My contribution this week to the Rainbow Snippets meme comes from “Sucker for Love,” a love story told through three acts of oral intimacy. It appears in the pansexual erotica anthology Licked from editor Jillian Boyd and was one of my first published short stories when I made the foray back into print in 2015. The narrator is Marcus, the child of a British and a German ex-pat living in the United States. This scene takes place in college (that’s “university” to my UK friends), after Marcus develops a crush on the captain of his rowing team.
I tried my best to quash my blossoming crush, to stamp out each glimmer of hope that sprung in my chest when he smiled at me or let his eyes linger on my chest or cock a little too long. No no, I told myself, he’s looking at your thighs, not your dick; he’s assessing them for strength like any good rowing coach would.
But then, one morning as the sun came up and lit the last of the autumn leaves a flaming orange, he said, “Marcus, could I take you out for dinner tonight? There’s a new Laotian place near the Square I’ve been wanting to try.”
“Take me out?” I panted. He had longer legs than I did and, even after all the training, it was still a struggle to keep up with his running pace. “Like a date?”
“Is that too heteronormative or something?”
I stopped in my tracks. I couldn’t have this conversation and run at the same time. My brain didn’t know how to cope. “No. It’s not too heteronormative.”
“I see,” he said, running in place beside me. He nodded the way that poker players do when they admit defeat: one short dip of the chin, then back up, head held high. “You’re not interested. I guess I misread things. No sweat.”
Rainbow Snippets is a fun project for sharing excerpts from your own or others’ stories about queer/LGBTQIA characters. The goal is to share six sentences or lines—one for each stripe on the rainbow flag—and I actually managed to stick to it this week! Find more Rainbow Snippets on the Rainbow Snippets Facebook page or by looking for #rainbowsnippets and #rainbowsnippet on twitter. It’s a great way to discover new authors.
And feel to free to browse other story snippets I’ve posted on my blog.
I hope Marcus corrects that misunderstanding in his next sentence.
He will soon. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Sometimes the signs are so subtle that you never know until the words are out. I like it very much how you hinted at that so vividly in few short sentences.
Thank you. I might have been in a similar situation once or twice 🙂
He definitely needs to correct the misinterpretation!
Ha! How could I have left it on such a cliffhanger …
Fascinating. Both their feelings are palpable in so little words.
Thank you!
Ha! He might have misread something, but not what he thinks!
😀 THanks for stopping by!
I love that short nod at the end – so visual, and so expressive. 🙂
Thank you!
Hopefully the misinterpretations won’t haunt him.
Me too 😉
I hope he’s quickly corrected and they go on the date.
This is erotica, so they do a little bit more than that 🙂
Oops. How to take things the wrong way 101. Wonder why he so obviously expects to be turned down?
Perhaps the poor boy hasn’t had the best of luck in relationships. Or maybe he’s just so crushed out on how amazing the narrator is that he can’t imagine the feelings being returned. Maybe that’s another story for me to write 🙂
I hope they straighten out that misunderstanding quickly!
Resolution comes very soon … 😉