Paranormal Lovers Box Set

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

They’d agreed to meet at Allegro at half-past four on Saturday afternoon. Paul arrived first, dressed casually in a collared T-shirt and cargo pants. He took a seat at the bar and ordered a beer. Quite frankly, he was surprised he was the first one to arrive, given the enthusiasm with which he’d been pursued.

Ten minutes later, Calvin hurried into the bar, wearing a navy blazer over a navy and white striped T-shirt, and dark trousers.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said. They shook hands. “The phone rang as I was leaving.” He looked at his watch. “Ah, I’m only a bit late. Been here long?”

“About ten minutes,” replied Paul. “What’ll you have?”

“A beer,” he said. “Whatever you’re having.”

Paul ordered a beer and Calvin suggested they get a booth.

“More private,” he said.

Paul followed Calvin to the back of the bar and they found a booth near the corner where the fronds of a large potted palm hung over them like an umbrella.

“I know this is all very unconventional,” said Calvin. “I’m glad you took the chance and called.”

“I had nothing else on,” said Paul. “Besides, I was interested to hear what you had to say. This whole situation has been…” He searched for the right word. “Intriguing.”

Calvin laughed. “That’s one word for it.”

“So you had a girlfriend?”

Calvin nodded. “Yeah. I met her about eight years ago at the place where I worked. We kept bumping into each other. Eventually, I decided to ask her out and, long story short, she moved in with me. It was wonderful. Most of the time. Just didn’t work out. And you? Anyone special in your life?”

Paul shook his head. “Not at the moment. I’ve dated a few guys…”

“Ah, so you’re—”

“Gay,” interrupted Paul. “Yes.”

“Mmm,” said Calvin.

Paul c****d an eyebrow. “Okay. And what does ‘mmm’ mean?”

“It’s just interesting. Believe me, I’ve got nothing against it. I told you yesterday I was having strange feelings for you—well, not strange. For you. I mean, strange for me.”

Calvin’s flustered attempt to explain himself brought a smile to Paul’s face.

“Because you’re straight,” he said.

Calvin nodded, though not very confidently. “Well, I thought I was. It’s just you and that handsome face of yours, almost beautiful.” He gestured to Paul. “You’re very good looking. In fact, my ex—the one I was telling you about—had the same blonde hair and green eyes.”

Paul felt himself blush. “Thank you.”

“Look, I don’t really know why I wanted to meet you so much. And I’ve never been interested in men before, so forgive me if I stuff up occasionally.”

Paul furrowed his brow. “But this isn’t a date.” He paused. “Is it?”

Calvin shook his head. “Paul, I don’t know what this is. Look, if I’m completely honest, I just wanted to be with you, to get to know you better. When I first saw you on the bus, I had the strongest feeling I knew you. That’s why I made sure I was at the bus stop the next couple of evenings. I really wanted to work out how I knew you.”

“And did you?” asked Paul.

“No, I didn’t. I still haven’t. It sounds like a corny line, but I feel like we’re old friends, that we’ve spent quite a bit of time together. I can’t remember where or when. I can’t explain it and I don’t really understand it. If we’d ever known each other the way I feel we have, one of us would remember, don’t you think?”

“Well, yeah,” said Paul. “I wouldn’t have forgotten a hot man like you.”

Paul couldn’t believe what had just come out of his mouth. He blushed again. Twice in five minutes. Was that some sort of record?

Calvin was grinning. “You think I’m hot?”

Paul shrugged. “I’m not blind.”

Calvin laughed. His eyes twinkled.

For a second Paul was mesmerised. “So tell me something else—the bus thing. Did you just happen to start catching the same bus as me, or was it planned?”

Calvin chuckled. “Ha ha. I can see how you’d think it was planned, but it really wasn’t. I used to drive into work, but then we lost some of our car bays, and because of that, only upper management got to keep their bays. Meeting you was purely accidental. If you discount fate, that is.”

They remained at Allegro all afternoon and into the evening. At around seven, they ordered a gourmet pizza from the kitchen, and after that, coffee.

“It’s starting to fill up now,” said Paul, looking around the bar.

“We should get out of here,” said Calvin. “Fancy going for a walk?”

“I might be a bit wobbly after all that beer. How much did we drink?”

“I lost count after five.”

Paul slid to the end of the bench and stood. “I definitely need to go to the toilet if we’re going for a walk.”

“I should go, too,” said Calvin.

Paul led the way. It was his fourth trip to the toilets since they’d started drinking. Beer always did that to him. They stood at adjacent urinals, pissing. Paul had the strongest urge to cast a sideways glance in Calvin’s direction, but didn’t want to get caught.

“Do you live far from here?” he asked, using the question as a ploy to sneak a peek at Calvin’s c**k.

It was large. And uncut. He could just see the tip of the pink head beneath the folds of foreskin. It always amazed him how much pinker the head of an uncut p***s was when compared to a cut one, such as his own.

Paul’s eyes were on Calvin as the man turned to face him. He quelled the urge to smile when he noticed Calvin’s eyes going first to his crotch, then to his face. He barely heard the answer because he could feel himself becoming erect. He turned to the urinal, willing his d**k to stop growing, which only made it grow faster.

“Peeing can be quite erotic,” said Calvin.

Paul returned his attention to the man, who nodded in the direction of Paul’s burgeoning erection.

“Sorry about that,” said Paul.

Calvin shook the last few drops of piss from the tip of his own semi-erect c**k. “No need to apologise,” he said, stuffing it back into his trousers. “It’s beautiful.”

“You shouldn’t have said that,” he said, now fully erect. “I have to walk through a crowded bar with this poking out at the front of my pants.”

Calvin washed his hands at the basin.

“All part of the fun,” he said. “Meet you outside.”

Paul pushed his c**k into his cargo pants and tried to arrange it in the most discreet way, which was difficult because he was a little larger than average. Quite a bit larger. Some men said it was a waste on a man who described himself as a total bottom. A man who was f****d, but who didn’t f**k back.

He washed his hands, then pushed through the door into the crowded bar. He saw a hand, Calvin’s, go up near the entrance, and he made his way through the chatting, drinking crowd to where Calvin was waiting for him.

“You can’t notice it at all,” said Calvin, glancing at Paul’s crotch. He patted him on the shoulder. “C’mon. Let’s get out of here.”

It was a warm night and the street was busy with people. Electric light poured out from bookshops and novelty stores. Neon light advertised clubs, pubs, and restaurants.

“I really love this,” said Calvin.

“What? The crowds?” asked Paul.

“The vibrancy. The life. Everyone’s dressed up and on their way out for a good time.” He raised his face to the sky and inhaled. “And smell that. That wonderful mixture of cigarette smoke and perfume. Of petrol fumes and food cooking.”

Paul looked at Calvin with a slight sense of wonder.

“Most people don’t notice things like that,” he said.

Calvin placed his hand in the small of Paul’s back. “I know, and isn’t it tragic? The little things, those subtle smells and sounds, enhance any experience to such an intense degree, and we take them for granted. We’d miss them if they weren’t there.”

“I suppose so,” said Paul.

They walked along the footpath to the end of the street, where there was a large park with giant Moreton Bay fig trees, which blocked out most of the starry night sky. As they stepped into the shadows, Calvin took hold of Paul’s hand.

“You don’t mind, do you?” asked Calvin.

Paul was a little surprised. “No, it feels nice.”

Calvin stopped and turned to face him.

“I’ve had a wonderful night. Thank you for agreeing to come out with me.”

Calvin cupped Paul’s face in his hands, then kissed him. The moment their lips touched, Paul felt a flash of energy and jerked his head back.

“What happened?” asked Calvin.

Paul brought his fingers to his lips. “I-I don’t know. It was…” He tried to think of a way to describe what he’d felt. “It felt like an electric shock. Just a little one. It didn’t hurt. It was just…strange.”

Calvin put his arm around Paul’s shoulders. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, I am. It just took me by surprise, that’s all.”

“Static electricity,” suggested Calvin.

Paul hadn’t considered that explanation, but it was a good one. “You’re probably right.”

“Would you like to try it again?”

Paul felt Calvin’s lips on his ear, and on the sensitive skin beneath. There was a slight tingling in the area, and he’d come over a little faint, yet he wanted to kiss Calvin more than anything. So when Calvin’s lips moved from Paul’s neck to his lips, and the tingling started around his mouth, he didn’t pull back.

It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling, the tingling, but as their kisses became more passionate, Paul began to experience a new sensation. It was as though he was no longer in his own body, or rather, someone else had invaded his body. He felt lighter, slimmer, and the strangest thing of all, he felt as though he had breasts. When Calvin tightened his embrace, Paul felt two spongy mounds squashing against Calvin’s chest. At first he thought they were Calvin’s pectoral muscles pressing against him, but that wasn’t it. He could feel Calvin’s pectoral muscles as well as that extra something else.

He got so caught up in trying to figure out what he was experiencing, he almost forgot about the kiss.

“What’s wrong?” asked Calvin. “Aren’t you enjoying this?”

Paul pressed his hands against his chest. He didn’t expect to encounter anything out of the ordinary, and he didn’t, which made what he’d experienced during the kiss more puzzling.

“I’m enjoying it,” said Paul.

As if to prove the point, he embraced Calvin, pulling the man to him. Their lips came together again. Calvin grabbed Paul’s right buttock, pulling his hips harder against him. This time, as well as the sensation in his chest returning, he could feel Calvin’s erect c**k pressing into his crotch as though there wasn’t anything there, like another c**k, to buffer it. He reached down to touch his swollen c**k, straining against the fabric of his cargo pants, yet while it was there physically, it wasn’t there in his mind. In his mind, Calvin’s c**k was pushing into a fleshy mound, almost—he hardly dared to acknowledge it—as if he had a v****a. Never having had any experience with a v****a, he couldn’t say how a c**k pressing against one would feel. Still, he was an imaginative, intelligent guy, and he could definitely imagine it might be a bit like what he was currently experiencing.

He pulled away from the kiss a second time.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m not feeling very well.”

Calvin let his arms drop by his sides.

“Is it me?” he asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice. “Look, if you don’t want to do this, just say the word.”

Paul was quick to assuage Calvin’s irritation. “No, no. It isn’t you. I’m having a good time. Really I am. I’ve probably just had too much to drink.”

“Okay, then. We’d better go.”

They started towards the footpath.

“I hope you’ll tell me if there’s a problem. I’m not a child. I can handle the truth.”

Paul shook his head. “Trust me. It’s not you. To be honest, I’m not sure what it is.”

“What do you think it is?”

They arrived at the footpath and began walking back the way they’d come.

“I really don’t know. It was a feeling. Each time we kissed.”

“A feeling? A good feeling? A bad feeling?”

Paul glanced at Calvin, at the expression on his face, to gauge what he might be thinking.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Paul. “It really doesn’t. I’ll be fine in a minute.”

Calvin smiled. “You have had a lot to drink.”

“That’s true. I’m sure I’ll be fine. In fact, I know I’ll be fine.”

They strolled past cafés and restaurants, through clouds of cigarette smoke and chatter, exchanging various observations.

“Are you feeling any better?” asked Calvin as they approached the car park.

Paul nodded. “Much better. I think it’s passed.” Then, as they entered the car park, he asked, “Hey, did you park here as well?”

“Yeah, eventually,” said Calvin. “I drove around the block twice looking for free parking, but since I was already late, I couldn’t waste too much time.”

They were standing at the ticket machine, digging around for their tickets and change when Paul said, “I’m parked just over here.” He pointed to his 2000 model black mini Cooper.

“I’m down the back somewhere.”

They paid their parking fees, then Calvin accompanied Paul to his car.

“Thanks for a wonderful evening,” said Paul, retrieving his keys from his pocket and disengaging the car alarm. “I had a fantastic time.”

He leaned in and kissed Calvin, and a spark of electricity momentarily numbed his lips.

“Except for the bit in the park.”

“We can always do that another time,” said Calvin. “If you want to.”

“I do want to.”

“I hope so. It’s been a real pleasure. And I hope you really are feeling better.”

They kissed again and said their goodbyes, then Paul got into his car and drove home.

Later, when he was lying in bed waiting for sleep to claim him, he went over the incident in the park second by second. Subconsciously, he brought his hands to his chest to reassure himself he hadn’t somehow grown a pair of breasts, and was greatly relieved to know he hadn’t.