On Monday, following the Friday I had my little photoshoot with Lafayette, I arrived early to the office. He took a long time to reply to my text over the weekend. On Friday, I had never seen him like that before. He almost seemed scared. His expressions were well hidden, but I could see the fear or worry in his eyes. It was heartbreaking. I started to worry myself. What if he was going to fall down a dark spiral and resort to his old habits? Was this my fault?
However, Lafayette walked in wearing his workout gear and carrying a yoga mat. This was a good sign. Before he even shut the door I bounded over to him, probably invading his space a little too much based on him jerking his head back in surprise when he turned. "Are you okay? Do you need anything? Are you okay?" I asked.
Thankfully, he smiled. He gently put his hand on my arm. "Yeah, I'm alright," he said. "I just need to go and change. Have you eaten breakfast?" He walked past me to his office, but when he heard that I wasn't following, he turned back to look at me. "Are you okay?"
"I just got a little worried," I said. "I'm sorry if I upset you Friday."
He sighed, his shoulders sinking. "Come here," he said, his fingers beckoning.
I stepped up to him, trying not to frown but I couldn't help it. My frown disappeared when he put his hand on my cheek and looked me in the eyes.
"You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for," he said, softly. "I'm sorry for worrying you, but I'm fine. Just a rough weekend, but that's okay, you know? Not everyday can be a perfect day, right?"
"I guess you're right," I said.
He brushed his thumb along the apple of my cheek. When he started to pull it away, I grabbed it. I didn't plan to, but I needed to. I just wanted his comfort and to comfort him. To my surprise, he didn't pull his hand away. I grabbed it with both hands, lifting it up and looking at his fingers. "You need hand cream," I said. "And to have your cuticles cleaned up."
He laughed, making me feel better. "Sorry for having poor hand hygiene."
"I have hand cream, and a cuticle pusher. I can give you a manicure," I said, finding myself smiling.
Once again, to my surprise, he said, "Sure. That sounds nice."
He went into his office to change while I grabbed my cosmetic bag I stored in my drawer. I always had an array of beauty supplies on me. I was a drag queen, I had to. I entered his office but saw that he was in his flat with the door open. I stood in the doorway, knocking.
"Come on in," he said as he finished buttoning his shirt. Yet another surprise, he sat down on his bed and patted the spot next to him.
"Do you have a towel first? I don't want to get your nasty dry skin all over the place."
He raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. He pointed at the closet by the bathroom.
I grabbed a small hand towel and sat next to him on the bed, trying to not sit too close. I placed the towel on a pillow and his hand on the towel. I rummaged through my cosmetic bag and started with nail clippers, trimming his nails down into short little moons. He played Tetris (one handed, very impressive) on his phone as I trimmed away. Then I pulled out my cuticle pusher and cuticle oil. I added oil first, just as a protection in case he had sensitive cuticles. Then I pushed at his cuticles. They came off like pencil shavings.
"That feels really good," he said. "How do you know how to do this?"
"Because I'm gay," I said without skipping a beat.
He laughed. "Fair enough." He played Tetris a little longer but then turned off his phone and leaned back against his pillows. He reached into his side table and pulled out a cigarette box, but it had one blunt in it instead. He placed it between his lips and lit up. After a few puffs and blowing the smoke out of my direction, he held it out for me. I tilted my head up and wrapped my lips around the blunt. I didn't mean to look up at him while having a phallic shaped object in my mouth, but I kind of think he liked it...
I coughed out smoke, like always, and continued working on his nails. Once his cuticles were nice and clean, I put on a little more oil, rubbing it in on each nail. Then, I pulled out my citrus scented hand cream and applied some onto the back of his hand. I massaged it into his hand, the way my nail tech usually did, pulling on the fingers, pulling out all of the stress happening in life. Lafayette seemed to enjoy this because his eyes were closed. I almost thought he was asleep until he brought the blunt to his lips.
"All clean," I said. "Doesn't it feel better?"
"It does," he said, opening his eyes to inspect his hands. He held out the blunt for me.
I took one small puff, not sure if I liked getting high in the morning. I passed it back to him, only slightly coughing this time. "I can do your toenails, too, if you want," I said.
"Are you sure? You don't find feet gross?" he asked.
I shrugged. "I mean, you showered this morning right?"
"I did. If you want to, go ahead."
I crawled down to the end of the bed and put his right foot onto the pillow. "Your toenails are kind of long," I said.
"Yeah, I hate trimming them. I don't know why," he said. He extended the blunt again but took it back once I shook my head. He put it out after the last puff.
I trimmed his big-ass toenails down to a reasonable length and then put on some oil. The cuticles were not as bad as his fingernails. I cleaned them up and put on more oil, massaging them into his toes. His eyes were closed at this point, completely relaxed. I used the hand cream on his feet as well, just because I didn't have any other cream and personally didn't want to use my pricey moisturizer on his hobbit feet. I rubbed the cream into his feet, massaging them one at a time. I liked seeing him relax so much. I worked around his ankles because I remembered the time he said he had shin splints sometimes because he leaned heavy on the outer sides of his feet. So I massaged his lower shin. I pushed his pant legs up and started rubbing all of his shin and calves. He groaned at one point when I dug in deep on his calf, indicating he liked it.
"Feel better?" I asked, letting go of his leg.
He lazily opened his eyes. "Yeah, thank you," he said. He closed his eyes again. "How about we not do anything today?"
"Really?" I asked. "I'm usually the one who suggests that."
"I know, but I was waiting for you to suggest it."
"Sounds good to me," I said, smiling.
He got more comfortable on the bed, cozying his head into the pillow.
A moment passed, and I said, "If you want, I can massage your back, too."
He didn't open his eyes but smirked. "You absolutely do not have to do that. You are my assistant, not my...I dunno...lady-in-waiting. I'm too high to think of an analogy."
I laughed, then said, "I don't mind. I like giving massages."
He opened one eye to look at me and then closed it. "If you want," he said. He sat up to take off his shirt as I moved closer to him. Because I did really want to massage him, I decided to use my pricey moisturizer instead of the hand cream.
I tried not to ogle him as he revealed his bare torso, but maybe couldn't help myself and maybe because it was the weed, but he at least smirked at me when he looked at me. He rolled onto his stomach and I sat next to him on my knees. I dropped moisturizer down his back and then gently moved my hands along his back. I went for a push then pull method; pushing hard and gently pulling back. Along his shoulder blade he seemed to like it a lot, based on some of the groans. I really wanted to make him groan in other ways.
"You're pretty good at this," he said.
"Thanks, I'm good with my hands," I replied. It sounded like I was flirting, but that wasn't it. I mean, maybe subconsciously...
He laughed, which was usually a little higher when he was high.
I kept massaging his back, thinking and trying to not think of ways to go further. It wasn't right, but I wanted to kiss his back, turn him over and kiss his torso, down and down until I reached the cage of his pants.
After a few more minutes, though, Lafayette was completely asleep. He was snoring. I ended the massage with a few gentle rubs and then laid down next to him. I scrolled on my phone for a few until I fell asleep as well. I did wake up earlier to arrive earlier, so I was tired. Lafayette said we were not going to do anything anyway.
When I woke up, I was completely cuddled up to Lafayette. My head was on his chest, my leg over his leg, his arm around my back. He was also on his phone, playing Tetris one handed again. I tilted my head up to look at him. He turned off his phone and looked down at me. Once again, our faces were very close. I couldn't contain myself. I mean, this hot, shirtless man was holding me to him, his lips inches away from mine. I leaned up and kissed him, deeply, not holding back the tongue.
He kissed me back, but only for a moment before pulling away. I didn't want to say sorry this time. There was no question as to who kissed whom first. "Emmy," he said. "I already told you...we can't do that. That was supposed to be a one time mistake. An accident."
"I know..." I said, looking down. "It doesn't have to mean anything, though. I mean, queer men kiss their friends all the time."
He sighed. "But I'm your boss."
"And you are my friend. And you can't fire me. And I like kissing you. I...I am trying to change too, you know? I am trying to focus on myself more, so I'm not going on dates or random hookups. I usually feel worse after. That being said...I still miss a little physical touch. So...it doesn't mean anything." I glanced up at him.
He was looking down at me, sorry on his face. "I know how you feel. I'm trying to do the same thing, focus on myself. I mean, I don't date in general, but my...philandering, has come to a halt for a few months now. It has been lonely, but I'm trying to be at peace with that."
"Well, I don't feel so lonely when I'm around you already," I said. "Do you still feel lonely when you're around me?" I looked at him under my lashes.
"No, I feel least lonely when I'm around you," he said.
"So, let's keep it so you don't feel lonely. It's fine to be alone, but you don't want to be lonely. Like I said, it doesn't have to mean anything."
He looked at my eyes, trying to read into them. "It can't go beyond kissing," he said.
"That's fine," I said. I bit my lip. "You're a good kisser."
He smirked. "Thank you," he said. "It can't be everyday. That'll be too much."
"Okay...what about Monday, Wednesday, and Friday? And holidays."
He nodded. "Seems...reasonable."
"Good. So that's settled then."
This time, he leaned in and kissed me.
I loved not having to shy away from his lips and his hands. He slid his hand up my neck, gently, and onto the back of my head. I liked him handling me. He was gentle but confident, like the way he slid his other hand behind my back to pull me closer to him. I couldn't help but slide myself on top of him, straddling his waist. I just had to be sure not to move my hips, even though I wanted to. Man...I really wanted him to fuck me. I would have to settle for kissing. Later on, in my apartment alone, I would use the kissing as a nice segue into a fantasy.
Lafayette kissed my neck. I was a taurus, and tauruses ruled the neck and throat, meaning it was also our erogenous zone. Lafayette, as a capricorn, ruled the joints, so no wonder he really enjoyed the massages. As he kissed my neck, I moaned. He then bit my neck, which felt so good, but then I realized something.
I gasped pulling away. "Did you just give me a hickey?" I asked.
He grimaced. "Hm...I may have," he said.
"Oh my goodness," I said, hopping off of him and looking in the mirror. Sure enough, a nice little hickey was forming on my neck. I scoffed. "Don't you know how nosy Michael is? He's already seen me today, too."
"Don't you have makeup in this bag or something?" Lafayette asked.
I turned to him, frowning. "Yes, but that's not the point." I walked back over to him. "The point is..." I couldn't bring myself to say don't kiss my neck.
"Go on?" he said, smirking.
"Nevermind." I sat on the bed and pulled out a little concealer from my cosmetic bag. I forced him to hold up my hand mirror as I applied the concealer, mostly covering the hickey. If someone looked closely then sure, they could maybe notice it. I huffed.
"Looks great," he said.
I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. I am hungry and have not had breakfast."
"I will order something from the restaurant," he said. He stood up, getting off the bed, and put his shirt back on (unfortunately). He placed an order for a light breakfast and then sat up on the bed next to me.
We played on our phones in comfortable silence as we waited on the food to be ready.
Lafayette said, "Em, would you mind helping me with something sometime this week?"
"Well yeah. I'm your assistant," I said.
"It's just...a little different," he said, a serious look on his face.
Wow I loved him. "What is it?" I asked.
"Can you help me get rid of the hot tub in my home?"