Three Years Later (BoyxBoy)

Part One

A/N Because I have the most amazing fans, I wanted to do something for you guys for the holidays. This was by far the most requested thing, and I've been talking about doing it for a while, so I thought why not.

Thank you all for the support. I hope you enjoy the three chapter conclusion to Jean and Caden's story

It was a Friday night, nearly a Saturday morning, and Jean was polishing a crystal glass with a cotton rag, turning it over and over again in his hands. He was incredibly bored, and his boss had noticed this and suggested he clean up behind the bar to keep himself entertained. It wasn't working.

Usually, Friday's we're their busiest nights, the bar filled with drunk college kids celebrating the end of a school week, but the semester had ended a week before, and most of the students had returned to their hometowns for the summer. Jean was beyond grateful that he had this job as an excuse to not go home, though he had gotten plenty of complaints about it from both Nathan and his mother.

"Excuse me," a small voice interrupted, and he directed his attention upwards to the woman sitting on the other side of the bar from him, fixating her with his best smile. She hadn't been there minutes before, and he hoped him zoning out and not noticing her arrival wouldn't affect the amount of tip she gave him. "Could I get a gin and tonic and a rum and coke please?"

"Sure thing". He placed the glass he had been polishing on the bar and went to grab another one from the shelf behind him. "Long day at work?"

"What?" She asked, glancing down at the two empty glasses on the counter. "Oh". She chuckled. "They're not both for me. I'm in town for a conference at the university, and a colleague of mine should be joining me shortly. He just had to run back to his room quickly to change". 

Jean hummed thoughtfully as he began mixing the first drink. "A conference?" Jean asked. "Sounds boring. Should I make these drinks stronger than usual?"

She full out laughed this time, the sound very welcome in the sullen bar. "Just a tad," she agreed. "It's not as bad as it sounds though, I promise. It's just a bunch of history professors getting together and discussing teaching methods. My employer is paying for the entire thing".

"Ah, you're a professor then?" Jean asked, and she nodded. He finished the rum and coke and pushed it across the bar towards her. She accepted the glass and took a small sip, humming thoughtfully.

"Yeah. I teach at a small private school in Florida. We're actually so small that we usually don't get invited to these kinds of things so our employer thought it would be a good idea for us to come".

"Florida, huh?" Jean said, smiling a little bit. He poured gin over the ice in the second glass. "I'm actually from Florida".

"Really?" She inquired, tracing the rim of her glass with her pinkie. Jean put the other drink in front of the empty spot beside her. "You're here for college?"

"Yeah," Jean confirmed. He picked up another empty glass and began to polish it, but didn't move from his spot, happy to have someone to finally talk to. "Just finished my junior year".

"Wow," she said appreciatively. "What's your major".

"Political science".

"And are you planning on staying here after you graduate?" She asked, seeming genuinely curious.

He thought about the question, not for the first time. Honestly, he had no idea what he was going to do once he finished school, which was part of the reason why he was planning on staying for the full four years, even though he would have the credits by the end of next semester to graduate. "Well, I guess I don't-"