"ALEXEI!!! GIVE IT TO ME! FUCKING DIPSHIT!!" i was currently climbing on alexei, my very good friend's, back. in his hands that were conveniently stretched out in front of him, was my unlocked phone. he was reading through my messages to my boyfriend and there had been talk about posting something to twitter. again my small physique was my downfall as there was no way my short ass arms would reach it. i wasn't actually mad, me and alexei had this kind of relationship of pissing each other off. we both thought it was hilarious as long as it was ourselves torturing the other. alexei laughed:
"come on ethan, calm down. you really wanna make this first impression on alex?" Joshua, another friend of mine, was bringing his boyfriend, alex, to the shared home of us three. or maybe four. my boyfriend, jeff (as mentioned earlier) was practicly living here now. he was paying part of the rent and renting out his old place to someone else. we could have easily moved into his place but this was my home. and these stupid gays were my family. kelsey, alexeis girlfriend, stayed over a lot too but i wouldn't say she was a safe bet quite yet.
Jeff was my dream guy. i love him. during summer (winter for us britts) he'd work as a life guard in australia. i'd come with him and then we'd spend the rest of the year in london living here. he was sweet and caring and not at all ashamed of us. he wouldn't be scared of kissing in public or drunken yer dad kind of men coming up to us. he'd always defend me. he was a surfer dude, and a little stupid, i'll admit that. but i don't mind dating a cliché. once you get to know him he's so much more than that. he's not so hard to look at either. he was quite skinny but still RIPPED. his muscles were so defined i could count more than i even knew existed. he had blue eyes, a perfect smile and long, blonde curls. which, to no one's surprise, had earned him pet names such as 'blondie', 'goldie locks' and 'fabio'. how i, a scrawny, short, emo boy with long, ratty, coloured hair landed someone like him will go down as one of history's biggest mysteries. currently, jeff was sat on the sofa enjoying the chips and dips joshua had served up.
"guys PLEASE calm down? alex will literally think you're crazy" Joshua had walked into the room, placing another bowl of mysterious dip on the table in front of Jeff, who was more than happy to taste it.
"well i would IF I COULD HAVE MY FUCKING PHONE BACK?" i was not using my indoor voice, as usual, and i could feel both jeff and joshua shiooting me that concerned "calm down" death-stare.
"hmm, sure i'm just feeling like sharing right now. i have some really important thoughts to tell the people about." i watched on in horror, still on alexei's back (although, now, in a more hopeless, relaxed position), as he opened the twitter app. but instead of writing a new tweet, he opened my dms. more specificly, a conversation i'd had with a youtuber about creating an outro song for them.
"DON'T!! ACTUALLY STOP-" at that moment the doorbell rang and joshua shot us a pleading look as he ran to get it. in came alex, shorter than average, but still taller than me. he gave joshua a quick kiss before awkwardly staring at me and alexei. we awkwardly stared back before alexei kept typing his message and we were in battle mode again. i kept screaming and alexei kept laughing and trying to type while also keeping the phone away from me. eventually i managed to knock it out of his hand and by the time i had made sure it wasn't cracked and no messages had been sent everyone was sitting comfortably in front of me. joshua, holding alex's hand, alexei on the recliner with his arm around his girlfriend, and jeff, leaned back giggling at my, obviously, flustered demeanor.
"yeah of course, now i'm the bad guy" i grumpily mumbled and sat down next to jeff. he looked at me, smiled, and hugged me, calming me down. the others had already begun small talking, joshua proudly presenting the rosé he's picked out. probably resiting exactly what the man in the alchohole store had told him. i cuddled up to jeff and couldn't care less, alex on the other hand, looked at joshua with big, puppy eyes. as if he was saying the most beautiful, important words he'd ever hear. good sign. alexei almost interrupted joshua, clearly bored at the subject:
"i'm alexei, this is kelsey, i'm sure you've heard a lot about us already. joshua sure hasn't shut up about you, he really likes you you know." he laughed a bit and alex awkwardly chuckled, taking a sip of his wine.
"well i guess there's no point in introducing myself then." he looked over to me and jeff, after jeff introduced himself i reached out for alex's hand.
"i'm ethan. i'm not usually this much of an ass these shitheads just really know how to bring it out of me." i shot a teasing grin over to alexei who grabbed his chest and acted offended.
"SHITHEADS?? i thought you loved me?" he sniffled and kelsey laughed. alex laughed too. he still seemed quite uncomfortable though. i don't blame him, being thrown into the hot mess that was our gang must be quite the traumatising experience.
joshua quickly changed the subject to something more appropriate and after a while we all left to make the reservation we had at some fancy restaurant he'd picked. joshua was the most mature of us all and probably the only reason we were still alive and healthy. he'd always be the one we'd go to when we needed advice. i couldn't help thinking this was quite a misrepresentation of our gang. if he really wanted alex to get to know us, none the less like us, he should've invited him to one of our movie nights, eating take out and getting tipsy. me probably falling asleep before 10, alexei and jeff making stupid jokes until kelsey gets drunk enough to start deeptalking with all of us, and joshua just being himself and relaxed. that's us. not this controlled small talk at a fancy place with fancy clothes (at least joshua, kelsey and alexei) and expensive food.
the night moved on and i guess it wasn't that bad. we got fairly tipsy and after a while even alex opened up. he was really chill. on the subway home i (unsurprisingly) fell asleep on jeff, who was having a heated discussion with alex and kelsey about why we can't trust news papers people leave on the subway. alexei and joshua looking on like two proud fathers. admitedly the conversation seemed pretty entertaining and i wish i'd heard more of it.
when we came home we stayed up a bit, eating candy, smoking, drinking and joking around. alexei and kelsey were the first to go to bed, giggling enough to make it perfectly obvious why. me, jeff, alex and joshua stayed up a bit until jeff noticed how sleepy i was and dragged me into the bathroom to brush our teeth.
looking at us in the bathroom mirror, me with my messy hair, in one of jeffs tees, him, topless supporting my body so i wouldn't literally collapse, both of us with a toothbrush in our mouthes, i felt safe. like i could look at the same thing every night the rest of my life and feel perfectly content.
i fell onto the bed right away, jeff took off his necklace and laid down next to me. he kissed me on the forehead and pulled me into his chest. he smelled like cigarette smoke and rosé.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
the next morning i woke up and jeff wasn't in bed. i walked into the kitchen to find joshua and alex standing by the stove, cooking up pancakes. jeff and kelsey sat at the table. jeff and joshua were quite clearly badly hungover. i went up to jeff giving him a little peck on the forehead, he grunted in response, i smiled at kelsey, who gave her nice, bright smile back and went up to steal a chocolate chip from joshua and alex. the sky was grey outside and i already knew what kind of saturday this was going to be. a calm, inside one. spending time with family, playing video games, napping on top of each other, ordering food and just chilling. the kind i'd wish for every night as a child. the kind i'd never get and never thought i would. i didn't deserve this but fuck it, it made me happy so who cares.
