Brian walked into his apartment with a goofy grin on his face and feeling better than he had in years. A guy, no the guy was interested in him. He couldn't fucking believe it. "Hey Bri Bri" Megan, his younger sister, chirped. "Hello." Brian breathed, settling on the couch. "Wow, someone's in a good mood." "Yep." "May I ask why." Megan laughed, sitting next to him. "I met the most amazing guy today." Brian boasted. It was no secret to Megan that Brian was gay. "Oooh, what's his name?" "Wes" "How'd ya meet him?" "He came into the coffe shop and left this." Brian said shoving the note at Megan excitedly, it had been burning a hole in his pocket since he left work. Megan read it and slowly looked up, her smile growing even larger. "So you're gonna call him right?" Brian thought for a moment. It'd been forever since he'd been on a date. He hadn't even come close to a relationship in over four years. He glanced up at Megan's smiling face felt his own smile falter as he suddenly realized why he hadn't been in a relationship in so long. Four years ago his parents had died in a car accident and since then Megan was his responsibility. he'd dropped out of college, gotten two jobs, working at the coffee shop during the day and a gay night club during the night. He was still having trouble making ends meet. It seemed like everytime he got one bill paid another one was past due or Megan had some sort of fee to pay at school. He spent what little time he had between working, trying to catch up on his sleep. He simply didn't have the time or energy for a boyfriend. "I uh, I don't think so." Brian answered with a regretful smile. "What?!" Megan shrieked, causing Brian to jump, "Why the hell not?" "Ok, first of all, watch your mouth. Second, I'm just not gonna call him, that's all." he said trying to make it seem like nothing. "Brian a minute ago you were all hyped up about htis guy. What changed?" "Nothing, look, I gotta be at work in like three hours and I've been awake since 5, so if you'd excuse me I'd like to get some sleep. Don't you have homeork to do or something?" Megan shot him a glare and stalked off to her room. He sighed and tiredly made his way to his feet. He wasn't lying, he really did need his sleep. He intentionaly avoided looking at Wes' note lying on the table as he walked to his room. He threw himself face forward on his bed and was out within minutes. *** Two days later the note from Wes was still right where Brian left it. He jsut couldn't bring himself to throw it away. Megan mentioned the note everyday without fail and it was always in the back of Brian's mind. He found himself wanting more than once to just cave and say to hell with his responsibilities. He could just quit on of his jobs and...who was he kidding? There was no way he could support himself and Megan if he did that. There was just no way to manage it without completely burning himself out. *** Brian plopped down on the couch and let out a long sigh. It had been almost a week since he had seen Wes and he was dying inside. he just couldn't bring himsef to call that number. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. He got up to answer it, expecting it to be one of Megan's friends. What he didn't expect was to see Wes standing on the other side. "Wes?!" Brian squeaked. "Hi." Wes smiled. "What are you doing here?" Brian blurted before he could catch himself. Wes' smile slipped a bit, "Your sister- she said you wanted to have lunch, but you were to busy to call yourself." Megan. The little sneak. He was going to kill her. "Um, wow, Wes....there must have been some misunderstanding, my sister, she's a bit.." This time Wes smile fell completely, "So you don't want to have lunch?" "No, Wes...I-" Brian was at a complete loss for words. He wanted to have lunch with Wes, god, he wanted that more than anything, but he just couldn't. "Oh wow, I'm sorry. I should have known something was up when your sister called instead of you. I mean I've got younger siblings of my own..." Wes rambled on clearly embarrased, "...and I'll just go I guess." he finished and turned to leave. Brian felt a moment of panic. If Wes left now would he ever see him again? Brian knew he didn't have time for a relationship, but he couldn't just let him walk away. "Wes wait!" Brian called before he knew what he was doing and when Wes turned around to face him he was at a loss for words. Finally after a few seconds of awkward silence Wes spoke. "Yeah?" "Um," brian paused. This was the moment of truth. He could let Wes walk away or he could take a huge risk. "I have to be at work in like, 30 minutes, but I'd love to have dinner with you tomorrow night." Wes got a pained look on his face, "Look, you don't have to go out with me just because you feel sorry for me." "No, really, I want to go out with you." Wes looked skeptical for a moment, "Really?" "Yeah, really" "Wow, um great. I'll pick you up around 8?" "Sounds good." Brian couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face. *** If you liked this you should consider joining my yahoo group. There's faster updates, more stories, and sneak peeks. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/whispered_secrets/