Forget Yesterday

“I don’t know what I’m more excited about – getting Matt wasted for his 31st birthday or finally meeting Rian’s boy toy,” Zack said cheerfully.

“Thanks, babe,” Matt said dryly, rolling his eyes as he let Zack button his shirt.

Zack stuck his tongue out at his boyfriend, before pecking his lips in a kiss and turning back to face Rian and Alex.

“For a start, Vinny’s two years older than me, he’s 26. And he’s also bringing his best friend. I told you that, right?” Rian said, looking at Matt for the last part.

“Yeah, you told me. The more the merrier, especially since the only friends I have outside you guys are the nerds I work with,” Matt mused.

“Baby, you’re a nerd too,” Zack teased.

“Mm, but a hot nerd that you just can’t resist,” Matt purred.

Alex rolled his eyes at Zack’s dirty smile, picking up a balled-up pair of socks from the floor as they started kissing, and threw them at the embracing couple.

“Hey, no fair! It took me ages to get my hair right,” Zack whined, breaking the kiss.

“Stop being a drama queen – we’ve got drinking to start,” Rian laughed.

Alex smiled at the thought – now he actually had a job and had money, he was more than happy to spend it on nights out with his friends. Fuck, he couldn’t believe that he barely left the flat for 6 months. He couldn’t believe everything that he’d missed out on. But he was going to make up for it, he swore that.

There was something he had to ask though.

“This friend that your boyfriend is bringing…he isn’t a blind date for me, is he?” Alex winced.

He hated to ask, but after so many months of his friends setting him up, he just wanted to be sure. He knew Rian wouldn’t get mad.

“Oh, no, it isn’t a blind date. Just someone that he’s bringing along for support – first time meeting my friends and all. I’m pretty sure it’s a guy though,” Rian said.

Alex breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. That was good. Hopefully the guy would be nice enough to talk to him though. It would be horrible if he was a rude bad-mannered troll. Alex had known enough of them to last a lifetime.

“Alright, I’m ready. Let’s get my party started!” Matt whooped!

~

Half an hour later, the four of them were sitting in a booth at their favourite bar, Brass Monkey, with their second round of drinks, already have done shots and drank a beer at the bar when they’d arrived. Zack was in the middle of telling a ridiculous story involving a parakeet and a Terrier puppy from work, when Rian’s phone buzzed.

“He’s here! Okay, um, I’m gonna go find him and bring him over, alright?” Rian said excitedly.

“Sure thing,” Matt grinned, Zack nodding too.

Alex just squeezed his best friend’s hand to calm him down, Rian smiling gratefully at him before he left.

“Well this will be interesting,” Alex mused.

“I can’t wait to see what he looks like. He must be hot if Rian’s kept him hidden all this time,” Zack giggled.

Matt flicked Zack in the side of the head, making the younger man pout and making Alex laugh. Then Zack’s eyes went wide.

“Of course he won’t be hotter than you, baby,” Zack said smoothly.

“Nice save,” Alex snickered.

Matt just smiled and pecked a kiss to Zack’s lips, sliding his arm around Zack’s waist as he snuggled into Matt’s chest. Alex had to bite his bottom lip and look down at his drink at their closeness. It used to be him and Danny who did that. It used to be him that got affection in public. Now he had nothing. Now he had…

“Guys, I want to introduce you to my boyfriend…Vinny,”

Alex’s head snapped up in shock. It couldn’t be…

“Alex?” Vinny, his boss frowned.

“Do you two know each other?” Matt mused.

Alex snapped out of his trance immediately.

“You’re dating my boss?!” Alex squealed to Rian.

“I didn’t realise you’d hired my flatmate!” Rian said to Vinny.

“Woah, you’re flatmates with Alex?” Vinny frowned to Rian.

“You’re the guy that crashed into me on his way to the job interview!” the guy standing next to Vinny gasped at Alex.

Alex’s eyes went wide. Holy shit, he was here too?! The hot guy outside the accountants’? What the fuck is going on?!

“Alex is the cute guy you told me about?” Vinny mused to his friend.

Silence.

Wait, Vinny’s friend thought Alex was hot? Alex’s cheeks blushed heavily at that.

“What a fucking small world,” Zack snickered.

Everyone burst into laughter, and just like that, the tension was broken.

“I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out sooner,” Alex said, scooting over in the booth to make room, “I mean, I have met all of you!”

Alex didn’t voice his surprise when Jack sat down next to him, but his eyebrows did shoot upwards. Vinny sat down on the other side of Jack, leaving Rian to sit opposite him next to Matt and Zack.

“Well, at least we’re all here now! Vinny, these are my friends, Zack Merrick, the birthday boy Matt Flyzik and, well, you already know Alex apparently,” Rian introduced, an amused smile on his face.

“This is my best friend Jack Barakat,” Vinny introduced too.

Jack. Jack Barakat. It was a nice name, with a hint of uniqueness. Just like him. Alex bit his bottom lip and looked up at the newly introduced guy to his right, his cheeks still blushing a little.

“I can’t believe it’s you,” he found himself murmuring.

“I know, this is a little crazy, isn’t it? I didn’t even know you got the job with Vinny. Trust him not to tell me anything,” Jack mused.

“Why would he tell you about me? I’m nothing special,” Alex frowned.

Not special like Jack is, not even half.

“You’re kidding, right?” Jack chuckled.

Before Alex could answer, Vinny stood up and cleared this throat.

“I think it’s about high time that I bought some drinks after taking this long to meet you all – can I get you guys a refill?” Vinny asked.

“Yeah, I’ll have the same as before,” Matt nodded.

“A vodka, lime, soda for me please,” Zack smiled.

“I’ll have another beer,” Alex said.

“I’ll have a beer too,” Jack nodded.

Vinny smirked slightly at Jack but didn’t say anything. Alex just frowned slightly, before smiling as Rian stood up to help Vinny with the drinks. He hadn’t seen his best friend look this happy in years.

“They look happy, don’t they?” Jack commented.

“Yeah, they do,” Alex smiled.

Jack smiled back at him. And just like that, everything became easy.

4 hours later, Matt was swaying on his feet, Zack was close to passing out, Vinny’s talking was getting louder and louder, and Alex was getting giggly. It was time to leave.

“Can you walk Alex to my car while I guide everyone else out? You and Vinny are getting a cab, right?” Rian asked Jack.

“Yeah I can handle Alex. And yeah we’re getting a cab, shouldn’t be too hard around here,” Jack nodded.

Alex just smiled happily. Jack was nice. Jack had talked to him all night and didn’t bring up anything weird, like great aunt’s living in his attic or strange sexual fetishes. Jack was normal. Alex liked normal.

“Hey, um, while we’re pretty much on our own, can I ask you something?” Jack asked, resting his hand over Alex’s on the table.

Alex bit his bottom lip but nodded. Why were Jack’s eyes so brown? So beautiful and brown. No, focus. Jack smiled.

“I don’t usually do this…or, well, ever do this, but I, uh, I really like you Alex. Um…”

Alex’s heart skipped a beat and his breath hitched in his throat. Jack liked him? Amazing Jack liked him, nobody Alex?

“…would you like to go out to dinner with me?” Jack asked nervously.

Alex couldn’t stop the smile that spread over his lips. Jack asked him out on a date! Holy shit!

“Y-You want to go to dinner with m-me?” Alex stammered, needing to make sure.

“Yeah, I do. I really do,” Jack said, almost shyly.

Alex knew what his answer was.

“I’d love to,” he said happily.

Finally a nice normal guy to go on a date with! Even if this wasn’t Rian’s doing, he was still going to buy his flatmate a bottle of wine or something. Without Rian, Vinny wouldn’t have brought Jack along with him tonight. Holy shit, this was amazing.

“Great! Um, why don’t you give me your number and I’ll call you to arrange when?” Jack asked hopefully.

Alex reeled off his phone number with hesitating, only making Jack smile more. After that, they walked to Rian’s car, Rian already having strapped Matt and Zack in the back seat, and was talking to Vinny by the side of it.

“I’ll call you tomorrow then,” Jack smiled, stopping next to the passenger side door.

“Can’t wait,” Alex beamed.

Jack chuckled and opened the door for him. Alex bit his bottom lip before leaning up slightly to Jack’s ear.

“Just so you know, I don’t normally do this either,” Alex said softly.

As he stepped into the car, Alex looked up one last time at Jack, only to see him smiling widely, making Alex feel even better. He was going on a date…with Jack the hot accountant…how could his life get any better right now?!

“You and Jack seemed to hit it off quite well,” Rian commented as he sat in the driver’s seat.

“Yeah, we did,” Alex said simply, smiling to himself.

Alex didn’t see his friend grinning, but he did see him wave to the cab that drove past.

“I’m sleepy, are we home yet?” Zack moaned from behind them.

“If we were home, we’d be fucking and they wouldn’t be here. Or they could, I don’t mind an audience,” Matt snickered.

“And that’s our cue to leave,” Rian grumbled, starting the engine.

Alex just laughed, tilting his head back as he smiled. He had a feeling that this was the start of something good.