Operation Meet Cute by K.M. Neuhold
Chapter 13
TEDDY
With our windows down, the smell of fresh-cut grass and peaches waft in and fills the rental car. I watched with interest from the passenger seat as we left the city behind and just kept driving. Growing up in rural Minnesota, it’s a common occurrence that people assume I’m from Minneapolis. In truth, we visited the city a few times in my childhood and that was about it. I knew the same was true for Harlow with Atlanta, but I didn’t realize quite how rural we were talking until now.
“Is it much farther?” I ask, starting to get a little impatient to stretch my legs after not only the four-hour flight, but the additional two hours we’ve now spent in the car.
“Not much,” he answers, glancing over at me, nerves tightening his expression.
He started getting fidgety and anxious last night, asking me over and over if I was sure I wanted to come out here with him. I’m not sure what he thinks is going to happen, but I’m certain it couldn’t possibly be as bad as he’s thinking.
“You haven’t told me much about this place. In fact, I don’t think I even know the name of the town we’re going to.” I chuckle at my own realization that I’m following him so blindly on this trip without ever giving it a second thought. I’m long past trying to convince myself that I wouldn’t follow him just about anywhere if he asked.
He wrinkles his nose, reaching up with his free handand adjusting his sunglasses while keeping the other one on the steering wheel. “Dodgeville,” he answers, pronouncing the ville like vul. The second we stepped off the plane at the Atlanta airport, it’s like something in the air kicked his accent into high gear. Usually it’s barely noticeable, but I have to admit it’s kind of doing it for me.
“Dodgeville,” I repeat, hanging my arm out the window and bobbing my head. “So what’s it like?”
“Ever seen Deliverance?” he deadpans, and I laugh again.
“Oh please, it can’t be that bad.”
Harlow lets out a long breath. “Honestly, I can’t really be objective. I haven’t been back here in a decade, and in my mind, it’s all morphed into this oppressive, monstrous place. It wasn’t the first town I would’ve picked to grow up in as a queer kid, you know? But it probably wasn’t the worst place in the world or anything either.”
“I get it. Small towns tend to be pretty conservative. Ridgeview, Minnesota wasn’t exactly gay heaven either.”
He reaches over and pats my knee, and then turns off the main road. We pass a sign that says, Welcome to Dodgeville: Population 1,100.
“Get ready, Teddy Bear, because the official Harlow Monroe tour starts right now,” he declares, pulling his hand off my thigh and flourishing it toward the field we’re passing on our right. “That field right there, that’s the site of not only my first kiss, but also my first blowjob, and I once puked there after drinking way too much homemade apple pie moonshine.” He shudders at the memory.
“They should put a sign up or something,” I tease.
“Right?” he agrees.
“Once you’re a famous director, I’m sure they’ll put plaques up all over town announcing every place you ever ate, puked, or sneezed.”
I expect a laugh, possibly some return banter about how they’ll have to add his name to the sign declaring this his birthplace or how it will become a tourist trap like Graceland. Instead he goes quiet, tightening both hands on the steering wheel.
“Shit, Low, I’m sorry. Still a sore subject, huh?” I guess. We haven’t discussed the whole script situation since Timothy slightly redeemed himself a few days later, but that was almost a month ago.
“Oh, I’m still deeply in denial about that whole thing,” he says airily.
I don’t get the chance to give him another kick-ass pep talk because he makes a turn into the parking lot of a motel.
“What are we doing here?”
He puts the car in park and lowers his sunglasses to look at me like I’m crazy. “Getting a room?” Harlow answers, but it sounds more like a question.
“I thought we were staying at your mom’s house.”
He barks out a laugh. “Oh, honey, no. My childhood bedroom will be a stop on the town tour this week, but over my dead body are we cramming together into my twin-size bed with my creepy boy band posters staring at us from every wall.”
“Got it.” I reach for the handle to get out of the car, but Harlow reaches out to stop me with a hand on my arm.
“Just so you know, I tried to book us two rooms, but there’s this peach orchard nearby that is some big tourist destination for god knows what reason, so in the summer, this place gets really booked up.”
“So…” I’m not following what he’s trying to say.
“So, there was only one room available for this week. And apparently the Great and Powerful Keanu Reeves in the sky is a fanfic reader because, wouldn’t you know it, there’s only one bed.”
“One bed?” I echo, my heart beating faster.
We’ve been getting naked together for weeks now. Since the first time we fucked, it’s happened a handful of times—in my bed, in his, once on the floor in my living room—and yet the idea that we’re going to be sharing a bed all week, sleeping next to each other, waking up next to each other, is a lot more exciting than it should be.
“I don’t know why you’re looking so freaked out when you’re the one who snores,” Harlow says.
“I don’t snore.”
“You do,” he insists. “I can hear it through my ceiling.”
I huff and shake my head. “I don’t snore,” I say again. “And I’m not freaked out. I was just wondering if two grown men openly sharing a bed is going to raise any eyebrows or cause any problems around here? Like, should I wait in the car while you get the key so it doesn’t get uncomfortable at check-in?”
“Fuck,” he mutters. “I didn’t think of that. This is why I didn’t want to come back here. I shouldn’t have to worry about shit like that. I guess to be safe you can wait here, and I’ll be right back.”
I wait, and he returns a few minutes later with a room key swinging from his index finger. It only takes us a few minutes to take our bags in and get settled, but the sun is already starting to set.
“Anything else planned on the Harlow tour tonight?” I ask, kicking my shoes off and stretching out on the bed with a groan. His eyes linger on me for a few seconds, the ghost of a dirty smile tugging at his lips.
“For tonight, I’m thinking about taking a shower and having some food delivered. Travel always takes it out of me. Plus, we have a packed schedule this week. Apparently, Marnie has been saving just about everything for me. We have caterer and cake tastings, dress shopping, venues to tour…not to mention my mom is going to expect us, and fuck knows what else we’ll be roped into.”
“I’m fine with taking it easy tonight to rest up for the week,” I agree easily. “Tell me what you want me to order, and I’ll take care of that while you shower.”
“Have I told you lately that I love you?” he asks in a teasing tone, stripping his shirt over his head and rummaging through his suitcase until he pulls out his toiletries.
My chest tightens at his playful tone, and all I can do is grunt in response. Luckily, he doesn’t seem to notice. He calls over his shoulder that he’s fine with whatever and then disappears into the bathroom.
HARLOW
As excited as I am to show Teddy around the town I grew up in, it feels weird as fuck having him here. Marnie and I sat in this exact motel room on graduation night sharing a bottle of Boone’s Farms and a joint, talking about life and planning for our futures, and now Teddy’s out there lounging on the bed. Knowing this place, the sheets probably haven’t even been changed since then. Shudder.
I always figured that a situation would come up eventually where he would meet Marnie and my mom, but bringing him here to Dodgeville didn’t cross my mind until I blurted it out last month. As strange as it is to be back, it’s nice to have him here with me.
I wonder if Teddy will ever take me to Minnesota for a visit. It would be fun to meet his parents and see where he did all of his youthful wilding too. I’ll have to bring the idea up to him. Why don’t more people bring their best friend to visit their hometown? This is real bonding right here.
I step out of the shower and towel off, realizing a few minutes too late that I didn’t grab a change of clothes to bring in with me. Not that Teddy hasn’t seen me naked plenty at this point. Tying the towel around my waist, I step back out into the room.
His eyes land on me instantly, heating up in no time as he drags them over my bare, damp skin, prickling with goosebumps in the air-conditioned room. I lick my lips and reach up to run my fingers through my wet hair while my cock starts to tent against the front of the towel, entirely too pleased by Teddy’s attention.
“I ordered from some barbecue place,” he says, startling a laugh out of me.
“Oh, baby, you do know how to talk dirty to a man.”
I drop my towel, enjoying the strangled sounds Teddy tries to hide as I bend over my suitcase and rummage for a pair of pajama pants. I find a pair of silky basketball shorts near the bottom and yank them out to pull on. By the time I turn around, there’s a full-on bulge in the front of Teddy’s jeans and an expression on his face like he’d much rather eat me for dinner than whatever he ordered. A knock on the door prevents me from doing anything about any of that though.
Since my friend is rocking a serious erection, I decide to take one for the team and answer the door. I pull it open just enough that the delivery person can’t see into the room and then peek out with a smile.
“I have your order from Bulldog Barbecue,” the man says. He looks vaguely familiar, and it takes me a few seconds to realize who he is. “Well, dang, is that you, Harlow Monroe?”
“Jimmy, hi,” I say with a laugh.
“I didn’t know you were back in town.”
Returning to your childhood town and running into an old flame who looks all too happy to see you is such a classic meet-cute, and I would so be all over that if it weren’t for the fact that I can still feel Teddy’s eyes on me and whatever he ordered for us smells really freaking good.
“I’m not back. I’m just here to help Marnie with some wedding plans.”
“No shit? I heard she got engaged. I didn’t know you two were still friends,” he says, his eyes roaming over me much the same way Teddy’s were a few minutes earlier, except I’m not getting quite the same thrill from it this time. I reach down with my free hand and tug my shorts up a little to keep them from riding too low on my hips. “How long are you gonna be in town? Maybe we could get together, or…”
I lean against the door a little, pushing it open just a little wider. Jimmy’s eyes flicker over my shoulder to where Teddy is still lounging on the bed. The question dies on his lips, and he gives me a wry smile.
“Thanks, Jimmy, but I’ll be pretty busy while I’m here.”
“Got it. Well, it was good to see you, Harlow. You look good.”
“Thanks,” I say again. “Take care.”
I close the door and turn to face Teddy—who’s looking at me with a curiously arched eyebrow. “That was interesting.”
“Remember that first kiss I mentioned earlier?” I carry the food over to the bed and unpack the Styrofoam containers from the bag.
“Interesting. So that young man lured you out into a field and ravished your virgin lips?” he jokes dramatically.
“Oh please, if anyone was doing the luring back then, it was me.” I waggle my eyebrows and grin, the two of us digging into the food.
“You know, you didn’t have to turn him down on my account. I’m just here to hang out and use up some of my PTO that my boss has been riding me to use. You don’t have to babysit me.”
“I didn’t really want to.”
“Thirty-year-old delivery man not your jam?” he asks.
I don’t really care about his job, but since that’s an easier explanation than the fact that all I could think about when he asked me out was that I’d rather spend the whole week cooped up in this room with Teddy than anywhere else, I don’t say anything. Let him think I’m judging Jimmy for his job or the fact that he still lives in Dodgeville.
After we eat, we decide to order a movie on Pay-Per-View. I pick something while Teddy changes into his own pajamas, disappearing into the bathroom to brush his teeth and get ready for bed. He returns wearing a pair of shorts that are similar to mine, no shirt, and some wire-rimmed glasses.
He glances at the TV and groans. “You did not just pay twenty bucks for us to watch Sweet Home Alabama.”
“Excuse me, forget about the incomparable Reese Witherspoon for a second and explain to me exactly when you started wearing glasses.” I stare at him in shock as he pulls back the covers and climbs in beside me, getting comfortable for the movie.
“I wear contacts usually, but I didn’t want to have to get back up to take them off later,” he explains.
“What? How am I just learning this now? I feel like I don’t even know you.” I continue to stare at him through my joking theatrics. He actually looks kind of hot in glasses. He has a sort of naughty professor vibe going. “You’re not going to whip out a retainer or nasal strips or anything are you?”
“Okay, time to watch a movie,” he says, ignoring my teasing and trying to grab the remote from my hand. I yank it back, holding it out of reach.
“Hold on, first I need you to tell me that my assignment was late, and I’ll need to do some extra credit. But you know, say extra credit in a deep, suggestive tone.”
Teddy growls, reaching for the remote again, stretching over me this time and pinning me down with his body. My breath hitches at the now familiar weight of my best friend on top of me, the scent of him surrounding me as he snatches the controller from my hand. He doesn’t pull back right away, staring down at me for several long, heavy seconds. I don’t realize my hand is against his chest until I register how fast I can feel his heart beating and just how warm his skin is. I can feel the hard outline of his cock pressing into the inside of my thigh, and when he starts to lean in, I half expect him to kiss me hard, for the movie to be forgotten as we fall into more carnal, sweaty activities.
But when Teddy’s lips meet mine, the kiss is slow and gentle like his mouth is trying to whisper something to mine. My heart thunders, and I sink into the molasses kiss, dragging my tongue over his at a lazy pace. It’s a naked-in-bed-on-Sunday-morning kind of kiss, and I really fucking like it.
When he pulls back, I almost feel drunk from his lips. He blinks at me in a hazy kind of way before rolling over and hitting the play button for the movie. I shake the fuzziness from my mind and scoot closer, resting my head on Teddy’s shoulder and getting comfortable.
Unfortunately, even Josh Lucas’s sexy southern twang isn’t enough to distract me from the fact that my heart won’t stop fluttering, and my mind seems to be tired of wondering whether I’m ready to open this Pandora’s Box or not.
I glance at Teddy out of the corner of my eye every so often, taking in his relaxed expression and wondering if he’s ever felt anything but friendship and lust for me. And if he has, is it as terrifying for him as it is for me?
