Fic - Cocktails - Part 1 of 2
Steve stood on the driveway with a package in his hand just staring at the door and not really understanding the churning feeling in his stomach. He'd been delivering scripts now for a few days and met a few people he recognised from the TV so he had no idea why this particular delivery was making him so nervous. He looked again at the name on the parcel - Christian Kane - no, it still didn't mean anything to him. He stepped forward and knocked on the door, turning around to check that he'd locked his car as he waited for an answer. As he turned back around he heard the door open and took a sharp intake of breath as he looked into the most incredible blue eyes that he'd ever seen
He stood there mesmerised for what seemed like hours but was probably only a few seconds in reality before he realised that the owner of the blue eyes was talking to him. He shook his head slightly to clear the fog that was forming there and apologised.
“Sorry man, I was miles away….ummm are you Mr Kane'?”
Blue Eyes started laughing at that, the fine lines around those eyes crinkling in a way that was making Steve feel way too hot under the collar for this time in a morning.
“Well, Mr. Kane would be my Daddy but if you're looking for Christian then you've come to the right place.”
Christian went to shake Steve’s hand and Steve silently prayed that his palm wasn’t sweating too much
“Umm, I’m Steve and I got a script that I need you to sign for.”
Steve looked up at Christian wondering if he too was experiencing the same turmoil of emotions he was. His mom had always told him when he met his soul mate he would just know and, well, from the way his heart was beating and his head swimming, this appeared to be just that moment. What was shocking Steve more than anything was it seemed his soul mate was a guy; he’d long known he was bi-sexual but he always just assumed that ‘the one’ would be female and when he settled down it would be as a traditional family. God, he needed to shake himself out of this, he hadn’t said more than a handful of words to this guy and already he was thinking far too much about the future. And Christian was talking to him again.
“Sure come on in, have a drink with me and then I’ll sign for it.”
“I’d love to, dude, but I’ve got more scripts to deliver.”
Christian laughed again “Did anyone tell you that until last week I was doing your job? I know how it goes, you got time… so like I said, come have a drink with me and you can help me celebrate my first acting role.”
Christian stood aside, opening the door wider as though there were no question that Steve would comply with his request.
“You’re kidding me right? You did this job. They told me the last guy quit but I didn’t know why.”
Steve glanced around the living room they’d just walked into, bemused when he saw nothing but a TV in the corner, a stereo system with several CDs scattered on the floor around it and two giant cushions. Christian saw him looking around and shrugged his shoulders as he gestured to the almost empty room.
“Sorry there’s no chairs; I can barely afford the rent here so the furniture has to wait till I get my first pay check. I ran out of money after I bought a bed and a fridge. Good thing I got the part when I did though, was thinking I was gonna have to get a roommate.”
“Yeah, you wanna avoid that if you can, mine’s a pain in the ass - I’d love somewhere on my own."
Steve replied as he followed Christian toward the kitchen.
As he reached the kitchen he was stunned to see an acoustic guitar propped against the counter - and he knew enough about guitars to know it wasn’t a cheap one, he was just hoping that it wasn’t merely an expensive decoration
He’d been playing guitar in bands for over a decade now and he was in the process of putting together a new band of his own at the moment. Recently all he’d been listening to was southern rock and he and his friends had spent many evenings in the last few weeks jamming to Lynryrd Skynyrd and The Eagles into the early hours; now he was itching to get a new band together.
“So you play then, man?” he asked Christian, nodding in the direction of the guitar.
“A little, I can kinda strum along but really I’m a singer. The part I just got is as a country singer and they’re giving me guitar lessons too, the studio sent the guitar yesterday. Why, d’ya play?”
Steve grinned, now they were onto a subject he could talk about all day and really could this be any more like fate was for once dealing him a winning hand? The one thing he was missing for his band was a singer, so maybe Christian would be interested
Twenty minutes later, having discussed their favourite music and films and having given Christian an impromptu lesson in chords, Steve glanced at his watch and regretfully realised that he was going to have to get back to work.
“Look man, this has been cool but I gotta get back to work.”
Christian looked crestfallen, he’d obviously been having as good a time as Steve.
“So Steve, you wanna get together again sometime?”
Steve’s heart was beating so hard he was sure Christian would be able to see his chest rising and falling, was he serious? Of course he wanted to get together again but he didn’t want to appear too eager.
“Yeah sure, we should go get cocktails, how about Friday? Ten at Lolas?.”
He saw Christian getting out paper and a pen from the kitchen drawer before writing something down. He then handed the paper to Steve with a grin on his face.
“Sounds perfect to me - that’s my pager number in case…. Well, in case you can’t make it for some reason.”
Ripping the bottom off the piece of paper, Steve wrote down his own pager number and handed it to Christian, unable to keep the big smile off his own face.
“I’ll be there, no question, but have my pager number too….you know, just in case.”
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“What an ass, I can't believe he didn't turn up,” Steve muttered to no one in particular as he checked his pager again, disappointment bubbling up when he saw the display was empty. He was so sure Christian was going to show, convinced they'd made such an incredible connection in just half an hour, he'd already been planning to invite him to the Cinco de Mayo party he was having the following weekend. He'd promised himself he wasn't going to fall for someone so hard and so quickly again. His heart and his ego had been well and truly trampled on last year and his naturally laid back and romantic soul had been crushed by one too many guys who promised him the world but in reality wanted nothing more than a night or two of fun.
Deep down he knew they were selling him a line but he'd craved affection so much since his last relationship finished that he'd accepted it far more than he was really comfortable with and recently he'd indulged in more one night stands than he knew was healthy for him. Christian had seemed different from the others though, he couldn't explain how, it was just a feeling he'd had. And now he was sitting in a bar where the music was too loud, waiting for this guy he'd talked to for half an hour a few days back and who was increasingly looking like a no show. Perhaps he'd been too casual about this? He thought they had a date but maybe Christian thought Steve was going to be here with friends and he'd just been invited along to join them. Maybe he didn't think it would matter if he showed or not.
He fingered the folded piece of paper in his pocket; it had Christian’s pager number on it so he could just page him, leave a casual message, ask if he was coming or not. Nothing that sounded too desperate, just in case he had got the vibes wrong but enough to let him know he was disappointed Christian hadn't showed. And was half an hour even really classed as late? None of his friends would probably think so; it just seemed like an eternity to him because he'd been excited and actually arrived early for a change. Ten more minutes and then he'd call Christians pager because forty minutes was definitely enough time to classify as late in his book.
He called the bartender over and asked her to change a couple of bucks into quarters and when she handed them over, he started stacking the quarters on top of one another in an attempt to kill some time. Then he took to making sure they were all facing heads up and then flipped them all until they were all tails up. Honestly, what the fuck was he doing? This guy had him tied up in so many knots and all they'd done was talk a little about the film industry and music. Steve had been surprised to see the guitar leaning up against the kitchen counter and even more surprised when Christian had started strumming it and singing in a wonderful, whiskey-soaked voice. That was the moment Steve thought the stars had aligned to somehow bring them together because he was trying to form a band and, much as he loved singing and was told he had a good voice, it wasn't right for the type of music he wanted to play. Already in his mind he'd begun to think of songs they could cover and he even had an original song he'd started that he could almost hear Christian singing. But of course now, Christian had stood him up and his plans to try and get Christian to jam a little at his party appeared to be shot.
He felt his pocket vibrating, and, realising that his pager had a message, he was up and off the stool heading for the pay phone even before he'd looked at the display. He had to wait for the guy in front of him to finish arguing with his girlfriend and he shifted nervously from foot to foot as he waited but it was only a minute or two before he was able to call his pager service and pick up his message. Relief flooded through him as he picked up a message from Christian who was waiting in a different bar and wondering where he'd got to and who definitely sounded like he thought this was a date. He stopped a girl going past and borrowed a pen so he could write the number of the bar down, phoned Christian back and a few minutes later he was headed out the door and into his car to drive the half mile or so to where Christian was waiting.
He'd sounded nervous on the phone which surprised Steve, he'd given off such an air of confidence the other day, so he was obviously a better actor than his lack of roles would suggest. Steve’s hands were shaking as he pulled out of the parking lot and he decided there and then that his car was staying at Lolas and he’d get a cab home because serious amounts of alcohol were going to be needed to get him through tonight. As he drove, he fumbled around in the car side pockets, eventually coming up with some gum to try and cover up a little of the smell of nervous chain-smoking left lingering on his breath.
This felt like one of those pivotal moments, one you look back on and think 'that's when my life changed’. Steve didn't know quite why he felt that way but his mom had taught him to trust his instincts and grab hold of every opportunity that presented itself so that's what he was doing. In fact, he'd already told his mom about meeting Christian and now it was beginning to dawn on him what her knowing smile had been about. She'd obviously been able to sense there was something different about Christian.
Part 2 here http://mutedbyfear.livejournal.com/5448.html