Suite Mates (bxb)

Chapter 11

Derek

The second James rolled into my driveway, my heart picked up speed. It was absolutely unusual for me to instantly have an emotional reaction to a boy coming over, but James was just different.

I opened the door and waved the second he hopped out of the car. He gave me a tight smile back, but it was certainly not the smile of someone who'd shyly wanted to talk about my sexual preferences. James was a man of many mysteries.

"I want to talk before we fuck," were the first words out of his mouth. I tried not to look too shocked, but sometimes his bluntness was amazing.

I gathered my wits and nodded. "Of course. Come on in and we can chill on the couch."

James nodded and followed me into the living room. I sat down on the couch and tried not to roll my eyes when James sat in the chair next to me. I gestured to the entire open couch next to me, but he pretended like he didn't notice.

"I need to ask you some questions about your emotional interests," he said, looking very unemotional.

This was new from James. I wanted to hope that he was turning a corner about allowing this to be more than sex, but I didn't want to hope too soon. He didn't look overly emotional to begin with.

"Like what? Are you interested in how I feel about you emotionally?" I asked, very hopeful.

"No."

"...Oh. Okay, well then what's up?"

James pinched the bridge of his nose. "I need to know, generally, what you like about a man. Personality-wise."

Aw. It took me physical effort to stop myself from cooing out loud. James was just too adorable! He tried so hard to be rough and tough, but in the end he wanted to know if we were emotionally compatible. I wasn't sure why he thought his original gruff approach would disguise his true intentions, but it wasn't working.

I gave him the most comforting smile I could. "I like my men with a little bit of a rough exterior, but a soft heart inside. As long as a man is truly a kind person in his soul, I think we can make a great relationship for ourselves."

"And how about emotionally manipulative and kind of clingy? Is that hot to you?" James asked, deadpan.

My affection for him only grew. I rested my hand on top of his gently and squeezed. "James, it's okay if you have flaws. I actually find a little bit of clinginess adorable. You can be comfortable just trying to get to know me and allowing me to get to know you in the beginning steps of this relationship."

"I'm not talking about me, Jesus!" He abruptly tugged his hand back and crossed his arms. "I'm talking about in general, are you dense? We can't have a relationship anyway, don't you even care about Ryan?"

Back to this again? I groaned. "Ryan is old news to me, James. He's okay with this happening, you know that. He's my best friend and he wants me to be happy."

"I know that, I get it. Why he's okay with this I have no idea, but it's definitely convenient. But, look, I'm not interested in a relationship right now, okay? Just sex, no emotions. It's just that Ryan...look, it's a lot to get into." James looked a little bit pained, which meant he was hiding something. This must connect back to what Ryan had been saying earlier about open and honest communication.

"Ryan put you up to this," I decided.

James looked like he'd been hit with a lightning bolt. "Excuse me?"

"He must have put you up to this," I repeated. "You're clearly not the type of person who easily discusses emotions. Ryan must have told you to ask me these questions so that you'd appear emotionally vulnerable."

"...Well those are serious words, but...sure? I mean, yeah. Ryan...Okay, so Ryan told me to ask you these questions for your own benefit. He said you needed to get this off your chest or something." James fidgeted. He looked uncomfortable, which was probably because he felt he was betraying Ryan's true motives.

This was all beginning to make perfect sense. James clearly wasn't the type to talk about emotions, but then again neither was I. Ryan, in his quest to set us up as a couple, clearly saw that as a hurdle we'd have to get over. So in order to fix this problem, he'd told me to have open and honest communication with James about sex, and he'd told James to have open and honest communication about romance.

Ryan was an evil genius.

But judging by the way James was fidgeting and looking all over the place, he wasn't comfortable with this. I knew I wanted emotional connection with him, but I'd have to wait until James was comfortable.

Until then, I'd play by his rules.

"James, want to go to the bedroom?"