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“Nah.” Garrick stretched as Rain headed the car toward downtown Bend. “You’re right. This isn’t a big deal to anyone other than me. And I’m making too much of it. It’s hard, letting go of all the messages in my brain saying real guys don’t have trouble getting it up.”
“Real guys.” Rain snorted. “You know as well as me that that’s a toxic myth. And you’re talking to the guy wearing purple lace underwear. Fuck real-men-don’t messages. Life’s more fun when you stop caring about that shit.”
“Truth. And now my brain is stuck on visions of your underwear.”
“Play your cards right and I’ll show you.” Waiting for a red light, Rain gave him a wink. After a few days in regulation forest service clothes, showering and putting on some of his favorites had felt so good, made even better knowing Garrick would appreciate his efforts. He’d grabbed this particular pair already anticipating the heat in Garrick’s eyes. And since Garrick seemed to have a thing for his hair, he’d pulled only half of it up, leaving most of it spilling down over the shoulders of his silver sweater. He’d added boots and skinny black jeans, a decision he was already regretting as the tightness combined with Garrick’s admiring looks had him wiggling around more than was probably socially acceptable. But like he’d told Garrick, fuck acceptable. He was determined to have a good time with this unexpected date night.
The restaurant Garrick had picked had a discreet rainbow sticker in the window next to their menu, and the atmosphere was the sort of sophisticated-yet-quirky that Rain really dug with a mixed adult crowd—lots of friend groups and various pairings likely on dates. The interior was long and narrow with lots of wood and metal details, but the server led them to a table on the expansive back patio where they had more room for Garrick’s chair and more fun people watching for Rain. Cocktails in a huge variety of house specials came in mini mason jars and the menu was full of dishes meant to be shared. And as promised, the menu was about equally divided between imaginative vegetarian fare and bacon-infused everything else. They ordered zucchini fries as an appetizer and were discussing what else to split when two tall, buff guys stopped in front of their table.
“Garrick, my man!” The older, bigger one looked like an escapee from a motorcycle gang, while the younger one wasn’t that much taller than Rain but ripped in a way that implied he could take almost anyone in a fight. And all the muscles and confidence undoubtedly meant these were more of Garrick’s smoke jumper friends.
“Linc.” Garrick nodded at the bigger guy. “And Jacob. This is Rain.”
“Hi.” Now this was suddenly more interesting because this was the pair that Garrick had mentioned a few times, the one he’d tried to use jealousy on to force them to admit their feelings. And Rain was acutely aware of their twin scrutiny on him, his hair going all itchy on the back of his neck and his sweater seeming to shrink to corset tight. He’d lectured Garrick about telling societal expectations to go fuck themselves, but it was easier said than done, especially when these were friends whose opinion Garrick valued.
“You owe me a twenty.” Jacob bumped Linc’s arm before turning toward Garrick. “We’ve been worried about you, dude. But my theory for your lack of texts was that you were...occupied.”
“Guilty. And sorry. I’ve been a crap friend to everyone. Didn’t want to bug you—”
“It’s not bugging. We like helping you.” Nodding enthusiastically, Jacob rested a hand on Garrick’s shoulder. Rain resisted the urge to flick it away. Barely.
“Yeah, whatever you need,” Linc added.
Garrick sighed, and Rain felt his frustration low in his own gut. Had to be tough, the push-pull between friends wanting to help and him wanting a return to a normal that might not be coming.
“I know. And it’s appreciated.” Garrick managed a smile more genuine than the one Rain might have. “Anyway, I ended up with this dog. Big black rottie mix. I’m not sure how she does with other dogs, but she should meet your mutts at some point.”
“Absolutely.”
“We’ll have you over soon.” Jacob’s voice, like Linc’s, was almost but not quite too cheerful. “And later in the month we’re having a thing for my birthday. Family. Friends. Grilling. My mom’s making chocolate cake. You can bring your...new friend too.”
“Sure. I’ll see what our schedule is like.” Garrick smoothly changed the subject into a brief discussion of his dispatcher work and Rain’s new job before his friends had to move to let a server by and used that excuse as a reason to leave them to their dinner.
“You should go to the party,” Rain urged once they had moved on. “Even if you don’t want to take me, it would be good for you to see more of your friends.”
