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Brian walked up the short pavement, a bouquet of roses and carnages in his hand. Every step he took made his heart beat a little faster. Once he got to the front door, he hesitated. He had a mental checklist that he went over. De-thorn the flower, make sure he had a breath mint, make sure his clothes looked nice, make sure his hair looked fine… All the asking-someone-out checklist things.
Brian watched the door for just a moment before knocking. The moment he knocked, he realized he had a 50/50 chance of having Alex’s roommate answer the door. He panicked. That wasn’t ideal. He really didn’t want to face the awkwardness of that.
Gently squeezing the bouquet for comfort, he waited, his heart pounding in his chest. The wait felt like it was gonna go on forever. He felt his face heat up as he imagined Alex’s reaction. This could go so many ways… Good and bad.
His heartbeat was so loud in his ears. It felt like a loud drumming was playing directly beside him. The sound of the suburban neighborhood was a quiet one. That just added to the volume of his heartbeat.
As the door opened, Brian went to say something, but his mouth shut immediately when he saw Jay. Brian’s face was just about the same color as the roses he had.
“Uhm…?” Jay looked from the flowers to Brian. Brian thought carefully about his next words. “Can you uh…” He stumbled through his words. He swallowed hard, just trying to get his sentence out. “Can you get Alex?” His voice was just above a whisper.
“Sorry?” Jay furrowed his eyebrows, “You’re not asking me out are you?” Brian immediately shook his head. “No… No. Can you just go get Alex?”
Jay’s expression brightened. “Oh. Oh! Yeah!” The realization hit Jay before he could say anything else. His grin widened and his eyes had some sort of devilish glee in them that Brian couldn’t describe.
Jay nodded and closed the door. Jay called for Alex in a sing-song voice. Brian felt a knot in the back of his throat. He was so nervous. Him and Alex had been friends for years. He didn’t know how Alex felt about him, but the amount of times he caught him looking at him fondly, or staring… He was ready to take his chance.
The door opened again. Brian saw Alex and felt his heart skip a beat. He had wet hair. Oh my god, he had wet hair. Brian felt his face heat up again.
Brian took in the way he looked. His glasses sat snuggly on his nose. He had clearly pushed them up before he came outside. Brian loved when he did that. Alex always said he thought he looked like a nerd when he did it. Brian thought it was cute. Everyone with glasses had to do it, but anything Alex did was perfect in Brian’s eyes. Alex had a black t-shirt on with an unzipped jacket lazily thrown over it. One of the sleeves was hanging off his shoulder. That was something Brian always looked forward to when Alex wore jackets like that.
Then came the hard part. Brian had to speak. Alex looked down at the flowers, and then up to Brian. His face flushed. Alex obviously knew what was going on. He still couldn’t wait to hear what Brian had to say. His smile motivated Brian to continue. Alex took a step outside the doorway, closing the door behind him.
“Hey, Alex,” Brian started. He paused for a moment, his eyes flew around, trying to figure out what to say. “God, I had a plan, but…” Brian trailed off. Alex laughed softly, leaning against the front door. “Alex, will you uhm…” Brian stared down at the flowers for a moment. “Will you have dinner with me?” He paused for a moment. “Or… Lunch… Or anything?” Brian gave a small smile, his face as red as the roses in the bouquet. He held his hands out for Alex to take the flowers.
“You’re so cute, Brian Thomas, of course I will,” Alex smiled brightly. He took the flowers and smiled. “Carnages. You remembered,” Alex had a fond smile on his face as he looked at the flowers. Carnages were his favorite.
“Of course I remembered. If I’m gonna ask you out, that’s something I might want to make a mental note of,” One of Brian’s hands trailed up to the back of his own neck. It was a nervous stim.
“That’s true,” Alex laughed. “When are you free?” Alex asked, looking back up at him.
“I’m free whenever. I have Monday through Wednesday off work, and I can easily ask someone to cover my shift,” Brian gave a soft smile.
“What about tomorrow? I’m free tomorrow, and Jay isn’t supposed to get back home until really late,” Alex suggested.
Brian’s face once again started to burn red as he thought about what Alex could have meant. “Yeah, I’m good for tomorrow. Just let me know when you want to meet up.”
Alex nodded. He looked down at the flowers for just a moment before taking a step forward and giving Brian a soft kiss on the cheek. His smile was wide. Brian could see the delight in Alex’s eyes. They shined with a sort of passion that Brian loved.
Brian was frozen in place. His ears rang. He felt his world spin for a moment before he regained himself. He felt like a cartoon character with the way he reacted. He felt like his heart could leap out of his chest at any second.
Alex gave a soft laugh as he stepped back again. “I’ll call you, Brian,” Alex promised. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Brian smiled widely. His tooth gap was always obvious when he smiled like that. Alex loved that smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Alex went inside, and as he shut the door behind him, Brian let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. He felt giddy. He took a step back from the door, his smile never leaving his face. He turned towards the path back to the driveway, and started to walk back to his car. He had an extra pep in his step as he strided down the sidewalk.
He was so happy that it had gone well. He couldn’t be happier than he was in that moment. He couldn’t wait for tomorrow. His smile said it all. Brian was happy. He was finally going to be happy. Happy with Alex.
He liked that thought.
Happy with Alex. He thought. It sounded perfect.
He couldn’t think of anything better than a life with Alex.