Another Night, Another Score

He could barely believe his eyes. Although, he wasn't sure why he was suprised. Jack was a good looking guy, Alex didn't doubt that he had men crawling all over him. It was a free country after all- Jack could go out on a date if he wanted to. It took a while for it to sink in, but after thinking about it, Alex remembered that he had absolutely no hold over Jack whatsoever. Hell, they were basically just strangers who fucked. Nothing more. So why shouldn't Jack go on a date? He had every right to. Besides, Alex didn't care. He had no feelings for this man, he reminded himself. Alex wasn't suprised that he had said yes to Tom- This man was gorgeous. He had jaw length dark brown messy hair, and peircing green eyes. He was tall and thin, with a lip ring on his bottom lip. The attractiveness of this man only made Alex resent him more. They hadn't seen Alex or Ella yet, but the waitor looked as though he was about to lead them to their table. It was too late to do a runner now.
"Alex... I am so sorry. I had no idea..." She looked like she felt horribly guilty, and her eyebrows were knotted together in a frown. Alex swallowed, attempting to rid himself of the lump in his throat. 
"No worries, not your fault." His voice came out raspy, and he coughed before taking a sip of the water that was on the table. Ella looked at him apologetically one last time before the waitor arrived with Tom and Jack. When Jack laid eyes on Alex, his jaw literally fell open. At this point, Alex decided that it would be best to avoid eye contact alltogether. Keeping his eyes glued to the table, Alex heard Tom introduce himself to Alex. As much as he strongly disliked this man (already) Alex looked up politely, saying hello and telling him his name. 
"And Alex, this is Jack. My date." Alex winced at those words, and he looked at Jack but avoided eye contact.
"Nice to meet you Jack." He said hollowly, and Jack awkwardly replied with a "yeah you too." 
Luckily for Alex, Ella was keeping up a steady conversation with Tom to avoid any awkwardness. Not that Tom seemed to have noticed anyway. Alex could feel Jack's gave upon his face, but he resisted the urge to make eye contact. The fact that Jack was sat directly across from Alex did not help, just made the task of avoiding looking at him even harder. The conversation between Tom and Ella seemed to have faltered, because Tom was now looking at Alex instead.
"So Alex... What do you do for a living?" Alex knew that Tom was only being polite and trying to include him in the conversation, but Alex would have prefered to have been left alone. Shifting in his seat awkwardly, his eyes flickered over to Jack momentarily, to see that he was still staring at him. Ella, being the lifesaver that she is, jumped in answering the question for him.
"Oh he helps me out in my shop. I make a great boss, right Alex?" All eyes were on him, and he cleared his throat before answering.
"Oh god yeah, the best. Could do with a pay rise though." He spoke with more confidence than he really had, winking playfully at her. Tom laughed, and Ella punched him lightly on the arm.
"Cheeky. You work in the coffee shop around the corner don't you Jack? I swear I've seen you there before." Ella was taking the focus of the conversation off of him, and for that he was extremely grateful. Alex looked at Jack properly for the first time that night, feeling slightly smug about the fact that he was yet to take his eyes off him. 
"Um yeah, that jobs getting a bit old now though, think i need a change. Plus I hate coffee, even the smell makes me feel sick" He pulled a face at the thought, and Alex remembered back to the day before when he had made Alex a coffee. "Vile stuff" He had said, handing over the mug as if it had acid in it. Alex shook these thoughts from his head, and tuned in to the conversation just in time for him to hear Tom speak.
"I had no idea you didn't like coffee." As he spoke he brushed the back of his hand over Jack's cheek, letting it fall down to his neck where he played with the longer parts of his raven hair. The casual contact between the two of them looked so natural, and it made Alex feel as if somebody was twisting a knife in his stomach. The jealousy and rage was building up inside of Alex, but was interrupeted by a cheerful waitress arriving at their table. She was very pretty. Not beautiful like Ella was, but pretty nonetheless. Her natural blonde hair was piled on top of her head, and she had a curvy but slim figure. Though she wore lots of makeup, it didn't look tacky on her.
"Hi guys! I'm Leanne and I'll be looking after you this evening." She spoke in a bubbly tone, her gaze fixing on Alex. Her eyes raked down his body and back up to his face, then she smiled at him. Alex glanced at Jack to see him glaring at her, looking disgusted. This made a swarm of butterflies errupt in Alex's stomach. 
"So... can I get you any drinks to start you off?" They all ordered, and Leanne left after giving them all menus. Just to annoy Jack a little more, Alex let his eyes drift down her body as she walked away, looking directly at her ass. When she was out of sight, he glanced at Jack to see him looking annoyed. Alex ignored him and pretended to be listening to the conversation that Tom and Ella were having, but he still felt Jack's stare on his face. Alex nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a foot nudge his under the table. He refused to look at him, busying himself by looking at the menu. Jack was persistant though, still nudging his foot against Alex's. Alex let out a sigh of annoyance, making it loud enough for Jack to hear. Out of the corner of his eye, Alex saw Tony move to put his arm around Jack, pulling Jack's body closer. Another twinge of jealousy shot through Alex, and he coughed and excused himself to go to the bathroom. 
"Ella baby, could you tell the waitress that I want mushroom pasta if she comes while I'm gone?" She looked up at him sympathetically, knowing that he wasn't excusing himself because he needed the toilet. 
"Sure thing sweetie." He ruffled her hair in an affectionate way, before walking away. When he reached the mens bathroom he took a few deep breaths and splashed some water on his face. He needed to pull himself together. He reminded himself for the hundreth time that night that he felt nothing towards Jack. That Jack had every right to go out on a date. That Tom had every right to put his arm around Jack. It was hard to swallow, but it was something Alex would have to accept. He returned to the table a few minutes later, and sat back down. Jack was still looking at him, but Alex ignored him once again. 
"I told the waitress what you wanted." Ella said to Alex, tucking a stray peice of hair behind his ear for him. 
"Thankyou gorgeous." He smiled a genuine smile at her, before turning away. She continued talking to Tom about god knows what, and Jack obviously took this distraction as an opportunity to start again with the foot nudging. Almost as though he knew that Alex would carry on ignoring him, he started moving his foot upwards - so that it was now rubbing Alex's leg. Alarmed, he made eye contact with Jack. Jacks eyes were filled with an emotion that Alex couldn't quite put his finger on. Guilt maybe? Alex highly doubted it. He had no reason to feel guilty anyway. He soon realised Jacks intentions when his foot moved higher and higher up Alex's leg, towards his thigh. He gulped, looking over to make sure that Tom and Ella were still distracted. They both looked like they were pretty absorbed in the converation, and when Alex looked back at Jack he felt him pull his foot away. He breathed a sigh of relief - he did not need a boner in the middle of a resturant. That would have been difficult to explain. When Leanne returned with their meals, Alex decided he might as well play on the fact that she blatently checked him out. It wouldn't hurt to make Jack just a little jealous would it? A small voice in the back of his head told him that Jack wouldn't care, because he felt nothing towards Alex. Well, it was worth a try. When Leanne came over holding a tray with four plates in her hand, she deliberately saved Alex's till last. When Alex took the plate from her, he made sure to brush his hand over hers. She blushed and withdrew it quickly, before asking if there was anything else he could get them. Alex smirked at her before raking his eyes up and down her body, biting his lip seductively. She turned an even deeper shade of red, before stammering out an "enjoy your meals" and stumbling away. She hadn't taken her eyes of Alex the whole time she was talking, and she turned back multiple times as she walked away. 
"You are... unbelievable." Ella's voice broke the silence, before she started laughing her head off. Tom simply looked shocked and in awe, while Jack looked pissed. Extremely pissed. Smiling smugly, Alex dug into his food ignoring Ella's uncontrolable laughter and Jacks glare. the food was good - so good that it was gone within the next 10 minutes. 
"Hungry?" Tom asked with a raised eyebrow, looking at his empty plate.
"Just a bit. And that was fricken delicious." Ella rolled her eyes at him, and he kissed her cheek affectionately causing her to smile. 
Once everybody had finished eating, Ella poked Alex in the side of the head to get his attention.
"Can I help you?" She turned to face him, and pointed an accusing finger at his face. 
"When that poor girl comes back to collect our plates, I want you to be nice. Not everybody can resist your sexiness you know." She pinched his cheek as she spoke the last word, and he swatted her hand away smiling at her. 
As if on cue, Leanne returned picking up all if their clean plates and piling them onto a tray. She glanced at Alex several times, blushing a darker colour each time. 
"Could we get the bill please?" Tom asked her, reaching for his wallet. 
"Umm sure, you have to come up to the bar to pay though." As she spoke her gaze never left Alex's. He knew he couldn't resist. He winked at Leanne, licking his lips. She swayed on her feet, looking like she was about to faint before mumbling something about getting our bill printed. 
"Ugh sometimes I feel like you don't ever listen to a word I say." Ella said as she batted him over the head a couple of times, but he just grinned at her. Fishing a £20 note out of his pocket, he made sure she took it to put towards the meal. Though Jack tried to do the same, Tom insisted on paying for him. Ella and Tom both got up and went to the other side of the resturant to pay the bill, leaving an awkward silence to settle between the two.
"So... Into gorls now too are we?" Jacks tone of voice was casual, but Alex could tell he was slightly annoyed.
"Yeah well, Tom doesn't really seem your type either." That came out sharper than Alex had intended, but he couldn't help it. 
"Are you angry?" Again, his voice was casual, but this time his eyes burned with curiosity and sadness. 
"Of course I'm not angry. I have no reason to be. You have every right to go and fuck whoever the hell you like Jack, I don't give a shit. But I'm not doing this with you anymore Jack. I'm not helping you cheat." Though he felt like he was making the biggest mistake ever, Alex knew it would be for the best. This was beginning to look like Quade all over again, and Alex wasn't sure he could ever cope with that kind of heartbreak ever again. 
"But Alex... You don't understand. I don't even li-" 
He was cut off by Ella and Tom returning, both of them collecting their things and getting ready to leave. Alex couldn't get out of there fast enough. Saying goodbye to Ella quickly, he jogged out of the resturant as quickly as he could. Though he knew it would cause him pain, he couldn't help but wonder if Jack would be going home with Tom tonight.