After our rendezvous in the IT closet, it was a couple of days before I met John again as he and his colleagues were busy in another part of the building. One morning he and his buddies showed up in the lab to continue their work. John was friendly, but awkward, it was clear that he was afraid I might say something in front of his colleagues. I just kept on working and acting completely normal. He should not have had any worries as there was no way I would "out" either him or myself.
Later during the day, we were alone again and he was squatting down working under a lab bench sporting that famous plumber's crack. There was still some awkward tension even though we were alone. I took a laboratory water bottle and squirted water down his crack. "Motherfucker!" he yelled and jumped up and shoved me playfully. We had a good laugh about it and after that everything was back to normal even when his colleagues were back. I was of course still interested in doing something with him, but I thought it best to let him give an indication if he was interested.
On Friday of that week, we accidentally drove into the parking lot at the same time and walked together to the main building which was a good 300 yards away. "Hey man, how's it going?" I said to start off the conversation.
"Good man, glad it's Friday." He seemed friendly enough, but I could sense he was nervous and I wasn't sure why. "You know I'm not gay or anything, right?"
"Yeah, sure man, I know," I responded. "Don't worry, I would never think that, tell anyone anything or bother you."
"Thanks man," he said and then there was a long pause. "I was wondering if you might like to come over tonight and watch the boxing match, I can make some Moscow Mules and get some pizza."
"Sure man, sounds good, you still live in the same place?"
"Yeah, come on by about six-thirty." We had reached the reception by that point and we parted ways without any more conversation.
I was intrigued the whole day wondering if he was interested in something again, or was this just a way of being friendly and showing no hard feelings for the awkwardness earlier in the week. I was a little ambivalent about the whole thing. I knew myself well enough to know that I wanted something to happen and that I would be disappointed if nothing happened. Anyway, I got through the day and the suspense of wondering if something might happen.