Chapter 6

"By the way, what do you do in your spare time?" Josh swallowed the pie before replying to the question. "I spend a lot of time with my closest friends. They re also my colleagues at the firm." "Oh? Anyone I know?" Joshua nodded. "Justin is one of them. Vincent, the guy I was telling you about earlier." "Right. He s the one dating Anthony. Who else?" "David Lee, the IT Junior Manager, Javier Gisbert, the Marketing Manager, Keenan Underwood, the Sales Manager, and Calvin Maxwell, the Junior Manager in the Research and Development department." "I see," James muttered softly before picking up his latte and sipping on it. "No…uh, no girlfriend? Boyfriend?" Joshua laughed. "I m gay. I have quite a few close female friends, but they don t do it for me. Sexually, that is." "That s perfect!" Joshua raised his left eyebrow at James. "What?" James s cheeks reddened. "I…I mean, maybe if…if you like, we can…you know…" Joshua was confused now. "James, I don t understand what you re trying to say." James inhaled and exhaled deeply a couple of times before letting out a short chuckle. "Will you…will you be interested in having dinner with me? Or breakfast. Or lunch. Lunch is good, too." It was Joshua s turn to be stunned. "Are you asking me out on a date?" James rubbed the back of his head. "Yes? I mean, yes. You don t have to agree. I m just putting it out there. I thought maybe—" "Yes." "—we can…" James trailed off and stared at Joshua. "What?" "Yes. I would love to go on a date with you." James grinned widely. "Yeah?" Joshua nodded. "Fuck, yes! I ve been crushing so hard on you since the first time we bumped into each other." "Literally." Joshua chuckled. "Damn right. I can never forget that moment." James snickered. "Neither can I. I think I ve liked you just as long." Joshua was astonished to hear the confession. "Really?" James smiled. "Oh, yeah." "Cool." After that, the two of them were quiet for the next few minutes. Neither of them quite knew how to continue with the conversation until James broke the silence. "Why have you never given me any clue or simply asked me out?" "Why haven t you?" Joshua countered while beaming at James. James appeared rather flustered then. "A few reasons. I wasn t certain if you were even attracted to men, and if you were, I didn t know if you like me that way. Besides, I m kind of…you know…" Joshua shook his head. "Kind of what?" "Old." "Old? James, I m not exactly a spring chicken myself. I m twenty-eight." "I m eight years older than you," James retorted while darting his eyes back and forth between Joshua s face and the surface of the table. "Some people can be rather weird about a wide age gap. You should hear some of the things the young ones have said to me. I m only thirty-six years old, but they seem to think I m about to keel over and die anytime soon." Joshua snorted. "Being eight years apart isn t that bad. I like older men anyway." James guffawed. "Really?" "Fuck, yes! Older men are fucking hot. They re also usually better and more experienced sexually." James laughed even louder. "Good to know." "Absolutely. So, dinner tonight then?" James nodded, obviously excited. "Of course. As long as you re free to meet up tonight. I don t want to presume anything. We can always go out for a date on another day if you have something on tonight." "Not at all. You re in luck," Joshua said with a wink. "My agenda is empty. Just state the time and place, man." James appeared to be thinking for a brief moment before responding. "Have you heard of a new restaurant called The Paradise Fable? It s immensely popular at the moment. We will need to make a reservation in advance to even get in." Joshua scrunched up his face at the unfamiliar name. "I don t know that particular restaurant. Have you been there? How s the food?" "Twice. The food is excellent. At least the ones I ve tasted are truly delicious. I can t speak for all the rest. Anyway, I happen to know the owner, Turner Marsh. I mean, we aren t super close or anything, but we re both in the food business. We tend to run in the same circle," James answered while shrugging at the same time. "Well, more or less. I m sure I can get us a table for tonight." "Okay. That sounds wonderful to me. Six o clock tonight? I need to rush home for a shower and a change of clothes." "Perfect. I ll contact Turner and request a special table for us. I think I ll make the reservation for half past seven o clock. That will give us plenty of time, and we don t have to rush. Also, just in case the traffic is worse than expected." "Awesome," Joshua said before pulling out his smartphone and looking at the time. "Shit. It s already ten minutes past eight. It will take me ten minutes to reach the office. I ll have to leave now." James nodded. "Let me give you my number. You can send me a text message with your address. I ll pick you up from your place at six. You can also let me know if you re running a little late." Joshua passed his smartphone to James while he finished up his crepes and coffee. "Of course. Anyway, the phone is unlocked. Just input your number, please." Less than five minutes later, Joshua was up on his feet. He checked to make sure he had all of his belongings. It would be troublesome if he left anything behind. He was taken aback when James tugged him close and embraced him tightly before pecking him gently on the right cheek. Then they beamed at each other.