“Yeah, you abandoned me.” Brandon stuck out his bottom lip. “Prince Charming had no one to kiss.” His hair flopped over his brow and the purple streak became visible.

Prince Charming… Aydin braced himself. “Sorry. I had to go.” If he said anything else, he’d be lying. He’d gotten the hell out of that party before Brandon told him no thank you to the kiss.

“Want to come up with a better story?” Brandon laughed.

“Why me?”

“Why not?” Brandon ruffled his fingers through his hair. “I want you to come with me to dinner tonight. I’ve got an opening to attend and I would really like it if you were there. It’s not my exhibition, but I want to stake out the gallery.”

“Ah, you need someone there so you don’t stick out.” He sounded silly. “Sorry.”

“I’d rather go with someone, yeah. I don’t like being on my own,” Brandon said. “I’m not taking no for an answer. You and me. I’ll be back here at six. You’re off then, right?”

He fumbled for words. What was happening? Brandon talking to him, asking him out…mentioning he’d wanted to connect before now? Something wasn’t right. He sank onto the stool. He hadn’t expected Brandon to say any of those things. This had to be a joke. Part of him wanted to argue with Brandon, but the rest of him wanted to crawl across the desk and into Brandon’s jacket.

Brandon tipped his head again. “You’re thinking about it, aren’t you? I told you I’m not taking no for an answer. It’s the day before New Year’s Eve. What else are you going to do?”

Brandon had a point. All he wanted was a date—someone to come along with him to a gallery. Innocent. Simple. Right? What could go wrong? They’d be in public and he’d have an out—he could get lost in the crowd at the gallery if the situation went south… But what if he didn’t want to lose Brandon? What if he wanted to find out if they could make a go of a potential relationship? He was overthinking. Go with the flow…right? Why was life and dating so hard?