All characters are 18 or older.
The sun beat down Alex as he sprawled out on the deck chair. After weeks of rain, in what seemed like perfect timing, the grey and typically British weather made way for blue skies and hot sun overnight. He'd been planning for weeks for it to be a house party, but the change in weather had meant he could also extend the festivities outside
He had spent the morning arranging chairs and tables on the patio, laying out plates and plastic cutlery, and had just finished laboriously setting up the gazebo. He shifted up from his slump in the deck hair he sunglasses to get a good look, admiring how the garden looked thanks to his arrangements.
"And she said I'd struggle to put it up by myself," he thought to himself with a hint of smugness.
His mother's birthday was never normally such a high-effort endeavour, not least because she wasn't fond of being the centre of attention, but given it was her 40th and the difficult year she'd been through -- he felt good knowing he'd poured maximum effort into it. After a turbulent year it was the perfect excuse for her to celebrate the occasion with friends.
Ruminating in the sun, Alex cast his mind to the recent past. He had silently expected the divorce to come one day or another for years before it did, but when the process and litigation of it all came about it had taken over her life for what felt like forever. Being both an only child and a mother's boy, Alex had always hated seeing her down for such a long time. More than anything, he hated that she was mostly anxious about how the whole ordeal affected him. A pang of guilt ran through his mind just thinking about it. Alex had never been overly fond of his father in the first place, so the divorce only bothered him because it bothered his mother so much. She had always had a tendency to worry, especially about him. All in all -- it was just the excuse he needed to get his friends and family together for some much needed drinks.
"Honey -- there's a drink here for you!" he heard her call out from inside the kitchen.
"Sounds good!" he called back, before groaning as he pulled himself up from the comfort of the deckchair.
Inside the kitchen his mum was busying herself with arranging the drinks, muttering to herself and she carefully allocated ice, fruit and measures of alcohol to each glass. She had an array of spirits, juices and tonics arranged on the table -- and had been carefully preparing a variety of cocktails whilst Alex had busied himself in the garden.
"Here's yours darling," she said, hastily handing him an orange-tinted, icy drink "I thought cocktails might be nice -- I know you and the boys will have the beer but something sweet on a nice day like this will be lovely."
Alex sipped his drink and surveyed her makeshift mixology station "Not bad mum - it's just Andrew and Molly coming today by the way. The others are all in Greece at the moment."
Her face lit up "Oh Molly is such a nice girl! I'm so glad things with her and Andrew are going well."
He nodded -- slightly vacant as he sipped his drink and watched her depositing ice cubes into a new round of glasses. It wasn't the first time, but he couldn't stop himself from noticing just how beautiful she was for a woman turning 40 years old. She had shoulder-length blonde hair, stood at just 5 feet tall and despite clearly gaining a modicum of weight over the years, had a gorgeous hourglass figure. Her flowery and slightly translucent summer dress certainly wasn't helping matters. He blinked as he realised these invasive thoughts going through his head were not the kind of things a son should be thinking of his own mother.
"Why don't you get yourself a nice girl like Molly?" she asked without taking her eyes from the drink she was carefully measuring out.
"You're a very good-looking young man you know."
"Mum please," whined Alex, cringing at her suggestion "Don't embarrass me when everyone's arrived at least."
"What did I say wrong?!" she said innocently "Any girl would be very lucky for a sweet boy like you!"
"I know, I know." groaned Alex slumping against the wall as he sipped his drink.
"It's just... awkward when your mum says this stuff." Looking to put an end to her nagging, he teased
"And besides, it's your birthday and you're the one with the new love interest!"
She blushed visibly and stuttered a little as she retorted "Oh please Alex. He's not a love interest."
He smirked a little -- earlier in the month she had confided in him that she had met someone. She was terribly embarrassed to confess to him, given the divorce had only been finalised a year or so previously -- but Alex had been genuinely happy to hear it. For the whole year, he'd been worried and anxious about how the divorce was affecting her emotionally -- and his ambivalence towards his father made the prospect of his mother having someone new quite welcome. According to her they had met at a work party and hit it off, but she'd been too worried about her son and how he'd react to pursue it further until now. He'd told her that he was sincerely happy that she'd met someone and proposed the party as a way for them both to meet everyone. Since mentioning it they had hardly discussed it at all, mostly due to the slight awkwardness of it all - but as long he's a decent guy, he wasn't bothered in the slightest, Alex thought to himself.
"Stop being a pest - could you go and get the barbecue started?" she said, trying not to acknowledge he had won this particular bout of teasing.
A few hours passed and the guests began trickling in. Alex had met his mother's work friends a few times before, either in passing at the local pub or when he had gone to meet her on a lunch break. Truthfully, he had found them all to be quite dull in their middle age. Generically middle-class, English and lacking interest in much beyond dry small talk about sports and politics. Alex was relieved when Andrew and Molly finally made an appearance.
The party was well underway now, and the effects of his several drinks were just starting to take its toll. The sounds of laughing and conversation emanated from outside where Alex's mum and a dozen of her various friends, along with the soft hum of music. Alex was sitting with his two friends Andrew and Molly -- joking about their plans for the next term of university. Andrew had been Alex's friend since primary school: slightly shorter than him with similarly dark hair. They'd bonded early with countless late night Halo sessions, and Andrew had grown to fit the computer nerd prototype pretty neatly. He'd been with Molly for nearly a year now -- and despite his protestation at his mother's earlier nagging, Alex was secretly a little jealous. She was a cute, brunette, freckled-faced Irish girl -- and curvy in just the exact way Alex liked.
Andrew checked his phone and prodded Molly "We have to head off -- I told my parents we'd be having dinner with them tonight."
Molly slumped onto his shoulder "Do we have to? I love Alex's mum and we've barely been here for 5 minutes."
"Come on man -- don't leave me here with all these old folks. I'm bad enough at socialising as it is." Alex chimed in.
Andrew sighed and stood up "Sorry man -- I'll be online later if you're up for some games?"
"Fine, go be a nerd at your parents' house," Alex said, walking to door begrudgingly with them both. "But next time don't be so boring, you'll have plenty of time to do that at Uni"
He hugged Molly goodbye and waved them off as Andrew climbed into his newly bought but desperately second-hand Volkswagen. Though, at least he actually had a car Alex quickly reminded himself.
As the car pulled off a drove away, a shiny black Mercedes slowly pulled into the driveway. It was quite new, and freshly washed with chrome wheels and dark tinted windows. The thumping sub-bass coming from inside the car's sound=system blared loudly and abruptly stopped with the ignition.
"Who on earth at mum's work was driving a car like this?" Alex thought as he hovered in the doorway.
A tall, cleanly shaven black man opened the door and climbed out - put on a pair of sunglasses and smiled happily at Alex.
"This is Catherine's party, right?" he said, closing the car door behind him.
"Sure is, and you are....?"
Alex could immediately tell he was an incredibly handsome man. His buttoned-up white shirt barely disguised his muscular frame, and his dreaded hair was neatly tied back - showing off his sharply chiselled jaw and broad shoulders.
"I'm Joseph!" he said ignoring Alex outstretched hand and wholeheartedly embracing him without warning.
"You must be Alex, your mum's told me all about you man - great to finally meet you!"
Somewhat taken aback and suddenly feeling a twinge of inexplicable nervousness, Alex stuttered back "Y-yeah... good to meet you too."
Alex was far from short, stranding at 6ft tall - but immediately felt dwarfed by Joseph's imposing frame. He must have stood at at least 6.5ft, and Alex's slightly scrawny build felt suddenly inadequate. Still momentarily squeezed to his chest in the bear hug, the sweet smell of his cologne was inescapable, and in tandem with his newfound anxiety made Alex feel dizzy and slightly delirious. Mum's strong cocktails certainly weren't helping either, Alex thought to himself.
"How's the party going so far?" he exclaimed, finally releasing Alex from his clutches.
"Perfect day for it too!"
Before Alex could answer, he heard his mother's voice from the hallway "Joseph, finally! Only an hour late this time."
Her heels clacking across the hardwood floor she quickly sidled up to him and embraced him. Alex couldn't help but immediately notice the contrast in size between the two of them. She was hardly tall to begin with, and her comparatively petite frame looked tiny against his. Joseph instinctively leant down, and the two shared an impromptu kiss - lasting just long enough for the silence to become stingingly awkward.
"Um, sorry darling -- this is Joseph, the man I've told you about" she said, cheeks brightening, visibly flustered
