Eat Fresh

Nighttime

It was a cold night, cold enough you could see your breath in the air. The streets outside the theatre were still, not a single car going by. Lights wrapped around the trees that lined the road and flower pots sat in between the evenly spaced out trees. It stayed that way until Elias emerged from the theatre. His cheeks became so red it warmed his face. Elias couldn't believe Diego had seen him, more like seen through him. Elias kept thinking about Diego though, as he walked down the lit-up street. He didn't want to, he wanted to walk to his car and never stop driving. Go somewhere no one knew him, or his family. That would never happen though, just like how Diego and him would never happen. It was something he could dream of, something that gave him a sense of hope for his future. But eventually, Elias's mind would always go back to Diego and his deep, entrancing green eyes. Diego's eyes were something Elias wished he could look into forever, something he wished would look at him the same way he looked at them. 

Elias continued walking down the street, empty besides the occasional person. He couldn't think, but couldn't stop thinking. Elias couldn't walk forever, but he also couldn't go home. If his dad was there he'd ask why Elias was back so early. He didn't want to suffer through his dad's questioning. Almost on cue, Elias walked into a nearby bar named, "Rusty's," and grabbed a seat. Elias was almost old enough to order something alcoholic but wasn't quite. However, he was starved so he settled and ordered some fries and water. The bar was almost empty, besides Elias and a couple of different groups of people. One group stuck out to Elias in particular, consisting of a couple of guys, a couple of girls, all of them looked like they were having the night of their lives in the empty bar. One would bend over backward dying of laughter, and that would trigger the rest of them to lose their breath laughing too. 

Elias must've been staring at the group longer than he thought because the next thing he knew two of them walked over to his table, glasses of beer in hand. 

"You don't seem to be having a good night." One of the two girls said, the other passed a cup of beer over to Elias. 

"It's been a tough one that's for sure," Elias said, accepting the beer and nodding a thank you. The two girls didn't leave though, just waved over the rest of the group. They all crowded around Elias's table, scraping chairs across the floor to sit in. 

"Not safe to be sad and alone," One of the guys said, the rest nodding in agreement. Elias chugged a good portion of the drink, his body beginning to relax. 

"Anything we can help with? We're all excellent advice-givers." Someone else chimed in, all of them seeming happily drunk. Elias played with his napkin, he wanted to be alone. But instead of telling the people to go away, he took another swig of beer.

"Nothing that's too terrible, just-" Elias took a big breath, he hadn't really said it out loud. Just once, when Olivia was- was doing what Olivia did. "I like this person- that I can't like. For a lot of reasons." The group all seemed to inhale at the same time, nodding their heads at each other,

"Relationship issues,"

"They're awful,"

"Why can't you like them?" 

They all seemed to talk at once, drinking, and questioning Elias. 

"He's with someone else, someone who hates me," Elias replied, seeming to answer all of the different questions the group posed. They all nodded again. "We work together," Elias continued, drawing winces and "ooh's" out of the group. "My family would also never let me see him, not that I think he'd ever like me back." Elias finished, circling the top of his empty cup with his finger. His mind began to slow, the thoughts of Diego seemed to stop coming as fast.

"Are they homophobic?"

"Dating a coworker is never a good idea trust me."

"Why wouldn't he like you back?"