[This was intended mostly as a one-off, but it appears it will grow a little from here. Please bear with me. Also, I'm pretty sure I'm terrible at writing in men's voices so this was a challenge for me.]
The waitress dropped two waters onto the table, pulled a pen out from the hidden depths of a large braid snaking between the birthmarks on her bare shoulder blades, and nodded toward Roman.
"What'll you have?" she asked quickly. Roman shook his head and pointed at the water; Drake, hunched over across from him, ordered a snack and sent her on her way.
"Okay - you asked. I came. Alone," Roman said. Ever since their showdown at the Wall, Roman had felt the strain between them. He would keep his guard up until he knew Drake's true purpose.
"Can I ask you something?" Drake whispered. He looked around the restaurant before grabbing Roman's elbow and pulling him further back into the booth. Roman's eyes narrowed suspiciously. If this had to do with the Trags and their plans...
"Have you ever thought about... you know..with a human?" Drake muttered quickly. It was so unexpected that Roman almost answered. He caught himself in time, and managed a confused smile. He looked more closely at Drake, and realized he looked awful, exhausted; haunted.
"Uh, you're going to have to be more specific."
"I mean, have you ever thought about what it would be like? ... With one of them?" Drake seemed frustrated by the need to explain, and now that Roman had regained his composure, he couldn't help toying with Drake just a little longer.
"Hm, Drake, I don't even know what you're trying to get at here." Roman's blue eyes crinkled slightly as he smiled.
"Dammit, Roman! I mean that girl Taylor and I... we... I couldn't stop it from happening. She threw herself at me, and when she took her clothes off, my brain just went... I don't know what to do, man. Help me!" Drake was bent nearly double, his head in his hands as he struggled with his own secret shame.
Roman shut down. His vision was clouded by sudden, violent hatred for his best friend. How dare he? How dare Drake take the deepest, most private dream that Roman harbored, and sully it in a moment of hormonal stupidity?!
But at the same time, hopes Roman had not allowed for himself flooded his senses. He could feel Emery's skin pressed against his own as if they were together even now, could hear the light quick panting of her breath, see the gentle slope of her hips - and his own hands, pressed into her bare flesh as he pulled her close to him. He smelled her sweat mixed with the floral soap she used, tasted her lips and ached for more.
A slow, steady banging noise interrupted his daydream and he realized it was Drake, pounding his head against the table.
"Stop it. Just… stop, Drake," Roman managed to croak. He was sure his eyes betrayed his guilt, but Drake was so engulfed in his own agony that he misread Roman's look.
"Please. Don't judge me! I haven't slept in days. Besides - there's nothing you could say that I haven't already said to myself, anyway," Drake moaned.
"Do you love her?" Roman asked quietly.
The question shocked Drake upright, and he grimaced.
"What? No! I mean… no, man. I swear. I'm not some damn race traitor. I would never fall for a human."
"So, are you telling me that if she walked in here right now, and batted those big eyes of hers at you, you could just walk away?" Roman pressed. His own mind flooded with the warm brown of Emery's smiling eyes even as he spoke.
"Roman, I swear to you, I…" but then Drake hesitated. He tried to recover but knew it was already too late.
"No," he said honestly, after a moment. He allowed himself a half-smile. "It was pretty amazing, though. I've been with Atrian girls, of course, but with a human everything is… different. Hotter. I can't stop thinking about it. It was so… " Words failed him and he slumped back, ashamed again.
Roman didn't know how to answer. Suddenly the room felt very small. He needed to get away from this. He needed to find Emery. And he really needed to punch the shit out of that obnoxious Grayson kid.
