Meeting New People 1

[Greggrth]

It's been a loooooong time. How have you been? I've been reeeeeally busy being dead, you know, after you murdered me..... OK, couldn't resist :-p It has been a long time since I've posted anything and I'm sorry about that, uni's kept me busy and other more boring things, but I have been writing..... sort of.

I've been trying to actually finish a story before I start posting, rather than leave it unfinished like I alwasy do. But I think posting this first part will give me the motivation to carry on, if you guys like it of course. So, here's a new story I hope you'll enjoy :-)

Edit: Sorry about the size, I can't seem to make it bigger

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I was sat in the corner of the caf?, watching the people walk by with their coffees and pastries. They all looked so calm and at peace, wrapped up in their own lives that they barely noticed me. I envied their calm right now, because adrenaline was thundering through me so fast I was shaking. If anyone did look my way they’d probably think I was having a fit or something. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t calm myself down.

The door opened and I almost knocked my tea over as I looked up. I slumped back in my chair again when I realised it was just a group of girls, rather than the guy I was waiting for. I took a shaky breath and tried to work on the Sudoku in front of me. I’d been sat here for ages and hadn’t managed to fill in more than three squares. And it only had one star! This meeting really had me on edge.

You see, I was meeting a guy here, a guy I had never seen in person but chatted to a lot online. We’d ‘met’ on a website about photography and life drawing. I was the photographer and he was the artist, favouring the pencil as opposed to a camera to capture a moment. His stuff was really good, and we both shared our more private pieces, ones we didn’t feel comfortable putting on the picture board. That’s how we really became friends; sharing a common interest in muscular guys and capturing their bodies.

After about a year of online conversations, he’d asked me to meet him. I hesitated at first, and I must have hesitated a considerable amount because he picked up on it. He sent me another message saying ‘It’s OK if you don’t, it’s just I’ve gotten to know you so well and I’ve been thinking about it for a while’. I waited for another beat, my heartbeat racing, and then before my head could stop me, my hand shot out and I said ‘OK’.

Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to meet Tom, I knew him well and he was a great guy, but… the internet is a scary place when you think about it. It’s easy for people to lie, pretended they’re someone else and lure people in. You could be hit with an internet scam, accidentally sharing your credit card details, allowing people access to your computer, or worse, be tricked into meeting a serial killer. OK, I know, that last one’s a bit out there, but it happens. Maybe it’s because I watch a lot of crime dramas about serial killers and it’s made me paranoid, I just couldn’t stop thinking that I’d made a big mistake. Maybe I should get out now while I could. Send him a message saying I got caught up. See? It’s easy to lie online.

I bent down to get my wallet from my bag when a voice from above made me freeze.

“Steve Fletcher?” the voice asked. It was low and sent a pulse of pleasure through me. I had no idea a voice could do that. I eased my fingers off my bag and looked up.

And up.

Now, as I said, Tom wasn’t a fan of cameras. His profile page mainly had drawings of himself and only one picture. That was probably one of the main reasons I was worried Tom wouldn’t be who he said he was, but the picture was plain, not someone overly attractive, so part of me was convinced it was legit. The picture had shown a guy my age, pale skin with dark blond hair and a narrow but strong jaw. I’d loved his chin though, it was a perfect little square on the end of his face. His eyes were also great, these perfect pools of brilliant emerald.

Right now I could see those green eyes twinkling even though they were down cast, Tom giving me a sheepish smile as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah… I’ve been meaning to update that profile photo”

I closed my mouth and straightened myself up, my brain finally kicking into gear. Before me stood a 6’4” muscle stud. He was dressed in a red and blue polo, the short sleeves barely containing a pair of tight, sculpted biceps, a squiggly vein running along the right one and down into the forearm. His large hands hung at his sides, at a slight angle due to his biceps rubbing against his lats, level with a pair of rippling quads. They filled his jeans to their limits, and I just found myself staring at the way they swelled out and then narrowed at his knee only to bulge out again for his calves. His trainers were huge too, probably size 13 or something like that.

“Steve?”

I lifted my head, drinking in those legs of his again, noting the large crotch bulge between them, making my own crotch stir. Then came his narrow waist, the polo hanging loosely around it, getting tighter the higher I went. His pecs jutted out in front of him like two perfectly rounded shelves of pure muscle. The shirt was pulled tightly across them, if it wasn’t such a warm day I bet I would have been able to see his nipples. It was so tight, the buttons on the top were undone, giving me a glimpse of the way those two orbs bulged against each other, the deep chasm between them. When my eyes finally landed on his face again, I remember how to speak.

“Tom?” I squeaked. I swear, it was like I was going through puberty again and my voice had just cracked. I cleared my throat and tried again. “Erm hi. P-please, take a…a seat”

I shuffled in my chair, indicating to the one opposite me. Tom smiled down at me, god that was a cute smile, and pulled the chair out. His legs slid under the table, those large feet bumping against mine, making me jump. I quickly pulled my feet back, but his feet and legs took up a lot of room. He shuffled a bit too, his cheeks colouring at the difficulty he was having fitting his legs under the table without taking up all the room. When he was settled, we both looked at each other.

“Do you mind if I ordered a coffee?” Tom asked hesitantly. “I mean, unless you wanted to… go somewhere else?”

“No. Here’s fine. You order”

Tom smiled at me again and turned round as though looking for a waitress. I was about to tell him that he’d have to go to the counter, when the woman behind that counter shot out and came to a standstill beside him. “Hey there” she practically purred. “How can I help you?”

“Yeah could I have a large coffee? Cream and two sugars”

“Sure thing”

She walked back to the counter, Tom turning back to me as though this was completely normal. When he saw my face though, he pressed his lips together and lowered his head as he leant forward on the table. I heard it creak under his weight, his biceps tensing as he did. “You’re mad aren’t you?”

“M-mad?” I stammered. “No, I’m not mad I… I’m just… surprised. I… I wasn’t expecting… there to be so much of you”

Tom smiled, a full on smile that almost knocked me over it was so bright. His green eyes twinkled again as he flexed his pecs against his shirt, making them jump and dance. “Thanks. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, it’s just… just a personal thing, you know?”

“Oh… erm, OK”

The girl from the counter came to us with Tom’s coffee, setting it down in front of him. He thanked her and tried to get his wallet from his pocket, but he was having difficulty. Either his jeans were too tight or his hands were too big, he couldn’t get more than his fingers in. He shuffled back, his elbow catching a neighbouring table and almost knocking a guy in a suit out of his chair. Before things could escalate, I quickly pulled out some money.

“Here you go” I said, giving it to the girl. “Keep the change”

“Thanks” said Tom, his cheeks burning with embarrassment. He hunched over our table, as though trying to make himself look small, but if anything it made him look even bigger. “I’ll pay you back. I really should get some new jeans”

“It’s fine. Are you OK?”

“Yeah, just a bit… mortified”

“Don’t be, it wasn’t… that bad”

He laughed once. “Thanks”. He picked up his coffee and took a large gulp.

We sat in silence for a few seconds, waiting for conversations in the caf? to start up again. It had gone quiet when Tom had caught the man in the suit, but once they heard Tom apologising they started talking again. I played with my mug of tea, my eyes darting between it and Tom.

“Did you manage to fix that picture?” I asked.

“What picture?”

Tom looked at me with his brow furrowed and I had to take a breath. I can’t explain how cute he looked at that moment, but I pushed on, not wanting him to know I was getting a huge crush on him after only a few seconds. “That picture you showed me, the one with the woman on the stool. She was holding her leg and you asked me if it looked right”

“Oh yeah” he said, sounding happier already. And just like that, we both seemed to relax. It was like we were just chatting online again, bringing back old arguments about artists and models, dropping into novels we’d read and films we were looking forward to. It felt nice.

“Hey, there’s this studio just down the road” said Tom, scratching his neck. He tugged on the collar of his shirt, his bicep bulging against his arm. “We could go check it out. I know they’ve got the work of a few local photographers”

“Yeah, that sounds good” I said smiling, my earlier fears completely forgotten.

We got up from our table, Tom watching where he swung his weight as he did. I slung my bag on my back and we went out into the street. Normally, with me being so small and skinny, 5’6” and thin as a rake, I’m used to having to weave in and out of the crowd to avoid getting trampled. But when Tom stepped out, the crowd just seemed to part around him. I stuck close to him, occasionally feeling his arm rub against my shoulder. I had to concentrate on what he was saying, as well as putting one foot in front of the other, the idea of being close to such strong, powerful muscles was driving me wild. I wanted nothing more than to stop there in the middle of the street and just start feeling Tom’s body. Of course, I didn’t. That’d be rude, especially as I had no idea how Tom felt about me.

Had he asked to meet me as a friend? Or did he have other things in mind? Truth be told, I’d already been crushing on Tom just from our chats, and those feelings had only intensified now I’d seen his body. Then it hit me. Maybe the reason he hadn’t let others know he was a big guy was because guys would just throw themselves at him for his body. I didn’t want him thinking I was suddenly all into him because I’d found out he was huge, that’d probably hurt his feelings and I didn’t want that. I was going to have to rein in these wild hormone crazy feelings and treat Tom as he was. My friend.

“We’re here” he said, stopping at a rather swanky looking studio, the door standing next to a large window. Inside I could see a few abstract sculptures, metal twisted into all kinds of weird and wonderful shapes, with some thin paintings decorating the white walls. A woman dressed in a black and purple kimono with no hair and white painted skin was inspecting one of the paintings, her ridiculously long finger nails threatening to slice her cheek open.

Tom must have seen me staring at her because he chuckled. “Don’t worry about Liz, she’s harmless” He opened the door for me, gesturing for me to go first. “Just be sure not to mention Dorothea Tanning when you see her stuff”

“Wouldn’t dream of it” I chuckled, slipping past Tom. I kept my eyes down but I was very aware of the body beside me.

“You have no idea who she is do you?” he laughed as he stepped in after me.

“Not a clue”

He took me to through the gallery, starting with the photography section. It said photography ‘wing’ on the map, but I thought calling it a wing was far too generous. The pictures were good though, they made me want to go out and take pictures of my own which was a good sign. There was this one photographer that focused on material and water which I really liked, my favourite being one of water being poured whilst overlapping with a silk scarf or something flowing in a breeze.

We went through the other ‘wings’, though I did hurry through the paintings. It wasn’t that I didn’t like them, I was just afraid of Liz swooping down on me and asking me what I thought.

“This place is great” I said, smiling up at Tom who beamed proudly, shrugging those huge shoulders.

“I knew you’d like it. And it’s not over yet, I saved the best for last”

He gestured with his hand and I looked at the largest sculpture I’d ever seen. It was like all those other abstract sculptures had been crushed together and twisted in new ways. The whole thing must have weighed a ton if not two, some of the metal beams thicker than my entire body. The way they curled and wove between each other, a few orbs hanging from them like planets was just… fantastic.

Tom was just as amazed by the sculpture as I was. I could see his eyes darting all over it, following the beams as though it was a maze. When he found his way out again, he looked down at me. “What do you think?”

“I think it looks fantastic” I said, looking at it again. “Who’s the sculptor?”

“Come here”

He placed his hand on the small of my back and guided me forward. My heart thudded against my chest so loudly I was afraid he could hear it. I could feel the heat of Tom’s hand through my shirt, and his thick fingers were oddly gentle. It was like he was… caressing me. Then again, that could just be wishful thinking, but with my bag on, why wouldn’t Tom just put his hand on that? Why did he put his hand under it? Just to touch me?

“See this?” Tom said, leaning in so close I could feel his breath on my neck. He pointed with his other hand, sleeve riding up his bicep. “Right there on the base?”

I swallowed and blinked a few times, trying to clear my head and think of something other than the body so close to mine. I managed to focus on the base of the sculpture. It was a black block of metal and at first I couldn’t see anything special about it. Then I followed Tom’s finger and saw it.

“Is that… a fist?” I asked.

“Yep”

I was amazed I hadn’t seen it before, but there it was, clear as day now. I could see four grooves in the metal, pressed close together, with deeper craters on the top. It was like someone had punched the metal hard enough to leave an impression. I ran my finger down one of the grooves, marvelling at the fact that it was real metal and also the fact the finger was really thick. I tried to fit my fist in it, but it was just too wide.

“Wow” I said, leaning against Tom. He let me stay there for a beat then straightened up, me following right behind. “How do you think they did that?”

“I’ll let you ask the artist” said Tom with a private smile. “Not today though, he’s busy with another project but…” He dropped his head and shuffled on the spot, looking at me through his lashes. “But I think he’ll be free tomorrow”

“Really?” I said innocently, though my lips pulled back of their own accord and I was smiling. “That’d be… cool”

“Good” he said with a nod, biting the inside of his cheek. “I guess I’ll… take you back to the station and we’ll meet again tomorrow”

“The station?” I looked beyond Tom at the clock on the wall behind him. My eyebrows shot up. “Is that what time it is?”

“Yeah” Tom chuckled. “But if we leave now you’ll be there in time for your train”

I nodded, still trying to figure out where the day had gone. It seemed like only minutes ago I’d been panicking in the caf?, thinking this was going to be a big mistake, when really it had been a big… well, let’s just say it was big.

“Of course…” Tom started, his cheeks flaring red suddenly. “If you don’t… don’t have any plans, back home I mean, you’re welcome to… I mean if you wanted to you’re… you’re welcome to stay a bit longer”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I could show you around town, and maybe… maybe we could see a film”

“Did you have something in mind?”

“Well, I remember you said you wanted to see the Sorcerer’s Apprentice…”

“But that’s out on DVD now, not at the cinema”

“I know”

“Oh” I said, my own cheeks colouring. With the combined heat of both our cheeks I was surprised the sculpture didn’t start melting.

“Yeah. My flat’s not that far and it’s close to the station so you could still catch a later train or…”

“Or what?” I asked, barely able to speak. My heart was going a mile a minute again, just slamming against my rib cage as though desperate to get out. Part of me was dying to spend the night with Tom, to watch a film with him, snuggle up on the settee, but I couldn’t help feeling that it was moving too fast. I mean, I know we’d talked for ages online and knew a lot about each other, but this was the first time we’d really met.

Before Tom could make the offer I’d be unable to refuse, I jumped in. “I can’t stay today. I need to be back home on time to get some work done”

“Oh. I see” said Tom, doing his best to hide his disappointment. “That’s OK, I understand”

“But I… I could come back next weekend and… after we meet that artist friend, we could watch that DVD”

I know, I’m weak.

Tom lifted his head and almost knocked me over with that huge smile of his. I couldn’t help but return it, I felt like my heart was swelling in my chest, pumping up with pleasure at the fact I could make him so happy. Both in lighter spirits, we left the gallery and Tom took me to the station. He waited with me until my train arrived, and just as it was coming to a stop, I suddenly had an idea.

“Hey, could I get a picture with you?” I asked.

“You don’t have your camera” he chuckled, then gave a boom of laughter when I reached into my bag. “You carry your camera around with you?”

“You never know when something worth snapping comes up” I said, smirking and blushing. I called on the aid of a passing elderly couple and stood next to Tom. “I know you don’t like photos, but maybe you wouldn’t mind so much if you weren’t on your own”

Tom just laughed, standing beside me, throwing an arm round me and pulling me against him. I could feel his bicep against my neck and back, his lats against my side. I slipped my arm round his waist, placing my hand on his hip while his large one covered my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. We both looked at the camera as the old man snapped the picture. I wanted to stay like this for a little bit longer, if not forever, but we had to separate.

“Thank you” I said, taking the camera back. “And thank you” I said to Tom. “For letting me take your picture”

“It’s fine” he chuckled, patting my arm, and I could have sworn I felt his fingers give me a light squeeze. “Wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Maybe next time you’ll let me draw you”

I laughed as he stuck his tongue out at me, then I heard my train announcing its departure. “I should go. Thanks again, I had a great time”

“Me too”

Tom offered me his hand and I took it. His large fist covered mine easily, and as he pumped my arm up and down, I could see his bicep shifting and bulging. I gave him a bashful smile and got on the train. I found a chair and watched as the train pulled out, looking out the window and waving to Tom as the distance between us grew. When I couldn’t see him anymore, I settled back in my chair and pulled out my camera. The whole trip back I couldn’t pull my eyes off the picture, staring at Tom as he towered over me, drinking in his huge body and handsome, smiling face.

Why hadn’t I stayed longer?

[nnnrg]

If you don't do more of this story, the pixies will eat all your left socks and you'll start to grow hair on your ears.

[Mass Driver]

That was great. And it was a good size chapter too.
Please do...
Keep Writing.

MD

[surge_10000]

Great start and can't wait for more.

[wantulots]

PLEASE more This story was so great on all levels!! I want to know mooooore!

[dinjin]

Amazing! It felt really natural and I love your style.

[amauiguy]

Welcome back! Glad to see you're writing again. Can't wait to hear more about these guys. Please continue!

[anglekindle]

Great start. And props for the Portal 2 quote.

[sexiscriptor]

{nods approvingly, encouragingly...}
greggers, you know what will happen if you don't continue this story. I will personally hunt you down and NOT fuck you. I'll just sit there, flexing and stripping and teasing, but NOT have sex with you.

HOW ABOUT DEM APPLES, HM??

[ghifty]

Loving this story! please continue!

[nvb2]

I've been wondering when you would post another story and I got excited when I saw that you had. I've been tiding myself over by rereading one of your past stories. Thanks for sharing and I hope you continue when you can!

[massingUP]

Great to see you writing again - and this is fantastic. Looking forward to the upcoming installments!