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Clay shook his head for the millionth time, causing Hannah to groan in slight frustration.
"It'll be fun!" She persisted again. Clay gave her a pointed look and just continued to focus on the laptop screen in front of him, which was displaying a movie.
"It's a bar, Hannah," Clay said with a knowing tone. "All kinds of disastrous things can happen at a bar." He started to watch the movie again before Hannah marched up to where Clay was laying down and shut the laptop. Before Clay could open the laptop lid again, she pulled it away from his reach and set it on the kitchen table nearby. Clay groaned and leaned his head back, clearly annoyed with his best friend's persistence.
"Why are you torturing me?" Clay asked, sounding half playful and half completely serious. Hannah grinned.
"I'm not," She said as she started to reapply her lipstick in front of the living room mirror. "I just think it'd be a good idea to get you out of here every once in a while, you know, get some fresh air.. maybe even meet some new people." Clay rolled his eyes as he started to get up from his sitting position.
"You want me to meet new people at a bar?" Clay questioned incredulously, now standing up and putting a hand on his hip and giving her a look of disapproval. Hannah grinned again and matched his hand-on-hip stance.
"That's exactly what I want," Hannah said casually. "There's a lot of cute guys at the bar. And that's just at a regular bar. At a gay bar however,-"
"We are not going to a gay bar," Clay interrupted as he wrinkled his nose. "There's probably going to be a lot of exotic dancers and creepy old men there." Hannah gave a chuckle as she nodded in agreement.
"Well said," Hannah said, nodding her head. "So that means we're going to a regular bar?"
Clay sighed, knowing that she'd never stop bugging him if he declined like he usually did.
"Alright," he said hesitantly, clearly exhausted from turning her down so much. "Why the fuck not, right?"
Hannah practically screamed and jumped in excitement. Clay rolled his eyes and wondered if he'd regret his decision. He gave a groan as Hannah started to dash to his room, who he knew was picking out his outfit for him to wear.
Clay already knew he was going to regret agreeing to go with Hannah.
He pulled his hands further into his sleeves in attempts to keep them warm as a strong breeze of winter cold went by, and he cursed Hannah for not picking out something a little more warm for him to wear. He took another glance at his outfit, starting to become more and more self conscious of what he was going to wear while they were there. He wore a pair of tight black jeans, a dark grey floral shirt with long sleeves, and white converse.
The first thing Clay noted when he entered the bar after Hannah was the smell. He fought the urge to pinch his nose as the scent of beer, cigarette smoke and body odor made its way into his nostrils. He nearly gagged as he continued to make his way through the crowd of faceless people, trying to scurry his way to the bar itself. He held onto Hannah's hand as they made their way through, and Clay could've sworn he felt hands try to grope his body. He shook his head and brushed the silly thought off and blamed his imagination and paranoia.
They finally reached the bar stools and they both sat down, and Hannah signaled the bartender to get them both something softcore, which Clay was grateful for considering he never drank anything alcoholic before. Hannah was already looking at the crowd of people, and returning looks at the boys she was attracting, while Clay was averting his eyes away from any person that was giving him attention.
The bartender handed the pair their drinks. Hannah gave a flirtatious smile and thanked him, making the bartender blush a deep red. Clay playfully rolled his eyes at his best friend as she giggled.
"Cheers," Hannah said, raising her glass towards Clay. "To stepping out of our comfort zone." Clay raised his glass of unknown fluids and nodded in agreement. They both chugged down their drinks, Hannah doing it with ease while Clay started to cough and gag, clearly new to alcohol. Hannah laughed and Clay jokingly smacked her on the shoulder. Before Clay could say something, Hannah got up from her seated position on the stool.
Clay was about to protest, but she interrupted him. "There's this guy that's looking at me, and he's the bomb-dot-com." Clay's mouth opened agape and Hannah chuckled. "Oh my god, you'll be fine. See you soon!" And just like that, Hannah sped off to find her mystery man. Clay groaned and turned back to the bar, back facing the crowd. He scrolled through his phone and went on his numerous social media apps, in attempts to cure his boredom.
After a few minutes of doing nothing that he couldn't do at home, Clay contemplated leaving and messaging Hannah that if she needed a ride, then just call her. A movie and snacks sounded very tempting to Clay at the moment.
Just as Clay was about to pay for the two drinks and hop off the stool, he saw somebody occupy the seat next to him. Clay stayed seated as he examined the man next to him. The man seemed to be around the same age as him, though was probably a couple years older at the most. He was blonde, who wore a blue varsity jacket and a pair of khakis. The blonde ordered a drink and looked at Clay, who was still staring at the man in curiosity. Clay blushed as he was seemingly caught staring and diverted his attention to the many bottles lined up on the bar. The blonde gave a low chuckle, which nearly made Clay flinch for a reason he wasn't quite sure of.
"You can stare," the man said with a slow slur. Clay could easily tell that the man was drunk out of his mind. "I know I've been doing the same to you." Clay reddened again and widened his eyes, surprised at the man's bluntness. Clay didn't even know what to respond with. Clearly uncomfortable except to the oblivious person sitting next to him, he just gave a sheepish and nervous chuckle as a response.
"So," the man started. "What's your name, cutie?" Clay forced himself not to cringe as the man tried to make small talk. He scratched at his head, an act of nervousness.
"It's Clay," he stuttered out, wondering if he should excuse himself away from the situation altogether or continue to talk to the stranger. "What's yours?"
"Bryce," the man, Bryce, responded. "Bryce Walker."
Clay nodded his head, pretending to be interested. The only thing he was focusing on was how was he going to politely step away from what was happening right now. Clay wasn't the best at talking with new people, and that's one of the reasons why he envied Hannah, because she was able to easily talk with anyone and everyone, while Clay could only mutter out a few words and not be able to talk with detail.
"What do you say we get out of here?" Bryce questioned with a smirk on his face. "There's a lot more fun waiting to happen at my place." Bryce then winked. Clay fought the intense urge to gag and tried to regain himself as he was being questioned such inappropriate things. Clay scratched at his head again as he responded.
"I.. I don't know," Clay slowly said with hesitation. Bryce's face seemed to darken and Clay's heart started to beat faster at this.
"You don't know?" The stranger asked aggressively. Clay visibly gulped as he looked away from Bryce's look of anger. "I can easily change your mind-"
Before Bryce could finish his sentence, another voice spoke up a couple feet away from them.
"Is there a problem here, Bryce?"
They both turned to where the voice came from, and there revealed another stranger, a man. He was shorter than Bryce, but not by a lot. He had on a black leather jacket and a some dark blue jeans, and black boots, his hair was also slicked back. He was looking at Bryce warningly, as if threatening him. Bryce put his hands up, seemingly surrendering from whatever he was trying to do.
"Nothin' man, no problem," he said shakily. Clay raised a brow at the sudden change of character. "I'll just, ah, leave." He quickly got up from the stool and walked away from the two of them, all while Clay was processing what was happening. The other man sat down in the seat where Bryce was and held out his hand, Clay hesitantly held out his own too, and they shook hands.
"I had to," the man just said, causing Clay to raise a brow. "You looked really uncomfortable and Bryce is known to be a creep around our college campus." Clay narrowed his eyes at Bryce, who was now leaving the bar, thankfully.
"So, you know him?" Clay questioned. The man wrinkled his nose.
"Wish I didn't," he responded. "He hit on my sister one time, and started to get handsy, so I taught him a lesson." Clay widened his eyes in surprise. He looked back at the man wearing the leather jacket and gave him a sheepish smile.
"Well," Clay started to say. "Thanks for saving me, I guess." The man grinned.
"No problem." He responded.
Clay didn't know what it was, but he felt at ease when talking to this stranger. Maybe it's because this person didn't immediately suggest to have sex with them within the first minute of them meeting, but there was something else that Clay couldn't quite place his finger on. The stranger beckoned the bartender over. He ordered a drink for him and a drink for Clay. Clay started to protest, but the stranger was having none of it, and said that the drink he ordered for him was a softer drink than most alcoholic ones. Clay gave a sigh of relief.
"The name's Tony, by the way," The man said. Clay gave a nod.
"Hello, Tony," he responded. "I'm Clay Jensen."
Tony grinned and afterwards, the two drinks were served. They cheered to life saving moments and then drank.
They started to talk more and more, seemingly about anything. They talked about what they were studying in their colleges, what they do for part-time jobs, what their interests were, all the basic information. They ordered more drinks as they continued to casually talk, and Clay was surprised that he was able to fluently talk with a person he just met so easily. After their fifth drink, they decided that they should call it a night.
Clay drowsily looked around the bar, searching for Hannah's bright red jacket, but was unsuccessful in finding her. He frowned.
"Something wrong?" Tony asked, sounding concerned. Clay just shook his head.
"I came with my friend," he responded. "But I can't see her right now, and she has the key to the car." Tony shared a frown, but then his face brightened up as he came up with an idea.
"I can take you home," Tony said. Clay gave another frown.
"I don't want to burden you," he said lowly. Tony chuckled at the nonsense.
"It's not a burden if I want to," Tony responded. Clay gave a sheepish smile and started to blush, which made Tony grin even wider, and that made Clay blush even more. "Let's get going, shall we?"
They both got up from the bar and Tony set down money on the table for the drinks. Clay reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet, and was about to get some money out for his own drinks but a firm hand stopped him from getting the bills out. He looked up to see Tony shaking his head.
"Drinks are on me tonight," he said with a smirk. Clay reddened as he put his wallet back in his pocket, grateful once again. He took out his phone and texted Hannah that he was getting a ride home already and that she didn't have to wait for him. He turned his phone off and they headed out of the bar, towards Tony's car. Tony opened Clay's door for him, causing Clay to blush and mutter thanks as he stepped inside. Tony shut his door and went to the driver side.
He started the car and after Clay put his address into the phone navigator, they drove off towards Clay's house.
They arrived surprisingly quickly, much to the pair's dismay. They stopped at the front of the complex.
"Well," Clay started. "It was really nice to meet you, my knight in shining armor." Tony chuckled in agreement.
"That I am," he said. Before he could say anything else, Clay reached into his pocket and fished out his phone, unlocking it and opening the contacts app. Before Tony could comprehend what he was doing, Clay handed the phone to Tony.
"I want your number," Clay said bluntly and with a warm smile. Tony grinned and eagerly typed in his digits, also setting the name as Knight in Shining Armor. He handed the phone back to Clay and saw Clay blush, which made Tony's heart start to beat faster because of how adorable he looked. Clay quickly grabbed Tony's phone which was resting on the dashboard and opened his contacts list, and put his own number in. He handed it to Tony before planting a small and delicate kiss on Tony's cheek, which made Tony himself redden too. Clay grinned as he got out of the car.
"Hopefully I'll see you soon!" Clay said, voice hinting of excitement.
"Trust me, you will." Tony responded with the same amount of excitement in his voice. Clay gave another warm smile as he gave a final wave and shut the car door, and walked up the stairs to his apartment. Tony looked at Clay as he walked, and noted of everything about him. The way he walked, the way he smiled, the way he lit up when he talked about something he was passionate about, the way he easily blushed at pretty much anything that Tony did, and it made Tony's heart beat quickly. Tony shook his head smiling and looked at Clay's phone contact.
Damsel in Distress
"Fuck, that's adorable," Tony murmured to himself as he drove off, already planning what they could do together tomorrow.