And wasn’t that kind of sad?
He’d been on plenty of actual dates—especially while he was working on his degree. Sure, he’d been attending a community college and living at home, but he’d still had a chance to meet and hook up with his fair share of men.
Guys his own age just didn’t really do it for him though, so a few years ago he’d started dating older men, usually ones who had a similar build as John. It was funny because it hadn’t been a conscious decision, just something that had happened naturally. But Kevin had pointed it out after he’d broken up with the third guy in a row who was older and bigger than Lukas’s lean frame.
Having a type wasn’t a crime though, and he’d known nothing would happen with John.
No matter what kind of vibes he was getting from the other man now or how many meals they shared just the two of them.
For some reason, they’d taken their acquaintance from chatting comfortably around others to spending time alone. A real friendship.
As he pulled into his parents’ driveway, he tried to tell himself it wasn’t weird that he was poaching his dad’s best friend. It wasn’t like he was trying to steal him away from his dad, or like he’d developed this friendship intentionally. It had just sort of happened. Somehow. When he wasn’t paying attention.
When he’d needed help with his pipe—oh my god, he needed to get his head out of the gutter—he’d only hesitated for a moment before calling John. After Hank had blown him off, it had just been second nature. He never wanted to be a bother to John, but he also knew John would help him if he asked.
But since then… It was like that one decision had changed something between them, fundamentally. Or maybe it had been when he’d gone over to John’s and ended up cooking him dinner…
Banging his head on his steering wheel, he groaned. Sitting in his car in the driveway wouldn’t help him figure anything out, and it wouldn’t change the fact that he was about to have dinner with his parents and John. And him worrying about how much of their friendship he should share with his parents was just dumb. They hadn’t done anything but talk and eat, so why did he feel weird about telling his dad about it?
A knock on his window had him jumping and gasping as he jerked around to see John’s grinning face. Glaring, he turned his engine off and climbed out.
“That wasn’t very nice,” he grumbled.
“Aw, did I scare you?” John’s stupid eyes were bright with humor as he held up his hands in surrender. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to pout.”
“I’m not pouting!”
“Tell that to your lower lip,” John snarked as he started toward the house.
Biting his lip to stop his laughter, Lukas grabbed the dish he’d brought from his back seat and then trailed after John. “Such a jerk.”
John threw a grin and wink over his shoulder and opened the front door. “Hey, I found something out on the curb you guys lost!”
Snorting, Lukas elbowed John as he went past and followed his nose to where his mom was cooking in the kitchen. She was chuckling as he entered, so he turned a stern face toward her. “Don’t encourage him. He’s being mean to your only child. You should be defending me.”
“I’m sorry, sweetie,” she said, hands never stopping as she kneaded the dough in front of her. Her grin said she wasn’t sorry at all. So rude.
“Hey, kiddo,” his dad said as he came in through the sliding door. He walked over and clapped him on the shoulder, then saw John behind him and his grin widened. “John, excellent timing. Lydia and I have a surprise for you.”
A bad feeling began to brew in Lukas’s gut as he looked between his parents, then back at John, who was frozen just inside the kitchen. His prediction proved true when the slider opened once more, and a beautiful woman around John’s age glided in, a shy smile on her face.
“John, this is Gina. She works with me. Gina, this is Dave’s friend John, who I was telling you about. He owns his own business,” his mom said, a wide and proud smile on her face.
Lukas stood in the awkward silence that followed for a few seconds before stepping forward and placing his platter on the kitchen island. He reached out a hand to Gina. “And I’m her son, Lukas, though, apparently, I don’t warrant an introduction.”
Everyone chuckled, and his mom fussed over him as she apologized, and things seemed to smooth out, but Lukas kept checking on John out of the corner of his eye as he helped his mom finish getting dinner ready. John, his dad, and Gina all sat at the kitchen table as the charcoal heated up out in the grill. Lukas caught most of what they were saying, but it seemed to be a lot of his dad and John exchanging small talk and Gina just listening.
Once his mom had the dough rising one last time before it went in the oven, he shot her a look and then subtly pointed toward the pantry. She rolled her eyes but followed him. He jerked the string to the light above them so hard he worried for a second that he’d tear it off.
“What the fuck, Mom?” he hissed as soon as she closed the door behind her.
“Lukas, don’t cuss at me.”
“No, but seriously, what the hell? Why did you blindside John with a date?”
She fiddled with her wedding ring—a tell she’d had his whole life—but kept her chin up. “John deserves to be happy, and Gina is a wonderful person. Her divorce has been finalized for a while, and she mentioned being ready to start dating again, so I thought they’d hit it off.”
Of course she would. And, of course, she wouldn’t know how much it would hurt her son to see John start dating someone right in front of him. He’d never told her or his dad about his crush on John, so she’d have no idea.
Not sure what else to say, he muttered, “It was shitty to not at least give him a heads-up,” then squeezed past her and went back into the kitchen. He glanced at the table and saw that his dad had disappeared—probably putting the burgers on the grill—and John and Gina were leaning toward each other, talking about something apparently just riveting. As he watched, Gina reached over and placed a hand on John’s arm as he threw his head back laughing.
Breath hitching in his chest, he turned and walked out of the kitchen, unable to stand there and watch John smile and joke with someone else as they touched him. It was so ridiculous that he was jealous, but he couldn’t help how he felt. He climbed the stairs and went to his old bedroom, which had become the guest room a couple of years ago.
He sat on the end of the bed and leaned onto his knees, head hanging. He had about twenty minutes to pull his shit together enough that he could get through dinner, then make an excuse to leave as soon as he was done eating.
Taking a few deep breaths, he almost didn’t hear the knock at the door. Glancing up, he bit back a groan. No doubt his mom was worried about him.
“I’m fine. I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
“Lukas, it’s me,” John said, and Lukas’s heart tripped over itself, his fingers twitching. “Can I come in?”
“Um, yeah, okay.” He sat up as John slipped into the bedroom and closed the door behind him.
They simply stared at each other for a long moment; then Lukas raised his eyebrows in question, and John’s gaze darted away.