Love Is In The Title

Luke turned at the quiet hello, to face the boy of his dreams.

Cameron had sat down on a stool at the counter in all his post-game glory. His hair was still damp from the shower, and his skin looked fresh and scrubbed clean. Luke tried hard not to swallow his tongue.

“Hey,” he managed to reply. Then he searched desperately for something else to say. Something very witty and totally profound. Hell, at the moment, he would have been happy for something involving actual words.

Cameron just sat there, looking expectantly at Luke, his eyebrows quirked and a half smile on his face. He seemed to finally decide Luke needed some help. “Can I get another Coke?” he asked simply, and Luke nodded mutely. He grabbed a fresh glass and filled it to the overflow point with the brown liquid. Smiling shyly, he slid it towards the boy of his fantasies.

Why did his normally chatty, confident, some said over-confident, personality wither and die at one flash of Cameron’s beautiful blue eyes? An awkward silence fell over the three boys. Mitchell smirking, Cameron swallowing his fifth Coke of the night, and Luke standing there like a prize idiot. The same thing happened every time Luke was within speaking distance of Cameron. Luke was reaching the point where, whether Cameron was into boys or not, he was afraid he wasn’t ever going to be able to tell him his feelings anyway.

“Nights like these are the ones when being team captain must suck, huh?” Luke finally blurted out, wincing as Cameron lowered his head
and half nodded.

“Yeah,” was all Cameron said, and Luke swallowed. Misery curled inside him at his stupid comment. How did he expect Cameron to feel after what had been another crushing loss for him and the rest of the team? For God’s sake, at what point had his scary brilliant brain decided it was okay to bring up the game?

“I’m sorry,” Luke offered, watching as a small smile started on Cameron’s full lips and moved to light his eyes.

“Well, I can for sure say it wasn’t your fault, Luke, since you weren’t even there.” Cameron offered. His smile broadened as he leaned forward into Luke’s space.

“I ha…have to work,” Luke stuttered quickly. Cameron’s words took a moment to register; then he did a mental double take. Cameron had noticed he wasn’t at the game.

“I know,” Cameron offered gently. “Maybe if you had been there, we mighta won?”

Hang on a damn minute! Luke blinked. Those words in that tone sounded like— well, like flirting? Shit.