Meant to Be

Chapter 3 - The Dinner Party

Hey it's Michael! If you and your roommates aren't busy tonight, how about you come over to my place for dinner? Let's say 7:00?

"Ash, Michael just asked us all to dinner tonight!" he says to Ash in the living room

"AHHH" they both yell in unison.

"Will you guys keep it down!" Phoebe yells from the other room "I don't want to get another noise complaint from Mrs. Johnson"

"Sorry babe" Ash yells back, turning to Angelo once again. "This is exciting! Do you know what you are going to wear? You have to dress to impress!" Ashlyn seemed more excited than Angelo was.

"I don't know Ash, besides we still don't know if he's really into me. We don't even know if he's into guys" he responds.

"Only one way to find out! I've just never seen you this happy" she says, returning to her room. She can be heard telling Phoebe the news.

"Babe clear your schedule, we are going to a dinner party!". Ashlyn is yelling at this point.

"My schedule? You mean my plans to eat an entire bag of Tostitos chips and salsa and binge watch the entire catalog of Disney plus movies?" Phoebe ponders for a moment. "Ya I guess so, I can always do that tomorrow"

Angelo pours himself a cup of coffee from the freshly brewed pot and responds to the text, and returns to his room to get ready

Sounds good! We will be there :)

The time is 6:48 PM. Angelo is impatiently waiting in the living room for his untimely roommates.

"Hurry up guys! We are gonna be late!" he calls down the hall. He is dressed in his navy blue-button up shirt, khaki chino pants with a brown leather belt and matching brown loafers.

"Oh shut up!" Phoebe calls back "You know it takes a lot of work to look as good as I do!"

The couple enter the living area in their attire. Phoebe is dressed in a black pant suit with gold hoop earrings and her hair braided into neat braids that draped down her shoulder. Ashlyn is wearing a white blouse with a black pencil skirt and black high heels.

"Well aren't you two just a couple of hot lesbians?" Angelo jokes.

The three make the long treacherous journey next door to the sparkly apartment building, where a kind doorman holds the door for them. They enter the elevator and head for the sixth floor.

"607, 607, 607" Angelo mutters to himself while scanning the room numbers. He is sweating up a storm.

Do I look good enough? What will he think? What will he be wearing? Oh god what if he has ugly clothes?. His mind races, trying to comprehend the events about to unfold.\

At long last they reach the door and gently knock. They are greeted by none other than Michael himself.

"Hey guys!" he says excitedly "Come on in!" gesturing into the apartment. Upon first glance, the apartment is decorated with a modern decor theme, with minimalistic approaches. Either that or he just hadn't finished unpacking everything.

"I'm Michael, very nice to meet you both" he says shaking both Phoebe and Ashlyn's hands. The two both make eyes at Angelo which he ignores.

"Here we brought this for you" they say, handing him a bottle of a red wine that was too hard to pronounce and was way out of Angelo's price range.

"Oh this is perfect!" Michael says, "My favorite!"

"Something smells really good!" Angelo pipes up.

"Why thank you." he says with his smile. "I made a Giordano family classic. Eggplant parmesan. It's my mother's recipe."

He's hot and he can cook!!, Angelo thinks to himself. He was ready to make out with his gorgeous face already.

"Oh there's someone else I'd like you guys to meet" Michael says

Oh maybe he has a dog. I can rock with a dog. I'm a pet person... sort of, Angelo thinks

"Babe! They're here!" he calls down the hallway.

Babe? Babe!

Moments later another figure enters. A man of shorter stature, blonde hair and scrawny build, goes up to Michael and wraps his arm around him.

"This is my boyfriend Derek" Michael says to the group

BOYFRIEND?!?! DEREK?!?!?!?

Angelo looks over at Ashlyn and Phoebe, who's expressions have changed greatly from pure excitement to confusion.

Derek walks over to introduce himself to Phoebe and Ashlyn first, then makes his way to Angelo, who's toes are curled trying to contain his rage.

"Hi there, it's very nice to meet one of Angelo's childhood friends" Derek says outstretching his hand. Angelo reluctantly shakes it. 

The group sits down at the long dining room table which Angelo now notices is set for five people. The food is served and everyone seems to be enjoying their meal, and engaging in small talk.

"Ya me and Phoebe here met on a pure accident I guess" Ash says "I spilled my entire latte on her outfit at this little coffee shop on Huntington."

"I really liked that shirt you know" Phoebe jokes which gives everyone a laugh.

"Hey I know that place. Me and Angelo went there a couple weeks ago" Michael says. This evidently bothered Derek to the point where he was taking a large gulp of the red wine from his glass. Suddenly, he grabs Michaels hand tightly, and says

"Well Michael and I met at a gay bar in New York. He offered to buy me a drink and it only took off from there. It was like love at first sight" He leaned to Michael for a slight peck.

I hate Michael. I hate Derek. I hate all of this, Angelo thought to himself. How could Michael act like this? Grab coffee at his favorite place with me, share thoughts and messages over text, all the while Derek is the one he goes home too. That should be me. I hate Der-

CRASHHH

Angelo flinches in pain. Without realizing he had squeezed his wine glass a bit too hard causing the glass to shatter in his hand.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" asks Michael concerningly.

"I -I" Angelo starts. Tears are beginning to well up in his eyes.

"Here let me grab you a banda-" Michael says but Angelo cuts him off

"No, no I'm fine. I think I'm just gonna go" Angelo says grabbing his coat and heading towards the door with a napkin wrapped around his bleeding hand.

"Wait Angelo don't leave" Michael tries. But Angelo has already left the apartment, fleeing into the elevator, out the front doors, and towards his building. He made it halfway before bumping into a person walking in the other direction. Angelo picks his tearful eyes off the ground only to be met with the last person he wanted to see right now. 

"Angelo what happened?" Rob asks.