Getting a Complete Stranger to Smile

Alex turned the corner in to the old, oak furnished Starbucks down the road from his home. It was the middle of winter, Alex's birthday actually, and there was snow covering the ground all over England. The wind whipped round strangers passing on the street, sometimes knocking them in to each other and making them shrug it off with a laugh and a mumbled "sorry...". There was a thick blanket of snow gently rested over the branches of dying, bare trees that towered over the cold and wet streets of London. Every thing was crisp and clean, pure and beautiful. The below freezing temperatures made people's noses go a light shade of red, matching old women's fluffy coats as they strutted around in the snow, shopping on the high streets for Christmas presents. There were eleven days left until the most beautiful time of the year, and everyone was in a messy frenzy over late presents and food. The young male chuckled to himself as the warmth of the fresh, clean coffee shop made his exposed skin tingle as he shrugged off his puffy, black jacket. The friendly, familiar smell of coffee and biscuits filled Alex's nose and the bright greens and reds giving the small shop a Christmassy theme made his caramel eyes light up slightly. He could taste the coffee bean dust floating in the air as he sucked in a breath, the slight hint of water and sugar lingering on his pink tongue. Chattering from tables round him made him cringe slightly, it was like listening to one hundred different songs at once. There were some people crying, tears dripping on to the dark wood tables and in to drinks as they sobbed to their friends and lovers sat with them, there were groups of friends and couples chattering away and laughing to themselves and there were people just sat happily drinking their coffee and doing their own thing. Those people were Alex's favorites, the ones that could do their own thing and be completely comfortable with it. His ears tuned in to different conversations as he moved down the line, and he caught sentences from different people as he passed them.

"And then he was all like... See you later then, and walked off!"
"You're.. You're gonna be an aunty..."
"I mean seriously, who does that?"
"Barbs did the funniest thing today!"
"Mushroom... oh totally yeah i.... OH MY GOD!..."


The student chuckled lowly to himself as he thought abut how strange these conversations sounded if you weren't part of them, but his thoughts were pushed aside as the bright, bottle blonde teen behind the counter called him over with a fake smile.
He ordered his usual of the Christmas special vanilla spiced latte and Alex sighed as he waited, taking the opportunity to people watch.
The boy had been spending all his time in university, and the claustrophobic lecture halls and stupid, off white exam rooms were starting to drive him slightly insane. His friends had set the usually grumpy, introverted male a series of tasks for over the holidays and he was to complete each one of them with evidence. If he finished this list of things before the twentieth of January, he got a surprise from his friends. He'd completed most of the list, and he only had three more to go.

~ Go somewhere you've never gone before with someone you hardly/don't know
~ Get a complete stranger to smile by making their day
~ Give someone in need something that's important to you

Alex took his drink and wandered off right in to the far back corner, sitting on a table for two that was under a flickering, dim light. The leather covered seat smelt a little damp and there were a few stains on it, but that was fine. Alex had chosen to sit as far away from everything as possible for a reason. There was a painting of London above his head on the cracked, cream wall and as the student jumped up on to the creaking, wobbly table he let his eyes scan the room again. The quaint shop was quite full for a Tuesday afternoon, full of teenagers celebrating the winter break or school snow days and full of mums with babies in prams all wrapped up in puffer jackets and mittens. There were a few old men and women, happily sat reading in silence, and there were a few students that were ripping their hair out over coursework like Alex. The boy had rewarded himself a day off from everything as it was his birthday, and he just wanted to have a little fun.

There were groups of people everywhere that Alex could choose to watch, study and analyse, try and guess what was going through their head and what their life was like. The man stared in the opposite corner of the room and spotted a man around the same age as him sat at a table the same as his, apart from his scruffy seating wasn't hidden by shadows and flickering eco friendly bulbs.
The man had long, raven hair with chunks of blonde in it. There was no order to it, it was all over the place, but it was styled like that and this made Alex think this male was quite a happy character. The stubble on his cheeks and chin made him look considerably older and more mature than Alex thought he was, his gangling limbs and skinny torso cancelling out any intimidation his stubble would give off. He scratched at it subconsciously every couple of minutes, not paying much attention to it as he scrolled through his phone but he still looked mildly irritated by the hair that didn't need to be on his face. This told the university student the lanky male didn't normally have the rough and ready appearance, so it was either there because he'd been busy or lazy the last few days or because there was someone he liked that wanted it that way. Maybe a lover, a partner or just a crush? Someone he wanted to impress. The hairy man sighed in annoyance every once in a while too, hinting he might have been waiting for someone as he sipped his drink. The way he checked his phone every two seconds said this person was important to him, and the way his knees bobbed up and down and his white teeth nibbled on his bottom lip said he was nervous. Maybe it was a job interview? But the black skinny jeans the man was wearing and the Blink-182 shirt that hung off his skinny torso hinted otherwise. It might be a date, but the man looked a little dirty for it to be a date. There was dirt on his black converse and on his knees, and there were bags under his chocolate eyes and long lashes. The psychology student hummed lightly, furrowing his brow as he tried to decipher exactly what the male was doing here. Maybe he was just grabbing some coffee before going somewhere, tired from whatever he'd been doing the week before that had caused him to be working instead of sleeping, shaving and washing his clothes. His cracked, dirty iPhone buzzed on the table, sending the tri-tone ring through a small section of the small coffee shop. The male chewed his lip as the screen reflected a text in to his dark eyes and they filled with water as he slowly put the mobile back on the table and hung his head. A spark ran through Alex's blood and he frowned as he watched the other male sigh and wipe away a stray tear that had escaped from under his squeezed shut eyelids. The student sighed, pulling the crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket with the list of things to do on it and he smiled as he underlined one.

~Get a complete stranger to smile by making their day

The silently crying male was perfect for this, and even though the grumpy, introverted, anxious side of Alex was telling him to stay put his feet said other wise and he was soon sat in front of his subject with a soft smile of his lips.

"Hi..."
The lanky male looked up through his dark lashes, staring at the defined, blonde male in front of him with a frown gracing his rough features.
"Can I help you?"
Alex smiled again, his teeth shining slightly in the coffee shop's electronic lights that were harsh against the dark, cloudy afternoon sky covering England. His bushy, brown eyebrows raised slightly as the expression popped on to his face and he leaned forward in the seat against the table to close the gap between the men.
"I'm Alex... I just noticed you didn't look to happy and I thought I might be able to cheer you up?"
The students voice raised slightly at the end of his sentence and the lanky male scanned the room.
"Why can't you go help the sobbing girl over there? The one that looks like she just found out that dirty one night stand didn't use a lid and now she's pregnant at seventeen but she can't get an abortion because 'she just can't'"
The raven haired male nodded his head in a bottle blonde's direction, her hot pink track suit slightly dirty while her bottle blonde hair was scraped back in to a thick bobble.
"Well what if I thought you were more important? The teenage brat can handle her own problems, someone like you... someone like you is more complex than her. Your problems probably go back a long way, while hers stretch over a couple of days. I'm a good listener... and I like a good story."
The stranger almost cracked a smile, the corners of his mouth turning up about a half a mm as his hands rubbed over the goosebumps on the olive skin covering his arms. The student leaned back again in his seat, making the scuffed wood creak and the chair cover ruffle under his black skinny jeans, an american flag printed on the top.
"I know this is strange, having a complete stranger tell you they care, but I honestly do so... yeah."
The lanky male sighed and lifted his head up.
"What will it take for you to leave me alone?"
Anger, but sort of acceptance. Not many people would just accept a random stranger popping up at their table, Alex knew he wouldn't. This emphasized the male being quite laid back, but the anger showed he also wanted his own space. Alex didn't care, he was going to test the stranger's boundaries slightly.
"Just talk to me! Tell me why you're crying over a text, tell me your complete life history if you want, because the chances are we're never going to see each other again... So are you gonna talk to me or what?"
When Alex's statement was followed by silence he huffed and span round on the chair slightly, tapping his fingers on the table between the men.
"Ok... I'll go first. My name's Alexander William Gaskarth, I'm from Essex, I have a posh name and I hate it so never ever call me Alexander or I will chop your dick off. Urm... I'm a third year psychology student, I only have a handful of friends, I love Blink."
Alex smiled and nudged in chin towards the taller make's shirt.
"I'm not naturally blonde, I actually like my eyebrows... sometimes. Urm... I like your hair and today is my twenty fifth birthday. I finished college at twenty, went traveling for two years, came back and went straight to uni. My life is pretty steady, and I know your's is worse, so it might help for you to open up about it to someone who has no competition against your problem because they don't have any."
Alex had plenty of problems actually, but he didn't want to go in to detail about them like he was trying to make his stranger. He swung his legs back and forth on his chair and waited for the other male to respond.

"Is there somewhere else we could go?"

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The two men were walking up to Alex's apartment building and the lanky male gasped. It was gorgeous. He had been expecting a student house or something, but these flats were white and clean and new. They looked expensive too, being so big that there were only ten apartments per floor, and this was a big apartment block.
Alex slid his key through the block's front door, walking in to the ground floor and shaking the snow off his trainers as the door clunked closed behind them.
"I didn't catch your name...."
The blonde prompted as he shook the fallen snow off his hood and on to the floor.
"Oh.. Urm, I'm Jack."
The male still hadn't smiled, but Alex was just going to have to be patient. Jack loved this place. It smelt clean and fresh, like fresh cooked pizza in some places. The carpet was an immaculate cream, the lights put on so high that the lanky male could actually hear them buzzing. He could taste the residue of cleaning products on his tongue, but it wasn't disgustingly over powering. It was fresh and nice, like the apartment blocks in TV adverts for cleaning products. The walls were white, decorated with bright, abstract paintings and there was no graffiti. The banister on the stairs was a dark pine, a nice difference to the white everywhere else, but Alex ushered Jack in to the lift and pressed the glistening button to the fourth floor. The lift was silent as they ascended, Alex tapping his foot as he sung in his head and Jack just nervously watching out of the corner of his dark eye. This was a complete stranger, and even though he'd showed nothing but kindness to Jack the tall male was still worried Alex could turn out to be a serial killer or something.
"This is my floor."
Alex chuckled as the lift doors opened and he stepped outside, waiting a while as Jack just stared in to space.
"yeah.. S-sorry."
Jack followed behind Alex, the corridors the same decor as downstairs, but as Alex slid his key in his door and pushed the door open Jack was amazed. It was beautiful.

There was a smell of pasta lingering around the flat, and the buzzing of cars from outside could only faintly be heard from this altitude. Jack imagined what it would sound like from the top floor, the city would look amazing at night and you would be too high up to hear all the hustle and bustle of London. It would be perfect.
As you first walked in there was the lounge.
The first thing Jack saw in the lounge was a black, leather suite. White pillows were dotted all over the seating, little notes scrawled all over them in different handwriting and they all had signatures underneath. One that caught Jack's eyes and made him chuckle was one on the biggest pillow in the middle of the couch.

Lex! You need to buy new milk, that milk's almost a month out of date you dirty bastard. Get it sorted dick head, do you want me to die every time I come round and steal your food?! GO SHOPPING! - Love Zack, 21/03/11

Jack's gaze wandered around the beautiful living room, a lovely black marble mantle piece rested above a coal fire and across from that was the sofa. Next to the fire was a huge TV on a glass stand, an Xbox sitting pretty and clean underneath it surrounded by what looked like hundreds of games. The floor was a light, hard wood and there was a huge archway leading in to the kitchen on the right hand side of the room..

The kitchen was black with red appliances and seats, the kettle and spatulas and storage boxes etc... were all red, the microwave too, and every thing else was a dark, shiny black.

On the left hand side of the living room there was a door left open to what looked like an office and on the only wall Jack hadn't scanned yet were two door, the man guessed they led to the bedroom and bathroom.

Alex sat down on the neat sofa, pushing some sharpie note covered pillows to the floor and smiling softly as he patted the space next to him.
"So come on, talk to me..."

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"I just can't belive they'd do that to me, ya know?"
Jack sobbed as Alex rubbed soothing circles in to his back and shushed him.
"Jack, sshhh, it's ok."
"But it's not ok! My boyfriend left me, I got fired, my sister died and my parents hate me! What am i supposed to do?"
Jack had spent the last two hours crying and moaning, explaining to Alex his life history.

Jack Bassam Barakat was 26 years old. He'd left home at 18, gone to collage then university and became a teacher. He had a younger brother called Joe and an older sister called May. His mum was called Joyce and his dad was called Bassam. He'd realized he was gay at 16 but had never come out. Jack had fallen in love at university with a guy called Evan and they'd been together ever since, well, up until last month that is. Jack had walked in on Evan cheating on him, in their own bed with Jack's best friend Lisa. They'd had a huge row over it and Jack had said they should forget about it, go back to how they were before, but Evan couldn't handle it and left. Jack was heartbroken, he'd been so forgiving and Evan had shoved it back in his face. Jack turned to drinking, and after showing up to work hammered three days on a row he got fired. So, he'd called his parents for support. Only then did he find out his sister had died in a car accident. His parents were supposed to meet Jack today in Starbucks, but they hadn't, claiming they didn't want to be seen with a "faggot".

Alex's heart ached for the older man, he'd been through so much and he had nobody to turn to. He had no friends, no parents, his younger brother had seemed to disappear off the face of the earth and he had no job, meaning no money.

"Jack, it's all gonna be ok I promise. I know we've only just met, but I know your entire life history now."
The pair chuckled.
"So... I know you have nobody... I want to be here for you Jack."
The older man looked up, his bushy eyebrows raised as he wiped tears from the corners of his eyes.
"I'll always be here ok, you know where I am and I want to help."

Jack grinned wide, his eyes shining and his cheeks dimpled.
"Alex... You just made my day."