Abroad

One

For about the third time that week, Alex was driving himself insane with regret. He could have gone anywhere for his semester abroad. Italy. France. Mexico. There were so many amazing choices, but of course Nora wanted to do London, so Alex had gone with her because they had agreed to study abroad together back in the day and Alex had no idea where else they could go. And now, after a month in London, he realized how much he hated this city. It was always grey and raining and all of the people were either too fucking polite or too fucking rude. It was all British pleasantries or British sarcasm and general rudeness and indifference. It was probably because he was American and they, on average, tended to not like Americans much. That was fine, though. He didn't particularly like the British, either. So, not only did the people and the weather objectively suck, but he couldn't, for the life of him, find a halfway decent cup of coffee. Even the Starbucks shops in London were lacking.

Tonight, Nora was going to drag him to a party that he really didn't want to go to. He missed his friends from home too much. Missed his family. Missed America. He really didn't want to go waste his time having to make small talk with a bunch of British people that didn't even want to meet him. A bunch of people he didn't want to meet, either. But Nora, who was, of course, thriving in London, told him that the party was non-negotiable. She said it would be fun, which he knew was a lie, and that, at the very worst, he got free drinks. That was the only reason he decided to go, actually. The promise of alcohol that could help numb him, warm him, if only for a while.

"You could try to have fun," Nora said, approaching him after ten minutes of the party. It was in full swing since they'd shown up late. It was in someone's, someone who was probably named Roger or Benedict or something British, apartment. It was one of Nora's friends from a statistics class she was taking.

"Or," Alex said, flashing her an evil grin, "I could just get drunk and ignore everyone."

Nora rolled her eyes. "Alex, you're not going to get anything out of this experience if you don't at least try to have fun. So, pull your head out of your ass and go talk to people. You're making me look lame."

She walked off to go find her friends, leaving Alex alone by the drinks table again. He didn't mind it, though. Better to be alone than to have to talk to any of these infuriating people. He took a sip of his drink and watched the party carry on—no one giving two shits about him. That was the problem with being here in London. No one cared about him. He didn't have anyone to care about. He had Nora, yeah, but she was practically family. It wasn't something new and exciting or revolutionary. And he was also still mad at her for bringing him to this stupid continent and this stupid party, so it wasn't like he was going to go try to talk to her.

"Can I just say," a voice from his side said, "that you have a truly lovely complexion."

He turned and saw a guy standing next to him with a big, bright smile on his face. He was darker than Alex but his pastel clothing made him seem very bright. Alex wasn't sure what to make of him. He was British, which made Alex want to throttle him, but he was also really different. Everyone else at the party was wearing dark, skin tight clothing and looked too monotonous, but this guy was going full out with bright, pastel colors that provided a much needed disruption to the sad color scape of this dreadful party. He seemed interesting, too, based on the strange "hello."

"Uh, thanks?" Alex replied, not knowing how to respond to that.

"So," the guy said, moving closer to Alex, "rough night?"

He sighed. "Rough month." 

The guy laughed. "Ah, American study abroad program? And, what? You're not enjoying our superior nation?"

Alex can't help but laugh at that. "What kind of country can't manage to make a fucking cup of coffee?"

"Because tea is the lifeblood of the world, my friend. It's you lot and your bloody frappuccinos that have gone and mucked it all up, sweetie."

"Shouldn't you be off having a good time?" Alex asked.

The guy raised an eyebrow at him. "Shouldn't you?"

Alex shrugged and took another sip of his drink. "Can't find anyone worth my time."

The guy rolled his eyes. "Until you met me, you mean."

Alex was about to respond with something witty when another guy sauntered over. He was tall with blonde hair, fair skin, and blue eyes that matched his baby blue sweater. Alex wanted to say something about how it was stupid and pretentious to wear a fucking sweater like that, cashmere, to a party, but he held his tongue because he was too busy trying to place the guy. He looked familiar, but Alex couldn't remember why. 

"Pez," the blonde guy said as he walked over, looking at the guy Alex had been talking to. Pez, he supposed. The blonde guy looked at Alex and stood up a bit straighter. "Ah, Alex."

Ah, so they had met before. Alex tried to piece it together, but the alcohol made his brain sluggish and foggy. He thought, maybe, that they shared a class together. Yes, that was it. A class. Literature. Nora had made him take it to "broaden his mind" but he hated every second of it. He much preferred classes like political science. While he may not have remembered a lot of what happened in the class, he did remember this guy. He sat in the front like a teacher's pet. Always had something pretentious and annoying to say––the kind of thing that made everyone else in the class feel like a right idiot. 

"Humphrey," Alex said with a curt nod. 

"Henry," he corrected.

Alex shrugged and took another sip, really not interested in talking to this guy anymore. 

"Pez," Henry said, turning towards Pez again, "are you ready to go?"

"I was just about to ask my new friend Alex here if he wanted to come with us," Pez said, throwing his arm around Alex's shoulder. "What do you say, darling? Care for an adventure?"

Alex didn't want to stay at the party, but he also really didn't want to have to spend any time with Henry, either. He seemed like a pretentious prick, the very kind that Alex was actively avoiding. Pez seemed nice enough, though, and it seemed like his idea of a fun night might have matched up pretty well with Alex's.

"Where would we go?" Alex asked.

"You don't––" Henry started. 

Pez cut him off. "There's a wonderful little spot nearby. A speakeasy. Very exclusive. We can start there and see where the night takes us."

That did sound a lot better than spending another minute at this terrible party, so Alex nodded. It was unfortunate that Henry would be there, too, but he could manage to play nice for a while. A few drinks would probably do Henry some good, anyway. Maybe, once he had some alcohol in his system, he would be more tolerable. Less closed off and ass-hole like. Possibly, with a lot of alcohol, he might even be fun. Since he was friends with Pez, Alex had to assume that there was some kind of redeeming quality of Henry's that Alex just hadn't seen yet. 

"Sounds like a good time," Alex nodded. "I'm in."

Henry tensed at his words but Pez nudged him to make him loosen up. 

"It'll be fun, Hen."

Henry rolled his eyes but didn't say anything. Alex set his drink down and took Pez's outstretched hand, allowing him to lead both him and Henry out of the party. This was the kind of moment, the kind of night, that Alex had been waiting for. A break in his routine. Something new and exciting with someone he could actually tolerate for more than a minute. Maybe the night would end in disaster, but that was always part of the fun: the not knowing. The way things had been going for the past month left little to chance. He had class, he did his homework, and he hung out with Nora. He went out with her with enough prodding, but that was it. It was as boring as the grey skies that always loomed overhead. 

Tonight, though, Alex was going to let himself go with the flow. Let the night take them wherever it did. And, even though Stick-Up-His-Ass Henry was there, he was going to try, really try, to enjoy himself.