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Nate
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"Russ." I bounded over the second Jude left. "Russ, Russ, Russss.... He's not... his ring is gone. I think he's single." Russell glanced at me and his eyes softened as he shook his head.
"Nate." He sighed. "Come on man. Bad idea." I shook my head.
"I know, like, I really know. Just real quick, remind me why? I don't think I can stop myself." Russell sighed and smiled at me. He folded his arms.
"Number one, he is about to be your boss. Number two, even if he is single, he just came out of something with someone he at some point wanted to MARRY, he's not in the right headspace for you. Number three, he is way too old for you." I opened my mouth and Russell held up his hand to stop me. "Number four, because I can already see you arguing with number three, even if the age gap is ok he's at a very different stage of life. Number five, I know you don't get it but you need a break from boys anyway. Number six, because it bears repeating, he's your new boss." I sighed.
"Ok, good. That's good." I nodded. "Repeat that before he comes in everyday, ok?" Russell sighed.
"Is it going to make ANY difference?" I shrugged. Well. Maybe not.
"I'll hop on Grindr." I suggested. "Like ASAP. Find a daddy type and get it out of my system. Hopefully before next week." Russell plugged his ears.
"Gross." He said. "Do whatever you need to do. But fuck's sake don't tell me about it."
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Friday
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Nate
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Russell and I were hanging out with Shona at Havana Bar, waiting for some other mates to join us and see where the night went. We made fast friends with some strangers next to us, your classic group of gay men and one maybe straight who knows woman, because they had clearly been drinking for most of the afternoon and started teasing me about my hair from the second I stepped outside.
"Is it real?" The girl said.
"Yes!" I swatted her away.
"Can I touch it?" One of her friends said, and I suddenly didn't feel annoyed in the slightest because... he had dimples and freckles and a really warm smile.
"Yeah, go on." I sat next to him and let him do whatever he wanted to my head and we talked about who we were and all the stuff you talk about with strangers. The girl was joking about how she literally could not go out to a bar and have a conversation with straight people, how everyone she ever met was queer and gestured at me.
"Like, how did I end up sitting next to you?" She said. "Is Wellington like, gayer than anywhere else or are we just magnetically attracted to each other?"
"I guess like attracts like." I said. "Ow." I muttered as the guy playing with my hair pulled too hard. He laughed.
"Oops." He said. "I am drunk and not a professional. My apologies." I shrugged.
"Well how did YOU end up here?" The girl asked Russell with a laugh. "You're as straight, white and male as they come." Russell grunted and stood up.
"Need a drink Nate? Sho?" We nodded and glanced at each other as he stormed off. Talk about hitting a nerve. The girl giggled.
"What did I say?" She asked. Shona coughed.
"Ignore him." She said. "He just needs another drink." She rolled her eyes at me and I grinned.
"Yeah, and someone to pull that stick out of his ass." Shona smiled at me.
"Give me time." She said. I shrugged. Good luck, Sho.
"Are you done with my hair yet?" I changed the subject and turned to the guy beside me. "This is starting to go from cute to torture." He laughed and nudged my shoulder.
"I'm making you beautiful." He said. I rolled my eyes.
"I'm already beautiful." He grinned.
"You're alright." He said. I felt my chest grow tight as I smiled at him. I hadn't met a boy in a bar.... Well... ever.
"Nate." I introduced myself. "Russell is the macho man who just stormed out and this is Shona, his girlfriend."
"Rita." The crazy girl introduced herself. "Ethan and Logan." She gestured to the two guys who were hanging off each other. "George." The guy playing with my hair grinned at me.
"Rita and I do plays together." He said. He opened his mouth to say more but Russell returned with wine for Shona and beer for him and I, and he sat next to Shona with a sigh. I nudged his knee.
"We could always go to JJ's." I mumbled to him. "Crowd's more your scene there." He shook his head with a grunt and sipped on the beer. He caught my eyes and smiled at my concern for him.
"We'll see." He mumbled. "Maybe more my crowd but definitely less your crowd and the whole point of tonight was helping you get over Jude so..." I laughed and looked at George with a grin. Russell shrugged. "He's ok." He said dubiously. I sighed. He would literally never approve of anyone would he?
-----
Although it turned out it didn't matter what Russell thought of George. About half an hour later I was introduced to Richard, George's friend, and it was the weirdest introduction I'd ever had. I almost felt like I was being presented to Richard for inspection, the way George held my shoulders back and gestured almost proudly at me. My neck pricked as Richard looked me over- and even though I could see he liked what he saw, I didn't like the interaction at all. I felt... like a piece of meat to be quite honest. I looked around for Russell to help me out of the weirdness but somehow we were on the other side of the bar, just us three. My heart started to beat faster. This was so shady. George and Richard were looking at each other, almost right through me.
"Hey." Richard said warmly, and squeezed my hand with a smile. George somehow slipped away and I felt my whole body grow stiff as I was left alone with some guy I'd just met who was looking me up and down like he was going to take great pleasure in like... literally eating me...
"Hi." I let my hand fall to my side and moved fractionally, trying to get back to the others. Richard smiled at me and reached for my arm.
"What are you drinking?" He laughed as I glanced at my hand, still clasping a beer, and he rolled his eyes at himself. "Ha ha, sorry." He sat down and leaned on his arm as he looked at me. "Well, I'll get you the next one then. Uh.... how do you know George?"
"I don't." I somewhat reluctantly sat opposite him. "Just met now." I hesitated. And I thought he was into me, I didn't say, but now he's bolted and left me with you. "How do YOU know George?" Richard smirked.
"He owes me a favour." He said. "A lot of favours actually. I think he has this idea I'll let him off the hook if he keeps introducing me to hot guys. It's his way of apologising. Sorry, I can see you're a bit weirded out." I blushed.
"Oh." I didn't know what to say to that. "Uh. Well, thanks?" Richard rolled his eyes.
"---Thaaanks---." He mocked me. "Like you don't know. Anyway are you single?" He looked me over. I shrunk into myself a little self consciously. I was wearing my 'I want to get fucked' outfit, which consisted of a t-shirt that juuuust showed my bellybutton piercing if I stretched out and jeans that cupped my ass delightfully. I glanced at Richard. Well, he was hot. That tall, blonde, shaved sides of the head Scandi thing. I shrugged.
"Constantly." I said. "You too, if you're getting George to hunt down men for you." He choked on his drink.
"Yikes." He said. "That's not..." He looked over to our party and sighed. "Well, yeah. That kind of is what he was doing." He grinned at me. "I live nearby." He said. I could feel my cheeks heating up. No. No, you make so many bad decisions Nate. This is like the ultimate in bad decisions. You've been... like, what.... Scoped? For a real shady guy? You really want to go to his huh? And what? Get fucked? Well, yeah. Get fucked. Which was actually why I was out tonight anyway. I glanced at Russell and he caught my eye and shook his head. Ugh. I wish he'd let me make my own decisions. Richard saw where I was looking and squeezed my hand where it was lying on the table.
"Blondie over there doesn't like me." He muttered.
"Blondie over there doesn't get a say." I smiled suddenly. Fuck you, Russel. I'm an adult. This guy wants me. I looked back to Richard and put on my bedroom eyes and he grinned.
"Oooh." He said. "So someone has decided they're not freaked out after all." He looked at my beer and raised his eyebrows. "Drink up, Nate." I obeyed him, sculling the dregs and standing up.
"Ok." I said. "How far? I'm freezing." Richard looked me over.
"Should have worn actual clothes then." He said. "Come on."
"Wait-" I paused and glanced at Russell and Shona, who were both glaring at me. "I'll just say goodbye." Richard laughed.
"Not goodbye." He grinned. "I'll have you back soon."
"Either way." I went to say something to the two of them before Richard had a chance to escort me out of the bar.
Russel sighed at me and handed me his jacket.
"Look." He said. "I'm not going to police you but I will say I think going home with some guy you met one minute ago who won't even offer you his jacket when you're shivering is a bad idea." I took the jacket gratefully.
"Ok, obviously not marriage material." I admitted. "But he's hot." Russell rolled his eyes.
