Push Me, Pull Me

Part One: Chapter Seven

Friday nights were the only times Justin ever wished he could get drunk. Alcohol wasn't something he thought about much, but the few gay clubs that were open to him always seemed like they would be so much more fun if he could get even just a little tipsy. But they banded wrists when they checked ID at the door, under and over twenty-one.

He didn't want to get drunk because it was unpleasant. It was the opposite: he loved it here. It was the only place outside of Pride events that he could be open, where he didn't have to censor himself or his actions. He could flirt, he could dance, he didn't have to put up pretenses, and best of all, "straight" wasn't the go-to assumption, what was normal. He was normal here.

It was just, the nights when he was hung up about other things would be better if he could let himself a little more loose. Ah, well. He was almost twenty. After that, just one more year. At least this way anyone he went with always had a designated driver so nobody could do anything stupid.

Justin hadn't seen Sergio, yet, but if he said he'd be there at 7:00, he was there at 7:00. Justin had only just walked in, so he had time to track him down.

Even though he couldn't drink, Justin was up at the bar anyway, snacking on fried mushrooms as his eyes darted around the club. Sergio was right, the guys had gotten hotter since they were last there together in January. An especially attractive brunette on the other side of the club kept catching eyes with him. Maybe he could finally get rid of Lawrence.

Yeah, but if he's not Brett, who cares?

Justin pulled his eyes away and glanced toward the other side of the bar. They were getting the stage ready for the drag show. It started at 10:00, so there was still plenty of time to hang around and make his way over.

He took a sip of his water and nearly spit it out when a heavy hand whacked him between the shoulder blades. When he looked to his right, Sergio was leaning back against the bar, one hand on his forearm, loose and familiar. He grinned.

"Hey, bro! I'm glad you could come out tonight. We've missed you."

We probably meant him and Rocky. Maybe some of the drag queens.

"Yeah," Justin grinned. "Just, you know, school's eaten my life. I'm glad I could get away for a while."

Sergio hummed in agreement and nodded. Justin's eyes darted over him, taking him in, because it had been so long and Justin had missed him. He was dressed impeccably, like always. The clean lines of his perfectly tailored jeans, crisp folds of a white shirt that fell just right, unbuttoned at the collar, just showing the top of the chest piece inked into his tawny brown skin. His hair was also perfect, as always, picked and fluffed into an Afro. When Justin had originally asked how Sergio got his hair to do that - after months of friendship, which Justin hoped made the question acceptable - Sergio had laughed and said, "Genes, bro! I'm only half Cuban. I'm a sexy-ass Afro-Latino. You wouldn't know because you're terrified of parents."

He was nothing like Justin. Justin threw on clean jeans and a t-shirt every morning and hoped he looked okay. Sergio's dress was always flawless.

Justin's gaze wandered back to the man he'd been watching. Sergio's eyes followed and he turned to Justin with a half-smile. "You got your eyes on someone tonight?" he asked, nodding his head in the man's direction.

"The brunette guy with the big shoulders and they shy smile?" Justin affirmed. "Hell yes."

Sergio watched the other man critically for a moment before humming and nodding in approval. "You always did have really good taste," he said. "I mean, hey." He gestured at himself, then leaned back against the bar again, his arm pressed up against Justin's. "I take it that means you aren't seeing anyone right now?"