AUTHOR’S NOTE: No more long preambles. You’re probably getting tired of my apologies anyway, so here’s the story. I hope you find it in your hearts to leave me a review. Thanks!

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Chapter 4

Cam waited nervously at a small round table near the front of the café. He turned his cup of coffee slowly around in his hand as he kept one foot on the table leg in front of him to keep the unbalanced piece of furniture in place. He briefly mused over why it was that the tables he sat at in these chain establishments always had uneven legs and wondered if all of the proprietors bought from the same manufacturer. Maybe not, he thought. Maybe they order tables like this intentionally hoping to up their bottom line with clumsy customers who spill their coffee and have to reorder. That explanation amused him more than alarmed him, and he pictured a room full of coffee house owners holding their annual meeting on how to make even more customers spill their coffee.

“I take it you had a good day then,” a deep voice purred as a dark haired young man slid easily into the chair opposite him, silver eyes sparkling with mirth from behind the lenses of his glasses. He placed his own cup on the table and smiled warmly at its occupant.

Patrick. Cam instantly tensed and swallowed hard, all of his confidence fleeing him. Patrick was dressed in a dark blue pair of pants and a gray long-sleeved t-shirt … and he looked even hotter than Cam remembered him looking the previous day. His gaze turned to concern, though, as he apparently read the change in Cam’s body language.

“You okay?” he asked softly.

“Y-yeah,” Cam nodded and willed himself to relax. “I’m sorry. I’m just a little nervous.”

Patrick raised a darn eyebrow but smiled nonetheless and Cam now worried that the other man would think he was manic depressive or something, so he decided to come clean about the emails at the start.

“My um … my friend helped me write those emails,” he murmured, looking down at his cup. “You might now find me as … charming in person.”

He kept his gaze down but felt Patrick lean forward in the table, making it necessary for Cam to press down harder on the leg so that both cups didn’t end up in the other man’s lap.

“I think I like the shy you even better,” Patrick confided in a low, sexy whisper.

That admission sent a blush to instantly spread across Cam’s cheek as he looked up uncertainly. Patrick was now grinning at him like the proverbial Cheshire cat. Far from being disconcerting, it made Cam smile and he sat back, at once comfortable now that Patrick set the tone.

“My friend, John, offered to come here with me and sit at the next table, but I thought that might be a bit over the top.”

“Not to mention distracting,” Patrick agreed, resting his chin on his hand and watching Cam closely.

The butterflies started up all over again and Cam wasn’t sure what to say next. Patrick solved the problem, taking the lead in the conversation.

“So, what made you decide to try to contact a guy you suddenly saw? Not that I’m complaining,” he added with a smirk. “Just curious.”

“I … uh … have seen you before,” Cam said slowly.

“You have?” Patrick’s eyes widened in surprise. “Where and when?”

“Here,” Cam shrugged, feeling his shyness flare up again. “A while ago.”

“Really?”

Cam nodded, and Patrick grinned at him again.

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Sexy and shy? This was too good to be true. It had to be. Patrick was always drawn to the shy ones and hadn’t expected Cam to be one of them, especially considering the emails they’d exchanged. But there he was in his dark blue suit, the picture of corporate confidence … yet displaying the characteristics of the bashful admirer, which Patrick now knew he was. Cam had just finished telling him how he’d first noticed Patrick a little over two months before but hadn’t had the confidence to approach him until now. It was strange to him that the brunette had escaped his notice. Patrick didn’t make it a habit to flirt with every cute guy he saw, but he was usually pretty good at noticing them.

“You must hide well,” Patrick said when the other man was done. “I can’t say I remember seeing you, and I’m a fairly observant guy.”

“I didn’t hide,” Cam shrugged. “But I was usually leaving as you were coming in, so maybe you were too busy ordering.”

It was Patrick’s turn to shrug. He studied Cameron as his gaze again turned down at the tabletop. This guy really was shy, at least around men. Cuteness notwithstanding, Patrick felt the need to bring those dark brown eyes back up and on him. He hadn’t been in a relationship in a long time, and the thrill of starting a new one was just resettling on him. Suddenly, he realized this coffee date stopped being about getting Deanna off his back shortly after it started. Patrick wanted to get to know Cameron because he liked the little he knew so far, and because he could tell Cam really did seem to like him.

“I’m not going to use all the tired lines on you like we were doing in our emails,” he said to the top of Cam’s head. “They were fun, but trite, you know?”

Cameron looked up with a wary and resigned expression on his handsome face, probably thinking he was about to be blown off.

“I think we should continue to see each other,” Patrick went on, noting and delighting in the third blush he elicited that evening. “And really learn about one another.”

“You do?”

Patrick nodded. “You look surprised.”

“I thought maybe you would decide I wasn’t worth your time when you realized I wasn’t the same guy writing to you.”

Patrick smiled and leaned over the table again. “The real you is so much more interesting than the online you,” he drawled. “That’s the guy I’m looking forward to …”

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When Patrick got home, he wasn’t surprised to see the answering machine blinking that he had three messages. Most likely all of them were from Deanna. He out his bag away, grabbed a Snapple from the fridge and kicked back on the couch, deciding she could wait another few minutes while he winded down. He wanted to digest things first because she would barrage him with questions again and he wouldn’t have time to think when he spoke to her.

“You’re home later than usual,” Tony said as he emerged from his bedroom carrying plastic covered costume on a hanger. Probably his evening gown for the club. Tony performed there three nights a week in drag.

“I had a date,” Patrick grinned unabashedly.

“Get out!” Tony exclaimed, dropping the costume over a chair and plopping down on the couch next to Patrick. “Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously!” Patrick said dryly. “You’ve seen me date before, Tone.”

“Not recently,” the man scoffed. “You’ve become this busy little bookworm boy over the last couple of years, ever since you met that blonde fag hag!”

“Don’t talk about Deanna like you don’t like her,” he laughed. “You two have banded together against me on more than one occasion.”

“One can collaborate with enemies when one must …”

“Cut the crap, sweetie,” Patrick sang. “I know Pietro wasn’t her idea alone.”

“Well, if you don’t want him, I can take him off your hands.”

“And what exactly would Rory say to that?”

At the mention of his boyfriend’s name, the pissy look in Tony’s eyes melted and was replaced with something Patrick would have normally labeled sickeningly sweet.

“Okay you have me there,” the drag diva huffed as he got up to apply his lipstick.

“Of course I do.”

Patrick watched contentedly as Tony gathered his things to leave. He was glad he wouldn’t be interrogated by his roommate that night. One inquisitor was enough and he’d better call her before she trudged over to the West side.

“Have fun tonight,” he called after Tony when the door opened.

“I always do, honey,” Tony winked and then he was gone.

Patrick picked up the phone and speed-dialed Deanna, who picked up on the first ring.

“Well?!” she demanded.

“Nice! You don’t even ask how I am!”

“How are you?” she yelled into his ear. “And more importantly, how’s Cameron?”

“I’m fine,” he yelled back. “And he’s damn fine!”

“Oh, so cool!” she giggled. “Tell me more!”

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Cameron met up with John at the bar after he and Patrick left Starbucks earlier. He felt like he was back in high school, but John insisted they meet that night so they could discuss things in a more relaxed setting.

“How’d it go?” the blonde asked, handing Cam a beer bottle as he took the bar stool next to him.

“Good,” the brunette grinned and nodded his thanks. He took a sip of the beer and loosened his tie. “Really good, actually.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“I guess my emails worked for you then,” John said airily.

“I came clean about those,” Cam smirked.

John looked affronted and crossed his arms. “Why?”

“Because I didn’t exactly ooze flirtatious confidence,” Cam replied. “He could see right off that I was shy.”

“Oh. Sorry about that,” John offered. “I did suggest I come with you.”

“It’s okay,” Cam chuckled. “Turns out he likes shy.”

“He does.”

“Mmm. He really likes shy,” Cam clarified. “We’re going out again tomorrow night.”

“Atta boy,” John laughed.