bed and
was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

At around 7:30 the next morning, my eyes flew open, and I was wide awake.  I
had been hoping to sleep in, but my body clearly had its own internal alarm
clock.  I dragged myself out of bed and padded out to the living room, where
my computer was, to check my email.  There was nothing but the usual junk
and a couple of messages from my mother, which I replied to.  I then decided
that I should probably take a shower.

As I stepped into the shower and felt the hot stream of water hit my face
and run down my body, I began to wake up.  I also began to think about what
had happened yesterday.  School...shopping for beds...talking with Clay
Aiken...shopping for clothes to wear on my *date* with Clay Aiken.  My cock
started to  thicken at the very thought of seeing him again.  I ran my soapy
hands down my chest...gave my dick a few loving strokes...and the hot water ran
out.

"Damn," I thought, "I hate sharing a water heater with three other
apartments."

I finished up my shower as quickly as possible, got out, and dried off.  I
quickly changed into a t-shirt and shorts.  The question now was, what was I
going to do with my morning?  Normally on weekends, I would occupy myself by
making lesson plans, but I decided that wouldn't work this morning for two
reasons.  One, there were only two days left in the school year, so I was
wrapping up the year by letting the students pick their favorite songs to
sing.  The second reason was that lesson plans required concentration -
something that was going to be quite lacking, considering my impending lunch
date.

I managed to keep myself busy with housework, which largely gets ignored
during the week.  By the time I had reached a stopping point, it was already
10:30.  Now would be a good time to call Clay.  I picked up the phone and
started to dial, but quickly hung up.

"What if he changed his mind?  What if he doesn't really want me to call?"
I thought.

I then realized that I was being paranoid (something I am quite good at),
and that if he didn't *really* want me to call, he probably wouldn't have
given me his phone number.  So I pushed all of those thoughts out of my mind
and dialed his number again.

"Hey, you've reached Clay.  Sorry I can't come to the phone, but if you'll
leave your name and number, I'll get back to ya just as soon as I can.
*BEEP*"

Voicemail.  Crap.

"Uh, hi, Clay, this is Randy.  We met at the furniture store yesterday.
Anyway, you told me to call you about lunch today, so...here I am.  Uh, gimme
a call and we'll work out details."  I gave him my cell phone number and
quickly hung up.  God, could I have sounded ANY more dorky?

I had no sooner walked away from the phone when it rang.  I picked it up on
the first ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Randy, it's Clay."  God, even over the phone his voice was sexy!

"Hey!  We must have just missed each other," I said.

"Actually," he replied, "I was there the whole time.  But the caller ID said
it didn't recognize the number, so I didn't answer it.  I've started getting
some pretty strange messages from some fans."

Yeah, I thought to myself, you gotta watch out for those obsessed fans...

"Anyway," he continued, "I was hop...uh, I thought it might be you.  So when I
got your voicemail, I just called back right away."

Had he almost said he was *hoping* it would be me?!

"Well, good, I'm glad you did.  Did you still want to get lunch?"

"That sounds great.  Where should we meet?"

"Hmm...How about Ruby Tuesday?" I suggested.

"Sounds good to me.  What time?" Clay asked.

"Oh, no, buddy.  I already made one decision today.  That's already more
than I can usually make!" I jokingly told him.

"Haha, ok then.  How does noon sound?"

"Good deal.  See ya then!" I told him before hanging up and turning off the
phone.

I did some quick mental calculations and figured I had about an hour to get
ready.  This turned out to be more of a chore than I had anticipated.  After
going through my outfits four times, and after three frantic phone calls to
Lee, I decided on a navy blue button-down shirt from Express for Men over a
white short-sleeved shirt and khakis from The Gap.  After giving myself a
quick once-over in the mirror, I decided it was time to go.  I was halfway
out the door when I decided to do one last thing.  I went back inside and
put on a little bit of my favorite cologne, Dolce and Gabbana for Men.
There.  Now I was ready.

I pulled up to Ruby Tuesday at few minutes early, so I went ahead and got us
a table.  I had no sooner sat down than Clay arrived.  I stood up and stuck
out my hand for him to shake.  He surprised me by grabbing me into a quick
hug.  Sigh...this was already the best date of my life.

"Sorry if I was running a little late," Clay said as we sat down.

"No, not at all," I said, "I was just a little bit early, and I had just
gotten here.  In fact, I'm one of those perpetually early people.  If I'm
five minutes early to somewhere, I feel like I'm running late."

"Me too!" Clay said.  "I thought I was the only person that felt like that.
Maybe it's a teacher thing," he joked.

"Well, if it is, then some of my co-workers are in the wrong profession," I
said, laughing.

The waitress came to take our orders.  I had a club sandwich and fries,
while Clay ordered the salad bar.

"I have to watch what I eat now that I'm famous," he said with a wink.  That
damn wink, it got me every time.

"Oh please.  You look great to me.  Uh, I mean..."

"Thanks," he said, smiling.  He then went to go fill his plate at the salad
bar, while I sat and tried to get over the embarrassment of what I had just
said.

When he came back, the conversation flowed freely, on many different
subjects, from education (something we both obviously had a vested interest
in) to politics to dating.

"So how's Carmen?" I asked, hoping to at least put to rest those rumors that
the two of them hooked up while they were on American Idol.

"She seems to be doing well.  Kimberley Locke and I went to her high school
graduation just last weekend.  We met her whole family, a lot of her
friends, and her boyfriend," he told me.

"Wait, but I thought *you* were her boyfriend.  At least, that's what the
papers were saying.  And the cameras showed you two being awfully close."
My hopes were up.

"Oh, no, that's not it at all.  Carmen is the sweetest girl in the world,
and I love her to death.  But things between her and I would never work.
She's, uh...she's not my type," he said, suddenly becoming very interested in
his empty plate.

"I understand," I said.  Well, at least I *hoped* I understood.

He looked back up at me.  "I actually haven't been in a relationship since I
was sixteen.  I guess I'm just looking for that special...someone.  And when I
find...that person...I'll know.  And I haven't...yet."

Interesting, I thought.  He's playing the pronoun game.

I looked him right in the eyes and said, "I completely understand.  I'm the
same way."

"Really?" he asked.

"Yes.  It's been over 2 years since my last real relationship.  I've had
flings here and there since then, but I decided I didn't want that.  I want
to find that one guy who will make me happy for the rest of my life."

"Guy?  So you're..."

"Gay?  Yeah.  Funny, I usually kinda keep that little secret until I really
know a person.  I've lost too many friends because of it.  But I guess I
just felt comfortable enough to share it with you."

"Well, I'm glad you did.  That makes me feel good," he said, with a genuine
smile.  "So then that guy you were with at the store last night..."

"Oh, Lee.  No, he's not my boyfriend.  He's actually one of those flings I
was telling you about.  We casually dated for about a month.  It was great
while it lasted, but then we both realized we were looking for something
more.  We thought for a while that we had found it in each other, but we
figured out that the combination of fantastic sex and great friendship was
just that.  Not a substitute for love, and certainly not love itself.  I'm
sorry, too much information?"  I asked, suddenly realizing what I had just
said.

"No, it's ok, really," he said.  He had a look on his face that seemed like
there was something he wanted to say.  I waited for him to say it, hoping it
would be something I wanted to hear.  When he finally opened his mouth to
speak...

"And here's your check.  I hope you enjoyed your meal at Ruby Tuesday.
Thank you and come again."  The waitress interrupted us.  Yeah, her tip just
got significantly smaller.

Clay kind of shook his head and reached for the check.  "I've got it," he
said.

"Are you sure?  We can ask her to split it if you like," I offered.

"No, no, it was my pleasure," he said, again with that gorgeous smile.

He paid the bill and we walked outside.  Coincidentally, he had parked right
next to me.

"Well, I had fun," I said, looking up at him.

"Me too."

We made small talk for a little while, with me leaning against my car door
and Clay looking down at the ground, shuffling his feet.  After that, there
wasn't much more to say, but neither of us seemed to want to leave.  We just
kinda stood there, staring at each other and smiling.

"Well," I said, breaking the silence, "I gotta get going."

"Yeah, me too," Clay said.

He reached out his arms and wrapped me in a big hug.  This hug lasted quite
a bit longer than the one he had given me when he got to the restaurant.
His hands rubbed my back gently, and I sighed.  I gave him one last squeeze
and pulled away.

"Talk to you later, maybe," I said.

"Definitely," he said with a mischievous grin.

I got into my car and started to drive home.  By the time I had gotten the
silly grin off of my face, I was pulling into my apartment complex parking
lot.  I pulled out my cell phone to call Lee.  "Crap, I forgot to turn it
back on when I left!" I thought.  I turned it on and saw that I had a
voicemail message.  I figured it was Lee, calling to get the juicy details.
After all, it was 2:30 - normal lunches don't last half as long as my lunch
with Clay had lasted.

"Randy, it's Clay.  I know I just pulled out of the restaurant parking lot,
but...it's officially `later,' so I thought I'd call and say that I had a
wonderful time at lunch, and I was hoping we could do it again soon.
Anyway, if you're interested, call me and let me know when you're free.
Hope to talk to you soon.  Bye."

It's a good thing I wasn't in traffic when I heard his message, because I
would have gotten into an accident for sure.  This thing between Clay and I,
whatever it was, had definite possibilities.

***

Well, that's it for Chapter 2!  I hope you enjoyed it!  Thanks to those of
you who sent feedback on the first chapter - I really appreciate it!  Same
goes for this chapter - comments/suggestions, send to
musicteacher2002@hotmail.com

Thanks a bunch to Lee for editing this chapter.  He's been such a great
friend, I'm rewarding him with a hookup for his character!  Remember, the
choices are Simon Cowell, Jim Verarros (Season 1), and Ryan Seacrest, or
feel free to write in a vote of your own!  Again, send votes to
musicteacher2002@hotmail.com