"I thought we were going to Kicker's," Dave said as he looked from the car at the outside of the bar.
"We are," Steven assured him as he parked, "Mo's Universe becomes Kicker's on Thursdays and Saturday nights. The rodeo association takes it over and it goes all sorts of country."
"Huh," Dave said as he followed Steven to a side door, "and the other guys meet you here before bowling?"
"Nah, just for bowling at the Three Sisters. It's a weekly charity thing. After work, they all go out for Mexican. And I gotta be honest, I can't stand Mexican food all that much. At least not as much as them."
"That's because you've never had good Mexican food. Just that crap they serve at restaurants," stated the bouncer.
"Well, when's the wife gonna invite me over Alphy?"
"Alphy? Name's Alphonse. Can you believe this guy? Don't make me kick you out tonight." The bodyguard gave a huge smile, which intensified Dave's focus on the piercing on either side of his lips. He wore a black baseball cap and an oversize red tee shirt. He and Steven hugged like old friends.
"Hey Alphy, this is Dave. New guy. He's with me."
"Ooh, fresh meat. The boys'll love you."
"Ummm…thanks," Dave stated while handing over his id.
"Okay, now get in there you crazy kids."
"I'll give you crazy kids," Steven called out as he and Dave entered Mos.
"Yeah, you just try it old man," Alphonse teased right back.
The main bar was doing pretty good business and Dave could barely hear himself, trusting Steven to lead him. Steven wound his way to a side bar off the dance floor. There was guy with a microphone leading several people slowly through a line dance.
Thank God they have instructional stuff, Dave thought.
"What you want? Rum and coke or a Bud Light?" Steven asked, breaking into Dave's train of thought.
"Ummm…I'm…Rum and coke sounds good, actually."
"Good man. Two rum and cokes, a long island iced tea, and we'll do a sampler with the sliders. Usually spot, thanks Adam."
"Can do." Adam's gaze focused on Dave and then gave a sly grin. "Hey, you were at DJ Danni's mixer, right?"
"Oh yeah, you were bartending that night," Dave nodded as he remembered the guy with the broken nose. "Name's Dave. I've been wondering how you broke your nose. Looks like a football injury."
Adam gave Dave a nod. "Not quite a football injury. I play for the gay rugby team in town. We just finished our championship game and some tool from Vegas tried to clock me. Just made it out by the skin of my nose. You play rugby?"
"Did some football in high school, rugby might be interesting."
Adam pointed to Steven while he was wiping down the counter. "Talk to this guy. I've given him all the info but I think you can find us through the sdrugby website. Don't quote me on that though."
"Hey! I'm not a bad guy. I've just got a business to run. Besides, you really want a dirty old bastard like me running around a locker room with twenty rugby studs?"
Adam snorted. "Not like we haven't had that happen before. Your order's in. I'll bring your drinks over shortly. Have a good night, Steven…and Dave, right?"
"Yeah, I'm Dave." Handsome. And plays rugby. Dave nodded and then turned to follow Steven again the short distance to his usual table. "I should probably take these lessons."
"Nah. Not on your first night. Scott and Lee do the opener twice a week, every week. You're in no hurry. I however am starving. You eaten here before?"
Dave shook his head. "Never thought I'd get around to coming in. After the way people treated Kaz…"
"Kaz made his bed. And hey, that was mostly the twinks and stuff. He never really snagged any of us gruffer guys. Definitely not floating my boat. Oh hey, you ever shadow danced before?"
The drinks arrived and Dave took a swig of his rum and coke. "I…no." There was a phone number on the bottom of one of his napkins with Adam's name on it.
"Well, I'll teach you how tonight, okay? And maybe introduce you around, if you like? Can't hurt to meet a few people."
"Probably won't remember anyone's name though. So what is on this sampler platter?" He tucked the napkin with Adam's phone number into his pocket, sure that he was purely going to call him later just about the rugby thing. And that was all. Maybe. After all, he was kind of dating...was he dating Steven? Seemed like tonight he was.
"Oh man. They do a great pork slider with slaw here. And I'm a sucker for a chicken tender and onion ring. I love supporting this place since the new owners moved in. They're really good to our kind, it would've been so easy to just do techno but they let us keep our usual nights. And there's Brian. Hey Brian!"
Dave met a lot of people in Steven's social circle that night and figured he'd have to come back a few times before he got everyone's name down. There were so many more people here than there had been at Scandals but it seemed more like a gay family than Scandals had been. And Steven was great to Dave, leading him around as needed and acting like a guide instead of someone trying to initiate an intimidated new gay guy into the scene.
If Dave had had any doubts about whether or not they were on a date, Steven would have erased them during the shadow dance. The shadow dance was the hottest thing you could do at Kickers as far as Dave was concerned. A partner against your back, bodies so close that he was your shadow and the way that Steven held him. He had trouble remembering that he needed to pick up Kaz's car at some point and that Kaz would probably be pissed but Steven's breath was on his neck and well, Dave never tired of Steven's compliments.
By the time they were on the way to hit the bowling alley, Dave wasn't quite focused on socializing anymore. The combination of dancing with Steven, the alcohol, and awesome bar food was making Dave's horny levels sit up and bark. Dave found that when Steven reached to shift, he was shifting a little harder than he needed to and it was…Dave felt…distracted. And Steven was noticing.
"So, uh, I know you wanted to go bowling and all..."
"I can ditch it if you have other thoughts. Good ones."
"I…uh..," Steven shifted gears with his very manly hands and Dave lost his train of thought, "sorry, having a bit of trouble focusing."
"Yeah? What're you focusing on?"
Steven shifted another gear as they went down the road and Dave found his grip sliding over Steven's hand. "The way you shift gears."
"My place or yours?"