Page 27 of The Titan and the Trainer

Julian leaned in, giving Callum a deep and rather possessive kiss. “Don’t be late.”

With a hug and another kiss at the door, Julian was gone, and Callum’s flat seemed bigger without the large figure in it.

Chapter 13 - Entering the Titan’s Den

Sun. 19th Jan. 25

When Callum stopped and assessed what was happening, he felt a bit overwhelmed. It had happened fast. He’d fallen hard, but it all seemed to be going well, and it felt good. Was it too good to be true? No. Julian was genuine; he was pretty sure of that. Yes, he didn’t really know his character fully, but from what he’d seen so far, Julian was a man with values and honour.

He tried not to overthink it. “Go with the flow, Callum,” he said out loud to himself.

He put on some Erasure, loaded the washer and focused on tidying and cleaning, mainly to distract himself from the impending date later this evening. He popped out for groceries, but wandered aimlessly around the store, not really even looking at what he was buying, but hoping it was the usual stuff.

He got home, unloaded the washer and hung it to dry. He pottered around but wasn’t really doing anything useful. Time check: 3:25 p.m., over three hours to kill.

He was pacing his slanted floorboards in a state of total high-voltage anxiety now.

The ‘real life’ glow of the morning had faded into a cold realisation: he was going into the den of the Titan. This was an official moment of desperation, he decided, appropriate course of action: ring Sophia.

“Soph, help. I’m going to a billionaire’s house for dinner. It’s moved on a lot, the bed broke, Soph. It literally broke. So much has happened, I don’t know where to begin…”

She laughed, “Callum, just breathe. The bed broke? My god, he must be a monster. I definitely need the juice on what happened there.”

They chatted and Callum brought her up to speed on what had happened since their lunch the day before.

“All this since yesterday. Wow, this is moving fast, Cal. Are you okay?” Her voice was filled with genuine concern, knowing her friend.

“No, I’m honestly fine, Soph. It is a bit overwhelming, but he’s so… he’s just… so tender and gorgeous, and the way he looks at me with his eyes…”

“Callum, love, everyone has eyes” she quipped sarcastically.

“Not like his Soph; they are incredible, this brilliant shade of green and they look right through you. He’s just so many of the things I always looked for in a guy, all wrapped up in one huge package.”

“Yes thank you Cal, enough about his huge package already”, she joked. They both laughed, years of friendship and various relationship successes and failures, a rich part of their shared history.

She imparted some words of considered wisdom to him. “Okay, look, don’t try to impress him. You said he loved your flat, he liked your furniture, your art, your photo; just be you. It’s you he likes; give him more of you. Wear the black fitted button-down shirt, the one that makes your shoulders look like they can carry the weight of a small country, and those dark indigo skinny jeans you’ve got. Clean, sharp, but still very much you. Good luck, don’t stress, just enjoy it.” Soph blew him a final kiss and ended the call.

She was right thought Callum. I just need to be me and not try to be a version of me that I think he might want.

As Sophia had commented on Julian’s interest in Callum’s pictures and photos, it reminded him of his little idea.

Callum took out his Mac and found the street photo that was the inspiration for the canvas, the one Julian seemed to really like. He pulled out his photo paper and printed a copy in 5 × 7” size on his little photo printer. He knew he had a spare Michael’s black frame in a cupboard, the matching size, so he took that out of its cellophane and popped in the printed photo. It looked nice. He found bubble-wrap and some leftover brown wrapping paper and carefully wrapped the frame. In the same bag he spied some white twine, so he even did a little bow to finish it off. He popped it in a neutral brown gift bag. He’d grab a bottle of wine from the corner bodega on the way out. Pleased with himself and his little idea, he then moved to sort out his outfit.

Callum dug through his wardrobe. He pulled out his nice clothes, which consisted of a pair of black leather boots he’d saved up for, the button-down shirt Sophia mentioned and his good dark jeans. He tried them all on. He looked nice. He carefully ironed the shirt, spent forty-five minutes in the bathroom, obsessively trimming his beard and checking himself. With a squirt of his nicest aftershave, he was ready. Bring it on.

Before he left, he stopped by the door as he picked up his keys and the giftbag.

Thoughtfully, he made a mental list, ticking items off on his fingers:

​1.​ I know the guy; I’ve met him several times without an issue

​2.​ I trust the guy; he’s always been kind to me

​3.​ The guy is hot; this we know

At this point, he paused… he was about to add something about Julian’s dick and furry pecs but decided that would be wholly inappropriate for a serious list. In which case item 3 was also inappropriate? Nah, keep it in. He really is hot…..

​4.​ He’s got dazzling green eyes – again, that’s just a physical attribute. Strike it off the list.