Expelled and needing to transfer for his final year, Liam had known immediately where to go. It was the place that'd taken everything from him; that'd ruined him so absolutely it'd twisted his personality beyond recognition.
The place where he'd met...
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"So then, you'll never believe it, it turns out we got the wrong fucking car! After all that!"
ㅤLiam was in stitches over Ben's story, holding his face with a drunken, sloppy hand. Charlie was warmed by the sound, huffing with amusement as he inspected the bottom of his glass. Liam's barstool wobbled, and Charlie steadied it with his foot, letting his fiancé shake without the threat of falling.
ㅤ"Who even thinks to do that?" Liam exclaimed.
ㅤ"It was your boyfriend's idea!"
ㅤCharlie rolled his eyes. "I had nothing to do with this. I didn't even know you went to university until you'd already finished."
ㅤ"No, it was your idea originally. Remember? It was during our GCSEs. You suggested we did that to Max, and he ended up missing his Maths exam."
ㅤ"Deserved," Charlie said.
ㅤ"It was deserved, but you put the idea in my head!" Ben turned to Liam. "I'm serious. Charlie likes to pretend he was nonchalant in secondary school, but the same menace always remained within. He just didn't want to raise his own finger. His fucking Majesty."
ㅤ"I didn't think you'd actually do it. Do you know how much a car weighs?"
ㅤBen's smirk was wide. "I do know. I know twice."
ㅤ"And you sound so proud for it," Liam teased.
ㅤIt seemed they'd reached that part of the night where Ben inevitably pulled up his short sleeves to the shoulder so he could flex his muscles. It'd been some years since everyone had graduated university and begun settling down. Charlie thought he'd escaped Benjamin Walker after coming to London, but here Ben turned up, continuing his harassment campaign called friendship.
ㅤThe three of them were cosy at the counter in the pub near Liam and Charlie's apartment: a small, warm-coloured place at the base of a skinny terrace, only one room-thick. It was always the best place to relax.
ㅤ"Are you all finished with these?" the barmaid asked.
ㅤCharlie nudged the glasses toward her. "Thank you, love."
ㅤ"Can I get anything else for you?"
ㅤ"Another Moretti for my friend and I," Liam winked.
ㅤCharlie simply tapped the rim of his empty glass, and she smiled, knowing. "Coming right up."
ㅤ"Say, your alcohol tolerance remains like steel," Ben remarked, considering Charlie as if he were some kind of paranormal specimen.
ㅤCharlie shrugged, and Liam knowingly moved the conversation along to something else. Charlie let himself zone out a little, finding his reflection opposite. He watched Liam through the mirror, endeared by the pinkness of his tipsy cheeks. Ben's wildly gesturing hands kept ruining the image.
