A Slice of Life

Clubbing

Sam was nervous when Aleksei followed him into the club. Not because he was worried about Aleksei having fun—he was sure he would—but because it matter a lot to him for his friends to like Aleksei. He really wanted them to accept Aleksei into their group of friends so that they could hang out more often.

Not that his friends were entitled, or acted as if they were better. They were usually really accepting towards new people, if someone brought them along. Like Sam did with Aleksei that night.

Beside Daniel, Sam had already introduced Jordy and Aleksei to make sure Aleksei knew someone who wasn't working that night.

As soon as they were inside, he took Aleksei towards one of the two bars, where Daniel was working with one of Sam's friends, Lacy, and his nemesis Frey. He ignored Frey completely, while he gestured towards Lacy, who was pouring drinks for other people in that moment.

"That's Lacy," he told Aleksei, before turning towards Daniel with a smile. "Daniel and Lacy give us discounts, so make sure to order with them," he explained to Aleksei. "And what do you want to drink?"

Aleksei nodded at Daniel and Lacy, then his eyes darted to the list of drinks the bar had. "Whatever beer you recommend here," he told Sam. "Thanks."

Sam ordered them both a beer, before he took Aleksei towards his friends. Jordy was already there, joined by a few other friends. He introduced Aleksei to most of his friends, who all greeted Aleksei with a smile, a handshake or a wave of the hand, before returning to their usual business.

"I don't expect you to remember all their names, but Jordy, James and Shane are sort of my best friends, so if you hang out with me, you'll be seeing them more often."

"They seem friendly," Aleksei offered, though, it always took him a while to warm up to new people and there was no use trying to rush that. "I'll do my best to remember."

Sam smiled, then bit his lip. He really wanted to say things he shouldn't say in public. The possibility that someone would hear what he'd say was simply too big.

This was going to be hard. And not just because Aleksei looked really hot that evening. Sam wasn't good at handling his alcohol, so he made a mental note not to drink too much to prevent from blurting out things he really shouldn't be saying at all.

While Aleksei tried to be, and was somewhat successful at, being social with Sam's friends, he ended up sipping his beer quietly and observing after a while. He noticed how every now and then a girl would come up to talk to them. He couldn't hear what they were saying but it was pretty obvious a good amount of them was there to flirt with Sam. He recognised the smiles, the looks, and occasionally the hair tosses cast in Sam's direction.

All these girls, and Sam wanted him. Him. Aleksei couldn't help but kind of enjoy how popular Sam was, especially knowing there was no chance anything would happen anyway.

After girl number five left, Aleksei leaned towards Sam. "You're popular," he teased.

Sam felt his cheeks heat up at that comment, knowing why Aleksei said that. He was getting annoyed by the girls that kept talking to him while he didn't even know their names. Usually, he would talk back, maybe even pretend to flirt with them a little, and then purposefully say something stupid to scare them away again.

Tonight, it was different. Tonight, he didn't care about any of them, or about keeping up appearance. Tonight, he just wanted to have fun with Aleksei, and then go home with him.

"I really don't care about them," Sam muttered back. "As long as you like me, I'm good."

"I like you a lot," Aleksei replied. With the beat drumming in his ears and some liquid courage in his hand, he even dared to put his hand on Sam's shoulder and add, "I'm enjoying watching girls approach you, knowing you're going to take me home."

Sam couldn't stop himself from grinning like a fool. He tried, since his response could give away how much Aleksei's words affected him, but he couldn't prevent it. To give himself a reason to leave the group while he probably looked like a proud love-sick puppy, he decided to get the group new drinks.

"Want another beer?" he asked Aleksei, looking at the other boy's nearly empty glass.

Aleksei glanced down, too. "Yeah, sure," he agreed.

He wasn't used to guys buying him drinks. For a split second, the thought that this was very obvious, Sam buying him a drink, flashed through his mind. But Sam was way ahead of him, already going around asking the other guys whether they wanted a drink.

Sam shortly left the group to buy them drinks. He didn't always buy a round of drinks for the entire group because he hated spending money on others. But this was Aleksei, and he wanted to buy him drinks. But since it would probably be weird for Sam to only get him drinks, he—for once—offered to get the rest some drinks too.

When he got back and handed Aleksei his drink, he shortly looked over his shoulder towards the rest, before noticing they weren't really talking to Aleksei in that moment. If he thought about it, Aleksei had been a bit quiet.

"So, are you having fun?" Sam asked, worried Aleksei didn't enjoy going out with his friends.

"I am," Aleksei quickly asserted. "Just give some time, alright? I need a moment to get used to new people. Plus..."

Aleksei was already noticing he was tapping his feet to the rhythm. But since Daniel, Jordy, and the others weren't dancing he'd refrained as well so far. The dance floor was calling, however.

"I want to dance tonight, too. Are you coming?"

"Oh, eh..." Sam scratched his head. "I don't really dance..." he cleared his throat, racking his thoughts for a possible solution. He didn't want to deny Aleksei a dance, but he really didn't dance. Well, unless he was wasted.

And for once, his twin sister proved to be useful, and considerate. While Sam was looking for a way out, she appeared by his side, sending Aleksei a warm smile.

"Hey, Aleksei. Let's ditch these boring people and go for a dance," she enthusiastically suggested, saving Sam from an awkward dance.

Aleksei wanted to say yes, but his eyes first darted to Sam, checking how he reacted. They were on a date after all, and Aleksei didn't just want to ditch.

"Go, have fun," Sam told him with a smile. "I'll be here if you need me."

Aleksei smiled back, or at least, almost did until he remembered they were in public and put up his less lovestruck serious face. For as far as possible. Then he followed Jenna to the dancefloor.

Sam shortly watched them leave, before he turned to face his friends, joining them in conversation. He made sure to not look at Aleksei and Jenna dancing all the time, because that would be way too obvious.

His friends were talking about a soccer match they had the next day, they talked about some girls that had showed up, showed interest in Sam, and left because Sam didn't give them the time of day. They asked him how he met Aleksei, and Sam kept it close to the truth, telling them they met during a pizza delivery and later at the gym. Jordy confirmed it with a nod, and then smirked at Sam, since he knew there was more going on that their friends didn't know of.

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