I laughed. “Species?”
“Yeah. You gay types. I need to know how to get a chick to let me destroy her ass like you guys do to each other.”
“I doubt you’ll find many people with a huge deal of experience with chicks.”
“An ass is an ass.” He shrugged. “Count me in.”
Ryder appeared in the doorway, showered and dressed with a towel around his neck. “You guys planning something without me?”
“Night at Kaleidoscope tomorrow,” Sawyer answered. “You in?”
“What kind of dumb question is that? Of course I’m in.”
“You ready to go?” I asked Ryder, standing from my seat.
“Yeah.” He nodded. “See you guys tomorrow!” he called over his shoulder, already out the door. I picked up my pace into a soft sprint, trying to catch up with him.
“Great scene,” I complimented, feeling the familiar awkwardness between us.
“Thanks.”
Figuring one-word answers was all I was likely to get, I followed Ry out to the car in silence. The journey home went pretty much the same way, as did the rest of the day. So, by eight PM, I went to my bedroom, ran through all my social media notifications, and then went the fuck to sleep.
The next night we went to Kaleidoscope as planned. Three hours in and Matt and Ry were completely wasted, dancing with Gio and Taylor, while Sawyer, Jake and I remained quietly buzzed on one of the couches in the corner.
“Well something’s eating him,” Jake continued. They’d noticed Ryder had been ‘off’ – as Sawyer put it – lately and wondered if we’d had a disagreement.
“I dunno.” I shrugged. “So you guys are really doing this, huh? Buying into the studio,” I said, taking the focus away from Ryder because it was making me feel uncomfortable.
“Yeah,” Jake said. “We’re only silent partners of course, but it’s good to have something to focus on after giving up my career in security. Although, I never would’ve imagined my change in direction would be this.”
“Me either. But the guys seem to love you two, I’m sure you’ll fit right in.”
“Well I don’t know about you guys but it’s ruined watching porn for me,” Sawyer piped up before taking another chug of his beer. “Seeing how it’s made takes all the fun out of it.”
“Good job you’ve got me in your mind to wank off to then, eh?” Jake teased. Jake was a very serious soul. He wasn’t often crude or humorous, which made it all the more fun when he was.
“You know, I’ve heard a lot of the guys say they watch straight porn. Just mixes things up a little.”
“Yeah?”
“Apparently so.”
Another hour passed and Sawyer and Jake had joined the rest of the gang on the wasted wagon. By this point I was of the mindset, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, so I headed toward the bar to order something stronger than beer.
“I’ll take a double vodka and Sprite please,” I said to the barman. I watched him more intently than I should as he turned and bent down to the shelf that housed the glasses behind him. Holy fuck he was walking, talking sex with an ass I could almost hear begging to be taken.
“See you’ve m-met my buddy Alex,” Matt slurred from his stool at the bar as the bartender, Alex I presumed, brought my drink to me. “Alex this is Mason. He’s my b-best friend in the whooooole world.”
“Oh yeah?” Alex said, laughing at the fool Matt was making of himself. “Well then it’s good to meet you, Mason.” Alex held his hand out over the bar and I took it, shaking it firmly before paying him for my drink.
“I can only apologize for my ‘best friend in the whole world’ here.” I chuckled as I air quoted with my fingers.
Alex smiled. “No problem, man. But I think you should be getting him home soon.”
I glanced sideways at Matt, and saw Alex was right. He’d gone from drunk to verging on passing out in a matter of seconds. I pulled up the stool next to him and nudged his arm, encouraging him to lift his head off the bar.
“Hey, dude, I think it’s time we get you home.”
“Are you c-coming on t-to- me?” he asked, winking at me.
“No, Matt,” I assured him, trying not to laugh. “But if you don’t move soon you’re gonna pass out.”
“H-hey, I can hand-ha-handle my a-alcohol.”
“Sure you can,” I lied, smirking. “But this place is closing soon anyway,” I lied again. “Time to go home.”
“Hmmm. Did I ever t-tell you about the time I f-fucked this chick that had-”
“Maybe another time,” I cut him off before he made an even bigger ass of himself.
“Can you call us a cab?” I asked Alex, who nodded in response. “Come on, buddy. Let’s go outside and wait for that cab.”
Hooking my arm around Matt’s waist, I practically carried him out of the building. When we reached the street, I pulled out my cell and texted Ryder to tell him I was taking Matt home and that I’d see him back at the apartment later.