The Attraction Of David

Chapter 17

Lucas Stanley: ‘I'm tired of this. Can we meet, please?

Lucas Stanley: ‘I wish that you would let me explain it at least.’

Lucas Stanley: ‘Meet with me, David. This is tiring.’

My mind reeled in the messages on my phone. I felt awful, but also furious. It felt like the more I tried to deter it, the more bothered I become, and it was a vicious cycle. The stalling was eating me up, and I knew I couldn’t keep it to myself anymore.

I sighed. Stan’s messages sounded like he was grasping at straws. He called me a damned manchild, and here I was, hating it but acting like one. Something had to be done on my end. It wasn't like I could just keep on ignoring him, and besides, it was hard for me to do.

David Earl: ‘Alright, let’s talk it out. I’m heading home first, is that okay?"

I sent the message. I thought about it for a long time, and it was not as if this problem would just magically disappear if I would keep on with the act. A minute had passed as I stared blankly, watching the passerby, waiting for his reply. It felt unfair, but I was glad that Stan relentlessly nudged me to talk. I guess that talking was the best way to cut the gordian knot. His reply came in after a couple of minutes.

Lucas Stanley: ‘Can’t you come here now? Please? You can have your dinner here.’

David Earl: ‘Alright.’

The sky was turning the shade of pink and purple as the six in the evening rush of people hammered the streets. It was not a wonderful day, indeed. Someone who royally f****d up was going to meet me, and I knew I was pissed. As if on cue, the resentment I was feeling intensified when I had squeezed myself into the obnoxiously crowded train.

David Earl: ‘Almost there, give me an hour. I just got out of work.’

I had texted Stanley, curbing the impulse to elbow the man who was nudging my right rib since I’ve boarded this stupidly hot and filled train. The long hours of work were exhausting, and my face could almost swap with the man beside me for how sparse the space was. Sending the text was a struggle that I didn’t even try to check the reply when the phone buzzed in between my clammy hands.

Walking to the building was the worst. I was in distress, and the brazen summer heat was a killer on its own. And I concurred that after I exited the elevator to his floor, I was not giddy. It seemed alien to me that I was here in front of the same door where I always had been excited and had not conjured the feeling. How crazy it was that when it had opened, the smile that Stanley had given did not enthrall me.

“Hey, looking dapper,” he beamed, opening the door wide open. “Thanks for being here.”

“Yeah.” I dismissively replied as I entered. Like the typical, he had the liquor - the cardboard cart of beer - to be specific, on the table already. He shuffled in and I sat down on the leathered couch with a sigh.

“What a day,” I said. I dropped my carry briefcase beside me and undid the top button of my dress shirt. "God, it's hot outside."

“Do you want anything? I prepared food,” he offered. “You look tired,” he frowned.

“No, I’m not hungry.” I deadpanned, declining the gesture as it felt like he was greasing my palms to make his way out of this. “Can I?” I peered at him, making it obvious that I’d rather the cheap drink than get along with his charade of trying to appease me.

“You don’t have to ask, get anything you want here.” He chuckled, his dimples, rippling as he did. “Thanks for being here. I thought you’d ignore me again and just leave it all behind.”

“Yeah,” I mumbled as I opened the bottle of beer. Get anything but his honesty, I could’ve quipped that if I wanted. But of course, I knew f*****g better than him. “Care to join me?” I asked.

I felt unease, seeing his damned beautiful smile. f*****g hell was the effect it always triggered within me.

He sat down beside me, grabbed the bottle opener, and opened the beer for himself. He smelled like mint again, and I knew damn well that I liked it. I didn’t understand how I cannot hate the fact that he looked good in everything he wore. God really had his favorites, he was one of them.

He peered at me. “Is this the calm before the storm?” he prodded. “What’s in it for us this evening?”

“Nothing.”

I wanted to square him up. I was not in the best mood for his s**t. I knew he would be good with that mouth of his, so the only thing I could do was ignore the hell out of him until he’s pissed. I looked straight at the mounted television that was turned off after I answered him.

His face was clear in my peripherals and I knew his gaze was focused on my face. I drank fast, that my hand snaked around the second bottle of beer for this evening before I knew it. My breath had relaxed a little, and I yearned to get over this s**t. I knew I was acting like a kid, but I didn’t want to tackle the conversation since if I would open it for him, my mouth might say vile and foolish stuff that may worsen the dilemma. I needed just a moment to compose myself and get a clear head, even though I knew alcohol would not let me have that.

“Such a good show, isn’t it?” He broke the ice with something ridiculous. “Or is black your favorite color?” he looked at the black-led of the screen ahead of us.

I ignored him. The breathing that I tried to slow down was pacing up again, and my heartbeat felt like exploding inside my chest. The impulse to punch him never felt so right. I took another swig and he stood up. I heard him grabbing something from the kitchen, and when he walked back to the living room, he had a chair with him.

Stanley chuckled and sat right in front of me, just on the opposite side of the table. “You agreed we should talk, and then you’re acting like a manchild who thought that we could fix the problem by ignoring it.”

I sighed a heavy one, brown eyes meeting brown eyes. “How about this; why don’t we start with knowing what the problem is?” I quipped.

“I told you, David, he was an ex of mine. He’s leaving the country and wants to spend his last night here in Manila. Isn’t that clear?”

“It’s clear, I have seen it. Too clear, apparently.”

“You’re putting malice into what you’ve seen, that’s the problem.” He took a swig of his beer. “Do we have another problem aside from that?”

“Now you’re turning the tables on me. You’re a clever man.”

“I’m also ingenious, remember?” he teased, making me remember how he damn burned a hole in my pocket for his so-called ingenious act.

“Too ingenious with making excuses, yes. And also a liar. Add insincere bastard, before we forgot,” I spatted out. I took another gulp of the liquid. I wished that the taste could clear the bitterness I had.

“Now we’re talking.” He pulled off a s**t-eating grin. “I am f****d up. Maybe that’s why I met with my ex. I was out of my element when I said yes to him.”

I rolled my eyes in disgust. “What a petty excuse. Come on, Stan. We’re adults. Normal people talk s**t like this through, it’s not like I would bite you if you’d told me that that’s what you’re planning to do. Who the hell am I to stop you? Was it so hard to say? We could’ve talked it out!”

“Yeah, remember, you were the one who plotted to ignore me after that. The absurdity of your retort.”

“Because I am pissed off, alright? I don’t want to deal with s**t when I am overwhelmed. Emergency? Who drinks beer with their exes during an emergency?” I shot back.

“I don’t want to let you know about it. What would you feel if I’d tell you, like, hey I’m meeting up with an ex, that’s why I had canceled our plan to meet up for tonight? Do you get my point?”

“Yeah, right.” I gulped the bottle, relishing the bitterness of the liquid and my tone of voice. I wanted to f*****g punch him more now. “I forgot, it was an emergency you had to attend to from out-of-town. But, hey, not that bad, right?” I derisively chuckled.

His jaw clenched, and I enjoyed seeing it. Now we’re even. “I should’ve not gone there, David.” He huffed.

“Emergency, remember? It was an urgent matter that you had to attend to.” I couldn’t stop myself from snickering at him when I said my words. He looked more pissed than I was. And f**k him if he was pissed.

“Yeah, you’re making a big fuss out of it right now,” he crossed his legs, a sour look covering his face. “You’re starting to piss me off. We'd just passed our third week, and you’re already acting like a bitch.”

I had to grip my hand tightly around the bottle I was holding as the urge to fling it on him was overwhelmingly hard to ignore. “Because you’re being an asshole. Whatever, f**k it, I’m done talking.”

I was livid. If this was what he would do moving forward, it would drive me crazy. f*****g hell, of all the excuses he could’ve chosen, ‘there was an emergency’ was what he had opted for. Even cheap drama skits don’t even use that garbage of an excuse anymore.

“I had been an asshole, I know,” he deadpanned. “But, please don’t ignore me like that, okay?” A loud sigh came out of him, making me stare at his f*****g beautiful face that yet, again, was pulling me out of the right track.

“I honestly am not lenient with the silent treatment, I hate that. Don’t do that, it pisses me off, David.”

“Too much for honesty, really,” I pressed. I was in the mood for an argument. I was so riled that I didn’t care if the way he had asked not for me to ignore him was low and sexy. “You’d been an asshole, yeah, at least that, you’re aware of.”

I took a deep breath and doused my throat down with the liquid, savoring it until the last drop. I thumped the bottle down on the table, averting my gaze from meeting his as I opened another one for myself. I was frazzled with the s**t I had to deal with today. I had a lot of work to do at the office; it was excruciatingly hot the whole day, and the man in front of me just couldn’t simply say sorry.

I was just waiting for it. My heart was soft, and I never will hold him hostage and guilt-trip him for lying when he could simply take it away with a single, five-letter word. f*****g hell, I swallowed my pride for him, hoping to hear that s**t by being here, and he was holding it against me. The audacity.

“You look incredibly hot in your dress shirt,” he murmured. “All I could think about was just peeling that fabric off of you.”

“f**k you,” I spatted out. “The hell is wrong with you? Can you stop with that?” I frowned, hating that he had the temerity to try to entice me out of this ridiculous, stupid conversation.

“Are you jealous?” he asked. Without looking at him, someone smart enough would know the haughtiness and excitement in his tone. “Hmm? Were you?”

“Three weeks, and jealous of an ex, what am I, a teenager? That plot’s for sappy romance books,” I quipped.

It might be because of the third bottle of beer that subdued the anger. It felt like something alleviated the sense of animosity within me.

“You look so f*****g sexy right now. You’re pissed at me, your muscles are bulging because your arms are crossed, and the way you held that cheap bottle of beer. Unbelievable. If you’re so into a fight, why don’t you look at me?”

Look at him? Yeah, right. “You can’t talk me out of this,” I took another chug of beer. “I could’ve enjoyed my time with my colleagues if it wasn’t for you. I had to leave early because you pissed the hell out of me, you know that?”

“But, were you jealous? If not, then look at me and tell me you weren’t. Easy, right?” he taunted. He then chuckled the chuckle that turned up the notch of my fading anger into damned heat.

“Stop chuckling when I’m being serious, I f*****g hate people who do that, it’s not funny, alright?”

“What? Why were you making another scene? I thought we could talk this through. Have you already forgotten that? You said that just, like, twenty minutes ago.” He held his laughter.

“Yeah, obviously I did.” I couldn’t hold it in anymore, so I looked at him. It felt like my dammed neck was itching to face his direction, that even I was getting pissy with myself. “Yes, I kind of was jealous, happy? Did that give you the f*****g rush and made your c**k hard?”

“And now you’re fuming again. You’re already on your third bottle, I guess you’re drunk.” He disregarded my retort.

“I was such a fool for liking you. I should’ve stayed at home, I knew this would happen eventually, just not expecting it to be too early.” I shook my head and looked down at the bottle I was holding, chuckling as I did. “I don’t even know why I’m wasting both our time.”

“So you thought I don’t like you anymore and got rid of you?” he asked incredulously. “Was that it, David?”

“f*****g hell, yes! f**k it, Stanley.”

He stood up, and my eyes had seen the thick bulge that was cradled in his sweatpants. He walked forward, and I held my breath when he kneeled in front of me, placing both his hands on my crossed legs. I got hard; it was hard not to. I didn’t know why as well, but the sensation that had fluxed down my rod was instant.

“I wouldn’t even f*****g text you if I don’t like you, are you crazy?”

“Yes, I am crazy. I hate myself. I was jealous because you had to make a damned excuse when all you had to do was tell me the reason you would be in that place. I told you I will trust you, right? We agreed on that, remember?”

“Because I don’t want to offend you, David. I just... f**k. Okay, I’m not comfortable with it, alright? I didn’t want to let you know because it was weird for me.”

“Why can’t you just apologize? Is sorry a word that’s so hard for you to say? That’s all I need, Stan.”

“I’m sorry, alright?” he whispered, his breath, hitting my nose. “I’m sorry for worrying you. For lying. I’m sincere, and I have never been this sincere with someone for a long time, David. You’re who I want, and don’t ever think about liking me as a foolish thing. This isn’t a waste of time, never say that s**t again. Let’s move past this, is that fine?”

I swallowed hard. His beautiful brown eyes were peering up at me, and I couldn’t get to be mad at him anymore. Every single iota of revulsion with how he acted. All of them were slaked. So fast, so quickly, that even I was so surprised.

“You could’ve said sorry right from the start, and I could’ve forgotten it right away, Lucas. I was jealous, I would admit. I would trust you, I told you, right? We said we would be honest, and I am honest now. Please, don’t do that to me again, I won’t ask for too much. I had been petty because I was disappointed. You will drive me crazy if you'd do that s**t again, I don’t like it, I really don’t.”

“I’m just stalling, David. I’m ashamed to, well, apologize. But I’m sorry.”

“Why would you be ashamed?” I exhaled in disbelief. “All you had to do was own up your mistake, and tell you’re sorry. You just have to acknowledge the thing that had upset me. And I’m sorry, too, Stan. I know I should’ve not let my anger take over my patience. I’m easy to appease and I don’t demand too much for too little.”

“I know. And I’m sorry. I will never do that thing again, I promise.” He c****d his head to the side and quirked his lips. “I’m worried that you might be the kind who throw bottles around and throw punches without a warning, I was kind of scared when you arrived.”

“You think I would stand a chance? You’re damn bigger and taller than me,” I said.

“Yeah, I am. But you look so mad earlier, I was just worried.”

I couldn’t suppress the laugh. I chugged on the beer, feeling drowsy. “You thought so? Do I look like one?” I asked.

“Yes,” he placed both his hands on top of my legs and smoothed the fabric back and forth. “And you were incredibly sexy when you looked pissed. God, you made me so hard just by staring at you.”

“God, you’re crazy. You’re nasty, I can’t keep up with your mouth.”,

“You’re making me crazy, do you know that? How f*****g passionate you are to me, I can’t even think about letting you go at this point. I’m a very lucky asshole for you to like me that much, Jesus Christ, David.”

My heart raced faster, emotions swelling, growing. It was what I yearned to hear; I yearned for those beautiful words, like they were a cadence that had pulled me in deeper to the desire to have this intoxicating, beautiful human being, to like him even more.

“Sorry for calling you Lucas. That was out of nowhere.” I smiled. I ran my hand across his hair, making his eyes close. “Now we’re acting like f*****g crazy men here. We’re being too damned emotional, this is disgusting.”

“Call me Lucas, I prefer it.”

“Stan sounds better.”

“Please, call me whatever you want, David. You don’t know how happy I am, feeling this... this crazy kind of enjoyment, these feelings. Be f*****g open to me whenever you want, I would not get tired of hearing you.”

“You will hate it,” I quipped. “You’ll get tired of it.”

“Try me,” he smiled.

I contemplated for anything good to say as I stared at him, his hands on my legs and his breath, the smell of perfection as I inhaled.

“You’re so good-looking, you know? Life felt so unfair whenever I will stare at you for a long time, goddamn it. It’s, like, god himself made a portrait with his own hands when he had made you, it’s ridiculous. It annoys me.”

He grinned. “Everybody’s beautiful in their own way,” he whispered. He tried to hide the delight he had when I told him how beautiful he was.

I couldn’t suppress the humor when I heard him say that. “Everybody’s beautiful in their own way, but not everyone’s good-looking, mister.” I sighed and finished the bottle of beer I was holding.

“So, you think I’m very good-looking?”

“Yeah,” I answered swiftly and stared down at him. He was chewing on his bottom lip, and I couldn’t help that rush of excitement to once again invade my inebriated senses. “I think you’re very good-looking, but I like you more than that. I want to undress you, see you, all of you.”

“Why don’t you in the bedroom? I got so excited because of that stupid bickering we’ve had.”

He stood up and pulled me with him, and I almost fell with how abrupt it was. “I’m tired, Stan,” I sighed. “Oh, s**t, it feels good, Stan.”

“You’re tired, but it felt good. Make up your mind,” he whispered. “I’m sorry. I missed this, I want this, please,” he ran his hand in front of my pants.

God knew my body was tired, but when he took my hand and had me cupped on the thick mast in front of his sweatpants, I couldn’t curb the urge. It was impossible; it was too difficult.

“I saved so much for you, David.” His tongue swept across my bottom lip. “I saved so much, ease me up, please? I’ve waited for how many days, I can’t even think straight. Ease me up, this is all for you, I’ll make you feel so good.”

“I will,” I answered. “I can’t even say no to you.”

He yanked my head forward for a mind-shattering kiss. His hand took a hold of my ass, pulling me into him, our hips grinding against each other as we went into his bedroom with our steps faltering, our breath as one.