Friday night, after Aidan was safe and sound with Grandpa, Seamus dragged Matt out of the apartment and took him to Coffee|Bar. Despite having worked the day shift a while now, he'd never been there after hours. The live music was a woman and her acoustic guitar, singing cover songs that were better than the originals. Patrons sat around the tables laughing, enjoying the low-lit atmosphere while waiters and waitresses served beer and wine. Matt wasn't even sure this was the same place he'd worked just a few short hours ago. It was so different.
Matt picked a small table while Seamus went to the bar that was partitioned off during the day. Matt smiled as he watched Seamus and the bartender, who was clearly nervous to serve his boss.
Commotion caught Matt's eye. Not far from where Seamus was waiting in line was a table with five women. With the encouragement from her friends, one woman shoved away from the group and approached Seamus at the bar. Matt didn't need to hear the conversation to know what was said. She was interested, he was not.
What did Seamus look like when he was interested in someone? He didn't exactly have a bubbly, inviting personality. Matt had never seen him so much as flirt with anyone. Even when Jay was chatting him up, Seamus didn't look all that interested even though Jay was a beautiful man.
The woman pouted to her friends when Seamus excused himself.
Once his drink was safely slid across the small tabletop, Matt smirked. "How do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Look completely closed off and unapproachable yet still manage to get hit on."
Why Seamus felt he had to hide his smile, Matt didn't know. "I must not look that unapproachable."
Matt laughed. "Trust me, you do."
"Yet you're here."
"Yes. Despite the fact I murdered you in my thoughts the first few times I saw you, I'm still here."
"Why would you think about murdering me?"
"
Because you went through the wrong door, twice. And almost killed me, twice
!" Matt shouted in good humor. He could hardly believe Seamus had forgotten.
Seamus made a big show of rolling his eyes and throwing his hands in the air. "We're
still
talking about this? You're a dog with a bone about this door situation. That was half a year ago."
"You almost killed me." Matt was about to take a drink when he remembered, "You almost killed Aidan."
Seamus paused. "Yeah, I do feel bad about that."
"Just Aidan? What am I? Chopped liver?"
Seamus smiled and finished his drink while Matt finished his. Of course Seamus was approached when he went for a refill. A different girl this time. The line was longer now so she had more time to try and stake a claim. Seamus was kind and held genuine interest in whatever they were talking about but as soon as he got his drinks, he bid her farewell.
When he got back to the table, Seamus's face was all,
don't-you-dare-say-it
. Matt smiled in victory. Thirty minutes later Seamus was back in line. Another approach. This time it was a guy around Matt's age. The bar was close to the University after all, everyone was Matt's age.
Matt looked away. He might've wondered what an interested Seamus looked like but that didn't mean he wanted to find out.
"Hey." A pretty brunette sat in Seamus's chair.
Shocked that someone had approached him, Matt glanced at Seamus who was looking between Matt and the girl. At first, he looked puzzled, then he smiled. The kind of smile that was practically a laugh. Matt wanted to flip him off. Instead, he turned to the girl.
"Hi."
She looked between Matt and Seamus. "I was just curious about you two. Are you guys—"
You know...
"
What
? Us?
Noooo
. I mean—we're not. No," he said. Finally. Words were so hard sometimes.
She laughed and glanced at Seamus who was on his way back to the table. "That's good." She smiled, got up, and left.
Seamus sat down, a little amused and a lot smug. "Looks like I'm not getting all the attention."
"Actually, she was inquiring about you." Matt looked toward the bar where the guy was still standing, watching Seamus in defeat. "And she wasn't the only one."
Seamus ignored Matt's comments. They talked and laughed. Matt was starting to feel the alcohol. He was feeling happy and outgoing, leaning a little towards honest and blunt. He didn't care as long as he was nowhere near emotional.
They started playing some version of twenty one questions.
"What was your first job?" Seamus asked.
"Depends on how technical you wanna get.
Technically
I mowed lawns when I was twelve but my first tax paying job was at a movie theatre when I was sixteen."
"I bet that was cool. Watching all the movies for free."
"Sure, if I was working at the six-plex on the other side of town that played all the good blockbusters," Matt laughed. "The movie theatre I worked at was this small independently owned place that only played critically acclaimed movies or ones slated for Oscar noms. Those weren't exactly the movies sixteen-year-old Matt wanted to watch. What about you?"
"Fourteen. I was a busser at a family run restaurant. I was fired three days later."
"
What?
" Matt laughed. "How'd that happen?"
Seamus made a sour face that was cuter than it should've been. "It was a busy morning and there was a large group with several kids. There was one kid, probably four or five, and he was not having a good day. There was an older lady a few tables away, she was not happy about the noise. She summoned me over, yelled at me, told me how unprofessional it was to have such rowdy children running around. She demanded I do something. I was fourteen and had no clue how to respond. The mean lady was glaring at me so I walked over and asked the parents if they could quiet their kid down. That was the wrong thing to do. My boss explained that it was a family restaurant and if someone had a problem with families, they could leave. They were nice about it but I was let go. I still think about that day. The look on the parents face," he cringed. "All these years later and I still feel terrible. Probably more so now that I have Aidan. Kids don't know how to process their emotions and they need grace. If someone said to me what I said to those parents, I'd punch 'em."
"You'd punch a poor fourteen-year-old boy who was being bullied by a Karen?"
"No," Seamus smiled. "I suppose I'd ask the kid who was complaining and then I'd punch Karen for being a bitch."
Matt laughed then tapped his chin as he thought of his next question. They'd talked about so much already. "How many boyfriends have you had?"
