Speed Dating

"Um..." Patrick sighed slightly and nodded as the man in front of him faltered into an uncomfortable silence. It had been the longest five minutes of Patrick's life, and it was all Joe's fault. His best friend had insisted that Patrick just get out of their apartment for the night, finally getting sick of seeing the younger man dicking around on GarageBand into the early hours of the morning. And so he had suggested speed dating. When Patrick refused, because that was just embarrassing and he thought he'd rather just be single, Joe had all but carried him to the hall, setting him down in a seat and telling the coordinator not to let him out without a guy attached to him.
So here he was, half an hour in, after four guys, already wishing he had a fork to pick his eyeballs out with. Not that the guy he was with (Kellin, he thought his name was, he couldn't be bothered to read the man's name tag again) wasn't good looking. Because he was. Very good looking. But he just... Wasn't Patrick's type. The problem was, Patrick didn't know what his type was. He just knew he hadn't been interested in any of the people he'd met so far. But Kellin definitely had. Patrick could see him making eyes at the next guy across. The guy who would be switching seats with Patrick in a couple of minutes. Well, good for him. At least someone got something out of this night.
Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, the stupid claxon went off, and Patrick practically leapt out of his seat, knocking his knee on the table as he did so.
"Er, it was nice meeting you, Patrick." Kellin said distractedly, watching eagerly as the guy who was at the next table stood up, hurrying to sit in Patrick's vacated seat.
"You too." Patrick nodded and walked a few steps to the next table, preparing himself to be bored to death.
"Hi... Patrick." A cheery voice greeted him as he sat down.
"Hello." Patrick said quietly, looking up to see the guy's name.
But Patrick didn't end up saying anything else, because as soon as he looked at this man's face, his mouth went dry, and all he could think was 'holy smokes, how the Hell is this guy speed dating?' Because he was gorgeous. With tan skin, a wide smile and shining brown eyes.
"Are you okay?" The guy asked curiously, still smiling. Patrick nodded dumbly, not trusting himself to speak. He had found his type. "I'm Pete." The guy continued. Pete, a perfect yet simple name.
"So anyway, what are your interests?" Pete asked hopefully.
"M-music." Patrick answered, finally allowing himself to speak.
"Dude that's awesome!" Pete exclaimed. "I love music- mostly any type of rock, from, like, hardcore to glam-"
"You like Bowie?" Patrick couldn't help but interrupt.
"I love Bowie!" Pete said happily, grinning at Patrick.
And, just like that, Pete has made Patrick feel more comfortable than any of the other guys he had spoken to. Their conversation slowly diverging from music to their lives, and eventually (way too early than Patrick wanted) the claxon sounded again, signifying that they were supposed to swap again.
Patrick bit his lip and made no attempt to stand up, still looking at Pete.
"How about you stay for a bit?" Pete suggested, reaching over the table and resting a hand over Patrick's.
Patrick nodded hastily, reluctant to stop talking to the older man. He wanted to get to know Pete. In more than one way.
"Hey, dude. I think we're meant to swap now." A voice said from behind him. Patrick sighed and began to tear his eyes from Pete's, but was stopped when Pete growled: "Go swap with someone else."
"But-"
"Leave."
The guy groaned and muttered, "You're the third couple that refused to swap..."
Patrick turned to the left to see Kellin, still laughing with the skinny guy who had swapped with Patrick and smiled slightly.
"Hey, Patrick." Pete whispered. "You wanna get out of here?" Patrick looked at him, eyes wide, before nodding frantically.
"Absolutely." Pete grinned and squeezed Patrick's hand in his, then standing up and leading the younger man to the door.
The coordinator smiled at them approvingly and let them walk out. He was going to have fun tonight.
____
"Hi, I'm Kellin." The dark haired man grinned to the guy sitting in the seat across from him. As soon as he saw him, talking to a bored looking guy with skunky hair, he knew he was in love. Patrick had been nice enough, but didn't seem particularly enthused. And he was cute, but... This guy. Curly, shoulder length brown hair, wide dark eyes and tan skin, as well as a small ring in his nose that somehow managed to make him more attractive.
"Hi, I'm Vic." The guy responded with an easy smile that just about made Kellin melt. "It seems your guy wasn't too interested." Vic jerked his head in Patrick's direction, seeing the the other man talking enthusiatically to a man with emo hair.
"I wasn't too interested myself." Kellin shrugged.
"Yeah, I could see you staring the whole time." Vic smirked.
Kellin blushed and shook his head. "I- I wasn't-"
"It's okay. Maybe I was staring too." He winked and laughed as Kellin's cheeks became even redder.
"You were?"
Vic shrugged. "Can't blame me for noticing a cute guy."
"You think I'm cute?" Kellin squeaked, disbelieving. He had told himself that he was going to actually be cool this time round, unlike his previous two attempts at speed dating. But instead, here he was again, a flustered mess under the eyes of a hot guy. But this one didn't look at him as though Kellin was gum stuck to the bottom of his shoe. He was watching him as though he actually liked him.
"Absolutely." Vic nodded, brown eyes practically glowing. "What about me?"
Wow this guy was a flirt. But an extremely good one, as Kellin felt his heart stutter yet again as he tried not to do the same thing verbally. "Yeah. You're... You're cute too. Actually, more than cute. More like really hot. But not in a, like, disrespectful way! I'm sure you're a really great guy but like..." Kellin faltered as Vic began to laugh. Verbal diarrhea. It would be his downfall.
"Dude, don't worry about it. It's not like we've talked about much else."
Kellin nodded his head in agreement. He was surprised that Vic was still there, to be honest. He supposed the other man must have seen something he liked, rather than heard. And Kellin wasn't complaining.
"I suppose we could get to know each other-" Kellin was cut off by the sound of the claxon going off. How could they already be done? All he'd done was stare at Vic for a while and make a complete fool out of himself.
"I guess I should go..." Vic said reluctantly, looking over to the guy Patrick was talking to sadly. But Patrick didn't seem to be making any effort to move.
"They don't seem to be stopping." Kellin said, the first time anything remotely confident had come out of his mouth. "I'm sure we could talk for a couple more minutes."
Vic grinned and nodded in agreement, pulling his chair forward so their knees banged underneath the small table. "Yeah, I think so."
"Hey." Kellin looked up to see a guy standing behind Vic, looking slightly frustrated.
"What do you want?" Vic asked sharply, not bothering to turn around.
"I'm supposed to swap with you..."
"I'm sure someone else will swap with you." Vic said distractedly.
"But there isn't-"
"He said find someone else." Kellin cut in harshly, returning the smile Vic shot him.
"Fine." The guy muttered, making his way to Patrick and the guy he was talking to.
"Vic, do you maybe want to-"
"Sorry, Kellin. One second." Vic interrupted, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "I'm so sorry, I've got to go." He said remorsefully.
"What?" Kellin asked sadly.
"I'm so sorry- my brother..." Vic trailed off and reached into his other pocket, pulling out a Sharpie with a small smile. He grabbed Kellin's hand and scribbled a string of digits down.
"You call me, okay?"
Kellin looked down at his hand and nodded eagerly.
"I'll see you soon, Kellin." Vic stood up and waved to the other man, walking straight behind Patrick and emo hair out of the building. Kellin waited a couple of minutes before leaving himself, reminding himself to call Vic first thing tomorrow morning.
____
"Hello. I'm Jack and I like to make dick jokes." Jack smiled as the next guy sat down in front of him. That had been his introduction with every guy that had come round, with varying degrees of success. The last guy, Vic, had simply laughed and changed the subject, which had been by far the best reaction. Until this guy.
"Dude! So do I." The guy laughed. "I'm Alex."
"Jack." Jack nodded at him. He was cute, he decided. Pretty. His dark hair was curled around his jaw, and he had dark brown eyes that were currently smiling with his lips.
"Cool. So... What are you doing here?" Alex asked awkwardly.
"What do you think?" Jack smirked in response.
"That was... A pretty dumb question, huh?" Alex laughed nervously.
"Nah, it's alright." Jack shrugged. "You're probably wondering what a sex god like me is doing speed dating, huh?"
"Er... Kind of?" Alex answered, a faint blush gracing his cheeks.
"Tell me your story and I'll tell you mine." Jack offered.
"Heh. I'll show you mine if you show me yours." Alex murmured.
"Maybe later." Jack winked, smiling as Alex sputtered.
"I, um, I just broke up with my girlfriend." He admitted quietly.
"Girlfriend?" Jack frowned. He had assumed that, at gay speed dating, everyone would be gay.
"Yeah. It seems your girlfriend doesn't want to stay your girlfriend when she finds out you're gay." Alex said, feigning confusion.
"Why would that be?" Jack smirked, causing Alex to laugh. He liked that sound, he decided.
"Yeah... What about you?"
"Oh! Well, I've never been able to like, secure a guy, I've never had an actual boyfriend, and I wanna settle down. I mean, I'm halfway to thirty and... Yeah."
"Yeah, me too." Alex nodded. "Have you... Have you met anyone you could see yourself settling down with?" Alex asked, looking somewhat hopeful.
"Hmm..." Jack pretended to ponder for a moment. "I think I might be looking at him."
"Really?" Alex demanded, sitting up slightly in his seat.
Jack nodded. "We seem pretty similar. I mean, we both like dick jokes and... Blink-182 apparently." He added, noting Alex's shirt for the first time.
"Oh my God you like Blink as well!" Alex exclaimed happily. "Dude. Seriously, just marry me now."
"You have to take me on a date first." Jack smiled.
"Let's do it." Alex said seriously. "I mean it, let's just go on a date right-"
Alex got cut off by the claxon going off, annoying and obnoxious. But Jack got where Alex was going.
"Yeah." Jack nodded and began to stand up, watching as very few people in the room left their partner. It seemed that everyone had met someone they were interested in.
He saw a guy smile in relief and begin to make his way over to Jack's seat.
"Sorry, dude, we're heading off now." He reached down and took Alex's hand, pulling so the other man stood up as well, a slightly dazed smile gracing his lips.
"Good luck!" Alex called to him as Jack dragged him out of the room, an idea already forming in his mind.
____
Four hours later, Amy was locking up the hall, a small smile on her face. It had probably been her most successful night, three pairs of men clearly extremely interested in each other, two leaving with their arms attached, and one man leaving with another's number on their hand.
Yes, Amy was really proud of that night. But it seemed that she should extend each session to ten minutes. Nobody seemed to want to swap, and Andy had ended up simply sitting with her for an hour until he decided to just go to a bar and get laid. Sometimes Amy thought that would be a better way to go about life. But then she saw couples like Pete and Patrick, Kellin and Vic, and Jack and Alex, and she knew that she was doing was right.