Chapter 5: Not Your Typical Tuesday
'I can't believe I just did that!' Thought Jay as he left the gym. He was internally freaking out if he said too much or insulted Danial. 'What was I thinking! That's right you weren't thinking, at least not with the head on your shoulders.' He got so caught up in how the blonde was staring at him that he just couldn't help himself. Jay was not usually a confident flirt, but there he was throwing flirtatious lines at the blonde like it was nothing. The reaction he got was greater than anything he could imagine. Danial just seemed to egg it on, to want Jay to flirt with him.
'Too bad I had to lose my nerve and ruin everything.' He thinks banging his head on the wall in his entryway after entering his apartment. Eventually, he looks over at his door, wondering if the blonde is thinking about him like he is about Danial. Slowly, he stands up from the wall and walks over to the door, looking through to the eyehole. Just as he brings his eye to look out the peephole, he sees the blonde walk up to his door. When he sees the blonde pulls out his keys, Jay expects him to walk inside, but that is not what he sees. Danial stops his hand on the doorknob, turning to look at Jay's door for a couple of minutes before finally walking into his apartment.
Jay stands there stunned, not believing what just happened. Did Danial like Jay back? He turns around and puts his back to the door, shocked and surprisingly happy. What a strange day this has been. It started off with Jay not wanting to get out of bed and the day just got more horrible as it went on, but then, an amazing stranger left food for him, he met King, and finally his run-in with Danial in the gym. He might have started off the day filled with sadness and depression, but now he is ending it with a hopeful smile on his face.
It had been a week since the late-night gym run in. Since then, he has broken down and called King twice, and every time they are on the phone for at least an hour he always gets off the phone with a smile on his face. Then there are the late-night workouts that Jay and Danial have started doing together. Each time the blonde became more and more tempting, Danial even started to do his stretches down there, much to Jay's delight and sexual frustration.
"Hey nerd, what are you staring at?" Jay shook his head and turned around on his heels, coming face to face with a smirking Danial. Jay couldn't help the bright smile that took over his face.
"Danny, what are you doing here," Jay asked, looking down at the beautiful blonde in front of him who was still smirking. Danial chuckled, pointing behind Jay.
"Getting on the elevator," he replied, coming to stand beside Jay as he waited for the elevator. It was Tuesday morning, and Jay was on his way to work. The elevator binged and opened, allowing the two to walk inside.
"Oh ya. Umm, I meant... where are you off to today? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Jay says nervously, looking at the blonde from the corner of his eyes. Danial was still wearing that smirk that made Jay want to kiss him so damn bad.
"My new store is just about ready to open. I was headed to meet up with the two I hired to work there, at the shop." The elevator opened on the ground floor; they stepped off the elevator walking side by side. "Where are you headed?"
"Oh work. I have to be there by 10 to help get ready to open at 11. I actually have been trying to put in more hours lately." Jay didn't know why he was telling him all this, but it felt so natural talking to Danial. They were now standing outside the entrance to their apartment building on the sidewalk. "Guess I should let you get on with your day, huh?" Jay shifted nervously on his feet, looking at the ground and then back into Danial's scarlet eyes. A soft disappointed smile on his face.
"Give me your phone, idiot," Danial said, surprising him, his hand in front of Jay. Raising both eyebrows in surprise, Jay handed over his phone quickly, far too easily, and eagerly. Danial chuckles and takes Jay's phone and puts in his number, then calls himself to save Jay's number in his phone as well. He gives Jay back his phone. "Call me or text me if you ever want to talk, nerd." With that, Danial turns around and walks away from Jay, leaving him completely stunned and a huge blinding smile on his face.
Jay has no idea what just happened, but he is so happy it did. He walks to work unable to wipe the smile from his face. For the first time in years, Jay walked into work with a real smile on his face.
"Wow Jay, what made you so happy?" Asked a voice from his left as he entered the building. He turns and sees his co-worker Britney standing off to the side.
"Just had a really good morning. I ran into Danny again and he actually gave me his number." He says, making his way over to the bar, to start getting ready for the day. He could see a sour expression settle on Britney's face. He decides just to focus on his task instead of asking and listening to her bitch till they open. She knew that Jay was gay and had never accepted it, feeling that she could somehow turn him straight or at least bi. But once she found out about his love for the blonde across the hall, she knew that she didn't stand a chance, so she had been slowly trying to turn his focus to her. Then last Tuesday, that stupid gym meet-up ruined everything. Now his love for Danial had been renewed and enhanced, making it even harder for her to get Jay to notice how much better she was than some guy who didn't even know Jay existed a week ago.
"Hey Jay, did you remember to clock in today," asked Skyler walking into the room, and looking at a clipboard with a couple of papers on it. Jay froze then bolted for the back room. "I'll take that as a no." Skyler chuckles as turns to look at Britney. "What's wrong with you?"
"We need to do something about this 'Danny' guy." Britney scoffs, folding her arms and glaring. Skyler rolls his eyes and looks back at his inventory sheet.
"No, I think we shouldn't. He has been helping Jay lately. More than we have in years." He hears Britney groan.
"Help with what? There is nothing wrong with him. This is ridiculous!" She stomps away, upset that she still couldn't get anyone to get on her side or help her. Skyler shook his head, clearly, he was going to need to get ahold of Laura again to fix this or see if they could.
"Thank you for reminding me, Skyler. I can't believe I forgot again," Jay says chuckling, a sad look in his eyes. 'Oh crap, he heard.' Skyler thinks, putting down his clipboard and walking over to Jay.
"You heard what the bitch said, didn't you," Skyler asks him, bringing him for a hug. Jay nods, wrapping his arms around Skyler's torso. "Don't listen to her, she's jealous and a bitch. Danial sounds like he likes you back as much as you like him. He gave you his phone number for crying out loud." Jay chuckles, nodding.
"He also told me to call if I ever needed anything, ha-ha, isn't that funny," Jay says chuckling with a sarcastic voice.
"You are just making my point for me. Jay don't change who you are. And do not listen to her." Jay nodded as they broke the hug. "Now let's get to work. Got a long day ahead of us."
The day went by relatively uneventfully, till around 3 p.m. when Jay was giving a customer his beer. He turned around wiping his hands on a rag when he saw a very special blonde walk through the door with another blonde and a dirty blonde. He instantly froze and was bright red. 'Oh, crap.' Jay thought turning around and acting like he wasn't totally staring.
~
"Come on Kat let's go get something to eat! Please I am starving," Laura dramatically cried, hanging off Danial's shoulder. Leor laughed on the other side of him. Danial growled before rolling his eyes.
"If we go get something to eat, will you get off of me?" Danial said glaring at her. They both nodded enthusiastically, huge smiles on their faces. He rolled his eyes looking at the clock. All of a sudden, he realized something. Jay was working right now, and it was a Tuesday afternoon, the perfect time to go see the brunette with fewer people to distract him. "Fine, I know the perfect place to go," Danial smirked, walking out of the store and to his car.
"Where are we going?" Leor asked behind him. They got into the car and Danial started pulling out of his parking spot.
"The Beyond Bar and Grill. I heard they have a great daytime bartender." What he was not counting on when he said that, was that Laura knew EXACTLY who was bartending today. A knowing smirk takes over her face as she turns to look at Danial from the passenger seat.
"Oh really." Danial does NOT like that tone in her voice. "It just so happens I know who the bartender is, personally." 'Fuck, this is bad.' He thought not daring to look at her.
"Fine we can go somewhere else," he growls, looking around before turning on his turn signal.
"WAIT! That's not what I meant," Laura yells, making an X with her arms. Danial grins, satisfied with himself. Leor is in the back seat just laughing his ass off at the display.
"Jay lives across from me and we are becoming friends. I just wanted to check on him. There you are happy now," Danial admits glaring and white knuckling the steering wheel. They pull into the bar parking lot and get out of the car.
"I will warn you now Kat, there is a co-worker of Izu's that is a little psycho about him. She can't seem to accept he is gay."
'So, I was right. Thank God.' He thinks walking beside Laura.
"Well, not that it matters, but Jay and I are just friends." Laura scoffs, shaking her head.
"If he is the same guy, you have been talking about all week and thinking about, then you are more than just 'friends'. Or you want to be at least. Either way, watch out for her, her name is Britney. She's one of the waitresses." They walk through the door into the bar area. Danial instantly sees Jay out of the corner of his eye. He can't help but smirk when he sees the dark red blush take over Jay's face. "Looks like someone is happy you're here." He hears Laura whisper into his ear, giving him her own shit-eating smirk. 'This could be fun.' Danial thinks while still staring at Jay who is still frozen in place staring back before coming to his senses and turning around. 'Oh ya, now let's see who this Britney bitch is and make it clear Deku is MINE.'