This Was Never Gonna Be Simple

I dragged Sean along with me, pulling him this way and that, and taking possibly the longest detour ever. Don't get me wrong, I did want him to meet Aled and Shay, but this was more fun -insert evil laugh here-.

I've made it sound like I took some extremely romantic, scenic route. I didn't. It was mainly a few cheap alleys in the back end of nowhere that looked like chances are, if you ventured there once the sun had set, you'd get mugged. Actually, you'd probably get mugged regardless of the time, but I took the chance anyway. I'm not really sure why I went that way, but shut up, I'm telling the story, not you.

It took longer than I expected, and we ended up wasting almost an hour and a half of time that could be spent being humiliated by my 'friends'. We'd have plenty of time later, though, to catch up. It's not like I don't live there and they don't see me everyday. They'd probably just sit there and laugh at us for most of the time anyway. I hate them (and of course, by hate, I mean have a love for them, deep down, that no one ever sees surface, but is there nonetheless, hidden and dormant). Ha, look at me being all deep.

We did eventually get there, and although he tried to hide it, I still heard Sean snicker when he saw which house was ours. Damn Shay and his flashy choice of paint. I shoved him playfully, then started walking briskly over to the house. Shay answered the door immediately when I knocked, almost sending me toppling over, which of course just caused Sean to laugh even more. Shay smirked when he saw him, and he quickly stopped laughing.

"Who's this then?" Shay grinned, nudging me as I passed him.

I brushed him off, and took a seat in the living room, smiling as Sean flopped down beside me. Shay, on the other hand, opted for the opposite sofa, lifting a mug from the coffee table to his left and taking a long sip. His eyes flicked back and forth between Sean and I. Clearly he was looking for an introduction.

"Uh," I muttered awkwardly. "Shay, this is Sean." I motioned to my left. "And Sean, this is Shay," I said, pointing to the guy sitting across from me.

They mumbled their hellos, Sean looking anxious, and Shay being as polite as he possibly could. He was never that polite to me, but then again, I wasn't a stranger, nor a guest. At least he was making some effort.

It would be another hour or so until Aled was home, so we waited patiently, although Sean found that a rather difficult task, boredom consuming him after just ten minutes.

Finally, Aled showed up, typically late. He bustled into the kitchen, dropping whatever he was carrying, then joined us in the living room. His face was a mask of pure confusion when he saw Sean.

"Who's this?" he asked, scrunching up his nose as he tried to figure it out.

"That's what I asked," muttered Shay, as I launched into my introduction again.

It didn't take long for them to get acquainted, and soon I was telling them the full version, exactly who Sean was. Many emotions crossed their faces: confusion, shock, disbelief and amazement to name a few.

Shay shook his head, refusing to believe any of it, but Aled took it all on board gladly. He even offered to let Sean stay the night, which I was hoping he'd accept.

"You're welcome here any time, Sean," Aled beamed, and Shay tutted.

"I... I... Yeah, that sounds nice." Sean smiled at him, and it looked to me like they were going to get along just fine.