Something Real

by Nellie Christine

  “What’s with the smirk?” Elijah asked him, one eyebrow arched towards his hairline.

  Grayson laughed. “Nothing. I’m down. Let’s do it.”

  “I’ll go first,” Elijah said. He moved his ice skates out of the way for someone walking by as he thought. “I’ll start with something simple. What was your favorite subject in school?”

  “Ah…” Grayson looked up at the towering buildings surrounding them as he thought about that. “To be fair, whatever we ask, we also have to answer. Deal?”

  Elijah smiled as he nodded. “I’m fine with that.”

  “Okay. I’d have to say math. Or science – biology to be specific. But I’m definitely a numbers man.”

  Elijah hummed as he took that in. “I knew you were a nerd.”

  “Watch it,” Grayson said with a laugh.

  “I enjoyed Art,” Elijah answered.

  And it made sense. He was nothing if not artistic. Grayson nodded. “Alright. Tell me your birthday.”

  “I turned 23 on November 11th.”

  Grayson smiled. “My gosh. You’re a baby. Happy belated.”

  “Thank you. But I’d like to think that I’m mature for my age.” Elijah took a sip from his coffee but quickly put the cup down when the liquid touched his lips. “Ow, that’s hot.”

  Grayson tried hard not to roll his eyes. Very mature. “I’ll be 25 on April 22nd.”

  Elijah didn’t want to tell him he already knew that. Google was fun. “Isn’t that Earth day?” he asked instead.

  Grayson nodded. “It is. Oscar gets me a plant every year.”

  Elijah laughed. “Wow. That Oscar; he’s an interesting guy. You two are polar opposites, but I think he’s a good one. He’s funny.”

  “He’s quite the character,” Grayson answered. He loved his best friend, but it would be appreciated if he could go the rest of this relationship without Oscar’s help. “What about your best friend?”

  That made Elijah sit back a bit in his seat. At first, he shook his head. “She’s a good girl. Fallon is her name.”

  Grayson nodded. He’d seen her commenting on some of his Facebook posts. “That’s a pretty name.”

  “She seems to think that I’m wasting my time, though. Pursuing something with you.”

  “Ouch,” Grayson said with a forced smile. “I hope that’s not the case.”

  Elijah waved the thought off. He definitely didn’t come here to talk about any of their doubters, and he knew with time she’d see what he and Grayson were working towards and she’d change her tune about it.

  “It’s not.”

  They looked out at the happy people around them enjoying their time on the ice. Elijah snuck in a couple glances at Grayson. He could get used to this. He hoped he would. “If you had had the power to change something about yourself, what would it be?”

  Grayson turned to look at him. That question was a bit heavier than he was expecting. He looked out at the skaters again, watching a young boy stand to his feet after falling. “I’d speak up more. I would be less afraid to go for the things that I wanted, you know? I’d stop letting people tell me ‘no’.”

  Elijah reached out for his hand and Grayson didn’t hesitate lacing their fingers together. He exhaled softly. It felt like completing a puzzle that you’d been working on for a long time.

  “You were way too accepting of me saying ‘no’ to you that night,” Elijah said, shaking him of his thoughts.

  Grayson laughed at that, but he agreed. “My father would tell me that as well. I didn’t feel right pushing it, though. You said no and you gave me your reasoning and I had to respect that. No means no, no matter the circumstance.”

  Elijah nodded, brushing his thumb over Grayson’s leather gloved hand. “That’s what makes you Grayson Paul and not Harvey. I like Grayson Paul.”

  Grayson turned to look at him. “You have to answer the question now.”

  Elijah replied without even thinking about it. “I’d definitely change the way I’ve treated people in the past. Guys I’ve hurt and people I’ve ignored because of my selfishness. I’d want to be a better person.” He looked down at Grayson squeezing his hand a little tighter and smiled.

  “Your behavior in the past is showing you that you want to be a better person. That’s important.”

  Elijah shook his head no. “It’s you who’s showing me that I want to be a better person.”

  Grayson looked up into his brown eyes and Elijah smiled.

  There was that smile.

  “Let’s go have a little fun, huh? We’ll finish this later.”

  After a nod, Grayson let go of his hand and bent down to put on the skates. He ignored Elijah’s mumbled “I know just why you needed a size 13,” and smirked as he laced them up.

  ∞

  The best thing about their date hands-down was that Elijah couldn’t skate at all.

  At. All.

  The date was his idea for crying out loud. Why pick the place when he couldn’t ice skate to save his life? Grayson’s ribs hurt from how hard he laughed all night long.

  Elijah had a little boo-boo on his knee from one of the slips, but as he hugged the wall and tried not to hurt himself any more than he already had, he couldn’t do anything but fall even harder for Grayson’s laugh.

  It was music to his ears.

  Not only was he making him laugh, but they got to hold hands as Grayson helped him make his way around the ice. Elijah was all for the romance. He was eating it up as people told them they looked cute together. Grayson hated that he was blushing like a middle schooler, but he loved that they were enjoying themselves. They needed to forget everything else and just be in the moment.

  He couldn’t take it when he was pulled in close and his date started to sing in his ear, though. That was too much. Elijah’s voice had the power to make his knees weak and his heart skip a beat. All of the cliché signs of falling for someone that Grayson told himself to run if he ever felt again were right here in his face. The hands on his waist held him tightly as Elijah moved in closer, continuing his song. They were only a week into this and already Elijah had too much power over him.

  Grayson closed his eyes. “Stop it. You’re making me like you.”

  Elijah held on tight as they twirled around the rink, trying his best to stay on his feet. “Don’t tell anyone, but that’s been my plan all along.” He kissed Grayson on the cheek and continued singing.

  Grayson wasn’t familiar with the song, but he loved the melody.

  “You sound amazing. You know that?”

  Elijah kissed his cheek again. “You look amazing. I know I told you that tonight, but you look incredible. You always do.”

  Grayson pulled back so that he could look at him. “First of all, stop that. I’m serious.”

  “Stop what?” Elijah smiled, and Grayson could tell that he was genuinely confused.

  “I had high hopes that this date would flop and I wouldn’t have to worry about feeling the things that I’m feeling right now,” Grayson said. He could see Elijah’s eyes were focused on his lips and he subconsciously licked them, making his date smile.

  “What is it that you’re feeling, Little Paul?”

  Grayson shook his head. They slowly made their way around the ice, Elijah still clutching his sides as Grayson toyed playfully at the scarf around Elijah’s neck.

  “A lot of things –”

  He was cut off by Elijah’s slightly chapped lips pressing against his own. Immediately, Grayson felt the butterflies in his stomach fluttering like a hummingbird’s wings. He closed his eyes and breathed in, parting his lips for just a moment before pulling away.

  They stopped moving on the ice. Elijah opened his eyes and stared at Grayson. His lips were still parted, and he looked completely at peace.

  Grayson smiled at him bashfully.

  Elijah realized that he liked kissing after all, but it had to be Grayson Paul.

  “As I was saying,” Grayson continued. “I feel like I’m being
spoiled. You’re singing to me, and you’re kissing me, and you’re looking at me like that –”

  “Like what?” Elijah asked; his eyes focused on Grayson’s mouth as he spoke.

  Grayson laughed softly. “Like that…”

  The holiday song playing in the rink changed to Jingle Bell Rock. Elijah looked around them as the skaters continued to glide across the ice. He carefully slid backwards and extended his hand. “Would you like to dance?”

  Grayson smirked. “Don’t you think that you should learn to move forward five feet on those things without taking a plunge before we engage in any dancing, sweetheart?”

  Elijah laughed before licking his lips. “So we’re at the pet name stage? I like it.”

  “Do you?” Grayson teased, moving forward.

  “I bet you’ve been wanting to call me honey all night long, huh?” Elijah started to drift backwards again as his date moved forward.

  Grayson rolled his eyes. This guy was really flattering himself, and while the cockiness was usually a huge turn off when it came to other guys, he had to admit that Elijah wore it well. Grayson started to skate circles around him, watching as Elijah smiled. “I bet you’ve been wanting me to call you honey all night long.”

  Maybe. Elijah went to turn around and grab Grayson by the wrist so he’d stop being the sexy show off he was being, but he completely lost his balance. His feet slipped from underneath him and he went tumbling to the ice.

  Again.

  Grayson was laughing before he’d even landed. Elijah smiled as he looked up at the city sky. As usual, there were no stars. Nothing in view but a few neighboring buildings. He laid his head down and stared up, ignoring the ‘HAHA’ that sounded from some snooty figure skating ice princess that couldn’t be any older than five. It seemed like every time he was on his ass; she was close by to let him know it.

  “You’re terrible,” Grayson said, bending over and trying to catch his breath. “Whew! No, seriously… you need lessons or you’re going to hurt yourself. Oh my God.” He skated closer and hovered over Elijah, still chuckling. “That was a good one.”

  Elijah looked at him for a while. Grayson had no idea just how hard he was falling. Literally. It was cheesy, but it was true. Elijah smiled at him and looked away.

  “It’s so cold and lonely down here,” he said.

  Grayson finally caught his breath and nodded. “I can imagine. Come on big guy, let me help you up.” He skated closer to Elijah and extended his hands to help him, only to realize that instead of Elijah accepting the help, he was now being yanked towards the ground.

  Grayson crashed with a thud, falling half on the ice and half on top of Elijah. His date laughed, obviously pleased with himself.

  “Are you shitting me, Elijah?”

  Elijah laughed as Grayson landed right beside him. He rolled over so that he was on top of him, kissing the tip of his nose and grinning.

  “You’re an asshole.”

  “Wrong,” Elijah answered. He kissed Grayson’s bottom lip this time, laughing a bit Grayson’s pout. “I’m your sweetheart. Can we leave so I can get you something to eat?”

  Grayson rubbed gingerly at his hip as the girl that had been teasing Elijah all night skated by and laughed at the both of them.

  Elijah snorted.

  “Yeah. You owe me another kiss because of this,” Grayson said with a pout. “You suck at rules, by the way.”

  “Well, you bring out the rebel in me.” Elijah remembered the time he’d gag when walking past a couple who behaved like this where people could see them, but tonight, he couldn’t stop himself. He didn’t want to either. He kissed Grayson twice more and smiled into the last one along with him. “…And I just remembered that I wasn’t supposed to kiss you until you showed me my name in your phone. Is it Big Sexy?”

  Grayson smiled. “It’s Vanilla Ice. Another Hip-Hop King.”

  Elijah rolled his eyes. All the kissing had officially been cancelled. “What do you want to eat?”

  Grayson looked into his eyes. “We could grab something on the way back to your place, right? What’s in the direction?”

  The way that Elijah’s face changed when he caught on was simply sexy. His eyes darkened from a lighter brown to something reminiscent of coffee, and Grayson waited patiently for a response, staring right into them.

  “You want to go back to my place?” Elijah asked.

  Grayson was sure to maintain eye contact as he nodded his head. “If that’s okay with you?”

  Elijah told himself that this was nothing worth writing home about. They’d grab something to eat and go back to his place to hang out. It would be the perfect end to their evening. He told Grayson he wasn’t asking him out to get him in bed again and he meant that.

  “There’s a couple Chinese restaurants,” he answered. “Pizza. Thai. Cuban. Sushi…” as he trailed off, his eyes were focused on Grayson’s lips.

  He smiled. “Chinese sounds great. We should get out of here, Elijah.”

  Elijah nodded. “Yeah.”

  Chapter 16

  “Alright. I’ve got a great question,” Grayson said as they stepped into the apartment.

  Twenty Questions had continued on the walk from Bryant Park, through Times Square, and into Hell’s Kitchen, at least when they weren’t distracted with side conversation, Elijah trying to steal his phone to change his name in it, and backstories from when they were younger. When Elijah asked why Grayson didn’t like Bryce calling him ‘Gray’, he learned that it was because one of his bullies would call him ‘Gray the Gay’ in elementary school. He also learned that Grayson wrote his first song at age 7 and it was for a competition to be on Barney. Grayson told him he won, but his parents wouldn’t let him participate.

  Elijah put the food down on the kitchen counter before undoing his coat. “Hit me,” he said.

  “How did you come out to your family?” Grayson asked.

  Elijah pulled his scarf off and stuffed it into his coat sleeve before hanging it on the hook.

  Grayson was stepping out of his shoes as he looked at him, awaiting a response.

  “My sister caught me banging a dude she had a crush on when I was 15. I decided to come out to her first, although it wasn’t very necessary.”

  “Fifteen,” Grayson echoed, shaking his head. “I didn’t lose my virginity until I was 20.”

  Elijah froze in place and stared at him. Grayson shrugged as he made his way to the sofa, plopping down and kicking his feet up.

  “It’s true. Stephen was my first of everything. I’d been in the closet for so long, lying to everyone including myself. Everyone thought I was straight, and I always had girls around me, so I guess it was believable. It came with the territory of being my father’s son, anyway. So, I went to this party on campus, and that’s when I saw him. He introduced himself. The rest is history.”

  Elijah finished unbuttoning his cardigan and walked over to him. “How’d you tell Big Paul?”

  “It was probably the most difficult thing I’d ever done,” Grayson began. He adjusted himself on the couch so that Elijah could join him, but Elijah flopped on top of him anyway. Grayson smiled into the kiss that met his lips and continued. “My ex and I exchanged I love yous and I didn’t want to hide how happy I was from him. My father was like, the only person I had. I didn’t know Oscar back then, and everyone I met in NYU assumed I was the rich mogul’s son who thought he was better than everyone else. That’s never been the case. I just… I don’t know. I’m not the type to open up to just everyone, I guess.”

  Elijah nodded. As Grayson’s fingers found his hair, he closed his eyes and listened.

  “So, I thought, hey, me and this guy are getting pretty serious. We’d been together – quietly – for a few months or so. We’d done it. We confessed our love. I thought that maybe I should let my father know so he could stop asking me when I was going to bring a girl home.”

  Elijah shook his head and looked up at him. “I’m guessing he took it okay? I m
ean, you’re out and proud now…”

  “He didn’t say anything at first. Then, ‘Alright.’ That’s all. He went back to work, and I hadn’t really heard from him unless it had something to do with the business or my schooling until like a week later.” Grayson continued to play in Elijah’s dark locks. “He asked me if I had a boyfriend and if I told my mother. I told him about Stephen and no. He told me that I should tell her. That was it. We never really talked about it or anything.”

  Elijah started playing at the exposed skin around Grayson’s midriff where his hoodie rode up, knowing that his hands were cold, and smiling at the way he shivered from the contact.

  “My sister told me to tell our parents. I did eventually. Mommy was shocked. Told me it was a phase, though eventually she came around. My dad didn’t really care. He couldn’t give two shits about anything but football and Lily. …I’m surprised he even stuck around when he realized his one son wasn’t interested in playing peewee football,” Elijah finished.

  Grayson licked his lips as he looked at the ceiling. “I’m happy he stuck around, though. My mom left when I was relatively young to run a business close to where she was born, and, I don’t know. I don’t guess it affected me too harshly, but I missed her. It sucked.”

  Elijah sat up a bit; a hand on Grayson’s waist. “You know what? I’d rather talk about something that makes you happy. You have the most beautiful laugh and it makes me feel gooey inside, so how about I tell you some jokes?”

  Grayson could feel his cheeks heating up as he began to push the cardigan Elijah was wearing off his arms. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you a kiss for every joke you tell that I like. If I don’t kiss you, that means your jokes suck.”

  Elijah allowed Grayson to pull the sweater off and toss it farther down the sofa. He watched as Grayson ran his hands over his tattoos and licked his lips.

  “Sounds fair to me. But I don’t have any jokes that suck in my joke vault,” he said confidently.

  Grayson hummed; his fingertips brushing over the art on Elijah’s arm. As he caressed along Elijah’s vein, he replied. “Show me what you got, Dawson.”