The Man Test

Number 2: He gets along with your friends

Number 2 on the list was a lot more important to Alex than he’d ever realized. Looking back at both his male and female exes, not a lot of them passed. Jack almost always hated them, which led to Zack not trusting them, and Rian trying to but finding some terrible qualities Alex hadn’t noticed until after the relationship was over. Thinking about it, none of his jerky, controlling, cocky ex boyfriends had ever passed, they always clashed with the group. Only two of the girls did, his high school girlfriend Lisa who went on to be a model and a summer fling he once had named Tay. Granted, they became just friends to Alex sooner than later, but to this day were the only two people Alex dated that his friends genuinely liked. He figured that’s why they stayed friends with him and the group.

Alex shuffled his feet, looking nervously around Jack and Zack’s backyard. They were having a Fourth of July barbeque, and Alex had invited Matt along. The barbeque had just really started, and not many people were there, except the two hosts and Rian and his girlfriend, Cassadee. His heart sped up as the gate to the backyard opened, only for it to sink when he realized it was Lisa and her roommate and their other friend from high school, Jessie.

About a half hour later, more of Zack and Jack’s friends had arrived, some Alex knew and some he didn’t, but Matt still hadn’t. He grabbed a beer, his first of the afternoon, and went over to where the girls were hanging out.

“I can’t understand what would make her want to -- Hey, you alright, Alex?” Lisa asked, turning in the middle of her sentence when she noticed how nervous he looked.

“Huh? Oh, sure, yeah,” he tried to play it off.

“Dude, that’s not fooling anyone,” Jessie pointed out.

Alex couldn’t help but laugh at the three girls looking at him expectantly and how they could obviously read that something was up. “I’ve been dating this new guy and I’m waiting to see if he shows.”

“Speaking of new guys, is Tay seeing someone now?” Cassadee asked, looking past Alex to where the short brunette in question was walking in and laughing with a taller man with dark hair and a lip ring.

“No, that’s Matt,” Alex said, confused.

As he walked over to them, Matt noticed him and smiled. He wrapped his arms around Alex and gave him a quick peck as a greeting. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Alex returned as Matt let go of him.

“Alex, seriously, your new boyfriend is the best. I just had a discussion about Disney with another adult, that never happens,” Tay laughed, giving her friend a hug and walking over to the grill to pester Zack.

“So I see you met Tay,” Alex said with a smile, taking Matt’s hand.

“Yeah, I couldn’t find parking except down the block, and then I lost what house you said to come to. She found me wandering on the other side of the street and then we started to talk about Disney.”

Alex laughed slightly. “Should have figured you two would bond over that. Come on, let me introduce you to the rest of the group,” he said as he casually led Matt over to the group of three girls who were staring at them.

A few minutes later, Matt had been properly introduced and seated at the table with Cassadee, Rian, Jack, Lisa, Tay, Jessie, and Alex himself. Zack brought over the burgers he’d finished grilling and Alex hid a smile in a burger as Matt thanked Zack.

“So. Other than Mickey, who are your favorite Disney characters?” Tay asked, squirting ketchup on her cheeseburger. Half the table jokingly groaned.

“Oh god, there’s gonna be two of them,” Cassadee joked.

“No offense, Tay, but let’s talk to Matt about something other than Disney,” Rian said with a smile. “Like, what are your favorite sports? Teams?”

This seemed to satisfy the rest of the table, even Tay, and Matt didn’t hesitate his answers. “Football and hockey mostly, but I sometimes watch or play baseball. My teams are the Eagles, Flyers, and Phillies.”

“Damn, Alex,” Jessie joked, “You had to bring an Eagles fan around?”

“Oh no, I’m surrounded by all Ravens fans, aren’t I?” Matt asked, pretending to look scared, which got a couple laughs from the group.

Alex visibly relaxed, leaning back in his chair with his beer bottle while the group got into chatter about sports players and their stats. ‘Yup. I can check off number 2.’