Kiss Me at Midnight Read online

  “Wait you mean you gave your number to a straight guy?”

  Jake looked over at her and then leaned his head back against the couch. He didn’t know what he was thinking, “The guy was cute, but something told me to just give him my number. He made my stomach turn in knots, and that hasn’t happened in a long time.”

  “Oh honey you just need to be careful, and don’t expect anything to happen. I don’t want you to get your hopes up and then get devastated if he never calls,” She warned in precaution.

  “I know what you’re saying, but I doubt that he’ll even call me. Like you said he was probably straight.”

  Jake sat up and turned his attention back to the random channel surfing. There was nothing on for a Saturday night. He stopped on a channel when he saw a classic Christmas show was on. Jake was getting hooked on the show when his phone rang.

  **

  Trent sat on the couch with the television on but not really focusing his attention on the program. He stared at the piece of paper in his hand that Jake had given him earlier in the day. At first he hadn’t realized that he had slipped him his number until he looked down at the receipt and turned but Jake had already disappeared.

  Trent was comfortable with whom he was and his sexuality, but he was never one to display it in public because that wasn’t who he was, but merely only one part of him. He considered himself so much more a loving-man, professional, intelligent, a lover of classic movies, a father-figure, and who happened to be gay.

  He must have been out of practice because he never even picked up on the thought that Jake had been gay. Yes he was wearing green tights, but that was the uniform for the employees working in Santa’s Workshop. It wasn’t until Jake had given him his number that he had even known he was gay, and he even spoke to him. Trent knew that he shouldn’t believe in stereotypes especially stereotypes that society placed on his own community.

  Trent picked up his cell phone that had been sitting next to him and dialed the number on the paper. He looked at the clock and it was thirty minutes after nine. He hoped it wasn’t too late given that Jake had worked all day, and probably had to work in the morning.

  The phone rang four times and finally the call was connected, “Hello?” Jake answered on the other end.

  “Uh – hi this is Trent Brooks. You gave me your number today at the mall.” He replied his heartbeat increasing due to nerves.

  “Hey, how are you?”

  “I’m good just watching ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’”

  “How strange I’m watching the same thing. I haven’t ever seen it, but it’s really good.”

  “Really I watch it every year. I guess it’s sort of a tradition for me.” Trent said trying to fill the conversation with useless chatter.

  "So I never really just hand out my number to random guys,” Jake said.

  For some reason the statement made him smile, “You don’t? So what made you give me your number today?”

  Jake’s side of the line went quiet and Trent pulled the phone away from his ear to see if the call had been dropped.

  “Jake are you there?”

  “Yeah I’m here. So no judgments,” Jake asked.

  “No judgments. I promise.”

  “You made my stomach twist in knots and that doesn’t happen to me. So I figured if you could make my stomach twist in knots then it must be a sign to just give you my number.”

  “That’s a sweet answer.”

  “I’m really surprised you called because I saw you with your little girl and figured that you were married. You must think that I have some nerve coming onto a straight guy with his little girl right there.” Jake said with a small laugh.

  Trent laughed too, “Well that was a ballsy move.”

  “Well you either go big or go home, right?”

  “That’s what people say. I’m not married by the way. The little girl you saw me with was my niece and every year we’ve gotten our picture taken with Santa.”

  “That’s really sweet. You sound like the perfect guy. I mean great with kids, good-looking, and –”

  “I’m gay.” Trent said cutting Jake off.

  “Now you really are the perfect guy.” Jake added.

  “Do you want to go out with me tomorrow night?” Trent asked before losing his nerve.

  “I would like that. I get off at six-thirty tomorrow. Is eight o’clock okay with you?”

  Trent didn’t know what he was thinking asking someone out for a Sunday night date night, but he didn’t want to wait until the following weekend to see Jake again. “I can’t wait for eight. What’s your address I’ll pick you up?” Trent asked reaching for a pen to write the address on the back of paper Jake had given him hours earlier.

  Jake gave Trent his information, “So I’ll see you tomorrow without my elf custom.” Jake joked.

  “I’m sure you look great in anything you wear.” Trent added.

  “I guess you’ll have to wait and see,” Jake added playfully.

  “Goodnight Jake.”

  “Goodnight.”

  Trent sat the phone down next to him and stared back at the muted screen. It had been months since his last date. He wasn’t completely out of practice, but he needed to make the necessary babysitter arrangements. Trent began to bubble with anticipation like it was the night before the first day of school or vacation. The unknown had him smiling like a giddy child. He tried to calm himself by turning up the volume of the television knowing that Jake was watching the same show at the exact same time. It gave him something else to focus on, but his smile didn’t fade.

  Four

  Trent pulled over to the curb right at eight o’clock the next evening. He had been nervous the entire time while he was getting ready. Before Madeline he didn’t have anyone to think of but himself and not that he was promiscuous because in fact he could count the number of sexual partners on one hand. It was the mere fact that he didn’t have to worry about bringing someone home even if he thought that the relationship wouldn’t advance longer than a few months. Now he had to think of Madeline and the example that he needed to set for her.

  He had stared into the mirror checking his reflection. He had chosen dark blue jeans and a grey silk button up dress shirt. Madeline had walked in before the babysitter arrived and sat on his bed watching him with his final preparations.

  “Uncle Trent, are you going out on a date?”

  “Yeah Maddie, do you think I look okay?” Trent had asked.

  “Yeah, I think it’s time that you find someone. You’re not getting any younger.” She said with a giggle.

  Trent looked over at the eight year old and smiled at her sense of humor for a girl her age. He liked to think she got some of it from him. The two had always been close.

  Trent opened the door to his SUV and put on his jacket to shield him from the cool winter air that had arrived with nightfall, and walked up the path that led to Jake’s apartment.

  “Hi, you must be Trent,” a woman stated answering the door.

  “Yes, is Jake here?”

  “Yes he’s almost ready. Come on in. I’m Cassidy Franklin, Jake’s best friend and roommate.”

  “Well nice to meet you,” Trent said extending his hand and shaking hers.

  “Hey!” Jake said walking out of the hallway that Trent assumed led to his bedroom. “Don’t let Cassidy scare you.” He said smiling.

  Trent smiled, “She didn’t. Are you ready to go?”

  “Yeah let me grab my coat.”

  Trent and Jake walked down the path and Trent reached for Jake’s hand leading him silently back to his SUV. Like a perfect gentleman Trent opened the passenger door for Jake.

  “Thank you,” Jake said getting in the car. He had been on several first dates before but none had acted like a gentleman in the first five minutes, but then again in college most guys aren’t like that, and it isn’t until they graduate or reach their mid-twenties that they get the urge to settle down into something more permanent.
r />   **

  Jake sat in one of the nicest restaurants that he had ever been in. The atmosphere was romantic with silk curtains that surrounded booths to provide patrons with privacy and tea-light candles to provide a soft glow over the table.

  “I hope this is okay and not too much for a first date,” Trent said looking over the table.

  “It’s wonderful.” Jake said with smile.

  Jake had a wonderful smile that could light up the room, and Trent was drawn in by his sincerity. “So Jake when you’re not working at the mall what do you do?”

  “Well the mall job is just a seasonal job, but my passion is photography, and I had just finished an amazing internship, and I have a chance to get a full-time position but I won’t know anything until after the holidays.”

  “Photography is so awesome. I never had the eye for it. I also seem to get my finger in the shot.” Trent said laughing. “So is that what you went to school for?”

  “Yeah it was my major and I minored in journalism just in case I wanted something to fall back on. I graduate at the end of this week.”

  “That’s great. Congratulations!” Trent said lifting his glass of wine toasting the news. “So how old are you?”

  “Wow, no beating around the bush for you, is there?” Jake laughed.

  “You don’t have to answer.” Trent said blushing.

  “It’s okay,” Jake said reaching across the table to reassure him that he wasn’t offended. “I’m twenty-five. What about you?”

  “I’ll be twenty-eight next week, but for now I’m twenty-seven.” Trent answered with a grin.

  “So what do you do for a living?”

  “I’m in advertising.”

  “I thought you said you didn’t have an eye for photography.”

  “I don’t,” he laughed. “I can see the image and tell the photographer what I’m looking for, but for me to try and get the shot…well I can’t do that.”

  “You just need a good teacher.” Jake said with a grin.

  “For the lovers on their first date a chocolate raspberry cheese cake for two,” the waiter said setting down a single plate with two forks and walking away before the two could object.

  “Why don’t you have the first bite?” Trent said picking up the fork and putting a piece and feeding it to Jake. “Good?”

  “Delicious.” Jake said licking his lips. “Your turn,” Jake said returning the gesture and feeding Trent.

  Jake had never felt like this on a first date. It was only through the meal and he was already planning on seeing more of this man. Maybe there was such thing as love at first sight.

  **

  “This is crazy.” Jake said staring at Trent who was standing next to the carriage.

  “Why is it crazy? What’s a more way to end a great evening then a carriage ride in downtown Austin looking at the Christmas lights? Plus it would give us time to talk without the rush of the crowds.” Trent said pulling Jake close when he saw the man shiver from a cold wind.

  “You have hot chocolate in that carriage?” Jake asked with a grin.

  “And a blanket,” Trent said holding up the thermos and blanket.

  “Okay.” Jake agreed.

  The busy streets of downtown Austin seemed to fade into the distance as the carriage made its way along the streets. The lights of the capitol shined behind the cast-ironed fence post. The two men sat under the blanket and sipped at the hot chocolate.

  “So you seem to be a pretty amazing guy.” Jake stated.

  “I do?”

  “Well I guess it could be that it’s the first date and that the second date you turn into a pumpkin or something.”

  “So you’re already planning for a second date?” Trent asked putting his arm over the man’s shoulder.

  “Well if you continue to play your cards right,” Jake nudged with his shoulder. “I’m really glad I gave you my number.”

  “Me too, I noticed you while Maddie and I were standing in line and my stomach did a flip.” Trent confessed.

  Jake tilted his head and looked up into Trent’s eyes and leaned in and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips. Jake was unsure how Trent would react by the public affection, but he shifted and pulled Jake in closer for a deeper kiss that seemed to last for hours, but was only mere minutes.

  When Jake pulled away he leaned his head against Trent’s shoulder. He had always watched the romantic movies and always wished for a moment like this, and hoped that he would meet a guy as amazing as Trent seemed. He was afraid that was just a fairy tale and was unattainable, but this was his moment and he had to grasp it while he had the opportunity.

  “So do you see Madeline a lot?” Jake asked staring out onto the street entering the historic part of downtown.

  Trent knew the conversation would happen eventually, but wasn’t sure that it was a date conversation; however, Jake had asked and he knew he had to be honest. “Yeah, I see her everyday actually. She lives with me.”

  Jake leaned up and turned to look Trent in the eyes, “Really? Where are her parents?”

  Trent was silent at the question. It was a topic that was still hard to think about, but was reality. He knew that it was a conversation that he would have to have with anyone that he every wanted a lasting relationship.

  “If it’s too personal you don’t have to tell me.”

  Trent wanted to tell Jake. He knew that the two had just met and that this was their first date, but he felt a connection, and his body never reacted to someone just by looking at them. “Madeline came to live with me six-months ago…after her mother, my sister and her husband, were killed in a car accident.”

  Five

  Jake didn’t push the subject after Trent had told him how Madeline came to live with him. It was a subject that must be hard for him to talk about. Jake’s family had cut him out of their lives years ago, and that was hard for him to discuss. He couldn’t imagine what it was like to lose family members tragically and then learn that you were now responsible for a child. Trent had seemed so comfortable in his role as a father-figure.

  Trent was a perfect gentleman for the rest of the date. He had dropped Jake back at home ten minutes till midnight. He walked him to the door and gave him a gentle kiss goodnight. ‘I had a great time.’ He had said.

  ‘Me too,’ Jake concurred.

  ‘Maybe we can do it again?’

  Jake had looked up into Trent’s soft blue eyes and leaned and gave him a gentle kiss. He turned and opened the front door without giving an answer.

  Jake had always dreamed of one day having a husband and a beautiful family, but he didn’t know if he was ready to date someone that already had that responsibility…even if Trent was the perfect guy. It had been two days since their date Sunday night and he hadn’t called Trent, but at the same time Trent hadn’t called him either.

  “Morning,” Cassidy greeted when Jake walked into the living room.

  Jake mumbled a greeting and walked into the kitchen for a cup of coffee.

  “So you never told me about your date the other night.” Cassidy called from the living room. She knew that the best way to get the unedited details from Jake was to catch him when he was not fully awake.

  “It was okay.”

  “Just okay,” she questioned. “You didn’t come home until midnight. In my book that normally means more than just okay.”

  “It was amazing. We went to this restaurant that had the booths surrounded by silk curtains for privacy and took a horse-drawn carriage ride downtown.”

  “You’re right that is just okay.” She mocked. “So what was the problem? Was he a bad kisser? Was he a messy eater?”

  “No he was none of those things. He was an amazing kisser both gentle and passionate.”

  “I’m not seeing the downfall.” Cassidy pointed out.

  “During the carriage ride we began to talk and I asked him about Maddie, the little girl he brought to take the picture with Santa, he had already told me that she was his niece, but
I asked if he got to see her a lot.”

  “Okay.”

  “She lives with him. His sister and brother-in-law were killed six-months ago in a car accident and he was granted guardianship.”

  Cassidy just stared at him still waiting for the downfall and when he didn’t continue she finally spoke, “That’s it? He now has a little girl and that’s why you don’t want to be with him? That little girl lost her parents and only had her uncle left, and he stepped up and was a man. You don’t know what his life was like before the incident, but I can assure you that his life was flipped upside down at the same time and had to adjust with the loss of family members and becoming a father to that little girl. That’s the type of man everyone searches for and you are lucky to have found him.”

  “Cassidy I’m not ready to be a father.”

  “Who’s asking you to be a father? Is Trent?”

  “Well, no, but that’s what it would turn into if a relationship formed from this.”

  “I can tell you that wouldn’t happen for awhile. Trent has to think about that little girl, and if the two of you didn’t click there would be no relationship.”

  “But we do click.” Jake added.

  Cassidy rolled her eyes, “Not you and Trent…if you and Madeline didn’t click. Jake you are skipping several steps right now. This is a new thing here. You don’t need to worry about what role you would play in the future. You need to decide if the man that you went on a date with last night was someone worth pursuing. Everything else will work itself out.”

  “I know you’re right.”

  “Have you even called him?”

  “No…but he hasn’t called me either.”

  Cassidy smiled, “Well he was probably letting you adjust to the shock that he had a little girl that was more than just the typical uncle-niece relationship.”

  “You’re probably right.”

  “Why don’t you call him and invite him to the holiday slash graduation party on Friday.” Cassidy suggested.

  Jake inhaled giving into Cassidy’s logic; which in all honesty made sense. Trent was a great guy that he was lucky to have met, and he needed to see if this could go somewhere.