Something Beautiful (16 page)

Micah snorted. "Are you kidding? They think I'm still a virgin. They fixed me up on a date last night. They want me to get married and start having kids. Can you see me with kids?"

"You held Kitty like a pro. You're not entirely hopeless. But they're going to keep pressuring you until you cave or tell them the truth. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know," he said, and laid down his head on his folded arms.

"Poor mini-bro." She rubbed his shoulders. "Have you slept?"

He shook his head. "I don't sleep much, anyway."

"You still need to."

"I know, but --" He yawned.

"How about you lie down on the couch for a while, and I'll wake you when Justin gets back."

"Okay," Micah said, and followed her to the tiny living room where they had two overstuffed couches in a homey shade of blue. He sat down on one and pulled off his shoes and jacket -- getting another snort of laughter from Rebecca at the sight of his mesh shirt -- and lay on the couch, under a soft boiled wool blanket.

"There. Comfortable?" Rebecca said as she smoothed the blanket over him.

"Yeah. Thanks. Becca?" he said as she started to move away. "Thanks for being so --" He wasn't sure what the word was that he wanted here. "Cool with everything."

"Of course I am, mini-bro," she said gently. "I love you. Get some sleep."

"Yeah," Micah said, and was out the moment he closed his eyes.

***

Dune had fallen asleep on the couch and woke when the sunlight hit him in the face through the big industrial windows. He lay blinking in the sunlight for a while, remembering the events of the night before and frowning. He expected Micah to sulk and avoid him for a few days, and then eventually Micah would come back, apologetic and adorable. It's what he'd always done before.

But this was different, wasn't it. It wasn't Micah going off in a snit over some perceived insult. They'd fought, really fought, and Micah was upset, and Dune still wasn't sure what he felt about the whole thing.

Dune pushed himself to his feet, showered, made coffee and had breakfast. He made cookies to bring to movie night -- they wouldn't be as professional as Ben's, but he still made pretty damn good cookies -- and once that was done he flopped on the sofa, opened a novel and tried to read. His mind drifted, though -- mostly toward Micah.

Their friendship had always been an odd thing: Dune had appreciated Micah's beauty at first, and then his sweetness -- and even though at times he'd been terrible to Jamie, he could be unbelievably tender and loving -- and the more Dune got to know Micah the more he wanted to look after him, take care of him, help him find his place in the world. Jamie hadn't had the patience, Ryan hadn't had the knowledge; the other men Micah had dated, however briefly, hadn't been right for him. Dune knew he had been more of a mentor to Micah than a friend.

But that had changed over the summer. Dune knew he was the only one to get postcards from Micah and he suspected he was the only one who had gotten regular emails from Micah, too. Micah's blog had kept most of his friends updated, but Dune knew what Micah had left out, because Micah trusted him. And he trusted Micah -- he'd admitted things to Micah that he'd never admitted to anyone, not even Leo. With Micah, he never had to be the strong one.

And now this. Micah's lithe body, his cherubic face, the taste of his skin under Dune's tongue...better than Dune had ever daydreamed. Sweeter, because it wasn't just a pretty boy in his arms -- it was his friend.

He wanted, Dune realized as he held the novel open on his chest, more than Micah's body -- he wanted Micah’s company. The summer had been far too quiet and uninteresting with Micah gone. None of his other friends made everything so much fun -- even Jamie, who was the epitome of unselfconscious. Micah just made things...worthwhile.

He wanted Micah back -- and not, he told himself, for entirely selfish reasons. But more sex would be good. More sex would be just fine.

Why wait, then?
Dune thought and picked up the phone.
If you want him around, tell him.

He dialed Micah's cell phone number and tapped his fingers on his thigh as he waited through the rings. Micah's voice mail came up -- the familiar cheerful, "Micah Ferguson, please leave a message, 'cause if you don't leave a message I can't call you back!"

"Hi, it's me," Dune said. "Look, I'm not taking back anything I said because I still believe it, but I miss you. So promise you'll come to movie night. We'll talk. I miss you a lot, Micah. Bye." He hung up the phone.

Okay. Ball in Micah's court, decision in his hands, various other clichés -- Dune just had to wait. And if Micah didn't call back, Dune would just have to find a Plan B.

***

When Micah woke up again he blinked a few times, disoriented, and then smiled and sat up. He could see a postage-stamp sized back yard through the glass door, and in the yard Rebecca was playing with the baby while Justin lounged on the grass and laughed. There was a cardboard cup of coffee on the table in front of Micah and a large blueberry muffin beside it. Micah picked up the cup, drank a sip, and winced at the cold coffee. He picked up the muffin, took it outside, and flopped down on the grass beside Justin.

"Hey," Justin said, leaning back on his elbow.

"Hey." Micah peeled back the paper and took a bite. "What are they playing?"

"I think it's Airplane." He tilted his head to the side. "Or Carousel. Doesn't matter -- they're both happy."

"Yeah."

Justin plucked a blade of grass and wound it through his fingers. "Rebecca told me why you showed up first thing this morning. You all right with that?"

"Yeah," Micah said and pulled up his knees. "I'm all right with that."

"So why haven't you talked to your parents about this yet?"

Micah glanced at him. "They don't like you because you're the wrong kind of Christian," he said. "What makes you think they'd accept this about me?"

"The wrong kind of Christian," Justin muttered with a wry laugh. "That about sums it up right there, doesn't it? So you're afraid they won't love you because you're wrong."

"That's about the size of it." He frowned at his muffin. "Look, I know this is what you do for a living and all that, and I'm glad you love my sister -- but I don't know you yet. And I've got to figure this out in my time, in my way. Please?"

"Okay," Justin said gently. "I get you. But if you ever want to talk, I'm here."

Micah nodded, his chin resting on his kneecap. Rebecca stopped spinning Kitty around and hunkered down on the grass with them, laughing when Kitty squealed and wiggled.

"She wants you, sweetheart," Rebecca said, and Justin took the baby.

"Do you want your daddy, little darlin'? Do ya?" He nuzzled the baby, and she wiggled with happiness.

Rebecca leaned her head against Micah's shoulder and patted his cheek. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I should call Mom and Dad. They probably think I'm dead in a ditch." He felt around in his pockets for his cell phone and regarded it with a sigh. He glanced at Justin and Kitty and said, "Hey, could I take a picture?"

"Sure thing," Justin said, showing his dimple again, and held up Kitty close to his face so Micah could snap a picture with his cell phone camera.

"Perfect," Micah said. "Thanks. You too, please?" he said to Rebecca, who laughed.

"Sure -- do I look all right?" She combed her fingers through her hair.

"You look perfect, darlin'," Justin said, and she smiled at him and tossed back her hair.

"I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille," she said and leaned back on her elbows.

"Uh, sure," Micah said and snapped a picture of her. "Thanks."

"Anytime. Are you going to go home or go back to the city?"

"I don't know," Micah said. "If I'm going to movie night tonight I should probably just go back to the city."

"What's movie night?"

"A bunch of us get together and eat and watch movies. It's pretty cool. I haven't been since last spring." He leaned his chin on his hand, watching as Kitty wiggled in Justin's arms and made grabs for his hair. "Dune and I were going to look at apartments today."

"You still could." Rebecca said, and Micah lifted his head to look at her. "You could apologize. Tell him you still want to be friends and see where it goes."

Micah pinched off some blueberry muffin. "I'm scared, Becca. Is that dumb?"

"No," Rebecca said. "It's human."

Micah looked at her a moment, then threw his arms around her shoulders and buried his face in her neck. "I've missed you so much. Don't ever go away again."

"I won't, honey," she whispered, stroking his back. "I'm not going anywhere."

Chapter Nine

The moment Jamie opened the door, Dune had an armful of excitable Englishman: "Hi! We can't decide: should we watch the Bruce Lee first or the Wim Wenders first?"

"Subtitles are good for early in the evening," Dune said, walking Jamie into the apartment. "We might be too drunk to read later."

"Good point." He hopped down from Dune's arms. "Ben! Dune's here. You remember Vijay, right?" he said, and the handsome Indian fellow on the couch nodded in greeting. "And this is Duncan, my lawyer." Jamie pointed to the baby-faced man Vijay was talking to, who ducked his head a little and waved a shy hello. "Have you met? I don't think you've met. So this is Duncan. Tristan and Laird should be here soon. Where's Micah? Did you wear him out with apartment hunting? What did you bring?"

"He is in Santa Cruz, and I brought cookies."

"Gimme!" He took the backpack from Dune's shoulder and unzipped it. "What is he doing in Santa Cruz?"

"Visiting his sister," Dune said in a logical tone.

"What's Shiloh doing in Santa Cruz?" He took out the container of cookies and opened it. "Oh, Dunie, these look great." He bit into one.

"Thanks. He's visiting Rebecca. The older one."

"Oh," Jamie said slowly and glanced up when Ben draped himself over him and kissed his neck.

"Hey, Dune," Ben said easily.

"Hey," Dune said, grinning.

"Try this," Jamie commanded and gave Ben a cookie.

"Oo," Ben said and took a bite. "Hm..." He chewed experimentally, his expression skeptical. Dune leaned against the counter and watched his face.

"Well?" he said finally.

"Very good," Ben said with a nod. "Not bad for an amateur. You used cold butter this time, didn't you?"

"Yep. I melted it last time and the cookies were too flat."

"Wise choice, though if you use it at room temperature and whip it first it gives the cookies a great texture, too."

"Cooking lessons with Benjie," Jamie said, grinning, and gave Ben a kiss.
 
"How much longer until the fish is done?"

"About ten more minutes, and then it has to rest." He patted Jamie's ass and took another cookie on his way to the living room to answer the door again.

"So what's going on?" Jamie said in a lower voice to Dune. "Why'd he take off for Santa Cruz?"

"Oh, what isn't happening," Dune said gloomily and ate a cookie. "Gavin showed up at Zebra last night."

"Oh boy," Jamie said.

"Yeah. Fortunately Micah came after his date, which is a whole other story, and he kind of -- well he threatened to put lesbian porn on Gavin's computer if he messes with me. He actually said, 'Don't fuck with my Dune.'"

Jamie laughed out loud. "Wow. How did Gavin take it?"

"About as you'd expect: poorly. I almost believe it when he says he wants me back."

"You are hard to give up, love." Jamie took out a tray of vegetables and nudged the door closed with his hip.

You did it,
Dune thought, and told himself not to be bitter. Jamie and Ben were meant for each other, and he'd known that even before they did.

"But I still don't know how Micah ended up in Santa Cruz," Jamie went on.

Dune nibbled a cookie for a moment. "I think I need some milk. My mouth is dry."