The Sound of Us

Nine

If I had downloaded a dating app, I would probably have reached my current stage must faster.

From what I understood from Denise, the conversations are usually brief before moving on to the technicalities of where to have... sex.

And in that lay a world of excitement and my biggest fear. Amir was young and gorgeous and I was middle-aged with a... "dad bod".

It was a term I'd learned from Queer Eye that very accurately described my current state. I wasn't overweight but my body lacked the dedicated exercise time to stay in proper shape.

What would he think when I took off my expensive cashmere sweater? Then again, he'd mentioned that his previous partner had been older aswell, maybe he preferred "Daddys".

The idea made me laugh despite myself.

I realized this was making me so nervous because I very much cared about his opinion of me. Julie and I had aged together and apart from that, I hadn't given two shits about anyone's opinions for a long time.

The concierge rang to tell me that there was a young man here to see me. Thanks for rubbing it in Phil.

When I let Amir in, I couldn't help but smile. He was here for me and that was all that really mattered.

"The floors are heated, you can take off your shoes if you like," I said by way of greeting.

He grabbed my face, kissed me and then pulled off his shoes and socks.

"Oh, wow! So that's what wealth feels like," he said, with a devious grin.

"Wait till you see the rest of the apartment," I bragged. I took him for a quick tour and he simply stared in amazement.

"Who are you?" he breathed.

"I thought you'd looked me up," I replied, handing him a tumbler. "Are you old enough to drink whiskey?"

"Actually, I brought you a present," he said, pulling a bag of weed out of his pocket. "Did they have this back in your day?"

"You cheeky fucker," I laughed.

"Shall I roll or do you prefer a bong?" he asked, patting his backpack.

An hour or so later we were laughing in front of my TV. When we were both high and kinda drunk, we decided to play the Forza Horizon racing game on my Xbox.

I'd already crashed my car atleast three times but Amir was doing a surprisingly good job of staying on track... if only he'd managed to drive in the right direction.

When the munchies started, we raided the kitchen cabinet that I kept stocked with cereal and snacks for Jason.

Hanging out with Amir was even more enjoyable than our text conversations. I hadn't had this much fun in a long time.