Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 6

back to base, I mulled over the afternoon and what I had agreed to. It had been great to see Chase again, but I hadn't expected to be so attracted to him. Again. I mean, it was one thing when I was a kid just discovering I was gay. I probably would have popped wood at any hot guy that was around as much as he was at our house. But it had been years since I'd thought of him that way. Although thinking back I realized I hadn't really seen him since I was a teenager. Just briefly at Dad's funeral and I was too upset to think of anything else then. I wondered if hanging out with Chase now was going to be a good idea or was it going to be a frustrating exercise in blue balls just like it had been when I was a kid? Of course, now I knew what I didn't know then— that Chase was gay. But we had been friends for so long, and he was Bobby's best friend. That was an awful lot of history to risk on a few good times in bed.
    The barracks were pretty empty when I got back, being a Saturday. I managed to get some alone time in the shower to ease the pressure of the semi I'd had all afternoon. I tried really hard not to think of Chase, but his face kept popping up every time I closed my eyes.
    ****
    The week passed by quickly and uneventfully. It helped being able to keep my head in the training I was doing, and not on the coming weekend. But as Saturday morning arrived and I found myself on the road to San Diego again, I found myself feeling a little antsy and nervous. I felt like an idiot. It's just Chase , I kept trying to tell myself.
    I stopped at a small bakery and picked up some doughnuts; Chase had promised he'd have the coffee brewed and ready.
    Chase's house was in a nice, quiet neighborhood. White stucco, Spanish-style, decent-sized but still modest.
    "Hey man, welcome. Right on time." Chase's hair was still dark and slick from the shower and he had on an old faded Patriots shirt that was stretched nicely by the muscles hidden underneath.
    I swallowed hard. "It's a Marine thing. Haven't been late for anything since I signed my enlistment papers."
    He chuckled and shook his head as he turned and walked away. His jeans were obviously an old pair he now used to work around the house in and fuck, if there wasn't a ripped hole near one of the back pockets showing a peek of green briefs underneath. I was thinking maybe I shouldn't have agreed to this as I followed Chase.
    "Come on," he said, "I'll give you a quick tour."
    The house was cozy on the inside but I could see why he'd said it needed some work. There were some little cracks on the walls that would need some patching and the previous owners had used some pretty awful colors on the walls. The front door I'd come in opened into the living room, so that was where we started.
    "Ugh, what the hell color is that wall?"
    "I don't know, but I refer to it fondly as baby-shit green," he called out to me over his shoulder as we kept moving further into the house.
    "Fondly? Are you blind?"
    Chase laughed out loud. "No, but I think the previous owners might have been."
    Upstairs were two bedrooms and a bathroom. I peeked in the spare room and the bathroom, but avoided Chase's bedroom. It felt too intimate to be seeing his bedroom. Luckily, he was too busy talking to notice, explaining all of the things he'd like to change and update in the house.
    Downstairs there was another half-bath, a laundry room, and the kitchen, where Chase ended the tour with the fragrant smell of coffee filling the air.
    Chase reached into a cupboard for coffee mugs, then smirked as he turned back toward me.
    "How do you take your coffee?"
    "Just black. And what are you smirking about?"
    Chase walked over to the kitchen table with the two full mugs. "It just felt weird to be serving you coffee now and not a juice box."
    I rolled my eyes. "Okay, if this shit like 'I remember when you were nine' is going to continue all day, I'm out that door. You do realize I know fifty ways to kill you with my bare hands now, don't you? And you've drank beer with me."
    Chase held up his hands in surrender and chuckled. "I know, I know, I'm sorry. I just— I don't know, I'm still getting used to the idea of us as adults you know, drinking coffee together. I apologize." His eyes leveled right on mine and I almost thought I saw a flicker of something there. "You've grown into quite a man, Adam."
    I didn't know what to say. My face felt warm, so I just kept it simple. "Thanks, man, that means a lot."
    After that, things