THE GAYER IT FEELS THE BETTER YOUR POSTURE

I walk into the pub, a surprisingly cosy and quiet place. There are very few people, all spread out across various tables. Some are drinking beers while others are on laptops, presumably doing work. However I am not here for either of those things. I am (hopefully) here for business matters. I walk up to the bar, sitting beside a man dressed in formal wear, drinking a beer. Maybe that's the man I'm looking for. The man loosens his tie, leaning on the table and looking towards me. “What's an attractive man like you doing in this kind of bar?” He says, smirking at me. I try to ignore the blush rising on my face. “I’m purely here for business matters.” I try my best to look serious, and I'm not sure if it's working. “Ah, so am I. You wouldn’t happen to be the boss of SQUIP industries, would you?” I smile and call the bartender over, ordering my own beer. “Why, yes, I am. You are looking to invest in the development of our latest branch of SQUIP, correct?” I take off my jacket, placing it on the floor next to me. He takes a sip of his beer, looking me right in the eyes. “Yes. But that might not be the only thing I invest in tonight.” He winks at me and laughs a little.

Oh. My. God.

I begin to realise that I might not survive this meeting.

I just know my face is a mess as I try to compose myself, getting back to the topic we came here to discuss. “Um- alright, good. Our newest model will, um- it will be much more advanced than the, uh- the 3.0. It will be programmed with better learning capabilities and, um- and more appearances from many famous celebrities who we couldn’t previous- previously get the rights for.” I stumble through my explanation to the best of my abilities, but this man is very… distracting. He wont stop staring right into my eyes. I get the feeling this meeting isn’t going to go very well. “Very interesting…” He leans a little closer to me. His breath smells citrusy. “What other new capabilities will it have?” I can’t help but cover my face with my hand. “Well, it will- it will, uh-” I run a hand through my hair, looking down at the table. “It will… I-” I seriously can’t focus, he’s too… “I-” He just keeps smiling and looking at me like he knows something that I don’t and it is killing me. “Is something wrong?” He says, sounding so innocent, as he leans even closer to me, and I almost fall off of my stool.

My voice is barely above a whisper as I speak. “Stop playing dumb, you know exactly what you're doing.” He laughs, finally leaning back. “You see right through me, my good sir. I have no plans of doing business.” He stands, offering me a hand which I nervously take, picking up my jacket as I stand. I must look like an idiot right now. A grown man becoming a blushy mess because he was offered a hand… He lets go as he leads me through a door, and then through a corridor. “Um- where are we going?” I ask, fixing my hair and balancing my jacket over my shoulder. “Somewhere with a little more… privacy.” He says, looking at me and smiling. I duck my head, trying to stop myself from smiling like a madman. Oh. My god. This is really happening, isn’t it?

He opens a door and gestures for me to walk in, coming in behind me and closing it gently. “This… is really happening, isn’t it? I’m not just having a really, really good dream?” I mumble, and he gently kisses my cheek, wrapping his arms around me. He doesn’t answer, he just holds me. After a moment of shock I do the same, still feeling the blush on my face grow bigger and bigger. “You’re adorable.” He mumbles into my shoulder, and I try to find a way to hide my face, but as soon as I do he’s kissing me. OH. MY. GOD.

After a couple of minutes I pull away, out of breath and most likely looking like I'd just gone for the longest run of my life. All I can say is a very, very quiet “Wow.”. He laughs and lets go of me. “Maybe we should meet for another ‘business meeting’ soon.” He smiles, but this time not trying to make me blush. It's genuine and kind. I smile back, my face finally turning less red. “Yeah.” I look in the mirror and begin to fix my hair from the mess it's become, and I realise something. “Hey, what's your name?” I ask, turning around to face him. “Anthony. Yours?” He says while fixing his suit. “Sam…wait, we didn’t even learn each other's names, did we?” Anthony looks slightly embarrassed for a second, before bursting out laughing. His laugh is contagious, and I start too. “Maybe I should’ve slowed down a little, eh?” He says, still lightly chuckling a bit. I smirk and turn back to the mirror. “Yeah, maybe! But… I enjoyed it.” I watch him blush a little through the mirror, smiling to himself.

Suddenly, there's a knock on the door. “Sammy? You told me to come find you if you weren’t back in an hour.” I freeze, embarrassment flooding to my face. “Y-yes, I’m here! I’ll be out in a second, Jeremy.” I put my face in my hands, unlocking the door and walking out, Anthony in tow. “Hey, how was your-” Jeremy stops in his tracks, seeing Anthony behind me. “Oh… oh.” He says, and I rush him out of the corridor as fast as possible. “YEP TIME TO GO, BYE ANTHONY.” I practically yell. “Hehe, guessing there wasn’t much discussion going on there, right?” Jeremy says, nudging me on the arm. My face becomes an even redder mess than it was when I was being kissed.

“SHUT UP.”