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The Sunset Bar tonight was noisy and packed with people. For a “laid-back escape” (or so the description online had said), the place was teeming with people who spoke and laughed loudly. Sure, the bar itself was a nice area—warm, yellow lights were dimmed, the furniture was sleek, the couches looked soft, and the drinks were all right. Minus the noise and the people, the place could have been cozy. Now all Sebastian felt is regret. Friday night was the wrong time to come to this bar. Disgruntled at the noise, he nursed his martini and scanned the shelves stacked with bottles of liquor behind the bartender.
“Hello there,” a voice said beside him. Sebastian cast him a sideward glance. The one who spoke was a man, middle-aged but dressed as if he was twenty. He was big, but not because of muscles. Sebastian turned his attention back to the shelves. Surely this man would catch his drift and leave.
To his disappointment, the man only crowded him, setting an arm on the bar uncomfortably close to his own crossed ones. Sebastian shifted slightly away. Jesus, won’t this man simply quit?
“Hey, don’t be so mean, I just want to talk to you,” the man cooed. “What’s your name, sweetheart?” When Sebastian didn’t answer, he pressed further. “You’re cute, you know that? Playing hard to get. Let me buy you a drink. What’re you drinking? Come on, play nice with me baby, I won’t hurt you, I just want to talk to you.”
Sebastian couldn’t take it anymore. “Look, I’m not interested,” he said, pegging the man with an annoyed look. He went back to his martini. Why was it always like this? He’d get guys making passes at him in clubs and bars—did he look like that type of guy? He didn’t even see himself as attractive. Hell, he wasn’t even gay. He’d thought about being with guys and had kissed a few in the past, but he wasn’t definitely gay. If the guy still wouldn’t leave, he would have no choice but to leave himself.
“Hey, don’t be so rude, I’m trying to do you a favor and you’re being a bitch,” the man said, looking a bit red. “You should be thankful I’m even talking to your fat ass!”
Before Sebastian could even look at the man another voice spoke from behind him. “Hey, man, I’m back. What’s going on here?”
Sebastian turned to see the new stranger, who was now taking the empty seat beside him. Younger than the man who had just insulted him, and more attractive, with silver hair that oddly looked good on him. He smiled quickly at Sebastian as if they’d known each other for the longest time, and then gave the larger man a quizzical look. “Who’s this?”
It didn’t take Sebastian long to understand what the silver-haired stranger was trying to do. “Nothing. I was trying to tell this guy to get lost, but he just wouldn’t get it,” said, sipping his drink. “So he yelled abuse at me.”
The larger man fumed. “You rude faggot bitch! I was just being nice to you,” he grunted, nostrils flaring. “And now you rag on me to you ugly friend here about me being rude!”
“Hey, who the fuck do you think you are to talk to him like that?” Silver-Hair said, standing up. He looked like he was about to punch this larger man. The people close by stopped their chattering to see what was going on. “You’re lucky he didn’t just punch you in the mouth, you fucker. I know I would have.”
Sebastian couldn’t take his eyes off what was happening before him. The silver-haired stranger had good intentions, sure, but this was quickly turning into a scene, and the larger man looked like he could throw him across the room if he so wanted to. “Wait, I think—”
“Oh yeah? You wanna punch me in the mouth, you cunt?” the larger man snarled. He stalked closer to Silver Hair, close enough that their noses were almost touching. “You wanna go?”
Silver Hair remained calm and smirked. “Yeah. I wanna go.”
Everything was so silent all of a sudden. It was as if all the oxygen was sucked out of the place. Sebastian’s heart was beating really fast. A stranger was putting himself in danger, just to get him out of a bad situation. This was so fucked. He glanced at the silver-haired man—surely by now he was regretting what he’d just said. But he didn’t. He did not look scared, nor intimidated. He was the image of cool confidence. Sebastian thought this man was either the bravest or the stupidest person he’d ever met.
“Come on. Let’s take this outside,” Silver Hair said calmly. “You wanna go, let’s go.”
A few beats of silence again. And then the larger man backed off. “Fags,” he muttered, turning around with a huff. Once he was out of Sebastian’s sight, he exhaled. Murmurs still rang through the bar, but they did not care anymore. He looked at the silver-haired man. “You are insane.”
The other man just laughed and took his seat again. “He looked like he was harassing you. What’s a guy to do?” He smiled at Sebastian. “My name’s Vincent, by the way, but call me Kavinsky,” he said, offering a hand.
Sebastian shook his hand. “I’m Sebastian. Thanks,” he said, returning the smile. He liked this guy. His smile was lopsided, and his eyes were a warm brown, up close. “Were you really bent on getting in a fight with that guy?”
“If it got down to it, yeah.” He asked the bartender for vodka on the rocks. “My friends and I wanted to do something, but they were all pussies—well, the guy was big,” he said with a chuckle. He turned the seat around and waved at a small group in one of the booths.
Sebastian turned and saw the group Kavinsky was referring to. There were five guys at the booth. He figured that even as a group, without Kavinsky, the large man would’ve mopped the floor with them. They caught him looking at them and they waved at him. He waved back and turned back to the counter.
“They were scared to stand up, so they told me to go. And I was the stupidest in the group, not going to lie about it, so I did what they said,” Kavinsky continued. “But look what I got out of that,” he said, giving Sebastian a wink.
“A damsel in distress?” Sebastian said, raising a brow at him.
“A new friend,” Kavinsky countered. He stood up. “Come on, I want to introduce you to my friends. If you’re all right with that.”
Sebastian stood with him. “Sure,” he smiled. “It was their idea anyway.”
“Hey, I was about to get my ass kicked for you!” Kavisnky said, mock-hurt. He led Sebastian to the booth and introduced him to the small group. “And these are the brains behind the brilliant idea to come to your rescue,” he said, gesturing to the five men seated. “That’s Pedro. Beside him are Gaspard and Xavier. That’s Bertrand, but he likes to be called So-Me. And that’s Jesus, right there,” he concluded, pointing to a man in a white shirt who really did look like Jesus.
“Fuck off,” Jesus-Man smiled, a bit shyly.
Kavinsky laughed. “His name’s Thibaut. And this guy,” he said, putting a hand on Sebastian’s shoulder, “is Sebastian,” he said to them.
“Hello, Sebastian,” the man named Pedro said. He had shoulder-length blond hair and blue eyes that had a soft look in them. “We’re glad we could help.”
“It was Pedro’s idea, but he was too skinny!” the man named Xavier joked. He looked like the smallest in the group, with dark hair and high cheekbones. From afar, Sebastian had thought he was an Asian girl.
“But we all agreed. It would be bad if we saw something happening to someone we could help,” Gaspard said. He had thick, curly hair, and next to Xavier he was tall. If Xavier was an Asian girl, Gaspard would be his hippie boyfriend. Sebastian wanted to ask if there was anything going on between the two of them, but figured it would be impolite to ask such a question to new friends.
The man named Bertrand, or So-Me, nodded, and reached for his glass. “True. So we told Kav to stand up and face the guy.” He looked easygoing, like a teenager out of college, Sebastian noticed.
Thibaut also nodded and gave Sebastian a small smile. This was a man who, Sebastian decided, would never raise his voice randomly. He was a bit taller than Xavier, but Xavier’s personality was obviously bigger. Thibaut seemed like he’d rather shrink himself smaller.
“I had the largest balls among us,” Kavinsky bragged. “And the smallest brain, but who cares. What do you say, Seb, do you want to sit with us skinny wierdos?” he said, shaking Sebastian slightly.
No one had ever given him a nickname before—his mom and sister would teasingly call him Sebos, but that was it—and no one had ever thought of pretending to be his friend to get him out of a bad situation. Sebastian liked Kavinsky and his friends already. “Why not? I wasn’t with anyone anyway,” he said, earning cheers from the group. In moments the bar seemed like a better place, and Sebastian was glad.