8 years later, 2 days after daniels 25th birthday, 6 years after they'd broken up.
daniel still thinks about johnny a lot. it's not that he hasn't moved on, he's had lots of girlfriends but they're- it's not the same.
sometimes he wonders if it would've worked out. if they could've survive long distance and other times, mostly when daniels drunk, he wonders if he should reach out.
"i'm sick of those men hitting on me. and that lady isn't even stopping them" lola complains pulling daniel out of his thoughts and he grimaces.
they'd started at the bar around the same time and had formed some weird type of friendship. his only real friendship.
"i'll take them if you clean these glasses" he says
"you're the one who offered" she grins taking the glasses and pointing him to a group halfway down the bar
"good luck" she calls out as he points the finger over his back
the groups small, 6 people maybe. 5 men, 1 lady. she must be his girlfriend daniel thinks looking between the man sitting beside her and the arm loosely slung around her waist.
"hey waiter!" one of the men clicks his fingers and daniel has to resist the urge to ignore him
"what can i get for you" daniel slides over to them, wiping his hands on his apron.
"we want the girl back." another guy laughs "she had a nice rack"
he makes a crude gesture that makes daniel cringe and he says "she's on her break" at the same time the girls boyfriend says "shut up tim"
daniel looks over and oh. oh fuck. "bobby?"
"yo! daniel?" bobby grins leaning up out of his chair and over the bar to shake daniels hand "i didn't know you worked here. wait till i tell johnny"
daniel nods. frozen in shock. he hadn't heard anyone else talk about johnny out loud in so long he thought maybe he'd imagined him.
"he's on holiday with his girlfriend right now. but that's what you do when you've got money i guess" bobby tilts his head to the side "what have you been up to?"
"work. a lot" daniel shrugs, fidgeting with his necklace
"god you haven't changed at all. finally grew a bit though i see"
"i've always been taller than you bobby" daniel sighs
bobby's about to reply when the guy who'd called daniel over says "catch up with him later bob. i want a drink"
the rest of the night daniel can't get the interaction out of his head. johnnys got a girlfriend now? after he told daniel he didn't even like girls? what kind of bullshit was that.
and of course he was rich. he was white "straight" and a guy. daniel should've known he would turn out like this.
"daniel" bobby comes over as they're packing up for the night "give me your number, i'll text you when johnny comes back and we'll meet up. bring your girlfriend too"
daniel frowns "girlfriend?"
"the girl who works with you. she said that you were her boyfriend. but maybe that was just to get my asshole friends away from her. whatever, we should get together anyways!"
daniel nods, writing down his number on a stray napkin "i'll see you round bobby"
"this is so crazy. who would've thought" bobby grins as he leaves, running to catch up with his friends.
the moment he's out of the door lola says "sorry. i just wanted them to stop"
"that's alright. i understand" he nods, fidgeting awkwardly with his necklace again
they finish cleaning up in silence and daniel wonders what johnnys like now. if he's changed or if he's still the same johnny from highschool.
what his girlfriends like. if she knew about them, what they were. daniel almost laughs, johnny would never tell anyone about that. let alone his girlfriend
for a moment he's embarrassed that he's still thinking about johnny all the time. wondering what could've been and johnnys out going on trips with his girlfriend.
and then an idea pops into his head. and it could work; if she says yes.
"hey lola." daniel says, turning around and leaning against the counter
"what's up?" she asks undoing her apron and hanging it up
"will you come with me when i meet up with bobby?"
"who?"
"that guy who just came up to me and said we should meet up with johnny."
"oh that guy. why?"
"why do you think?" he looks down at his feet
"oh. because johnnys got a girlfriend and you're embarrassed that you're still moping around and can't get over him so you want me to be your fake girlfriend so that he sees that you're living your life to the fullest and gets jealous?"
daniel had told her about johnny when they'd gotten drunk one night and she'd asked what his highschool experience was like.
"uh yeah i wasn't going to say it like that but i guess"
"you don't have to hide from me daniel. i know all your dirty secrets. you wanna make him jealous so that he'll get back with you and you guys can have- how did you describe it? mind blowing, earth shattering se-"
"shut up or i swear to god i will sleep with your ex-boyfriend" daniel gives her a look
she laughs "i still can't believe he offered to give you a blowjob in the bathroom 2 days after we broke up"
he laughs with her and they fall into comfortable silence.
"so? will you do it?"
"one night. i wanna meet this guy" she winks
"don't make me regret this lola" daniel groans as they walk out and he locks the door
"operation: get johnny to fall back in love with daniel again is a go" she grins, jumping on his back
"you're ex-boyfriends offer is looking better and better every minute"
"you would never" she mutters "you're saving yourself for your own ex-boyfriend"
daniel has half a mind to drop her.
YOU ARE READING
lawrusso
RomanceDaniel's just trying to fit in at his new school, he never asked for johnny and his friends to beat him up every other day, he never asked for any of it. the multiple detentions, which have him spending up to 2 hours alone with johnny, are definitel...
