||Wattys 2022 Shortlist||
Kian Advani was a closeted queer in his high school. Always in denial of his true feelings and emotions. So much so that he did everything to blend in with the rest of the straight crowd. But that didn't mean he wasn't att...
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Kian had to rush home after work the next night, covered in sweat and smelling like coffee. He opted to spend an extra fifteen minutes in the shower to relax his aching limbs and wash the tiredness off his body. He didn't want to overdo his appearance, but at the same time, he didn't want to look like a slob either.
After rummaging through his dresser, he finally found a half-decent pair of black jeans and a distressed charcoal gray pullover that hugged his shoulders and skimmed his collarbone. He pushed back his towel-dried wavy hair and put on the cologne he had only ever applied around his plausible dates. He could dress up okay, in case someone was taking notes.
Why was he thinking about his looks so much? He smacked himself mentally. It was just a friend catching up with another, not a date.
Thirty minutes later, Kian led Audrey through a buzzing, dark nightclub Ricardo's. A thick haze from the smoke machines globed the air, punctured by the red and purple neon lights. He was pushed right into the frenzy of college kids, hopping to the thumping music, bodies pressed together, grinding with sexual frisson and revving his heartbeat.
Ricardo's Bar was the craziest venue, with a dance floor that could accommodate the whole city and good music. Since it was closest to the college campus and the most happening place, Kian could see boys and girls with multi-colored hair and piercings writhing against each other. While some dripped from the walls and bar stools, others encircled the DJ booth, punching the air to the electronic beats.
"You'll be fine, K. Just try not to kiss him," Audrey shouted into his ear before breaking away to a group at the corner of the bar. Kian spotted a few frat boys and girls from his year crammed together in a booth. His stomach dropped as his eyes fell on the boy with dirty blonde hair and angular jaw, pulling Audrey for a tight hug as soon as she reached the group. Jackie Montgomery, the jock with devilish charms that worked on almost all the girls and an ugly grin in as a smile currently directed towards Kian.
"Fuck off," Kian mouthed at him through clenched jaw and hands bawled into fists on his sides. The jock's response was to squeeze Audrey's waist.
Kian made a mental note to keep an eye on him for the rest of the night. He shook his head and made his way through the grinding bodies towards the open bar.
At the bar, he waved at Kelly: the bartender, a girl Kian had known for a long time and hooked up with a couple of times in the first year of his college. Things didn't work out as they had expected, and it turned into a strange sort of friendship, wherein he helped her with mathematics in return for free drinks every once in a while and some harmless flirtation that never went beyond.
The bar was packed, and the bartenders were rushing to take orders, but as soon as Kelly made eye contact with Kian, he raised his eyebrows and flashed his charming smile with one dimple on his left cheek. It worked every goddamn time. She poured him two shots of Jameson, and Kian downed them without thinking twice. Maybe, he needed a little liquid courage to loosen up the two years' worth of tension with his crush.
