Chance to Be King (17 page)

Sliding into the last parking space left, Eric searched eagerly for Thomas' SUV. It wasn't in sight and he was disappointed. Thomas had called him earlier that day to make arrangements to meet him at Bob's. Eric was late, but not much later than they'd agreed.

Maybe he'd given up and gone home. As he walked into the bar he was getting his phone out to check to see if he'd missed a text. Nothing.

"Hey, Eric. Great to see you again, man."

Eric looked up to see Pete and Diane leaving the bar. He smiled at them and waved. They smiled at him, although Diane looked wan and not her usual ebullient self.

"Busy in there tonight?" he asked as he shook Pete's hand.

Pete pulled a face. "Full of little girls thinking they can sing like Mariah. Diane's got a headache; otherwise we'd be staying for the…"

"Act." Diane said hastily. "Bob's got a singer in later."

Confused, Eric looked at her for clarification. Bob didn't normally have acts on karaoke night. There were usually enough wannabes willing able to make idiots of themselves without outside help.

She shrugged, wincing as the movement hurt her head. "Someone asked him if they could sing a few numbers tonight."

"And he said yes? He must be going soft." Eric watched as Diane shared a smile with Pete. "Special case, I think."

"Okay, well I'd better get in there. There's a beer in there with my name on it." He gave Diane a kiss on the cheek and said goodbye to them both.

The bar was packed. He was assaulted by the smell of sweat mingled with beer and the sound of someone who couldn't sing belting out 'Bat Out Of Hell'. Eric smiled. Why was it always that song? There was no way he was going to be pushed up there. Hopefully he could get a couple of beers and then Thomas would take him home and fuck him into the mattress.

Keeping an eye out for Thomas, Eric pushed through the crowd towards the bar. He caught Bob's eye as he reached it.

"Evening, Eric. Been expecting you to show up." Without asking, Bob cracked a bottle open and set it in front of the weary traveler.

Eric sighed happily as he took a long swallow of the chilled liquid. "I've been waiting for this for the past two hundred miles." He was disappointed not to find Thomas here waiting for him. "Uh, have you seen Thomas?"

Bob nodded as he served another customer. "He's been here."

"Has he gone already?" Eric looked at his watch. "I'm not that late. Guess he thought I wasn't going to show."

"Your boy's been waiting for you. And driving the rest of us insane."

 

Eric just stared at him, "My…? You know as well?"

"I'm not blind, or stupid." Bob gave Eric a look which clearly implied he might be. "And neither of you have been exactly subtle. You were caught in the middle of the lake by Diane, for Heaven's sake. You might just as well have taken out a billboard. 'Sides, Thomas' been like a kid who lost his favorite teddy bear the last coupla months."

A stupidly soft grin spread across Eric's face before he could stop it.

"Precisely," Bob commented. He was already opening another bottle as Eric emptied the first. "No driving if you're drinking like this."

Eric wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and gave him a nod. He put the fresh bottle to his lips, then paused. "You sure it's okay?" For all Bob's dismissive attitude he was very protective of Thomas. They all were, Eric realized, and for some reason he really wanted Bob's approval.

"You do right by him and I'll let you keep your balls. You hurt him…" Bob left the rest of the threat unspoken but Eric nodded. He understood.

"I won't… and thanks," Eric finished the second beer, shaking his head at the offer of a third. He didn't want to be drunk when he met his boy. "I wish I knew where Thomas was," he worried, half to himself.

Bob laughed. "That's an easy one. He's waiting for you to notice him."

 

"Wh—what? Where is he?" Eric looked around, startled.

 

"Up there," Bob said, pointing at the stage. Eric spun round so fast the beer-fuzziness of his brain took a few seconds to catch up.

"What's he doing up there?" he said stupidly as he saw his man loitering to one side of the stage. Eric knew Thomas hadn't spotted him yet because he was staring into space and chewing hard on his nails. He was dressed in a tight black t-shirt and jeans that made Eric's mouth water.

He could almost hear the eyes rolling around in his sockets as Bob said patiently, "He's been waiting for you to show up so he can sing. So do you think you could get over there and say hello so he can get started?"

"Thomas… singing… out loud… in public?" stuttered Eric stupidly.

 

"Beejezzus… you're worse than he was. Yes, Eric, Thomas wants to sing in public for you." Eric's brain hadn't really caught up with the program yet. "But he doesn't… won't…"

 

"Took someone special, I guess,"

Eric wasn't really listening because he saw the exact point when Thomas spotted him; color flooded his lover's cheeks and a huge smile spread across his face.

"As I said, subtle much?" Bob huffed. "Now wave hello and stand back and enjoy."

Eric mouthed
"Hi,"
at his boyfriend and waited to see what would happen next. Thomas appeared to be waiting for a pretty girl to finish her drunken rendition of 'Stand By Your Man.' Eric was more than happy to stand by his, thank you very much. As the song drew to a close the girl took a bow or rather she swayed, almost falling over in the process. She got some whoops and claps which seemed to please her, although Eric wasn't sure whether they were for her performance or the view of her very pretty bust, tumbling out of the skintight top.

Thomas helped the girl off the stage as she stumbled, and then approached the microphone. Suddenly there was a hush in the bar. Someone, a girl, started talking loudly and was shushed by her companion. The hush seemed to embarrass Thomas even further and the color in this face ran high, making his freckles stand out even further.

"Uh, I'm going to sing an old song… most of you won't know it… just bear with me," he said to the crowd but his eyes were on Eric as he spoke. To Eric's amazement, Thomas walked over and picked up a guitar from the side of the stage.

The audience starting clapping and hollering as he came back to the mike. Thomas slung the strap over his head and looked at the audience. Eric tensed up immediately, waiting for him to freeze with fear. Only this wasn't like last time he asked Thomas to sing for him.

This time he was smiling at the audience, his eyes sweeping around until they rested on Eric; happy and confident. Only by the slight tremor of the guitar did he show his nervousness.

Eric pushed up from the bar and walked over to stand in front of the stage. If his boy was brave enough to sing publicly, he was going to support him publicly.

"Isn't that Sky Davies?" There was a loud stage whisper behind him.

Eric gritted his teeth and waited.
"Sky Davies?" Eric nearly choked. Thomas was answering? "What, him?" he said, pointing at Eric. "Nah, this isn't Sky. Sky Davies is way taller than this dude."

As the locals dissolved into laughter, much to the bewilderment of the girl who'd originally asked the question, Thomas started singing— and suddenly no-one cared who Eric was or wasn't because all eyes, all attention, focused on the man in front of them.

Just like before, Eric watched his man with a burning lump in his throat. He was a good writer, a damn good one, but when he was singing he was transformed. By the end of three numbers the small audience was eating out of his hand and Thomas was feeding off their reaction. Any last sign of nerves had disappeared as he wowed an audience for the first time in years. There was a trickle of sweat running down his temple.

It fascinated Eric and he wanted to yank him down and lick it off. At that point he caught Thomas' eye. A slight lick of the lips and a sudden warm look in his eyes; '
later'
he was promised.

At the end of the fourth song Thomas paused and smiled at his audience. "I promised Bob I wouldn't take up the whole evening so I have one last song for you," He held up his hands against the disappointed groans, "This is dedicated to one person. I hope that he— you enjoy it."

The catcalls and whistling put paid to any lingering idea Eric had that the locals didn't know about them. That ship sailed long ago, Eric realized, as people slapped him on the back and cheered them on. That ship sailed faster when Thomas' voice dropped even lower than normal and he starting singing a slow song, one so intimate it would have been obvious to a blind man that Thomas was singing it to one person only.

The rest of the bar, the customers; they vanished as Eric listened to the words of the song Thomas composed for him. Thomas had put down the guitar and was singing with his hands wrapped around the microphone stand as if he were holding his lover. His large eyes were fixed on Eric as he softly sang the words of love he normally found so difficult to say, with nothing but the sound of his voice and his love as musical accompaniment.

His voice trailed away at the close of the song and there was total silence, the whole bar waiting for one thing. Thomas hadn't noticed; he was waiting for just one reaction, and Eric was frozen to the spot.

Uncertainty crept into Thomas' eyes.

"Well, kiss him, you stupid idiot," Bob said bluntly, breaking the silence. "The boy is thinking you don't love him anymore."

There was a nervous chuckle around the room but it seemed to break the restraints on Eric's legs. He walked the two paces forward and leapt onto the stage. Thomas stepped back only to be caught by one arm and hauled against Eric's chest.

Eric stared down into the startled blue eyes. "I'm awed," he whispered, and placed his hand over Thomas', moving it so they rested over his own heart.

"Was it…?" Thomas began.

 

"Perfect." Eric assured him. "It was perfect. Just like you." And then he kissed Thomas.

There was a smattering of applause which, as the kiss grew more passionate, broke out into cheering and the stamping of feet. Eric didn't even notice as he finally got to say a proper hello to his lover.

Eventually, though, Eric had to break for air. He looked up to see the crowd waiting patiently for them to finish.

"Uh, I think your audience is waiting for you," he said, not letting go of the man in his arms. He looked down to see Thomas blushing wildly as the cheering started again. "Do you want to take a bow?" he asked.

At Thomas' shake of his head, Eric turned to the crowd. "Sorry to take Thomas away from you but my man and I have some catching up to do, so if you'll excuse us?"

He tipped an imaginary hat at the crowd and led Thomas off the stage. They got to the bar to find Bob waiting with two fresh bottles of beer.

"You go easy now, okay?" the barman insisted as he pushed the bottles in front of them. Eric nodded, pulling his man ever closer to him. They started drinking, not really talking, just content to be with each other.

In the end Eric's impatience began to show and he put his bottle down. Thomas looked up enquiringly but when he saw the look on Eric's face he knew it was time to leave.

They walked out; Eric's arm tightly around his lover, their hips welded together as they left the building.

"It
is
Sky Davies! I'm telling you it is and he's
gay
!" The woman was shrieking to her companions over the noise in the bar.

"Nah, I'm telling ya, it's just 'Ric." someone was saying.

 

Eric and Thomas grinned. Eric made a note to say thank you to Joe next time they were in the bar. In the fresh air they stood staring at each other. "My God, you're really here," Thomas was whispering, as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

"You knew I was coming back. We talked today for Heaven's sake." said Eric exasperatedly. "Whatever made you think I wouldn't?"

Thomas looked away over Eric's shoulder. He was forced to look into Eric's eyes by a firm hand around his chin.

"What made you think I wouldn't be back?" asked Eric firmly, determined to get an answer.

"No one should be forced to keep coming back to some screw-up who can't even get out of his own town without panicking," Thomas told him quietly.

"It's a good thing I'm not a no-one then, isn't it?" Eric remarked and he kissed Thomas again; long, passionate kisses to make the man in his arms forget about the past, forget what they were talking about. Forget about everything except the man who loved him.

The End
About the Author

Sue Brownis owned byher dogand two children. Whenshe isn't followingtheir orders, she canbe found at university, listeningto lecturers talk about long-dead

theologians. However inher head Sue is plottinghow to get her cowboys together. She just hopes the lecturers don't ask her anyquestions.
She canbe found at
www.suebrownstories.co.uk
where she is happyto discuss anythingthat doesn't involve schooluniformand assignments.