The House

Chapter Three

It was seven o'clock and Liam was going out that night.

Ethan and Julian were away at Julian's family cabin for the weekend. Morgan was out with Kyle, his latest guy, over at his dorm. 

Liam had sat in the empty house for a while before he decided that maybe sitting by himself at the bar gave him a better shot at someone coming up to him versus sitting on home feeling sorry for himself on the couch. He was still in his rut and meant it when he was going to try giving his attempts a break, but he figured maybe he could get someone to come up to him at the bar. Maybe? He still wasn't going to be the one starting anything, to get rejected, and he figured worst case scenario he'd drink and get an Uber back home.

He had fixed up his dark, wavy hair the best he could on the top of his head and put on something he felt good in.

Liam walked up to the bar to order his drink as soon as he arrived.

The bartender was hot, but Liam recognized him after he turned around a few times to wipe down the countertop in front of him. Liam had slipped him his phone number once a few months ago...after getting super hammered and being dared to by Ethan. The guy was nice enough to actually text him later that night, said something along the lines of Liam being cute and all, but he couldn't do that with customers because it was against policy and that he shouldn't even have texted him at all. Liam just texted him back 'thank you' and that was that... Liam didn't think he remembered him, so he just ordered his drink, thanked the guy, and sat on the stool at the bar.

He looked back at the crowd. He'd never come here alone, to the gay bar the roomies usually hung out in. They had fake IDs, still being 20 and all, and had never been caught at this spot so it became their usual for when they felt like going out.

After his third drink, right before he decided to give this up and go back home, someone finally came up to him.

"Hey kid, what's your name?" He was tall, tan, and had on...really tight black pants and a black t-shirt. He was built like a tank.

Liam looked up into his eyes, "Uh, Liam."

"Liam... How old are you, Liam?"

Liam paused for a second... Wait, was this guy a bouncer? "Uh, twenty-one..."

The guy just smiled and gave him a look, "Yeah...okay."

Liam blushed a little. He didn't believe him. "What's your name?"

"You can call me Jack."

"...Is that your name or is that just what I'm calling you?"

Jack laughed, "It's my name... You're kinda hot headed. I like it. Hey, what are you drinking? I'll buy your next one." He sat down on the stool next to Liam and started waving at the bartender.

"Mojito."

Liam talked to Jack for what seemed like at least an hour. He did work there as a bouncer, but he said he was off for the night. Liam had to make up some job and lie that he wasn't still in college...but otherwise it was nice to talk to someone new for that long. It had been a while.

He was...kind of excited? He hadn't held someone's attention this long since...Ben. He was really drunk now, he forgot how many Mojitos Jack had bought for him, and he missed Ben so much. Now it was all he could think about. He wondered if Ben still remembered him. He wondered if Ben's old number was still the same.

"What are you thinking about?" Jack asked.

"Um..." Liam was caught thinking about his high school ex, and he didn't want to say it out loud.