61 Good Boy

For Rafal Brylski, the coming day was going to be very important because of the scenes happening there. But despite this knowledge, Rafal was unable to sleep a wink. Not when he had in his mind the conversation with Tomek awaiting him in the morning.

The first swallow of spring was also a cause of insomnia for him. Could a man, who almost all his young life thought that he would never experience pleasure from being with another human being, that he was broken, flawed and in general lacking something as a human being, sleep peacefully when the night before his heart and body had turned to pleasure?

For Rafał, no matter how he looked at it, the night with Damian was such a powerful sensation that every passing moment from it did not bring him reassurance, rather more anxiety. Once someone has had a taste of heaven, they miss it, crave it, and waiting to return to it is agonizing for that person. That was exactly how Rafał waited for Damian to return.

It was abnormal. It made no sense. It was absurd, but throughout the night the young actor's thoughts turned to only one direction and that was Damian Radosz' embrace.

After a whole night of pondering, hoping and fearing, a tentatively bold question arose in Brylski's mind and heart: would Damian want to keep his proposal that they become sex friends?

The boldness of that question and that hope surprised Rafał himself. Good boys, and he was one, don't have sex friends. Good boys meet nice girls and after a year or two of dating they enter into a sacramental and holy marriage. Good boys don't have sex friends, but they also don't let their bodies become a man's property. So maybe Rafał wasn't such a good boy after all?

An expansive blush appeared on his cheeks lighting them up as if a living fire had touched them. Being a man's sex friend wasn't something that could be the height of the average guy's dreams and fantasies, but it was better than being forced to live in complete emotional isolation. Especially since this man was increasingly capturing Rafał's thoughts...

But it takes willingness and consent on both sides to create a relationship, even one as loose as sex friends, and Damian was far away now, focused on his problem and Rafał couldn't sense his intentions or emotions.

Brylski sighed. Sleepless, he rubbed his eyes surrounded by dark circles and took a shower. Did he now even have time to think about the problem of whether Damian would feel like being with him or not? Rafał should concentrate on his work and most of all on meeting and talking to Tomek.

He was afraid of this conversation. Stress took his breath away and made his heart beat like crazy and his stomach feel nauseous. Fear almost paralyzed him urging Rafał to stay in bed, hide his head under the covers and pretend he didn't exist. But running away from the problem didn't solve it, it only prolonged the agony. Better to deal with the issue right now, out of the blue, instead of running for your life.

He was just getting dressed when someone knocked on his door. Tomek? No, impossible. How would he know his room number?

Damian?

His heart leapt at Rafał with sudden hope, but only for a moment. After all, Radosz was in another city, with his sick mother. He would not knock on his door first thing in the morning.

Brylski went to open it and... smiled crookedly. How could he not think of the obvious visitor that was Anita!

His friend looked just as tired and sleep-deprived as he did. If anyone saw them now, they might think that they had spent that night together doing something that was more exhausting than sleep. Maybe if Rafał told Tomek that he was seeing Anita...

This sudden idea seemed brilliant to Brylski. Well, yes! After all, even Tomek knew how close Rafał was with his foster sister, so I guess it wouldn't surprise him if it turned out that they had started dating.

“Rafal, I was thinking...” Anita started and at that moment Brylski grabbed her elbow and vigorously pulled her inside. He couldn't see it, but his green, usually calm eyes were on fire.

“Anita, be my lover!”

The young woman stopped, froze in stillness so surprised that she could not even twitch and stared at Brylski with widened eyes, who at that moment felt as if he had just found a way for himself to be saved.

“Your... lover?” she asked, finally regaining her ability to speak. “Rafał, what are you...?”

“I just thought of that! I'm not paying Tomek! No way! He thinks he can blackmail me, that he has something, but if I tell him he's wrong, if he believes I'm seeing you, he won't have anything on me! Do you understand? If he believes we're lovers... Anita, what's wrong with you? Why are you pale? Do you feel bad?”

“No, no” answered Janiszek releasing her elbow from his grasp. “You surprised me a little, but your idea might work. But... how are we going to convince him? He won't take your word for it.”

“Yes, that's true...” Brylski admitted with resignation and started walking around the room thinking. “We don't have time to stage something. Unless...”

Rafał stopped in front of Anita and looked deeply into her eyes.

“Unless...” he repeated.

“To see with his own eyes” finished Anita “something that would convince him. What if...”

“Do you have any ideas?”

Anita blushed, although she tried to keep a cool head and a clear mind. At that moment the most important thing was to get rid of the vile blackmailer and save Rafał from him. The young woman took a deep breath.

“If he saw us kissing...”

Rafał suddenly turned pale. His heart squeezed tighter. Would he kiss Anita? No! Never!

“Anita... you are like a sister to me...”

“You are an actor” Janiszek said calmly. “Actors have to kiss different people in a believable way. Besides, it was you who invented me to be your lover.”

“Yes, but...”

“Do you know a better way?” she asked firmly. “If you want to pay him, I'll get the money for you. But if you want to get rid of him so that no one finds out about your condition, I guess there is no other way but to convince him that you have a lover. As much as you'd like to, you won't find anyone so soon. I'm the only one you have, and you know it. After all, it was your idea.”

“Well, yes, but...” Rafał repeated helplessly.

He hadn't thought it all through, the proposal was made the moment it came to his mind. At first the idea seemed great to him. Only now he realized what implications it might have.

“But if more than Tomek saw us? If someone from the set or the paparazzi sees us? Your reputation will be at stake...”

“Oh, come on! We're not living in the Middle Ages! Now women can kiss men before marriage. Worry about your reputation and career, not me.”

“But...”

“You shouldn't have come up with that idea in the first place. Now be a real guy and show consistency. Imagine if it's just a kiss in a movie. Or that you are taking an acting class, the topic - a passionate kiss.”

At the sound of the word 'passionate' Brylski turned even paler. After all, Anita was like a sister to him!

Except that Anita was not his sister. Anita was a young, beautiful woman, with whom he grew up and who was always beside him...