Page 71 of Rough

I tried to imaging being a man and not wearing underwear. It was fascinating and disgusting at the same time. I imagined carrying a hot dog in my pants all day and gagged at the thought.

I pushed my plate to the side. “That’s funny. And, no one saw you?”

He shrugged. “If they did, they didn’t say anything.”

“Well, like I said earlier. I like both your choices. You look nice.”

“Thank you, so do you.”

I smiled. “Thank you.”

“Did you cut your hair?”

You noticed!

“Oh no. Not really. Marcus trimmed the tips just a little. Just kind of straightened things up.”

He picked through his French fries. “I really like it. Really like it”

“Thank you.”

I had already spent the evening admiring him, but I did so just a little more. I tilted my head to the side and studied his handsome face. The transformation that he’d made was remarkable, and I found it difficult not to stare. When his eyes met mine, I looked away and hoped he had no idea how long I’d been sitting there gawking.

A small part of me worried that something drastic would happen and ruin everything, but I tried to keep from thinking about it. In life, I was naturally an optimist. With men, however, pessimism seemed to envelop my thoughts entirely.

He picked up a French fry and bit off the end. “You want to go to a movie?”

“If you do.”

“I really don’t care.”

I shrugged. “Me neither.”

I hadn’t been to a movie in forever. It sounded fun, but I really didn’t want to spend the majority of the night staring at a screen and not talking to him. I was enjoying myself.

“What do you want to do?” he asked.

I wanted to keep doing what we were doing. “I don’t care. You?”

“Just spend it with you, really.” He dropped the fry onto his plate. “We can do whatever.”

“If you weren’t with me what would you be doing?”

“Be at the shop drinking beers. Or riding somewhere with some of the fellas.”

“What do you normally do on dates?”

He laughed. “I haven’t been on a date since I was in high school.”

I was flattered, at least for a minute. He was far too handsome to be celibate. “You don’t go on dates?”

“I haven’t in a long time, no.”

“But you’ve had girlfriends, right?”

“Well, not really.”

He picked up another French fry and played with it for a minute.