Only in His Dreams

Chapter 6-1

Chapter 6

“I didn’t mean for you to drive to the harbor,” Darrell protested the next morning. He sat in the passenger seat of Travis’s sedan watching the man take a bite of his Egg McMuffin. They’d just stopped at McDonald’s after first stopping at Travis’s house in Glendale for an overnight bag.

Without even having to broach the subject, he’d quickly noted Travis had packed the bag with condoms and lube, too. Which, Darrell admitted, put him in a very good mood.

“I don’t mind,” Travis assured him. He smiled briefly and returned his gaze to the freeway.

After their little hallway romp, he’d let Travis go to sleep in the spare room, unsure if he should simply ask the man to share his bed for the night. To sleep only, of course. With his past casual relationships the subject of staying over never came up. Judging by the overnight bag and necessary supplies, Travis intended to stay over again that night, and Darrell had fully intended to ask him to, if he hadn’t decided that on his own.

Darrell finished his own breakfast sandwich and stuffed the wrapper in the paper sack. The sky was slightly overcast, but his friend who owned the boat advised him that wouldn’t be an issue for their harbor cruise when Darrell called him that morning.

“Ever been on one of these?”

“Alan and I went whale watching once a few years ago. I did pretty well, but Alan ended up puking all over one of the crewmen of the boat. They weren’t amused.” Travis chuckled.

Darrell laughed, too, though he couldn’t entirely squelch a bit of jealousy that sparked at the mention of Alan. He knew Travis’s former lover was gone and all, but from the few times the man had mentioned him it seemed clear theirs had been a great love. Darrell had never had that.

“How about you? I’m guessing with a friend owning the boat, you’ve been out a lot.”

“Not as much as I once did, but yeah, I used to. Casper and I were once friends with benefits,” Darrell admitted.

Travis shot him a sharp look. “The boat owner?”

“Yeah. His dad owned the boat before him. He bought it from his dad when his dad decided to sell the business. We were never serious or anything. Casper is bisexual and I think pretty much used me to experiment with.” Darrell shrugged. “Anyway all that has long been over.”

“Okay.” Travis frowned a bit, but kept his eyes on the road ahead of him. His body had gone a bit rigid as well.

“Something wrong?”

“No. Not really.”

Darrell watched him silently for a bit. “Yeah, there is. What?”

“Just didn’t realize this guy was a former boyfriend.”

“Casper was never my boyfriend. I told you, just friends with a few benefits. Nothing major. Blow jobs. We never had full sex.”

He directed Travis to the harbor where Casper docked his boat, and he pulled into the parking lot and parked the Honda.

The sky was still partly cloudy, but the air had warmed up some. They grabbed windbreakers out of the trunk and headed down to the landing where Casper stood waiting for them.

Casper was a six foot four African American man who’d played high school football. Like Darrell, Casper hadn’t come out as gay until college. Though they’d been friendly, they’d never had enough in common to become a couple and had eventually decided they were better off being friends sans benefits.

Up until the idea came to Darrell for the harbor cruise he hadn’t actually seen Casper for several months.

Darrell noticed immediately the way Casper’s gaze swept over Travis with obvious interest. His gut twisted. He hadn’t given much thought to Casper being attracted to Travis. He guessed he should have because the man was gorgeous.

“Hey, Darrell, how are you doing?” Casper smiled and patted Darrell playfully on the shoulder. “This must be Travis. Darrell spoke very highly of you, Travis. I’m Casper.”

“Nice to meet you.” Travis shook his hand.

“Well, come on, the boat’s ready if you are.” Casper led them through a gate and down a steep wooden walkway to where his boat, Barracuda, was docked.

While Travis boarded first, Casper pulled Darrell aside. “I packed a picnic lunch for you just like you asked. It’s in the galley. Once I get out of the harbor and on to the open sea, I’ll make sure to leave you two alone.”

Feeling much better, Darrell smiled. “Thanks, man, I owe you big time.”

“If things don’t work out between you and him, I want his number.”

Darrell opened his mouth to say, “Fat chance,” but thought better of it and just shrugged. He followed Travis on to the boat.