Lemon Tree: Book of Lemons

The Bartender

This is one of my older works, so it's not as polished as the others... I hate writing in third person and this is the reason why. I hope you all can still appreciate the story though...

SUMMARY: Jasper's boyfriend left him without a reason. Desperate to move on, he reluctantly hooks up with a younger man he met at work while tending the bar. Was it all just for the physical lust or did it mean something more?

WARNING: This one-shot contains crude language and homosexual (manxman) sex acts. Read at your own risk!

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He broke up with him. They’ve been together in the most romantic relationship known to man for four years, yet he threw it all away for someone he just met through work related business. They’ve been friends for over 10 years and he thought that their relationship was as strong as ever. All it took was one temptation and everything blew up in their faces.

Jasper was devastated. He didn’t expect all of this to happen. He had just gone home from work and was hit with terrible news. And to think that his partner tried to ease up with the news by preparing a romantic dinner for both of them, even having steamy sex, which seemed to have lasted for hours. Their romantic night ended with the big shocker.

“Jas, I think we should start seeing other people,” he said. That was the last words Jasper had heard from his partner before he walked out the door. Jasper was left alone on the bed, tears threatening to roll down his cheeks, but he knew better than to break down. What he needed now was to be strong. He needed to change his mentality.

Right now, Jasper was an emotional mess. Who wouldn’t be though? He thought that he was in a relationship in which he was well loved by his partner, but that quickly crumbled down and he wasn’t able to do anything to save it. Jasper couldn’t just get over it. He knew well that it would take time before he could move on.

He decided to skip work for a couple of days to bring himself back together. He couldn’t let this affect him too much. He didn’t want anyone to see him like this. For the past few days, he didn’t get up from his bed. He cried day and night for his broken relationship, waiting for his lover to return and take him back. It never happened.

Convinced that his lover had moved on, Jasper was well enough to come back to work. He paid special attention to his appearance, making sure that nobody had an idea of what had just happened. He hoped that nobody would even ask about the situation; it would probably only cause him to break down again.

“Jasper, are you ok?” Derek asked.

Derek was his best friend. They’ve known each other for as long as they can remember. No matter how hard Jasper tries to hide his emotions, Derek always knew what was up. Jasper couldn’t deny anything, because Derek could also sense it. It was as if Derek was a mind reader, which was highly questionable.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me too much,”

“Are you sure? Where’ve you been the past few days?”

“Not now, Derek. I’ll tell you later,”

And with that, Derek knew to back off. Jasper was a very emotional person. He couldn’t hide his feelings and could recklessly act upon them. Derek knew better than to provoke Jasper, because when Jasper goes mad, all hell breaks loose.

The bar was pretty much empty in the first few hours. Jasper spent his time sitting on a chair, sulking while staring at an empty glass. He kept dwelling upon the past, which wasn’t doing him any good. He knew he was supposed to be trying to move on, but he can’t get it out of his mind. Seeing that his partner was able to move on, it was clear that Jasper was the only one who truly cared about their relationship.