Call me kitten (boyxboy love) ✓

13. Urgent matters (NSFW)

The party was located at the top floor of the building, and it was already packed when I got up there. I had never imagined that this many people worked here, but guessed it had to do with the fact that I never actually bothered to socialize with anybody at the least. The ceiling was filled with paper garlands and at the far end of the room was a small stage. Would there be performances too? That I didn't look forward to. Booths with tables and chairs were placed at the sides of the room and people were cramming the bar to get drinks. The sign said open bar, an ominous sign to me.

I looked around the room for Ash but couldn't find him anywhere, so I got to the bar and ordered a beer and headed to the only other person in the room I knew, Chris. He sat in one of the booths with I guy I vaguely recognized as a co-worker. They looked like they already had some drinks and Chris was gesturing enthusiastically as he talked to the guy. When I arrived at their table, he went dead silent and stared at me.

"Jack?" he said amazed, his jaw hanging open. "You... I didn't fucking recognize you. Had no idea you had this much ink, man! Didn't think you liked company parties?"

I sat down across from them with my beer and shrugged.

"Guess I wanted to experience it at least once," I said.

Chris grabbed my right arm without hesitation and examined the native-american patterns that winded up the skin. The other guy presented himself as Mike.

"Why haven't you shown these earlier?" Chris asked, almost sounding angry.

"Didn't feel like the right environment for showing them off, that's all," I said.

"But that dude who's friends with your sister shows his off every day."

Thump-thump.

My heart jolted at the mere mention of Ash, and I scanned the room again but he was still a no-show.

"Guess you gotta ask him why," I mumbled and squirmed a little in my seat.

Chris seemed to lose interest in my tattoos pretty quickly and I was left sitting there with my beer while he and Mike argued over Tinder girls. If Ash didn't show up soon this would be a repeat of that disastrous time I went out with Chris after work. I simply couldn't pretend to be interested in what Chris and Mike talked about, even if I tried. I looked out over the crowd again in pure agony, and there he was.

He was moving through the crowd with ease, saying hi to left and right and the women were practically gawking at him when he past them smiling confidently. It was like he owned the place and my insides started to buzz at the sight of him. He caught my eye and cracked up in a smile that should have been illegal and plopped down beside me in the booth. Chris looked up from his phone and it took him a while to process who Ash was.

"Damn, everybody seems to dress up tonight," Chris said with a grin. "Nice jacket, a step up from that apron, right?"

"If you want, I can pop downstairs and fetch it if it makes you feel and better?" Ash countered teasingly.

Chris' laugh had a glimmer of insecurity and I enjoyed seeing him lose that usual pose as cool dude. Mike entered the conversation and dismantled it a bit by asking about the brand of the jacket and soon everything was flowing with ease again. I sat calm and just listened to the others talking, feeling content and relaxed. Just having Ash beside me made able to do anything it felt like.

Chris had started to tap on his phone again and returned to the subject of Tinder girls and suddenly he held up his phone to us.

"I got a date with her tonight," he said proudly. "What do you say, would you fuck her?"