Steve woke to the daylight streaming through his curtains, dappling his face. As he slowly came to, he recalled what had happened the night before, and smiled to himself. He turned over, only to find a space on the bed where Jack had finally gone to sleep. A moment of disappointment washed over Steve, last night had clearly been a one-night stand, and Jack had disappeared into the sunset, or in this case sunrise. This thought got to Steve more than he thought it was, he'd had no expectations, but last night had been fun, oh so much fun and the idea of just being another conquest saddened him.
Nature soon called, and so Steve padded to the bathroom, before making his way to the kitchen. As he flipped the kettle on, he noticed a piece of paper lying on the counter. He knew that hadn't been there the night before, and so intrigued, stepped over and picked it up. Slowly he read the neat script on the paper.
"Sorry for leaving without saying goodbye, but you looked so damn peaceful I couldn't bear to wake you. I had to go and meet to tow truck at 9am. I had a REALLY good time last night, and I think you did too. If you want to meet me again, and I hope you do, then here's my number."
Steve looked up from the paper at the clock on the wall, seeing that it was now 10.30. He rarely slept in that late, but this was no normal day. He looked back down at the paper in his hand, at the word "REALLY" in capital letters and underlined, and smiled to himself. He'd really enjoyed himself too, but was no suddenly worried with what he should do now. The sex last night had been great, and he would love to have a repeat performance, but where would it lead? He'd felt comfortable with Jack, but did that mean he wanted to take things further, facing the questions that would inevitably come from being with a guy. Yet so what, he thought, if I want to have a little fun, yet he knew that he was deceiving himself, he did worry what people would think.
He shook his head, trying to dislodge this spiralling train of thought. It could be Jack wanted nothing more than sex, and that wasn't something Steve needed to tell anyone about. Making a decision, he grabbed his phone and dialled Jack's number.
"Hi," he timidly said when Jack picked up the phone.
"Steve, you called," Jack enthused, recognising his voice immediately, "how are you feeling today?"
"Groggy, and sore," Steve groaned, his ass still glowing from the attention that it received last night.
"I can imagine," Jack said, "you really looked like you needed the sleep when I left."
"You should have woken me," Steve said.
"I couldn't, you looked so damn cute and content lying there," Jack smiled down the phone.
"So... last night" Steve started, blushing at the thought of someone calling him cute.
"I'm hoping that this is a good call and not a bad call," Jack said, after Steve got no further.
"It is," steve said quietly.
"I hoped it would be," Jack replied. "Look, what are you doing tonight? Do you want to come over to mine and I can cook us some food, and talk some things out?"
"Yeh, that would be good," Steve replied, glad that Jack was so cool about everything.
"No worries, come to mine about 7ish? I'll send you the address after we're done."
"Perfect," Steve replied "Did your car get sorted by the way?"
"In the garage as we speak, they reckon it's an easy fix and should be done by this afternoon."
"That's good," Steve replied, "not too much disruption to getting around."
"Nah, really not, and public transport in Manchester isn't too bad for what I need."
"Of course not," Steve said, living in the countryside he often forgot the ease at which city dwellers could get around.
"Look it's great to speak," Jack broke in "but I've got to nip out and do some errands, see you later?"
"Sure thing," Steve said, "See you later." With that, he hung up. A moment or two later his phone pinged, a message from a new contact in WhatsApp, detailing Jack's address, with a pin to show exactly where it was. Nervous, but exciting, Steve looked, working out his route for later.
It was just before seven when Steve found himself outside Jack's apartment on the edge of Manchester. He's taken time to look good, dressing simply in a shirt and jeans, his hair styled into a side parting that he liked. In one hand he tightly grasped a bottle of wine, and as he stood there, he realised he was nervous. This was new for Steve, on other dates he'd been on with women he'd never felt this nervous, in fact, he couldn't remember feeling this nervous ever.
With a deep breath, he stepped forward and knocked on the door. A moment or two later he heard the key in the door, and then Jack opened it. Steve held back a gasp as Jack stood there, the memories from the night before not doing justice to what stood before him. Jack was also simply dressed, a plain t-shirt above some stylishly ripped jeans encased his muscular body, tight enough to show off the contours, without being obscenely tight.
"Come in," Jack smiled, gesturing in through the door.
"Thanks," Steve stuttered, realising he was staring, and walked into the short hallway beyond. He let Jack shut the door and then followed him into the living area, which was open plan kitchen and living room. It was clearly a man's apartment, simple sparse decorations, a large TV in the corner and a stand of weights tucked away.
"Nice place," Steve said as he looked out the window of the third floor, high enough to see over the houses around, the view sweeping off towards the centre properly.
"It's home," Jack smiled. "Shall I take that?" he said, gesturing at the wine.