Page 32 of Swim Crush

“What is all this?” he asked, approaching me. “You weren’t locked in, were you?”

I shook my head, took a deep breath for courage and grabbed his hand. He didn’t pull away, so I squeezed and led him towards the table.

“This is all for you, Hayden. If you take a seat, I think your place card will reveal what you need to know.”

“My place card?”

I pulled the chair out from the table and waited for him to sit. While I made my way around the table, he must’ve read it because he asked, “When did you know?”

“That you bite pillows?” I took my seat, grabbing the napkin to put on my lap.

“I’m assuming it had something to do with Danny finding my phone?”

“See, you’re a smart boy.” I winked. “And yes. I messaged you on Grindr and the phone went off in the locker room.”

“You’ve known for…almost a month?! I should’ve known. All those fucking flirty glances. Every time I looked at you, you were looking at me.”

“Trust me, I noticed too, and we were connecting in real life and on Grindr, so don’t get mad at me for liking it. I was hypnotized that you could be that dirty. You’re usually so reserved.”

“Well”–he took a sip of his water–“maybe I’m saving it for the bedroom?”

“I bet you are,” I said, a huge smile plastered on my face. “And you’re not really saving anything. I’ve seen practically every part of you.”

“I can’t believe you did all this for me,” Hayden said, gesturing to the pool.

“It’s like I knew you’d appreciate a grand gesture. You’re kind of a romantic, you know?”

“I…am aware. How did you know I liked this place?”

He was referring to the meal from Gino’s currently plated in front of him. I shrugged. “When I was at your house for New Year’s, I saw the paper bags by the recycling. I figured I’d give it a shot.”

“Well, your observational skills paid off. It’s my favorite place.”

I screamed a huge congratulations to myself inside my head and flashed a smile. “It’s really good. I didn’t happen to guess your favorite dish, did I?”

Hayden shook his head. “I like the Italian sampler, but this is up there,” he said, before taking another bite. “Wait a minute, what about my boyfriend?”

“Your fake boyfriend?”

Hayden smiled. “I suppose that was a little transparent. I’m not a good liar.”

“To be fair, I had no idea…for a long time. But once I knew it was you, I didn’t think you’d be messaging me on Grindr and leaving me notes if you had a boyfriend.”

Hayden nodded, then asked, “What did you order?”

“Cheese ravioli,” I answered. “I like my pasta stuffed.”

“Like you like your men.”

“Hopefully.”

The tension was thick. Now that it was all on the table, it seemed nothing was off limits.

“Are we going for a swim later?” Hayden asked.

“We can, but I didn’t bring a Speedo.”

“There’s some in the locker room,” Hayden suggested.