Hero
"Can you tell me why Felix has a black eye?" Oliver asked as he sat down next to me at the bar.
"Well, next time, he shouldn't forbid me from talking to people just because he's worried that I'm drinking," I say, looking down at my watch.
It's 7 pm, and I want to go home and watch a movie before I go to work tomorrow. I enjoyed attending parties when I was younger – yes, 25 is old. Everything was fun, the drinking, the girls, the random hookups, the awkward walk of shame in the morning back home at my parent's house. But now I don't want to party. Sure, I can go out and have dinner or maybe a beer at the pub watching a football game, but I'm not in the mood for going out and clubbing. I'm also an introvert, so perhaps some don't understand, but going to parties makes me feel suffocated. Too much human interaction and most people here are my friends, yet I still feel uncomfortable.
"I understand you are mad at him for not wanting you to hang out with Josephine, but—"
"You knew about this shit too? Did you had like a conversation last night or something?"
He sighs and looks at me. "After you left to drive Josephine home. Look, I want the best for you. You deserve happiness; if Josephine is the source of that, go for it. But I don't want you to go through that crazy shit again if she decides you work best just as friends."
"Me drinking had nothing to do with Jo. A lot of shit happened that year, so let's not exaggerate."
"Okay, man." he pads on my shoulder and walks away. I shake my head, take my whiskey glass, and look around at the crowd. That's when I saw her; she's truly a beauty. I knew she was a beauty, but god damn it, in person, she's to die for. She notices me too, and quickly walks towards me and smiles.
"Hi. Happy birthday!" She leans in and kisses both of my cheeks, and I can't help but put my hands around her waist and hold her in place as I watch her gasp at my grip.
"Hi." I look at her and smirk. "Thank you."
"It's crowded. Are all these people your friends or just random?" She looks around and then at me.
"I don't even know half of them. People just showed up, and Oliver shouted it's my birthday. So." I shrug, and she laughs.
"I see. Well, I got you something." She places a gift bag on my lap and smiles. "Open it."
"Now?" I raise my eyebrow at her, and she nods, smiling at me.
"Yes, now. I want to know if I got it right. If not, I'll drag your ass to the closest store to get you something." She threatens. And to be honest, I would let her drag my ass to hell and back if I got to see that smile on her face every day.
"Okay." I open the bag and look up at her. "But you know, I still enjoy my birthday gift from a few years ago."
"You still play the game?" She asks, surprised.
"Yup," I say, and she looks completely shocked.
In 2019, Josephine insisted that she wanted to get me something for my birthday, and I stupidly told her that I was playing The Sims 4, which my sister bought for our ps4. So she decided to buy me an expansion pack. And for the next six months, until we stopped talking to each other, we kept buying DLC for the game and shared our game account. Josephine would do live streams on Twitch for me to watch her play in her bedroom like a true gamer. I wasn't doing live streams or stuff like that; I used Zoom. After we stopped talking, I stopped playing and gave the game to my sister. In 2021, I got sick; I was on medical leave for a few months, and I started playing the game again on my ps4 when I was bored. I bought the new DLC and spent my afternoons like that.
"I missed watching you play and set people on fire." She smiles at me and looks around.
"I have a sim named after Lily, and let me tell you, I always torture her whenever she crosses my path." She starts to giggle, and I can't help myself from not laughing. How the fuck I stay out of contact with her for two fucking years?
"Stop it. I told you to ignore her." She slaps my shoulder.
"Do you want something to drink?"
"Um, sure. Do they have wine?" She looks at the drinks menu.
"I'm sure they have. If not, maybe you can get a Cosmo or Mojito." I say, looking at the menu as well.
"Nah, I think I'll have sex on the beach." She looks at me. "Open your gift."
"Yes, ma'am." I open the gift bag and take out what she got me by placing them on the bar. "You got me office supplies?" I laugh.
"Yeah." She looks at me, biting her lip. "Do you like it?"
"I love it." I kiss her cheek. "Thank you." I look at the notebook she got me and smile. "I'm going to use this one even tho it's too cool to ruin it when my stupid scribbling."
"It's not stupid. It's good to have a journal."
"Yeah. I call it a complaint journal. I already have 14 journals completed." She wraps her arms around my neck and smiles.
"Then you should start the 15th."
"And I already know what the first story should be about."
"Hm, I wonder what it could be." She smiles and bites my lower lip.
Ethan
I look around for Josephine and notice her talking to a guy at the end of the bar. From how he has his hands on her waist and talks to her, this must be Hero. I want Josephine to be safe. This whole thing with 'I met a guy randomly online, and after two years, I met him in person.' rubs me the wrong way. I met Josephine two days ago, but I want to protect her like my sister. I keep watching them, and she takes his hand and drags him into the middle of the sea of people dancing. She takes both his hands and twirls around him, laughing and dancing. He doesn't do anything. You can tell he's uncomfortable here but does it for her. I'll give him that. She wraps her hands around his neck and starts moving around.
"Is she your ex-girlfriend or something?" The bartender behind me breaks my eye contact with them.
"What? No!" I look at her and shake my head. "She's my friend, but I don't trust the guy."
"Ah, so you're in the friend zone." She mocks me, and I scoff.#
"I'm not in the friend zone. I don't even wanna date her."
"Why not?" She asks.
"Because I just met her, and she's all over that guy—Why must I answer all these questions?"
"Well, I'm bored from tending the bar the entire night, and you seem fun to mess with. I'm Lori." She pushes her hand in front of me, and I shake it, still confused at her approach.
"Ethan." I look again at Josephine and notice she disappeared from the dance floor. "If I ask you for a drink, you won't spit in it, will you?"
"Don't count on it." She laughs. "So, do you know the birthday boy?"
"Nope. My friend and her co-worker do. I just came here because it was a costume party." I point at my costume. She smiles at me, and mouth's to me, 'One second', as she runs into the back room. I sip my drink and still search for Josephine with my eyes. Lori comes back in front of me and smiles.
"I just spoke to my co-worker; he will take care from here. Wanna dance?" she asks. I leave my drink at the bar and get up from the bar stool.
"Yeah, of course!"
Felix
"You're staring," Jack says next to me.
"Don't fucking piss me off." I glare at him and drink the rest of my beer.
"You know the two of you have been best friends forever. Why are you two fighting over a woman? Since Mia cheated on him, you have been bitching around when he's with a new girl." Jack shouts at this point over the booming music.
"Because you fucking know as well as me that no one gives a fucking about his well-being. Remember when he overdoes? His parents got pissed that he overdoes when they should've been worried as fuck about it. We had to step in and take care of him." I look at Jack and sigh. "I don't want her to ruin everything he worked hard to repair."
"But it's not our decision to make. It's Hero's." He squeezes my shoulder and points up with his chin. I turn around and notice Amelia walking inside the club, waving at us.
"Show time."
"Hi!" Mia comes and hugs Jack and Oliver first, then me. "Where's the birthday boy?" She moves a strand of her hair behind her ear and smiles. "I bet he's complaining so much about turning 25."
"He's with your–"
"He was just dancing on the dance floor but disappeared." Oliver steps in and helps Mia to sit down on the couch.
"Oh. Well, I want to talk to Hero and give him his gift. I won't stay long because tomorrow I go to work, and I bet he will leave soon, too, since he's also a workaholic" She looks around and then waves her hand.
I turn around and notice Hero walking toward us and Josephine going to talk to a guy at the bar who's busy talking to Lori.
"Hello." He walks to Mia and kisses her cheeks, smiling at her. "You look nice."
"Thank you." She makes a twirl and laughs. "I got you a gift." She says, taking out of her purse a small gift box.
"You're not proposing, aren't you? Cuz the answer is no!" He laughs, and she smacks his cheek.
"No. Who would wanna marry someone like you? Come on, open it." She gives him the box.
"You got me cufflinks?"
"Mhm. You always wear a suit at work, so I thought those might be useful. there's also a tie-clip in there as well." She smiles.
"And all I got from you was a keychain for my keys." I laugh.
"Hush."
"Thank you, Amelia." He leans in to kiss her cheeks again, and I look around to see where Josephine is. I don't know why I have to fucking worry about this shit Hero does. We used to do this shit back when we were in university but not now.
"Jo!" Mia shouts and breaks my thought process, and I look around just to notice Josephine next to Oliver.
"Hi! Sorry, I got here a little early since I came with a friend." She points to the guy she was talking to at the bar with Lori.
"Hi. I'm Ethan." He smiles and looks around.
"Hero. Nice to meet you." My guy decided to mark his territory now right in front of Amelia. What the fuck is wrong with you.
"I know. Jo won't stop talking about–"
"About how nice you were to drive me to the bus station Friday night after Mia took me to your friend's party." She points to me, and I have back.
"Lots of parties, I see." The douche mumbles.
"It's winter time. you should see us in summer." Jack shouts, and Hero gives him a dirty look.
"Well, I'm glad everyone is having fun, but I'm going home since I have work tomorrow," Mia announces. "Are you leaving soon, Hero?"
"Oh." He looks around, then at Josephine. "I'm staying maybe one more hour, then probably go home as well."
"Oh, I see." She mumbles and takes her bag. "Happy birthday again."
"Thank you."
"Let me show you the way out." I get up from my seat and walk outside the pub with Amelia.
"He's acting weird. What's going on?" She turns and faces me.
"Nothing's going around. I swear." I raise my hands in defence.
"Don't lie to me, Felix. Tell me what the fuck is going on." I guess we are going to yell at each other.
I sigh and look at her. "Hero has been flirty with Josephine. Thats all. I mean, she's hot. So obviously, the guy is going to try something." She looks at me, and I sweat. She's about to cry.
"But why are they hiding this from me? Like. I thought she was my friend."
"Well, maybe that's the fucking problem, Mi. She's your co-worker and friend. Hero is your ex. Of course, things are weird."
"But we broke up years ago."
"Yeah, but only you moved on. Meanwhile, Hero has been single and having random hookups. How do you feel right now knowing he's going to date soon? Tell me the fucking truth."
"Well, yeah, it still hurts, but I guess he will do his thing, and I will do mine. I'm not some evil ex-girlfriend, Felix. If Hero's happy, then he can be happy, but I'm not going to hold a grudge against Josephine because he likes her."
"What if she's the reason you broke up?"
"What did you just say?"
Josephine
"I should go. It's getting late, and I must go to work tomorrow." I try to hide my yawn.
"Yeah, sure. It's just 9:30 pm. Do you want to go to my place and watch a movie? Maybe have dinner?" Is he serious? he asks me to have dinner at his place.
"I'd love to. But only for Dino." I smile, and he nods his head.
"I see."
"Just let me tell Ethan we are leaving and are good to go." I get up from the bar stool and look around to find Ethan. I go everywhere asking the boys if they saw Ethan, and Jack tells me he just saw him going to the restroom a few minutes ago. I go down the hall to the restroom and find him having a girl pinned against the wall as he's kissing her. I walk to him and snap my fingers at him, trying to get his attention.
"Ethan!" I yell, and he almost drops the girl on the floor, and she starts laughing as he's awkwardly holding her. "Sorry to interrupt, but I'm going home. Hero is driving me home, so."
"Josephine." He gives me I know what driving you home means to look and I blush.
"I won't have sex with him. I promise."
"Jo."
"I won't! Just text me tomorrow." I turn around on my heel to leave.
"Okay, take care. Be safe." He shouts.
"I will!" I start laughing and find Hero at the bar with his coat on, my jacket on his arm, and holding a few gift bags. "Ready?" I ask, and he nods at me, smiling, and we walk out the door, and the cold wind hits me.
"It's a bit chilly. I assume you didn't come with your car." He asks, and I start to laugh.
"I don't have a car and probably won't get one since I don't need it here in London."
"I wouldn't use the car either, but I drive to my parent's home often, and it's easier to use the car for groceries than carry them." He opens the car door for me, and I smile as I enter.
"I get it. I used to drive around every day back home too." He turns on the car and drives to his apartment.
"Do you miss it?" He looks at me. "Seattle?"
"Oh, yeah. I mean, it's my home. I miss my mom." I shake my head, trying not to cry, and feel him squeezing my hand.
"How's Dawn?" He smiles at me, and I can't help but burst into tears. He remembers my mom's name even though I spoke about her very little.
"She's okay. A few months ago, she got the news that she was cancer-free. She's a lot better now."
"That's great news, Josephine." He smiles at me.
"Yeah." I look out the window and let out a sigh of relief. "I can't wait to meet Dino, though."
"I bet you do. The fucker lives like a prince." He laughs, and I can't help but laugh too.
"Stop being mean to him!" I smack him on the shoulder. "I know you love him."
"Speaking of love yous" Oh no...
"Please don't start." I hide my face in my palms. I can't handle the embarrassment right now.
"I love you too." He says, and I swear everything is moving in slow motion now. These three words just knocked out the air in my lungs, and his face had no emotion like he was so casual about the bomb he dropped on me. How can you be so calm?
"What?" I whisper and pinch myself because all of this has to be a dream.
"I love you." He says again. I love you too. But I'm too afraid to say it out loud.
↳ today's chapter playlist;
Something Just Like This - Coldplay
No Lie - Dua Lipa
Kiss Me More - Doja Cat
Late Night Talking - Harry Styles
(It Goes Like) Nanana - Peggy Gou
Don't Call Me Up - Mabel
Calm Down - Rema, Selena Gomez
Bed - Raye