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Everyone is staring at the man who’s just entered the overwhelmingly flamboyant party at James’ flat, as if they know who he is, but don’t actually know him.
I’m sitting on a couch next to Isaac, who is unsurprisingly busy reading, and I’m silently nursing my second beer.
But like everyone else, I’m also staring. Not because I know him; never seen the guy before, which is honestly a travesty. But because, fuck me, he couldn’t be more my type if I’d built him myself in a lab.
A long, lithe body covered in ripped black denim and leather, messy curls framing a face so pretty, I feel like I’ll be blinded if I look at him for too long. Piercing blue eyes scan over the crowd crammed into the living room, and for one nanosecond, I delude myself his gaze rests on me for a blink.
But then he turns and this gorgeous apparition vanishes into the kitchen.
I breathe for probably the first time since he entered the room and accost my friend.
“Isaac?” I regard it as the highest honour that he actually lowers his book for me. “Did you…? Do you know who…?”
“Oh, that was Charlie. He went to school with James and me, but I haven’t spoken to him in years.”
Isaac’s all-knowing gaze pierces through me. “And don’t ask me if you should go talk to him.”
How did he know that was going to be my next question? Right, of course, it’s Isaac.
“And why exactly shouldn’t I?”
“Because I’m not sure if it would be a brilliant or a catastrophic idea.”
I raise a confused eyebrow. Seriously, what’s the worst that could happen? It wouldn’t be my first rejection.
I shrug, finish my beer and stand up. Powered by liquid courage, I weave my way through the crowd that has apparently already forgotten about the hottest man to ever grace their presence.
He is standing on the balcony amidst dried out flower pots and is looking out over the glittering lights of the city.
Charlie, if Isaac is to be trusted, starts a little when I make my presence known with a slightly lame, “Hi.”
But he turns and smiles a dimpled, yet slightly bored, smile at me.
“Oh, hi.”
“You’re Charlie, right?”
“Yeah, I am…” he sighs, as if his name feels like a burden. “Of course you know my name.”
“Well, I only know it because my friend Isaac told me it just now. I’m Nick, by the way.” I frown, this is a bit weird.
But my concerns are immediately blown out into the night as he takes one step closer to me and I feel my breath hitch in my throat.
“You… you didn’t know my name before?” he asks, seemingly genuinely surprised.
What a strange question. “Uhm, no? Should I?”
Charlie shakes his head and laughs. “No, it’s all good. Sorry, force of habit.”
He then takes another step closer and stares right at me.
“So, why did you come out here, Nick?”
I take a deep breath. “Call me deluded or full of liquid courage, but you’re simply the hottest guy I’ve ever had the pleasure to lay eyes on and I just…”
“Wanted to shoot your shot?” he asks with a grin as words fail me.
I lean back against the railing with a laugh. “I wouldn’t have put it quite like that but… in essence, yeah.”
“Well then…” He crowds himself against me, his one hand wandering up my arm and taking hold of my neck. “Bullseye…”
The whole world around me falls away as Charlie presses his entire body firmly against me, while his lips brush over mine. Softly, once, twice, then with more insistence.
I open my mouth against his, inviting him in, drinking him in. Charlie’s tongue is caressing mine and his taste, his touch and his scent are making me dizzy.
I anchor myself to him with my hands around his waist, kissing him back hard, and I’m glad the night is still young.