Merry Cherry Christmas

Upbeat_drummer_guy probably went on dates all the time. This wasn’t a big deal. Jeremy needed to chill already. Now that he and Max had fooled around, this was supposed to be easier.

Yeah. Not so much.

He groaned to himself. Thinking about fooling around with Max was dangerous. When he hadn’t been obsessively replaying the kitchen conversation the night before, he’d fantasized about Max creeping across the hall and surprising him. Which had obviously led to jerking off as silently as he could.

Now that he’d kissed and touched Max for real—had experienced the wet heat of his mouth on his dick—getting himself off had felt disappointingly hollow. Even though he’d come hard remembering shooting into Max’s mouth, having Max so close but so far was torture.

Annnd if he didn’t stop thinking about it immediately, he was going to pop a boner in the cafe entrance at eleven o’clock in the morning like a huge perv. Not that there was a good time of day to have a throbbing erection in a cafe.

He banished all thoughts of Max and erections and forced himself to walk into the cafe and look for Upbeat_drummer_guy, whose name he realized he didn’t know yet. Shit. He should have asked. What an idiot. He was terrible at this. He should turn around and—

Upbeat_drummer_guy was waving to him from a table near the back. Jeremy waved back, then dropped his hand. Had he looked too enthusiastic? Dorky?

What would Max do?

Taking a deep breath, he passed by various groups of people playing board games and laughing loudly and joined his date at the table, shaking his hand and learning his name was Levi. Jeremy hung his coat on a nearby rack. He hadn’t brought his Blundstone knockoffs, so was in his clunky boots. But considering how much snow there was in Barrie, he certainly wasn’t alone. He resisted the urge to peek under the table to see what Levi was wearing.

Levi looked like his pic: white, shaggy brown hair, beard. He wore a plaid shirt and jeans, so was maybe a little hipsterish. Jeremy had gone with his new pink sweater and usual jeans. He adjusted his glasses and tried not to fidget as Levi went to the counter for a refill on his coffee and to get Jeremy a cappuccino.

“I’ve never been here before,” Levi said when he returned, setting down their cups. “It’s cool. You come here a lot?”

“No, actually. This is my first time.” Jeremy willed himself not to blush, his words conjuring a bunch of other thoughts. “I’m spending the holidays with a friend and his family. He recommended it.”

“He lives in Barrie?”

“No, near Pinevale. They have a maple syrup farm. It’s really cool. If you like maple syrup. Which I guess most people do? But maybe not.” Oh God. He needed to stop talking.

Levi smiled. “It would be un-Canadian to not like maple syrup.”

“Yes!” Jeremy agreed too loudly. “Um, so, yeah. They have this maple syrup farm. There’s an open house tomorrow, actually. It’s called Nadeau Farms if you want to check it out.” Wait, had he just accidentally asked Levi on another date? “I mean, you’re probably not into face painting and maple candies.”

“Actually, my nieces would love it, and I need somewhere to take them tomorrow. Sounds very wholesome.”

“Uh-huh. Great!” His mind spun. Say something. Something not completely pathetic. “Sorry. I’m really nervous.”

Chuckling, Levi said, “I kinda picked up on that. Let’s play something. Any suggestions? I’m not much of a gamer, but these look cool.” He motioned to the bookcases lining the cafe’s interior wall that were stuffed with board games.

Jeremy wanted to crawl under the table. “I’m sorry. We can go somewhere else.”

“No, that’s not what I meant. I’m not really into video games.” He laughed. “That’s a lie. The problem is I get completely obsessed with them and it takes over my life. I need to just say no to video games. Monopoly, I can handle.” He squeezed Jeremy’s arm, his hand lingering for a moment. “This was a great suggestion.”

“Oh. Okay.” Jeremy didn’t know how to feel. Levi seemed nice, so that was good, right? He was supposed to want to go on dates, so here he was. “I guess we could try something a little more advanced than passing GO and collecting two hundred dollars.”

“Sure,” Levi agreed easily, pushing back his chair. They slowly scanned a nearby shelf, and Levi said, “There are a ton of games I’ve never even heard of.”

“We definitely live in the golden age of board games. This one’s supposed to be really good.” He went on tiptoes and strained to snag Dead of Winter from a high shelf.

Laughing, Levi easily grabbed it since he was a few inches taller. “This one?” He eyed the box. “Zombies? Let’s do it.”

They settled in, sipping coffee while they played. It was slow going at first, with lots of referencing the instructions, but they got the hang of it eventually. It was fun that it was a cooperative game so they could work together.