The bar was reassuring warm after the cold night.
I shook the rain of my jacket and ordered a cold beer.
It had been a long day, or more like a long week. I'd been working the weekend shift and had been doing 14 hours a day for eight days now. My mind and body ached and the only thing that I was thinking was my much needed days off.
The beer was good and I moved to one of the sunken leather sofas next the glowing embers of the day's fire.
I sat alone, musing and flicking through the day's paper, oblivious to everything around me.
"Cheer up"
The thick accent made me start. I glanced up to see a handsome and boyish faced beaming back at me as he cleared the empty glasses from my table.
I smiled weakly, embarrassed that he had spoken to me and unsure of how to reply.
I just nodded and mumbled something about it being a long week and put my head back to the paper.
I spent the next couple of hours in that seat, reading and watching people and ordered a few more beers.
The barman's name was John and as the pub's customers began to thin I moved to the bar and we started conversation. We shared jokes and stories and I relaxed.
He gave me a whiskey on the house and then asked if I smoked. I nodded and he asked if I wanted to come back to his flat for a quick smoke before turning in for the night.
I agreed and when his shift finished he showed me up to his place directly above the pub.
As we climbed the narrow stairs, I couldn't help noticing him in the faint light. He was very good looking, with swept back golden hair and a hint of boyish stubble.
He was shorter than me, but more firmly built and his clothes fitted his him well.
A pair of faded ribbon bracelets were interwoven on his wrists, and his arms were tanned and strong.
Without realising it I was checking him out.
I had played around with guys in my teens, a hand job here and a blowjob there, and enjoyed the odd bi-sexual fantasy since, but here I was entranced and checking out a guy I had just met in the same way that I would a women.
We went into his living room and as he grabbed me a beer from the kitchen he told me that his flatmates were out for the night.