Chapter Three

"Hey Carter, we're going out for drinks in a minute or two, wanna come?" Mike strutted up to the tall black man.

"Uh… what? Drinks?" Carter didn't mean to sound so disappointed, but he was. He just had planned to sound enthusiastic and mope about it later, but it didn't work.

"I mean, you don't have to come. It was just a suggestion." Mike backed up a little.

"No, it's just… nevermind. I don't think so, thanks." Carter politely smiled and watched as Mike walked away before turning to find James. Once he found him, he pulled him off to the side in the hallway.

"What's going on?" James inquired.

"How about we go over to… your place instead."

"Why?"

"Well, I found out everyone's going for drinks and I don't want to run the risk of running into them and well, Stuart shares the apartment so he's bound to come home at some point…" Carter heard himself rambling and trailed off. James looked confused a moment.

"Well… I… I thought we were just going for drinks and relax. And talk… like that, you know?" James looked worried.

"Don't worry. I promise, nothing is going to happen."

(----)

James panted heavily as he laid on his bed. His arms were stretched out as far as he could go. The bed sheets were tangled around him and when he turned his head, Carter seemed to be in the same predicament, except he was positioned on his side, head in hand, and watching the younger man carefully.

Clothes were scattered every which way on the floor and a bottle of half empty wine and two empty, previously used glasses sat on the dresser.

"Well… this is… well…" James sighed and continued to stare at the ceiling unable to quite express what he wanted to say.

"I hope it was okay."

"Yeah, yeah. I just didn't expect this would happen… again."

"Well, neither did I." Carter shifted his position slightly. James moved his head to stare at Carter and laughed.

"I bet you did."

"I did?" Carter pretended to sound surprised and a bit angry at being "accused" of such blasphemy!

"Sure you did. You brought me to my own apartment and fed me pizza and wine." James sighed. "I guess I'm just kind of confused. I mean, I thought I liked women. I thought I liked women a lot and now here I am. I've had sex with a guy." He paused. "Twice."

Carter moved in to kiss him again when there was a loud knock on the door. Both of them wondered who would be knocking on James' door at almost midnight.

"Hey! James!" It was Stacey. "You left your speech papers at the office! I thought you might need them! Hello?"

In the moment of panic, neither of them suspected that she was only there to see where James went to in such a rush after work. Carter went to move but James put his hand on his shoulder and the other over his mouth.

"I'm not home." He whispered and Carter nodded. The two laid down and waited.

"James? Are ya home?" Stacey sighed and paused a moment to knock once more. "Well, I would try to come in, but since your 'not home' I'll go then." Her footsteps echoed down the dank hallway's of the building. James and Carter breathed at last.

"Now what?" Carter leaned back on the pillow again.

"We could stay here… or we could go out for awhile."

"Go where?"

"Dunno. I'm kind of tired anyway." James reached over and turned the light down to a very dim glow without asking if it was alright if he did so. It turned out, it was fine with Carter. He was pretty tired himself. He wiggled around a bit to get comfortable. He stretched one arm out and unexpectedly felt a head lay down on it. "Carter?"

"Yeah?"

"There's a part of me who thinks this is very wrong."

"What about the other part?"

"The other part is very happy."

"Hm."

(----)

That morning, Carter woke up early. He forgot for a spilt second where he was until he looked to his left and remembered. Careful not to wake his partner, he slid out of bed and groggily searched for his boxers. Grabbing whatever pair he first laid his hands on, he pulled them on (as well as an undershirt) and walked into the kitchen for a drink of water.

After chugging it down, he sat on the couch and sighed deeply. After all that happened last night, there was only one conversation that still twisted around in his mind.

"There's a part of me who thinks this is very wrong."

"What about the other part?"

"The other part is very happy."

"What the hell am I going to do?" he asked himself. He really meant it, too. He didn't know what he was going to do about any of this. He attempted to keep telling himself that James was straight… James was straight… but it didn't work and it pissed him off to no end. That convincing didn't turn him off, it turned him on. Turned him on so bad. Who knew sleeping with a supposedly assumed straight man would turn him on more then sleeping with another homosexual?

He looked at the clock. It was almost 5am. He wondered what he was going to do for breakfast if he had to be in work by 7am. Before he had time to think some more, he heard James clear his throat behind him. Carter turned his head and stood slowly.

"Thought you left." James said calmly, the only clothing covering him a pair of boxers.

"Really? Why?" Carter looked confused and took a few steps forward. James shrugged one shoulder.

"Dunno. It's happened so often…"

"People've left while you were asleep?"

"Yeah."

"I'm not going to do that. Not unless you piss me off. Now, what do you usually do about breakfast?" Carter changed the subject. James smiled and walked to his tiny counter. He opened a drawer and looked around. Closing it he turned to the fridge. Closing that, he sighed.

"I'm not hungry."

"Yeah…" Carter finally admitted. "Neither am I." he rubbed his hands together. James opened his freezer.

"I've got ice cream." He suggested.

"That'll do."

(----)

It was 8 o'clock when Carter rushed into work. James had left a half hour earlier, so either way, both of them were late. They had done rock, paper, scissors to figure out who would be later. Carter lost.

"You're late." The Mayor walked up to Carter, his back straightened.

"I'm so sorry, sir. I was eating breakfast and lost track of time." He explained and he wasn't lying. He had been eating breakfast and most definitely lost track of time. Carter put down his suitcase and joined everyone else in Mike's office to catch the tail end of the meeting.

After it was over, Nikki and Carter remained behind. They sat down on the couch once more.

"So, you went for drinks and talked this over right?" she made an effort at trying to clarify. Carter just looked uncomfortable and tried to smile. "Right?"

"Um… no."

"So you didn't talk at all?"

"Um… no." Carter said again slowly, knowing Nikki must have caught on by now. She had, and she sighed and closed her eyes.

"You did it again, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"What're you going to do about this? We all know James is straight, correct?" Nikki crossed her arms.

"That's the problem! As far as I've known this guy, he's been straight. Incredibly straight. And now here I am, a straightforward homosexual and we're FUCKING!" he yelled before clamping his hand over his mouth and clearing his throat once he brought his hand down. "I just… I can't seem to grasp what's happening. I'm afraid this could be a mistake, for both of us…"he trailed off. Nikki stared incredulously, her arms still crossed at her chest.

"But…" she prompted.

"But…" he sighed and suddenly, his demeanor changed. He faced Nikki and threw his hands wildly around and he was smiling. "… it's SO good! I mean, it's so hard for guys like me to find someone with my schedule…" he put his hands down and frowned. "… and then I find him and he's straight. And I can't help but have a cloud of worry hanging above my head. It's looming and telling me that this all could be some big experiment for him… but if it was it would have been that one time and end it, right?"

"Well… you've got a problem here, don'tcha?" Nikki slapped his thigh and rose. "Here's three words you ought to consider…"

"What?"

"Talk. To. Him." She said each word as if it was a new sentence. She shook her head amusedly and walked out the office. Carter eventually followed and went to his office.

Meanwhile, Stuart was pestering James while he tried to write. Stuart was smiling like the cat who ate the canary.

"So… Stacey tells me she went by your apartment last night and you weren't there."

"And…?"

"Nothin'." Stuart stared off into the distance before turning back. "Why does your breath smell like peppermint?"

"You can smell it?" James looked up.

"All the way from here."

"huh." They were silent yet again and James took a drink of his coffee.

"I wonder what this guy looks like that Carter is doing." Stuart shoved his hands into his pockets and stared at the ceiling. James spit out his coffee in surprise. Stuart jumped back. "What the hell was that for!"

"It's… it's too hot." James stood and pulled some tissues from a nearby box and began to clean up as Carter walked back into the room. James cringed when he heard what Stuart began to say, not realizing Carter was present.

"Anyway, you have to wonder what kind of guy would do a man like Carter. Really. I mean, how desperate would that guy have to be for sex?" Stuart didn't wait for an answer. "I mean… that guy must have been seriously lacking in the sex department for a few months and saw Carter and was like 'hey! He looks good! I'll try him!'. I wouldn't even be surprised if the guy was straight!" Stuart cracked up.

"Is that what you think?" Carter asked. Stuart turned slowly around and swallowed.

"I guess so." He shrugged. Stuart missed the glare that Carter shot into James' direction before responding.

"I'm starting to think that too." He sighed. James' face dropped immensely and he look hurt before running away.

"That's a shame." Stuart remarked, not paying any heed to James' quick exit. Carter looked startled and followed Stuart back to his desk.

"Why? Why's that a shame?"

"What? Oh…" Stuart looked up from what he was doing, put down his pen and laced his fingers together. "Well, these past two days… I haven't seen you this happy in awhile. I mean, you're strutting down the halls, smiling, your shoulders are relaxed."

"I… I… what?" Carter let it sink in before running off.

"What is it with these guys today?" Stuart shook his head before turning back to his paperwork.