The Better Side of Me - Jerry Cole Page 0,54

that for you,” Lance demanded of Kirk’s approaching bag. It was the biggest piece of luggage that either of them had by far and would take all of Kirk’s strength to lift off the conveyor belt.

“It’s fine,” Kirk assured him. He went to step in front of Lance. “I can—”

“Kirk. I said I’ve got it.” Lance held his arm out to stop Kirk from getting in front of him. He then very purposefully, and forcefully, grabbed at the large bag and hoisted it from the belt. “See. I’m not completely useless.”

“I never said you were,” Kirk sighed.

“All right.” Lance continued to look down the conveyor belt rather than at Kirk, as if there was a chance he might blink, miss the next bag, and then he’d never see it again. “Whatever.”

Kirk sighed again, loud enough for Lance to hear. Of course, Lance acted like he didn’t hear it, and continued to watch the endless parade of bags like his life depended on it. And all the while raw heat radiated off of Lance with such force that Kirk half felt like they were still in Hawaii, melting beneath the sun. Which of course, they weren’t.

This mood of Lance’s! It was the first time such a thing had reared its ugly head, and where Kirk would have been fine had the monster only hung around for a couple of hours, or maybe a day! But it had been a day and a half now and Kirk just wanted his boyfriend back.

It had started two nights ago, when Lance didn’t come to Kirk’s presentation. It was a shame too, because Kirk had absolutely killed it. Standing up on that stage, dressed as fine as anyone else in that room, looking and feeling as strong and confident as ever, Kirk wonder to himself what he had ever been worried about. Not only was there not a looker in the crowd, but they were all intelligent minds filled with keen intellects that were there specifically to learn from him. So why worry?

It wasn’t until he was about ten minutes into his presentation that he noticed Lance was missing. This caused a slight stumble, but then he got over it and powered on. Kirk told himself in the moment that Lance was probably tucked away in the back somewhere. There was just no way he’d miss this!

But he had missed it. And when Kirk found Lance an hour later, in a bar down the road, drinking beer of all things! He knew something was wrong.

“Hey,” Kirk had eased as he sat down beside his prickly boyfriend. “I didn’t see you in there?”

“Nope,” Lance had said into his drink.

“All right.... ah, why?” Kirk had then asked, just as carefully. Something was wrong, something far more severe than a missed presentation.

In response, Lance shrugged and ordered another drink.

Not much else was said that night. In fact, an hour after sitting in relative silence, Kirk chose to go for a walk and instructed Lance to meet him back at the room whenever he was ‘done throwing a tantrum.’ It was midnight by the time Lance returned. He was wasted beyond anything and passed out cold before Kirk could even pretend to worry about where he had been.

Lance slept in the next morning, which was fine by Kirk. He was through being worried and had well and truly transitioned into angry. Lance had been the one to miss his presentation! Lance had been the one acting like a child! Lance was the one wasting their last day in Hawaii! So why should Kirk worry?

He spent the majority of the final day by himself. He rode out to the Valley of the Temples, then had a pineapple shave ice. He took the scenic route home, making sure to take in as much of the local landscape as possible. Pictures were had, people were met and serenity was achieved. It was actually a pretty nice day, with the exception of Lance not being there.

And then, just to make things worse, Lance actually pretended to be angry with him when he got home that afternoon! Like he was the one in the wrong!

“Where have you been?” Lance was still in his clothes from the night before, lying in bed, watching tv.

“Valley of Temples,” Kirk said defiantly. He stunk of smoke and sweat and started to undress for a shower. “I saw some temples, got attacked by monkeys and fell over in a rice field. It was awesome.”

“Glad you had fun,” Lance said