Hey! This is Macca! I used to be on this website but this is a new account. I look forward to your comments and feedback!
The anticipation of his first date gnawed away at Altair. He found himself checking his phone much more often than he did, the amount he checked his phone during the week was condensed down into the time span of a few hours. He had found Malik on an online dating site and they had been paired up on two or three similar interests. Now they had been talking for a few weeks and the busy architect amputee could meet up with the corporate bachelor.
The last text was from an hour ago and simply stated he would be leaving soon and he was excited about seeing him. Altair smiled whenever he read that text, Malik was excited to see him. His entire life had been in and out of foster homes and only made a life for himself out of sheer dedication and a stranger at a corporate office who took a liking to him. He had dedicated his life to getting ahead and it was finally starting to pay off.
It was 4:00, he had exactly one hour to get ready. He, and the house, had to be perfect. As quickly as he could he went into his bathroom and turned the water on to steaming hot. He stepped in and let the water run over his tanned skin, warming him from the cold interior of his apartment. The shower couldn't have lasted more than 5 minutes, for he had yet to get ready and couldn't waste time contemplating how the date would go in the shower.
Should he shave or should he not? He ran his hand over the line of his jaw and the stubble that covered it. He glistened with moisture covering his tanned skin and made his caramel eyes stand out. He had an outfit set out already, a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans but it was a classy sweatshirt. Malik was sure to like it, right? He dug sweatshirts probably, most pictures on his dating profile were him in sweatshirts. Now he was certain he was overthinking it, everything about it so he just shut up his mind and put on the clothes.
He still had 15 minutes before Malik said that he was going to show up and he spent it steadily cleaning every surface that he could in his house. If anything happened he needed to show that he wasn't a slob. He also changed the sheets on his bed...just in case. Altair had gotten so into the perfection zone that he didn't notice his phone ringing for an entire three or four rings. When he had finally processed the sound, he sprinted to it and picked it up, gasping a "hey" into the receiver.
"Hey Altair. Your doorman is refusing to let me in. Saying I don't have an ID or something. Could you buzz me in or something?"
"Oh shit sorry about that. The building requires an ID card. Uh bring him to the left side of the building. I'll shout down to him and tell him to let you in."
Altair went over to the window and stuck his head out into the light rain. Malik was down below nearly dragging the doorman over by Altair's window, only 6 floors up. Altair waved to the doorman and he nodded and appeared to apologize to Malik, sending him inside the building.
A couple minutes passed before a couple knocks came on his door. Altair's heart was racing, he finally was going to be with Malik. He opened the door and there was Malik, standing there in black jeans, a white t-shirt, and a navy blue cardigan over it. He had his hands in his pockets and a smile that was one of a kind. Perfect.
"You ready to go? The doorman was kinda nice once you yelled down." Malik said with a laugh and turned slightly in the direction of the elevator.
"Yeah I'm ready." He said as he stepped out of his apartment, locking the door and then turning back to Malik again. "Did you find a good place?"
"You said you hadn't had pizza in forever so I found a place a couple blocks from here."
"Sounds terrific." Altair replied and studied the hallway's interior.
The two began walking to the elevator situated at the end of the long hallway. Rooms on each side had black doors against the white walls of the hallway. But there was a door different from the rest at the end of the hallway, Altair's door, with its bright red paint. There was carpet in the hallway, black like the doors and it shrouded their shoes in long woven tendrils.
"This is a weird building. No offense." Malik stated, he had also been looking at the hallway.
"None taken. I don't know why anyone would choose carpet for the hallway, it snows here...a lot. Just seems germy and problematic."
"Not only that." Malik laughed. "Look at your door."
Both men turned and peered at the door now so far away since they stood now by the elevator. The hallway gave a steady repetition of black, white, black, white, and then bam! A bright red door."
"It's different on each floor. This floor has a red door, floor 7 has green, floor 5, has blue. It's just something 'modern' they did for the building." Altair described the building as he reached to push the button for the elevator."
Malik took notice of Altair's hand. On Altair's right hand his ring finger was missing, just completely gone. A work accident? Fireworks? His curiosity drove him to ask but would it be right? He rubbed his own finger, just making sure it was still there. He decided not to and stepped into the elevator alongside Altair.
Altair scanned his ID card and pushed the lobby button and the elevator descended before gliding to a stop at the lobby. The chrome doors opened into the lobby that matched the 6th floor, and probably every other floor as far as Malik knew. Both men stepped out into the lobby and walked out through set of double doors. From there they walked into the October air.
"What's the name of the pizza place?"
"Buddy's is the name I think, that or Champ's...something along those lines. It's two or three blocks this way." Malik pointed to the left and his breath was visible as he talked.
"You lead the way." Altair purred with a slight smile.
The two easily looked like a couple. Malik was shorter but only by an inch or two and the two gave up a warm aura that made people smile as they passed them. With the exception of the homophobic hobo, Martin, who lived in the alley by Altair's apartment building. As they passed Martin, Altair looked him in the eye and grabbed Malik's hand, making it visible to the hobo.
"Who's he?" Malik asked.
"Uh his name is Martin, he has lived in that alley since I moved here, and he's extremely homophobic. Like handing out fliers about how it is sin to be gay. Printing is expensive around here, that's probably why he doesn't have any money."
The two shared that moment and just looked into each other's eyes, enjoying the presence of each other. Malik walked a little closer to Altair, not too close but not too far. Altair, the tough presence, seemed softer around Malik. Though he still had his commanding figure Malik was sure he was being protected by the man he had just met.
"Turns out it's Danny's. I was really only checking ratings and reviews, not so much the name." Malik laughed and turned to Altair. Both of their faces had turned pinkish from the cold as they looked into each other's eyes.
Still holding hands, they went inside. They took a seat on the far side of the restaurant against the window where the radiator fogged up the window. After a minute or two the waitress came over and asked for drink orders. But she was visibly upset, visible with makeup running slightly and the tone in her voice.
"Honey, are you doing okay?" Malik asked the waitress.
"Yeah, thank you, I'll be okay. What do you guys want to drink?" She said smiling a tiny bit as she brushed a wisp of white blond hair out of her face.
"I'll have a water. What about you Malik?" He said and turned to him.
"I'll have one too, thank you."
"I'll be right back with those." She nodded and walked back across the white and black tiled floor.
"How was work today?" Malik asked Altair as he leaned his head on his hand.
"I didn't go today, took the day off. How was yours?" He replied and reclined in his chair.
"I only took a half day. It was slow and we just wrapped up a major project downtown. Plus I had to get ready for this. I'm going to be completely serious with you. This so far, has made my day. Completely."
Malik blushed and so did Altair. Both thought that they couldn't have found a more perfect person to go on a date with. From being paired up with only a couple interests, they found so much more in each other that they hadn't expected.
The waitress came back looking a little better with the waters and set them on the table. "What do you guys want to eat?"
They hadn't really thought about it but Altair simply stated. "A medium pizza, uh, pepperoni on that please."
She nodded, jotted it down, and walked off back to the kitchen. The two sat chatting about their days and each other, mostly the insane amount of preparation they had gone through getting ready so they could make a good first impression on each other. The waitress came back and set the steaming pizza in between them and left. Gingerly, each of them took a slice onto their plates and Altair immediately took a bite.
"Ow shit!" Altair yelled, bringing the napkin to his mouth and spitting it out.
A couple of people and turned and looked at him but Malik just looked concerned more than anything. His face turned red when he saw the people looking at him from around the restaurant. He could see Malik trying not to laugh across from him and keep up his appearance of concern.
"Are you okay?" Malik chuckled.
"Technically. My honor was hurt." He said, fake sadness tinting his voice.
"You are a big baby."
They sat waiting and laughing about Altair burning his tongue on the pizza. As soon as both of them had completely finished off the pizza the bill came and Altair insisted on picking up the bill. He had smacked his hand down over it and dragged it towards his side of the table, looking Malik in the eye the entire time.
With the bill paid they left the restaurant, saying goodbye to the waitress. Out on the street, Altair took his hand again. They walked close in the cold darkness back towards Altair's apartment building. Mostly it was quiet, just enjoying each other's silent company. Once they arrived it seemed they were going to part at the doorway.
"Do you want to come up for a drink?" Altair asked, smiling
"That would be nice yeah." Malik said and leaned into Altair a little.
The doorman opened the door to both of them, nodding to Malik as he passed into the lobby. As they walked back into They looked so cohesive and natural in the open lobby no one turned heads. They walked together into the elevator and went up to floor 6. Onwards and upwards.