Love Is Always Write Volume 4

to walk away. A couple feet away he turned back and asked, "Celebrating what?"
    "Finishing finals and graduation. This is our last week together before we all go our separate ways." He got another nod from the guy before he disappeared into the crowd.
    He rejoined his friends and was met with a drink and questioning looks, but no more razzing. Actually, he was a little surprised by that but then saw their looks were also sympathetic. Could they see the disappointment written on his face? Finally, when he didn't say anything, Greg asked, "Well?"
    Chad just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. Mike turned away from the dartboard where they'd started to play a game in Chad's absence and gave Chad's shoulder a quick pat. "Tough break, man," he said sincerely and handed over the darts.
    Maybe he'd been wrong to not trust his friends to understand. They'd all been there at one time or another with women, he'd just always figured they wouldn't want to hear about any part of his love life or witness it because it would involve men. Not many straight men were okay with that and he'd never wanted to test or push their friendship.
    Hmmm , he thought, you learn something new every day .
    So they played darts – Mike easily kicking their asses over and over again – laughed and drank while listening to the band play their next set. He was having such a good time he'd almost forgotten about the odd conversation with the sexy singer… almost.
    At the band's next break Chad couldn't help looking over towards the stage, hoping Zeb would come over to talk to him. But when there was no sign of him Chad mentally kicked himself and took a seat a little away from the dartboard to sip his drink. Derek joined him but stayed quiet for a minute or two.
    "Maybe I should have taken him up on his offer," Chad mumbled.
    "What offer?" Derek asked, surprising Chad by actually hearing him over the crowd.
    "Oh, nothing. He…" Chad looked around to make sure his other friends weren't listening, "… he wanted to hook up."
    "Oh." Derek looked confused. "But when you came back over, you looked all sad and shit. I thought he turned you down. You turned him down?"
    "No. Well, not exactly. When I say 'hook up', I mean he was looking for some quickie fuck in a back room." Derek narrowed his eyes and looked thoughtful. "What?"
    "Well, I'm wondering why you said no. I mean, you seemed into him. Seriously into him. And I know that you've had one night stands before." Derek shrugged.
    "It's not about it being a hook up. But it's just… I'm not some little sex starved tart, you know?" He wasn't sure why it had irked him so bad, or why he'd felt so disappointed. Not like he'd never been propositioned solely for meaningless sex before. He looked back over at Derek and shook his head. "I think it's just that it took me by surprise – threw me off, ya know?"
    "Why?"
    "Don't know." He shrugged again. "I guess maybe if I'd been…" he trailed off, looking at his surroundings with understanding. "Actually, that's it." He whispered. Again Derek had bionic hearing.
    "What's 'it'?"
    "It was out of context." Derek gave him that strange look he was used to – that 'please explain cuz you jumped a step on me' look. "If I'd been going out to the club looking for some fun, it wouldn't have surprised me at all. You don't go out clubbing looking for your next boyfriend, and you don't expect easy sex to show up available in a straight pub."
    Derek took a drink and looked thoughtful. "Kinda like at that party last week." Chad was pretty sure Derek was the one jumping steps this time, so he raised a questioning brow. "When we were playing pool downstairs. I was 'sober cab' so I was drinking soda. I set it down to shoot and when I went to pick it back up and took a drink, it wasn't soda. I'd picked up someone else's beer by accident. I spit it everywhere, man! Didn't you see that?" Chad shook his head. "Well, the thing is, I love beer but I was expecting to taste cola. So when I took a drink and it wasn't what I was expecting, it tasted gross. Ya know? Even though normally it's something I like."
    Chad grinned. "Yeah, it was exactly like that."
    "Still too bad though. 'Course, it's not too late. You could still catch him on the next break and let him know you're up for some fun." Chad's face twisted a little, like he'd just taken a bite out of lemon or something. "Unless you're still hoping for cola instead of beer?"
    "Yeah, I guess I am." Derek just nodded and stood up