Why I'd Rather Be Wrong

Chapter 9, Part 2: A Date

Jaze D'Angelo

     I still can't believe I was able to keep up on staying at someone else's house without feeling embarrassed, even a little, I mean - not anymore. It's like I'm already comfortable about him, and I see that as a good thing though, but I don't know, something just bothers me, maybe it's the guilt that I am not yet coming back to the place I once treated as my safe space with the persons that actually cared for me. I'm thinking about going there later, at least tell them that I'm okay and stuff, that I'm no longer mad about them and I just need some time. I don't care if they treat me differently from now on, no worries, I'm just gonna make amends with them even though this is totally against my will but I freaking have to. For I could no longer be bothered by it.

     My relationship with Chase is thriving deeper day by day, slowly but continuously progressing. I don't even know if he's the one that's gonna court me or is it gonna be me because I don't even know if that's still necessary. I mean, we're both guys so it's either I or him that would initiate asking for us to be official. I feel like I don't have the guts to do that so I guess I'm gonna leave it up to him. I'm a natural-born coward and yet I'm making it even worse because I am not facing it, good job, Jaze, good job.

     I just went out of the shower in his guest bedroom and I guess I'm just gonna use this room from now on. I haven't really packed so many clothes, it's just a few t-shirts and trousers. I haven't brought my work attire so I guess I have to go back there and get it when Dylan messages me today. We're going shopping and I'm going to buy a few clothes so that I won't be doing my laundry every day here just so I could have something to wear because I don't even know how long I am going to be here. I also don't feel like borrowing clothes from him, plus, our size difference is really enormous.

     For a moment, I just remembered my family in Seattle, mom hasn't called me for a while now, I'm utterly worried but I hope they're all fine. I don't even know if I could tell them what I just discovered about myself because I don't know how they would react. Guess I'm gonna need more time to prepare myself for what could happen if I ever did tell them who I am. It's gonna be tough, some part of me thinks that their reaction could be the same as how my friends did, but all they need is time, I know that they'll still accept me, they're my family, they love me.

     I glanced outside the window, and I was surprised, the road is no longer covered with snow. Winter's already over, thankfully. I love winter but only for a few days after arriving, when it's still around after a couple of days, I'm already starting to hate it, I'm getting sick of the cold weather.

     His guest room is pretty nice, it's like ten times better than my own room, to be honest. A king-size bed with a canopy, a study corner, a bookshelf that has the exact same books as the bookshelf from downstairs, and a minibar at the corner. I opened it and grabbed something to drink, I don't know but I just felt like grabbing a can of root beer, bye-bye abs. I guess I'm gonna invite him to go to the gym later since we're both enrolled at the same gym anyways. I still can't forget how embarrassing I was when the first time we met each other, jeez, I feel like at some certain points he's sometimes recalling that moment in his mind, and that just cringes me out even more.

     "Are you done yet?" he spoke from the other side of the door of this guest bedroom of his. 

     I am still in my towel while rummaging through the clothes in my bag, still finding something nice to wear for today. "I'll be there in a second!" I yelled as a reply so that he could comprehend what I have said.

     I guess I'm gonna wear my all-time favorite, my black plaid button-down shirt, a white t-shirt underneath, and a pair of black trousers. The same attire that I wore on our 'first date' since I don't have any other choice, the other ones are literally the type of clothes that are only home appropriate. I don't wanna be seen by people wearing that with this billionaire. Yeah, I admit, this is actually not that nice but it's way better than the other ones. I have already worn my outfit for the day and I just looked at myself in the gigantic mirror attached to the wall. I'm actually pulling it off, as always.

     "I'm all -" I opened the door and suddenly paused as I saw him standing right there, right in front of the guest bedroom, patiently waiting for me while leaning back against the wall behind him in the hallway. Our eyes struck each other and he looked at me from head to toe. "- done..." I finished my sentence. "Uhh - what's up?" confused, I asked while raising my eyebrows.

     "I'm starting to like that outfit of yours, you look better in it every time," he said while he stroked his chin back and forth with his index and thumb. He already walked away "But I bet you look better without it," he murmured as he already turned to the corner leading to the staircase.

     I just smirked after he left, and yeah, that actually caught me off guard but it also gave me a sudden thrill. You wanna play games like that, huh, it's on, Chase, bring it on.

     I closed the door and followed him, I walked down a few steps then rested my hands on the handrail of the staircase while staring at the chandelier up above. "What happens to a chandelier if it falls?" I asked like I was totally clueless.

     He glanced at me and shrugged his shoulders "They...break?" he replied, and his face was kind of like asking me the question: Why do you even have to ask that stupid question? But I knew I just had to.

     "Oh, I guess I'm pretty lucky I wasn't one. Because I've already fallen for you."

     He chuckled and I saw him hide his face discreetly "Okay, Mr. Angelo," he replied, sarcastically yet seductively, I must say.

     "Angelo? Where's the D?" I asked, as it really sounded weird.

     "Oh, the D? Don't worry, I might give it to you later," he replied and then winked as if it truly meant something but my poor little mind was unable to comprehend. "Let's go now, we might get stuck in traffic."

     We're already at the mall, it's called Cherry Creek, never actually been here before, but it looks so good though. We parked at the front of the mall in which the parking lot is located, he parked his beloved Bugatti Veyron along the line of parked cars that are also absolutely classy.

     "We're just going shopping, right?"

     "Yeah, and we're gonna go grab some pizza for lunch, just that, why'd you ask?" he replied.

     "Nothin'."

     We entered the mall, and at the top of the door entrance, there's the name of the mall, Cherry Creek, with several glass doors that are pushed to be open. The inside is just what a typical mall would look like, but this one has a pretty calm atmosphere. We just walked around, trying to find something that would catch our attention. He's just walking along with me and he's actually pretty quiet, we don't actually talk that much which is fine for the both of us, I guess.

     "What are we buying?" he asked me.

     "We? I'm paying for myself, Don Queso," I said sarcastically.

     He suddenly stopped "What did you just call me?" he asked, grinning but visibly confused.

     "Don Queso. Don because you're an industrious, wealthy, and successful man. And Queso because Chase kinda sounds like cheese, I just translated it into Spanish," I replied.

     "That's ridiculous," he said, laughing while he shook his head. "Habla Español, eh? Qué casualidad, mi amor," he spoke and his accent immediately switched. ("You speak Spanish, huh? What a coincidence, my love.")

     "Mi amor your face, dumbass," I replied while avoiding gazing upon him because I know for sure that I'm already blushing.

     "Yeah, and you can call me Papi," he said then temptingly bit his gorgeous lips. It just feels so weird that we're starting to normalize this affection and sort of s****l tension between us.

     "Whatever you say, Don Queso," I said. I glanced upon a hoodie that I like in a particular store "I'm just gonna check something in that store, are you gonna come with me?"

     "Yeah, sure, mi amor," he said and I just facepalmed, as I feel like there's nothing I could do with that anymore, he's already into calling me that.

     Don Queso isn't pretty embarrassing enough so I guess I'm just gonna call him Papi, just like what he told me so. So that people would actually think that he's some sort of sugar daddy of mine or my literal father too. For a moment, I don't care about how people perceive me anymore, which is actually a good thing because I no longer have to restrict myself from such stuff just for the sake of what people tell and think.

     We entered the store, upon entering the saleslady approached us and courageously made eye contact with me "Good day, sir, welcome to our store, what can I help you with?"

     "Hello, how much is this?" I asked then approached the black and white hoodie that caught my heart to show it to the saleslady. I just felt like buying a new hoodie, my old ones are already so tight when I wear them and I haven't actually brought one.

     "Oh, that one sir? That's $37.99, sir, it's the only available color too," she said.

     "It's fine, I like the color though. Anyways, I'm having it."

     "Are you having anything else, sir?" she asked.

     "I think that's it."

     "Okay, sir, I'll be right back, please take a seat first," she said then already left.

     We just sat on the stool and wandered our eyes around, looking for something else.

     "Aren't you gonna buy something for yourself, Papi?" I mockingly asked.

     His eyes suddenly widened "Ooh, hot, you deserve some lashing, mi amor," he clenched his teeth while he smiled wide-open. There he goes again, with the s****l stuff. I'm not gonna lie, I actually kinda like it. I never thought that I could be this psyched towards a man. I kind of regret calling him that, as that just made him feel full of himself.

     "Here's your brand new hoodie sir, thank you, hoping to see you again soon," the saleslady said after she approached us and gave me the bag in which my new hoodie is put.

     "Thank you too, have a good one," I replied, Chase just raised both of his eyebrows as he glanced at the saleslady, his own way of acknowledging his farewell.

     We're walking around the mall again, he's been looking at every store we pass by as if he's actually looking for something, that's why I had the urge to ask.

     "Are you looking for something? Tell me, I might have seen it," I said.

     We stopped walking and he just scratched his nape "Yeah, I'm actually looking for the pizza place here that my friend told me, can't seem to find it anywhere, I'm also starting to get hungry. What about you? Aren't you hungry yet?"

     "I think I saw that one, right after we entered, and yeah, I could already feel my stomach rumbling, sooner it later it might already curse me, if it could it would," I said then laughed, I sounded a bit like my mom, ugh, how I miss her and my family.

     "Yeah, the same exaggeration goes for me. Anyways, go ahead, lead the way, I don't even know which side of the mall it's located," he said then we already continued walking and went through the path we took before as that's where I noticed that pizza place.

     I just noticed how fancy this mall is, it only has two floors yet it has an elevator, a glass elevator, those transparent elevators that looks like a giant capsule. It's just so cool, it's fascinating to look at. If I was a kid, I could imagine myself going up and down in that just because I like it, for no valuable reason at all. I can't really remember anything about my childhood now, but I could recall something, the farthest memory that I could remember, is that I was in a hospital because I kind of like broke some part of my body, and that's it, I really don't know why, but I'm longing to rediscover it. I guess I'm also gonna question my mom about this, see if she knows something because I know for sure that what's happening to me is really unnatural.

     "There it is," I said then pointed at the store called Rise Pies Handcrafted Pizza, under the escalator. We walked towards it and stopped right in front of the door.

     "So this is it, well, I could already smell the goodness from here, let's go, before your tummy curses the hell of out you."

     We already finished eating, overall it was so good, I'm so full right now because we literally shared a whole large pizza. I really need to go to the gym later or else I'm literally gonna gain so much weight as I also have a relatively slow metabolism. The place is so admirable, their service is very satisfying and their workers are very friendly, I mean, not excessively but it's all good, especially the food.

     "What are we gonna do after this?" I asked.

     "Walk around some more, I might go grocery shopping now too," he replied while he's checking on his phone that's on the table.

     "Only that? You don't have anything else planned for later? Y'know, taking me somewhere, things like that?"

     He squinted one eye on me, and sheesh, why does he look so sexy in every way possible? "Just leave it to me, no more questions, mi amor," he said.

     "Mkay, whatever you say, Papi."

     He gazed to his side, hiding his face away from my sight. That's when I had this gut feeling that it's already hitting him, by calling him that. I don't wanna fast forward but I feel like tonight's gonna be a long night, yeah, I'm already calling it. He didn't want me to see his face because his face could be as red as a tomato already and that makes him feel embarrassed. 

     "Uh - can we...go now?" he asked while still hiding his face from me.

     "Not until I haven't seen your face, Papi," I replied in a deep, persuasive, and sexy manner.

     He then gazed upon me and grinned excessively "Congrats, you turned me on, are you proud of yourself now?" he said and I just smiled at him. "Let's go."

     After leaving the pizza place, Chase decided to go grocery shopping for his needs. Obviously, I had no choice but to tag along, even though I don't know anything about grocery shopping. I feel like I'm that type of person that can be easily fooled in particular places like this because I don't really give a damn. Like, I'm just gonna have what I wanna have, and that's that, nothing else. No more further inspection like everybody else does because I don't even know how to do that. I don't even pay attention to the prices too, even though I ain't as rich as this man that I'm currently with, I just don't, I don't know why. We've been looking around the aisles and he just separated from me for a second but I just didn't mind because I wanna wander around for a little bit, even though I'm certain that I won't be buying anything, I just wanna have a look. I've been away from him for a minute or two and I've already decided to find him and stick with him. After a couple of seconds, I found him at the dairies section, where he's talking to an elderly woman.

     I approached him "Hey, Papi, where have you been?" I asked, and they both looked at me.

     "Oh! You have a son already?" surprised, she asked while her eyes looked at the both of us back and forth. "Aye Dios mio, what a handsome child, just like you," she said, then already started to walk away while strolling her cart full of greens. "Thank you for helping me again, young man," she said while already turning her back on us. I looked at him and he's just smiling while watching the elderly woman walk away, I wonder what happened.

     I poke his side with my elbow "Hey. What happened when I was gone?"

     "Nah, I just helped her grab something from the upper shelf. Helping her was just so wholesome, it feels so good... And by the way, look what you've done, she actually thought that you were my son, jeez," he said, and from the way, he glared at me, he was kind of annoyed but I could tell that he actually kinda liked that too.

     "Just take that as a compliment, Papi, we kinda look like each other, so I guess that's how other people perceive us, that you're actually my daddy," I said as I wrapped my arms around his neck from behind.

     He removed my arms wrapped around him "Yeah, if they actually thought that you were my son, and they saw us kiss, wouldn't that be so weird?" he asked.

     "You're actually very good at telling me to kiss you without actually telling me to kiss you," I replied along with a wink. "Don't worry, Papi, I'll give you plenty of kisses later."

     Who knows, maybe more than kisses too.