Finding Myself In The Real World

Chapter 9

*Above picture is John*

Xander knew he was so lucky to have friends like Lucy who came over to give his parents her condolences and homemade cookies, Brody came over and they rant their anger by playing COD all night, Elijah came over and they cried their tears over hot celebrity guys they could never have, and Christian and Zach came over and tugged him out of the house and brought him for free ice cream at the ice cream store they worked at. Xander knew he was lucky to have so many friends but he wanted something, someone that meant... more. It wasn't hard to find gay guys, it was just hard to tell if they were gay or not. Xander's been through more awkward moments than he wants to think about.

"Follow me please." The hostess smiled gently and led the group of 9 over to a large table/booth. Brody and Xander slid in on one side while Lucy met them in the middle from the other. Amelia sat on the other side of Brody and Katie sat on the right rights side of Lucy. Zach and Christian had taken seats across the table and Elijah was sitting in-between them already looking at the menu. Also, in-between the twins, Ryan sat beside Elijah. He was Elijah's new boyfriend and was from a different school but he was welcomed into the group like he was always there.

The group had decided to go out for dinner to celebrate the ending of grade 11 and the beginning of the final, senior year.

"Hi, my name is John and I'll be your waiter for the evening. Can I start you off with drinks?" Xander looked up and his breath was taken away. A tall, handsome, red headed waiter stood in front of the group holding an iPad. The waiter glanced at him with bright green eyes and smiled genuinely. Brody smirked looking down and looked up again with a solid, blank face.

"I believe we would like 5 Coors Light beers and 2 white wines and 2 Hard Ice Lemonade Smirnoff vodkas?" Brody said this in a firm, mature manner and the waiter looked taken aback. John coughed awkwardly into his sleeve and sputtered out a, "May I see your IDs?" The group all rummaged in their bags and brought out their fake IDs. John agonizingly slow, scanned each one for any mistakes and huffing he stood back and smiled.

"I'll be right back with your drinks." The group burst out laughing as soon as he was gone.

"I can't believe he fell for it?"

"Brody, you are a good man."

"Guys, be quiet. He could hear you know!"

Everyone quieted down and started to review the menu, by the time he came back a bit flustered, they were all ready to order. He set the wines in front of Ryan and Katie, the vodkas in front of Zach and Amelia, and the beers in front of the rest of them. He stood behind Xander while taking their orders and Xander could feel his face flushing. John stood quite close behind him and he could feel the warmth against his neck. He shifted in his seat.

"Xander? Xander?" Brody was calling him and he sat up straight, coughing.

"I'll have the Chicken Alfredo with hot sauce." He said quickly, his face burning. John smiled down at him and typed it into his iPad.

Two hours later, the group was finished and ready to go. When they got outside, Xander realized he left his phone on the table by the salt.

"I'll be right back." He apologized before walking back into the restaurant. John was standing there clearing up their plates and he smiled.

"Is this yours?" He held up Xander's phone and Xander nodded quickly.

"Thank you so much. I thought I had totally lost it."

"No problem, anytime," John responded and turned around again.

"How old are you?" Xander found himself asking, punching himself in the face mentally for asking something so stupid.