Mitch and I hardly spoke that week. After work, he spent his evenings in the driveway, working on Seth's truck. I spent some time doing the yardwork that I had neglected over the weekend. We fended for ourselves for dinner. We spoke less in that entire week than we normally did in a single day throughout our entire friendship.
I didn't get to see Seth at all. We did talk on the phone every night. Which, I discovered, was easier than talking to him in person. If I couldn't see him, I didn't get distracted by his beauty. I could think and speak more clearly when I wasn't dazed by the need to be touching and tasting him all the time. We avoided the topic of sex. We hadn't on Monday night because I wasn't smart enough to realize how hard it was going to make not seeing him, literally and figuratively. Even so, by the time Friday rolled around, I was a walking erection.
So we talked about other things. I learned a great deal about working in a restaurant. Seth worked the lunch shift Monday through Friday and the dinner shift on Saturdays. All total, working six days a week, he still didn't work a forty-hour week. He had no benefits and was paid about two dollars an hour. Two dollars! Then, on top of that, he had to claim a tip income of ten percent of his sales, even if he didn't make that. After taxes, his paychecks were zero. The only money that he brought home was his tips. I had never worked in food service, since my first job was in construction, and I didn't know any of that. He was living on the kindness of strangers, and I happened to know that the people in our town were not all that kind. It made me think back to try to remember if I had ever walked out of a restaurant without tipping. I couldn't remember ever doing it, but I knew, damn good and well, that my father did it all the time.
**
After work on Friday, I went home, showered, and dressed nicely. I was taking Seth out on our first official date. He was waiting for me outside when I pulled up at his apartment. We'd already discussed the fact that I had no desire to know the specifics of his past sex life, and that included any confrontation with his ex-boyfriend. I didn't mind generalities. I wanted to know the things in his past that made him the amazing person that he was. I just had this newly discovered jealous streak and didn't want to completely expose how much of an asshole I could be this early in our relationship. The fact that he lived with a man that he'd had sex with was enough to set me on edge.
He climbed into my truck and set a backpack on the floorboard between his feet. "Hi." He smiled.
His sexy smile had my cock filling out what little room there was in my pants. "Hi."
He glanced up from fastening his seatbelt at the tone of my voice and grinned slyly at the obvious lust on my face. "Hmm."
He leaned toward me, and I met him halfway. It was our first kiss in five days, and it melted my brain. He had to be the one to break away because I had neither the strength nor the desire to stop kissing him, tasting him. When he did, I found myself desperately clutching at him and trying to pull his body into mine, regardless of the fact that we were both tied to our individual seats.
"Hmm," he said again. "Were you planning on taking me to dinner or to bed?"
"Yes," I replied, my voice still husky and scratchy.
He smirked at me. "Maybe we should eat first," he suggested. "You seem to be back in that place where you're not going to let me out of the bed for a very long time."
"Maybe never again," I agreed.
He chuckled and reminded me, "I do have to be at work tomorrow afternoon."
I groaned in frustration then sighed. "Okay. What are you in the mood for?"
His eyes opened wide in shock. "You mean that you don't have this all planned out?"
I laughed. "I do, actually. I have several plans. So you tell me what you're in the mood to eat, and I'll take it from there."
"Tacos," he replied with a smirk.
"Seriously?" I gaped. "Of all the fancy restaurants in the area, you're opting for Mexican?"
He nodded. "Even worse, I'm craving Taco Bell. I've been dying for Taco Bell all week, but I didn't have my truck, and Corey is boycotting Taco Bell because they only serve Pepsi products."
"Our very first date, my first real date ever, and you want me to take you to Taco Bell," I laughed.
"Yeah. Do you mind?"
"No." I shook my head and started the truck. "I don't mind at all."
So I took him to Taco Bell for our first date. We ate inside because I have more class than to take my date through a drive-thru, even though I could see the potential benefits to being alone with him in the truck. We had a good time. The place was full of teenagers, being a Friday evening. It was obvious that we were a couple, and I was a little nervous about the reactions that we would get. But, when I'd catch him staring at me with that look of adoration that he'd sometimes get, I kept forgetting to give a shit what other people thought. There were a couple of sidelong glances in our direction, but Seth was so personable and friendly that people just couldn't help but like him. The teens in the restaurant got a little rowdy, and we got a little rowdy with them. It was all in fun, and there was a lot of laughter. Nobody made a mess, and there was no hostility. The manager didn't even bother to give us any warnings, but then, he was a teenager too.
When we got back in the truck with our to-go cups of Pepsi, Seth asked, "Where to now?"
I shook my head and grinned. "It's a surprise. You'll just have to see when we get there."
He smiled at me and relaxed in his seat. "Okay."
We drove for an hour, holding hands the entire time. We talked, much like we had on the phone. If I was concentrating on the road in front of me, I found it easier to control my desire to pounce on the man beside me. Although, that became infinitely more difficult when I inadvertently grazed my finger over the palm of his hand, and his entire body shuddered. It was good to know that it had that effect on him even if we weren't in bed, but I avoided doing it again. The chance of me accidentally killing us was too high for me to seduce him in a moving vehicle.
When our destination became visible from approximately a quarter of a mile away, Seth turned to me, laughing. "You're fucking kidding me!"
I chuckled. "Would you rather not?"
"Oh no," he replied shaking his head. "I'm going to LOVE this!"
I parked the truck in the grassy area turned parking lot, and he grabbed my head and kissed me quickly and fiercely. "You are the sweetest man I have ever met!"
I brushed my fingertips over his cheekbone. "It's just a carnival, baby. I haven't begun to be sweet to you."
"No, it's not, Adam," he insisted. "It's OUR carnival." He laced his fingers through mine and brought both our hands to his mouth, kissing my fingertips. "Come on. Let's go have some fun."
He let go of my hand long enough for us both to get out of the truck, and then he grabbed ahold of it again as soon as he was within reach. I, truthfully, hadn't known that it was the same traveling carnival that he'd worked at. I had just been searching for any carnival within the general area when I'd found mention of it. If I had thought about it, it would have made sense. Those carnivals made a circuit, and it was about the same time of year that we had first met. So, if I had thought about it, it would have made sense that his carnival would have been somewhere close. I just hadn't.