Shouldn’t dating be harder? Shouldn’t we be trying to impress each other or something? Maybe all the dates I’ve had in the past were such duds because they weren’t Gayle?
Good lord, that’s a sappy thought.
“Do you wanna stay in for dinner?”
“What did you have in mind?”
“I could order us some take-out? How does pizza sound?”
I smile, raising my brow. “Only if you order the pineapple pepperoni pizza that had you moaning in my ear the other night.”
Gayle sputters, his face going bright red. “Oh my gods! You can’t justsaythat, Rodney!”
I raise my hands, pretending to be completely innocent. “I simply want to try a piece of this divine pizza, Gayle. No ulterior motives, none whatsoever.”
“What do you want on your pizza?” Gayle asks, completely ignoring my innocent act which only makes me chuckle harder.
I stand up and move around the couch, leaning down so I can look at Gayle’s phone as he puts in an order. “Oh,” I say, pointing at something on the menu. “Can you get that veggie pizza for me? But instead of red sauce, can you see if they’ll make it with their barbeque sauce? That sounds amazing.”
“You’re weird,” Gayle says, tilting his head back and looking at me. “I like it.”
I try to act smooth but fall flat. Literally. My hand slips off the couch and I lose my balance, ending up on the floor behind the couch. Awesome.
“Shit. Are you okay?”
“Fine! Just fine! Don’t look down here! I’ll just stay here while we wait for the pizza.”
I can hear Gayle giggle again and I wonder if he covered his mouth or not. Gayle makes the call, ordering our pizza before turning his television on.
“I have a question,” I say, walking around the couch. I tighten my fingers around my sleeves, suddenly feeling nervous. I could just sit on the couch but gods, it’s a big couch. My instincts aregoing a bit frayed on the end, begging me to ask the question I want to ask even if it’s kinda scary. “And feel free to say no.”
“Okay,” Gayle says slowly. “Ask away.”
“Do you have some blankets I can use to make a nest on your couch?”
I’m not sure what I was expecting but the look of absolute delight on Gayle’s face wasn’t it. He stands up right away, grabbing my sleeve and pulling me towards a closet down the hallway where the bathroom is.
“You nest?”
“Yeah,” I say, rubbing the back of my neck with my free hand. “It’s a wholethingfor me. Do you nest too? I know some alphas do.”
“I don’t,” Gayle says, throwing open the closet and showing me a stack of soft blankets. I take the one off the top, smelling it. It smells new. Normally, the more worn out the better, but I can make this work. I take a few from the stack, handing them over to Gayle. “I’ve never really had the desire to nest but Calloway is an omega and he’s just starting to get the itch.”
“That’s so cute,” I say right away. “Gods, I remember my first couple nests. They were fucking awful. I used wet towels,” I say, wrinkling my nose. “Why the hell did baby Rodney think that would work?”
“You’re adorable when you wrinkle your nose like that,” Gayle says before putting a hand over his mouth. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”
“Oh my gods,” I say, bringing the blankets back into the living room. “This is payback, Gayle! Finally, you know what it’s like to fuck up your mute button.”
Gayle rolls his eyes at me, the gesture so endearing it takes all of my will power not to pinch his adorably soft cheeks.
I get to work, directing Gayle as I need. Pillows get put on either side of the couch so we’ll have soft cushions to lean on anduse as arm rests, then the blankets go down. If I was at home, I’d probably make this nest on the floor so we could properly lie down together but this is a first date and I’d rather not give in to temptation to get horizontal with Gayle. Not yet anyway.
The final piece is the blanket that seems the most well loved. That will go over our laps once we get onto the couch properly. I stand back, admiring my work. It’s not perfect because it doesn’t have any of our clothes in it, but it’s good nonetheless.
Someday, I think I’d like to make Gayle a proper nest. I want to make one that smells like the both of us. That makes me wonder--
“Do you still go into rut?”
