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Wallace watched his current boyfriend, Samson, clean off his glasses with the sleeve of his sweater before sliding his eyes to the clock on the back wall. Five minutes past the meeting time. He should’ve expected Scott and Natalie to be late. Or maybe he shouldn’t lump his girlfriend in with Scott. She was probably perfectly punctual. “Do you think if they’re not here in the next ten minutes we should just leave?”
Giving his patented pleasant smile, Samson said, “This isn’t a college course. Besides, I’m sure they’ll be here in no time at all.”
“Yeah.” Wallace tucked his chin into his propped up hand. “You’re probably right.” He was conceding verbally but deep down he really was hoping this whole thing was called off. It felt as if he’d agreed to this double date while either drunk or possessed because there was no way he would’ve said yes sober. Why would he want a front row seat to watch the guy he’d been mooning after enjoy time with his very devoted girlfriend.
The worst part of it was having to be subjected to all of that while supposedly on a date of his own. That just felt cruel to Samson. He’d met him a few weeks ago, and started dating him even less than that, so it wasn’t like they were incredibly committed. Still, Wallace never strives to be a dick and currently he was unsure that he wouldn’t come off as one.
So far, no one has ever been around to see him blatantly flirt with Scott, which meant that so far he’d never had to be all that aware of what he said. Scott was never the type to pick up on much and lately Wallace had been testing the limits of what exactly he could say without revealing anything about how he felt. He’s currently taking a brief break for the better of his heart.
The door to the restaurant jingled and Samson nudged Wallace. “Do you think that’s your friend? He keeps looking around the room. He might be looking for us.”
Sure enough, there Scott was. Standing there in all his frumpy glory. There was a small smattering of snow all over his shoulders and his hair was still tucked into the collar of his coat. Holding onto his hand was his drop dead gorgeous girlfriend. The two of them standing next to each other was nearly comical. Scott had this kind of dumb dog appeal going on while Natalie was all crisp eyeliner and sharp high heeled boots.
Lifting a hand to wave them over, Wallace replied, “Yeah that’s him.”
Scott trotted over to their table with a big toothy grin on his face. Sheepishly he pulled out the chair opposite Wallace and sat down. “Sorry we’re late.” His eyes moved to Samson. “Hey, you must be Samson! You’re Wallace’s boyfriend, right?” Scott let go of Natalie and held out a hand across the table. “It’s great to meet you.”
“It’s great to meet you, too. Wallace talks about you all the time.”
Shit, really? Wallace had thought the first time he’d mentioned Scott had been when he brought up the double date. Wow, the thing had just started and he’d already gotten his first strike.
Sheepishly, Scott gave a laugh. “Oh, I swear I’m not as bad as he probably said I am.”
As the two of them were introducing themselves to each other, Wallace looked over to Natalie, which was a poor blow to his heart. Before seeing her Wallace could’ve lied to himself and imagined her looking comically similar himself. As cruel as it sounds, he was kind of hoping Natalie was just a visual replacement for Wallace. But, no. She had long red hair, completely opposite from Wallace. The only feature he could see reflected back at him were the judgemental and analyzing eyes.
She was looking right through him.
Avoiding the stare slowly peeling him apart, Wallace started reading the menu under his crossed arms. There was a little blurb in the middle of it boasting about their bottomless garlic bread.
“Hey Scott loves these,” Wallace thought idly. He looked up to tell him, knowing exactly what Scott’s face would do once the words left his lips. The sight of Scott and Natalie’s clasped hands on top of the table stopped him. Wallace closed his mouth. Scott would see the blurb eventually.
“Wallace? Have you already picked what you’re going to order?” Samson had ducked his head to talk just to Wallace. He was a nice guy. He would do nice things like pay for Wallace’s caffeine fix before a lecture, hold the door open, and all that kind of shit. Previously, this would’ve been exactly his type. He loves them smart as well as smart looking . And yet the one guy on his mind wasn’t Samson, but the sloppy and dull Scott Pilgrim across the table.
For the first time since they walked in, Natalie addressed Wallace directly. “How did you and your boyfriend meet, hmm?” As she talked, Wallace could almost feel her perfectly done nails digging into his shoulder.
Samson looked over at Wallace, “Well we have a lecture together, he had asked me a question about something or other, and now here we are. Pretty straight forward when I think about it.”
Right from when he mentioned their shared lecture, Wallace’s eyes snapped up to watch Scott, watching for a reaction. Did he even notice how similar their situations were? Would he start to suspect Wallace of any suffocated feelings based off this? God, did he even remember how they met or had that been tucked away as something unimportant? Based on the blanket look of general curiosity, Wallace assumed it had to be one of those.
“How did the two of you meet?” Samson asked in return, pleasantly unaware of the state of Wallace’s mind. At least that could be something both he and Scott had in common. Currently, the only one at the table who seemed to be aware of Wallace’s inner turmoil was Natalie.
Honestly, Wallace had no idea who he’d rather notice.
Natalie tucked the hair falling in her face behind her ear and smiled all lovely. “Just through mutual friends. Just as straight forward as yours I think.”
Whatever it was that Natalie was doing in that small interaction, Scott was eating it up. Wallace could have stood up and pulled down both his pants and underwear and Scott would still be all caught up in his girlfriend. All she did was move her hair and smile. Wallace could do that just fine. And yet, Wallace never had Scott’s attention like that. He never had him hanging on his every word like that. From the way Scott was looking at Natalie, one could assume she was a prophet of God.
Nothing on the menu sounded too appealing anymore. Wallace’s stomach had knotted into itself and his tongue felt bigger than his mouth could hold. He wasn’t sure if he could hold down anything, not even the stupid bottomless garlic bread.
Conversation went by. They swapped complaints about classes, restaurant recommendations, and favorite movie tropes. All the while, Wallace stewed in his own yearning, becoming more and more convinced that this was a terrible idea. Also that he should probably break up with Samson.