T W E N T Y - S I X :
"Do you like working for Mattia then?" Oak asked the blonde who was to the left of her, with his drink of choice, a pint of Strongbow. Miles looked at the blue-haired girl and pondered his options, he didn't hate it, he'd only been there for just shy of two months, but he didn't like it that much.
"Mattia's lovely but it's just the job I'm not sure about, like I don't think I'm any good," Miles answered as honestly as he could. He helped in the kitchen with the chef, Andrea, who was nice but pretty scary; Miles always felt as though he was treading on eggshells around him because of how prestige his food was.
Miles had always had a large interest in food and making meals for his family so he wanted to be a chef of some sort and that's what Andrea was teaching him to do, he was too under-qualified to take the lead but he was learning pretty fast.
"I'm sure you're brilliant, I've not heard any negatives about you," Oak complimented with a smile. It was true, whenever Andrea and Mattia spoke about what was going on in the silver kitchen, she'd never heard one ounce of annoyance leave Andrea's mouth.
"Well, that's a relief I thought I was shit," Miles chuckled, Oak just smiled. She liked this guy, he was laid-back and kind, their conversations flowed well, Miles found that Oak was such an easy person to talk to despite her awkwardness.
"I'm pretty sure Andrea loves you," Oak joked making Miles shake his head with a small smile.
"How's the band going anyway?" Miles asked the girl, changing the conversation so that they weren't just talking about him, that and he was genuinely interested, he hadn't really given The Blue a listen, he'd heard them on a social media clip but that was it. He followed them on social media, of course, he did they shared school together and he found that cool, he wanted to show his support.
"Yeah, it's going pretty well, it's still hard to release music though," Oak expressed, the four of them wanted to or hoped to release an album at some point because most musicians want to do that, it was just pretty hard to do so.
"What's your personal favourite you've released so far?" Miles asked and wanted to take the note on board so he could have a listen to it. He'd be lying if he said his small crush for her had subsided despite his newfound love for the waiter Adam at work. Miles had always found something intriguing about the girl, he didn't like her that much he just liked her personality.
"Erm. . .Ohh, eh, I'd probably say 'filth' but that's just because it's kind of punky," Oak said shyly, she didn't really like talking about herself, not that she minded but she'd rather talk about the other person or a specific topic.
The bar was a cute little place in the centre of town, it had a nice homely feel to it with fairy lights on the beams that connected the building together and the staff were lovely. Miles and Oak have been discussing a lot of things, like the government, which probably wasn't the best topic to bring up with Oak considering how passionate she was about it but she reigned in her mind.
The blonde completely agreed with her political standing and beliefs considering he had only in the last year realised that he was pansexual; he found it a difficult conversation to bring up in front of people because some people just didn't get it and he feared that someone would judge him too heavily. He mentioned it to Oak and she was so sweet about it, she told him that it was amazing and that if he ever needed someone to talk to if things ever bothered him or if people ever bothered him, she'd be there. He found her reaction adorable how her face lit up—she felt privileged to have him share something like that with her, she understood the difficulties different sexualises faced and how unfair society treated them and how personal that information was.
In her eyes, society was fucked, people still got abused for being a different race, for being a different sexuality, for having different beliefs and it wasn't on, why couldn't everyone just accept people for who they are not what they are? Why should someone's sexual orientation decipher your opinion on them, when you don't know them? Why should someone's race construe your mind, when you don't know them? Why should someone's differing beliefs instantly make up your mind about them, when you don't know them?
——— ••• ———
"It's good to know you didn't forget about us," Harrison's friend, Ezra joked as the group of four waited at the bar to order drinks. Ezra was a mousey blonde boy with bright blue eyes and was known for his incredible broad shoulders, he used to play rugby back in Secondary School but he dislocated his knee pretty badly so had to give it up. Ezra had been friends with Harrison since primary school, they'd had a fairly rocky start because they both liked this red car that they were able to play with and it always resulted in bickering.
Arthur was the shortest in the group, he had light brown hair and light brown eyes, he was really good at art and often sold some of his pieces online, he'd ask for requests often from fans of celebrities and would get a good price depending on how good the buyer thought it was. He'd been friends with Harrison since secondary school, they met in art class and Harrison had complimented his work, they ended up blossoming a friendship from then on.
Finally, Zuri was the new boy in year eight after having to move schools because the travel was too much, Ezra got sat next to him and then offered him to spend time with Arthur and Harrison, they all hit it off instantly. Zuri was just an inch shorter than Harrison, with dreadlocks and dark brown eyes; he'd always had an interest in mechanics and at the end managed to achieve that job.
"Sometimes I wish I had. . ." Harrison joked with his mates and Ezra whacked him on the chest playfully, it was nice to spend time with them all again, it had been far too long.
The four all had their pints in hand and took a quick sip before they found themselves a suitable table that was in the corner of the room. They hadn't spent time together for far too long, they all had their own careers to focus on that, and Harrison was hardly ever in Manchester anymore so it was often difficult to arrange something when all of them would be free.
"You still with Sav?" Harrison asked Zuri, who's face lit up at the mention of his beautiful girlfriend of three years, but then his face morphed into a slight frown.
"We're still together, we're just a bit off at the moment," Zuri explained with a sad sigh. He met Savannah when he had his part-time job when he was in training to become a full-time mechanic, she worked in the same shop as he did and they almost instantly hit off, they went on many a date before they officially made things official but it was like they both knew straight away that they fit.
"Sorry to hear that, what's going on?" Harrison asked, concerned, Zuri and Sav had been together for a long time now, they were perfect for each other. Obviously, every relationship has its differences, Harrison just hated seeing one of his best mates with such a sorrowful expression.
"I don't know man, I got the impression that she thinks I'm cheating on her but I wouldn't do that—I love that girl so fucking much," Zuri spoke, the pain evident in his voice.
Harrison put his arm around him and patted him on the back "I'm not the best person to give you relationship advice because you know how my last one worked out," Harrison started and earned a few chuckles "But I think, as cliche as it sounds, you should just talk to her, see how she's feeling," Harrison explained, Zuri nodded in agreement. He was glad to have such supportive friends.
"Let's not make this a sad hour, come on," Zuri joked with a laugh, he wanted to have a good time with his friends and not be a downer on the group.
"What about you then mister stardom?" Arthur joked with his friend playfully "Do you have a girl?" He asked wiggling his eyebrows suggestively making Harrison roll his eyes cheerfully.
"No, pretty sure I'm incapable," Harrison jested making the mousey blonde roll his eyes, he knew full well that Harrison was a catch, girls loved him and so did the boys, he was the full package—six foot three, famous, good-looking, the kindest soul so he knew full well that his mate was talking absolute bullshit.
"Yeah, yeah," Ezra replied with another roll of the eyes, he always underestimated himself when it came to his dating abilities.
"What about all those singers and models and other actors that follow you on insta?" Arthur asked with a playful smirk "Guarantee some of them are fit, you're just too scared to message any of them," Arthur joked with a shrug of slight truth. They all knew how awkward Harrison got around girls he found attractive or how sacred he got in general, he was a pretty shy person in reality.
"I don't want to message anyone anyway," Harrison countered with a shrug.
"Oh, come on man, when was the last time you properly enjoyed yourself with a woman?" Arthur replied with his left eyebrow raised.
"That hardly matte-"
"We'll be your wingmen if you really need mate, just let yourself have some fun, maybe momentarily or long time," Arthur shrugged again.
"I'm good, thank you though," Harrison smiled with a laugh, his voice slightly sarcastic, he wasn't really interested in anyone at the moment.
"Oh shit—," Ezra chuckled in realisation, his blue eyes wider than a black hole "You are going out with that girl aren't you?" He laughed ecstatically. Harrison just sighed, had anyone not seen that bloody interview?
"I'm not, we're just friends," Harrison said firmly, making sure his mousey-haired friend understood.
"Just friends?" He repeated.
"Yes,"
"Friends," Arthur jumped in his voice high-pitched like that scene from the inbetweeners when Jay had a 'football friend'.
"Just friends," Zuri added in the same tone as Arthur, which ended up making the full table erupt in a cacophony of laughter. The four friends could tease each other about anything, within reason, of course, that's why Harrison laughed instead of getting pissy.
He knew that there'd be millions of questions asked about the blue-haired girl, who's picture he liked because he very rarely uses social media or so people thought—he was the type of guy who would go on it, maybe daily and like peoples posts but hardly ever share anything himself unless a new project was upcoming.
"Nah, we know you're not, it's just funny to see what the press say about you cause they really don't know you," Ezra spoke, his best mate was very well-known around the world and he understood the masses amount of crap paparazzi and people spread about celebrities even though they don't know a single thing about them. Rumours spread like wildfire and wildfires were dangerous.
People should watch what they say, especially online, internet bullying was there permanently and although you may think that the person with more followers than you won't see what you post or just that person in your school, doesn't mean they won't; bad things overtake the good. People should learn to be kinder and learn that not everything is everyone's business. People should stop treating others like such crap, to simply put it, if people don't have anything nice to say don't fucking say it.
Harrison, Ezra, Zuri and Arthur all knew what it was like to loose someone because of other people's words; sometimes people suffer in silence, when they shouldn't. They wish that their mate, Oliver would've felt like he could've spoken to them but sometimes it isn't as easy as that.
Oliver had been struggling for years and no one knew because he was good at hiding how he felt, he could conceal everything behind his award winning smile. When the news had been broken to the four friends, their hearts instantly shattered, they wished he would've known that they were there for him and that they'd do anything they could to help him. They missed him dearly, every day and his memory would always live on within them until the world ended.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE !!!
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wrote; wednesday 19th february 2020
(partially) edited; monday 31st august 2020
published; wednesday 9th september 2020