Young Dreamers

Tuesday 4th March, 2014:

"Alice! C'mon we're gonna be late!"

"I'm coming!!!" My crazy, slightly whorish best friend came running down the stairs in her massive heels.

"Heels? Really? We're gonna be camping on a beach for Christ's sake, not staying in a hotel for your typical church wedding." She pulled a face at me.

"Screw you, I wanna look hot." I rolled my eyes and just shoved her out the door, glad to finally be setting off. Having already packed the back of my rickety old Mini Cooper full of our (mainly Alice's) luggage and camping equipment, we were able to climb in without a fuss. Well, without too much of a fuss, Alice complaining for the millionth time about my radio not having a CD player.

Once we were finally off, the calming sounds of London Grammar playing in the background, and the wind blowing through our hair from the open windows, Alice exclaimed the one sentence that, at that time, I had no idea I should be fearing:
"Can't wait for you to meet Oli and Sara!!"

I'm just gonna go back a few steps, and explain to you why I should have feared this sentence.

Tuesday 25th February, 2014:

"I need a date." She said in that typical, energetic tone of voice she always had. I rub my eyes groggily and glance at the alarm clock - it's 2am.

"Alice, if you have...genuinely just called me at 2am in the morning when you know I had to work late last night...to ask me to help you find a date for something, I'm going to kill you."

"I just got a call from Sara-"

"Who the hell is that?"

"For god's sake John! She's like my best friend from high school, you met her at my birthday..?" My memory jogged slightly but no one came to mind.

"Alice it's 2am. I can barely remember who you are." She sighed.

"She bought the pear cider that made you sick?"

"Ohhhh!!!"

"Yeah, well, anyways...." She rambled on about this woman getting married (which I also completely forgot about) and her recently turned ex piece-of-crap-boyfriend, had decided to dump her just before it, so she no longer had a date to go to sunny California with and watch her old best friend get hitched. So, who had to fill in? That's right, I did.

Now, at the time, I didn't think it was such a bad thing. To be honest I just wanted to go back to sleep. Even the next day, when she rung me again to further discuss plans for the travelling, I wasn't unhappy about going. The only real thought in my head was: "Trip to California! Woohoo!"

Even at the time when Alice uttered the sentence, I didn't think it was that big of a deal. How wrong I was.

Tuesday 4th March, 2014:

After the almost eleven-hour drive from Oregon to Santa Cruz in California, I still had no clue what was about to hit me, mainly because I was busting for the loo.
We climbed out of the car, heading up to the house that the couple had rented for a week to organise the wedding in, and a small, redheaded woman ran out and greeted Alice with mutual screams, hugs and kisses. She then turned to me and I had to bend down to hug her properly.

"You must be John!! Hi!! It's so nice to meet you!! I've heard so much about you!! Sorry, I'm so excited!!" Her and Alice started screaming and hugging again, and I was too busy watching them and laughing to hear the footsteps approaching me from behind.

"Hiya." His voice hit me and I turned round only to have my breath taken away. It felt almost like my reaction time had deadened into slow motion, his eyes seemed like vast pools that I couldn't pull away from.
I gathered myself together quickly and smiled.

"Hi! I'm John, nice to meet you, it's Oli right?" He smiled gently.

"Yeah that's me. You too mate." I nodded and we both laughed at the women, my heart pounding ridiculously hard in my chest.

The four of us had dinner together that night, after which I was even more shattered than I had been, desperately trying to keep my composure, not stare at Oli too much, and wonder how, against all my thoughts and feelings on the subject, I was so strongly attracted to a straight man that I'd only just met.

I was completely against gay guys liking straight men. It was like school pupils having a crush on their teacher. It was impractical and stupid. Yet somehow here, I found myself in that exact, foolish situation, and I had no idea how to get myself out of it.

That night I slept through until morning, and was woken up by a scream, I forced myself to scramble out of bed to see if everything was ok, and found Alice and Sara looking at her wedding dress that had just arrived.
"Bloody hell you two."

"Oh, hi-hello John!!" Sara joked, wiggling her eyebrows at my almost naked body. I just laughed at her and adjusted my twisted boxers on my hips, not particularly caring.

"Like what you see, ladies?"

"Have you ever considered modelling, John? You're the right height and weight for it."

"A gay guy being a model? Tad cliché don't you think, Sara?" The girls laughed and Oli appeared in the room, making me suddenly very self-conscious.

"Are you stealing my fiancée, John?" I forced out an awkward laugh.

"Right - as if he'd ever be interested! I think you'd better be more worried about yourself Oli! If John here turns on the charm...you'll be in love before you know what's hit ya!!" I pushed Alice away from me, embarrassed beyond repair. Her and Sara laughed together, Oli laughed uncomfortably, clearly not happy with the homosexual jokes, and obviously a bit surprised that I was gay. I pulled my eyes away from the inky artwork covering his upper body and went to find something to wear, now cursing this whole idea, and wondering if there was a way it could get any worse.