Chapter 443: Foppa XXXI—One Missed Call

One missed call. Peter checked out his cell phone coming back into the hotel room after taking a swim in the hotel’s indoor pool. He yawned and stretched and tossed the phone onto one of the beds where it bounced harmlessly. A shower would be nice right now, he could see who it was later, once the chlorine smell left his nostrils.

No sound in the room, empty room, but Peter didn’t wonder or worry all that much about where Modano could be. Now as for dinner, that was important. Well, he could call Mikey up, maybe meet somewhere. Peter picked up his phone and wrinkled his nose; then again Modano might think that as an actual date. Date? Okay, sex was one thing, a date another, regardless of the male or female thing, however the other party might want to see it, Peter thought of the date as more important than the sex. He closed one eyes. Okay how did one approach this?

Were there rules on the interaction between sexually active males? No he wasn’t going to say gay, he just wasn’t. But how did Modano see it? Did Mike actually think they were in a relationship, and if so what did that entail? Well, there went appetite for now. Peter pushed it from his mind; maybe he’d discuss it with Mike later. For now, he picked up his phone and lay back on the bed. One missed call.

His stomach opened and growled when he saw the phone number. It couldn’t be. Blinking rapidly, Peter sat up, his stomach and thigh muscles trembling with nervousness and the exhaustion of the swimming pool. Why now? What about? And a message left, Peter pressed the button and hunching forward he put the phone to his ear.

“Peter,” Jo’s voice, a little husky, soft, as if she were whispering and the blood rushed so quickly through Peter’s temple that he felt a headache crash in around his ears. The voice felt alien and supernatural, and for some reason, he felt guilty. “Peter, look I know you might just delete this as soon as you realize it’s me, that’s okay. I mean you deserve to. I mean you have every right to. But, but I’ve been thinking and,” she sighed, and yes Peter knew how her face looked when she sighed, he knew how her breasts moved and how her stomach flattened on the inhale. “I just want to apologize.”

Peter squinted and sat up straight, he felt his face contorting. What made her that frightened; she couldn’t even apologize in person? She couldn’t wait for him to answer the phone? He did want to hang up and delete it, his cheeks burned and he’d never felt so angry and hurt.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Peter I got scared. It’s my fault and you know that, I’m sure you do. I mean Peter I don’t know how you feel about me now, and I can’t even, I don’t even know, I mean, I mean I just could not make myself believe what you could have felt for me, if you felt that for me. I….” she sighed again. “Look I’m sorry okay, I’m just sorry. I love… I… Bye. Okay, bye, I mean good luck, I mean that I really do. Okay I just hope I didn’t mess anything up too much okay. I just hope you find yourself happy, I mean. Yeah.” Another sigh, the click and dial tone.

Peter frowned and looked at the phone, and then he set it on his lap. No he didn’t feel like crying, nor did he feel elated or thrilled in anyway. Instead, he just felt, he felt cold; he touched his belly, hungry. And his chest hurt, it hurt with an itching, aching tickle that he couldn’t place. God what a psycho! One thing that confused Peter sometimes were the almost schizoid emotional whims women seemed to have, and he didn’t blame them for it, in fact it made him kind of sad. They seemed to be slaves to this state. Initially, it had seemed to him that Josefina was not plagued by this but, well obviously… Peter groaned and pressed his fingers over his eyes. Well obviously…

Dinner with Danny and Alex, what a better way to get the mind of problems, and anything even slightly resembling a logical thought, for the cheap entertainment Peter didn’t mind at all footing the bill. “So are you two feeling anymore friendly towards each other?” Peter asked, after Alex and Danny laughed as they shared plans for a prank they wished they could pull on Captain Sakic. Of course they felt friendlier towards each other; of course they’ve always been the same way. As far as Peter could see, the two were natural friends; Sakic in his mind just got tired of Alex as a fussy roommate and used the first excuse he could to get fob him off on Danny.

“Of course not!” Alex huffed. “Danny’s a shit head.”

“Hey!” Danny barked. “You’re the frumpy little…”

“Oof I should bop you!”

Peter grinned, because honestly, with the blue hair spiking in all directions from their heads, what could be funnier? “Well it looks like you’ll be bunking together for a little while longer.”

“Hey where were you I wanted to know if you wanted some dinner!”

Peter scowled when he entered the hotel room, Modano sat on a recliner in the corner of the room, a table of room service food before him. “What are you my wife or something?” The plaintive tone, Peter recognized this, the plaintive tone, the tug on the sleeve, the shy smile that just sent the alarms in his brain clanging, the terror in his chest thumping. What he didn’t feel was simply put, affection.

Modano narrowed his eyes. “What’s the matter with you?” And he sounded annoyed, a little surprised, and that put Peter at some ease. Mike didn’t look as if his feelings were hurt or he had anything else on his mind.

“Nothing,” Peter said. “I guess I had my phone off, that’s all.” He pulled out his phone and yeah, it was off. Odd, he didn’t know why he would turn it off like that. He couldn’t even remember turning it off, but he really didn’t want to analyze it subconsciously. It didn’t mean anything.

“You eat then? I ordered enough for two.”

Peter nodded, “Yeah I ate, I’ll pay you back though.”

“No don’t, it’s okay.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah it’s fine.”

And Peter heard a tinge of it there. Just a note, it sounded so quietly subdued, so politely plaintive that it almost made it worse than if Mike had been outright morally offended. The martyr, yes Peter knew these roles well enough and it disappointed him more than a little to realize that they may just apply to relationships between males as well. “Look Mike let me pay you back, I mean you…”

“No really, it’s fine!” Snap.

Peter grimaced. “Okay.” But no he wouldn’t apologize. With barely a moment to catch his breath, the phone rang. Dammit for turning it on. Peter picked it up and saw the number on the screen and his mouth dried. Slowly he sat on the bed and stared at it, and he let it ring, his brain told him to click the button, just answer it, he didn’t have to say anything he could just listen, that’s all, just listen. His fingers wouldn’t move however.

He could feel Mike’s eyes on him; Peter sighed and laid back, the phone at his side. Finally it stopped ringing, and he wondered if another message was in the process of being left. It shouldn’t matter so much anymore, should it? After another long silence, when he could hear his own breath, taste his own heartbeat, Mike broke it.

“Was that her?”

Somehow that annoyed Peter. More than likely anyone asking that question at that moment would have annoyed him. One thing Peter could not stand was someone presuming anything about him, expecting, committing, demanding, anything… just anything! “Nope.”

“Well I mean you didn’t answer it, Pete, if you’re feeling that badly we can…”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Peter snapped. “Okay? It’s private.”

“Fine,” Modano said softly, “Fine, I just care okay? Don’t bite me off for caring.”

Throwing his arm over his eyes Peter sighed. “Sure.”

Funnily enough, Peter made the first overture. Why? Well for one thing his body felt so stressed and twisted he needed the release, for another, the curiosity burned inside him. He’d been pretty rude to Mike’s good intentions, and he hadn’t apologized but how much had that affected him?

As Mike passed by the bed, headed towards the bathroom perhaps, Peter, without looking at him held out his hand and grabbed Modano’s wrist. Mike stopped dead in his tracks. Peter could even feel the pulse in the wrist quicken, throb, and he ran his tongue over his lips, pulled the hand to his mouth and kissed it. For a moment he felt a little alien and revolted, a kiss on the hand should great his lips with soft skin, fragrant hairless skin. It didn’t last long.

Almost within the instant, Modano fell to his knees and kissed his mouth, hard body, strong arms, deep voice, and vulnerable pliable lips. It didn’t matter. Jo, the phone, none of this shit mattered, not anymore. The woman had done with him, she was asking permission to move on with a clear conscious, fine she could have that.

“Oh yeah,” Peter sighed at the kisses and the hands, again sliding down his body, lifting his shirt, slipping down his pants, causing everything to quicken, heat, heat almost to bursting, intoxicating his senses until he didn’t give a shit about anything else.