Carlos tapped his fingers nervously on the podium as he waited for Cecil to arrive. The entire evening was planned: they would be led to their seat, the waiter would bring them champagne, then their dinner, and, by then, Carlos would have built up all his nerve, and he would propose to Cecil. It was all perfect.
The only thing that Carlos hadn't planned for is Earl Harlan coming out from the kitchen to tell Carlos personally that the restaurant had messed up and hadn't marked down his reservation.
"What?" Carlos asked dumbfounded. "I remember doing it on the phone like a week ago."
"I know, Carlos," Earl lamented. "Someone must have screwed up and forgotten to write it down. Don't worry, though. I'm putting myself completely in charge of your proposal. I will have everything done down to the tee."
Carlos gave him a small smile. "Well, thank you, Earl. That's very kind of you."
Earl smiled very widely. "It's no problem for my oldest friend and his boyfriend. The only problem is that the earliest that I can squeeze you in is in another two weeks."
Carlos's smile dropped. "Oh, well. . . I suppose that will have to do, then. Thank you for doing your best."
Nodding his acknowledgment, Earl marked something down in the reservation book and apologized for the mix up again before Carlos took his leave to call Cecil.
"Hello?" he heard from down the phone.
"Cecil? Hey, it's me."
"Carlos! I am on my way to the restaurant right now."
"Yeah, about that: it seems that our reservation isn't for another couple weeks. I'm sorry. I must have mixed up my dates again."
"Oh, well, that's alright, dear Carlos. We'll just eat in tonight."
Carlos smiled at his boyfriend's understanding. "Alright, sweetie. I'll see you at home."
"Okay, see you there. Love you."
"I love you, too. 'Bye."
"'Bye."
Carlos hung up the phone and made his way back to his car to begin the drive home. Once he got there, he found that Cecil had begun boiling some water, assumingly for some gluten-free spaghetti. He walked up behind his boyfriend and hugged him around the midsection.
"Hi," Carlos said cutely, making Cecil smile widely and look over his shoulder at him.
"Hi," he said back. "How was your day?"
"Great, besides the fact that I screwed up our dinner reservation. Yours?"
Cecil frowned at him and turned around in his grip. "Don't blame yourself for that. It was an honest mistake."
"Yeah," Carlos said, his eyebrows furrowing thoughtfully. "An honest mistake." Ever since he and Cecil started dating, Carlos felt that Earl did not like him very much. Perhaps he still had feelings for Cecil. Perhaps it was something else, but Carlos always felt that Earl was a little cold to him. And now, he figured, that Earl was trying to mess up his proposal to Cecil.
But Cecil knew none of this. And Carlos was not about to tell him.
Oblivious to his boyfriend's theories, Cecil kissed his nose and led him to their living room to watch a movie while they waited for their dinner to cook. Some minutes later, Cecil got up to check on the pasta, but pushed Carlos back down onto the sofa when he tried to follow.
"It's okay," he said. "I got it. You stay here. It'll only be a minute." And then he went into the kitchen.
But something was nagging at Carlos's thoughts as he watched Cecil walk away so he muted the television and called out, "Hey, Ceec? Can I ask you something?"
"Of course," he heard Cecil reply from the kitchen.
Clearing his throat, Carlos took a second to figure out just how to word his question. Finally, he decided to keep it vague. "What do you think of Earl?"
"Earl Harlan?" Cecil sounded rightfully confused. "He's great. He's probably my oldest friend."
Carlos sighed at the answer. Mostly due to the fact that he wasn't surprised by it. It's true: Earl and Cecil were old friends. This fact made Carlos question whether or not to tell his boyfriend about his boyfriend's ex-something's—whether they were lovers or just very close friends and Earl couldn't handle someone else taking up Cecil's attention—infatuation with destroying their relationship.
When Cecil walked back into the living room carrying two plates and two forks, he gave Carlos a questioning look and asked, "Why?"
"Oh, no reason," he replied as he stood up and began to walk into the kitchen. "What do you want to drink?"
"I'm fine, thanks," Cecil told him as he sat down on the couch and unmuted the television. Carlos grabbed his own beverage from the fridge and joined him on the sofa before digging into his dinner, momentarily forgetting about his proposal problems.
The next few days, Carlos forgot about the incident at Tourniquet. He had returned to his relatively normal schedule and Cecil seemed to have forgotten about Carlos's strange inquiry into Earl. Slowly, Carlos began to feel better as the anxious situation passed.
That is, until he received a text from Cecil on Friday night that said, Going out for a drink with Earl. See you at home later. Love you.
Carlos nearly dropped the Erlenmeyer flask that he was holding as he read the text.
Why would Cecil all of a sudden go out for a drink with Earl? Carlos wondered. Unless . . . Earl invited him and was planning on making a move on Cecil. And when he was drunk.
No, stop it, Carlos chastised himself. Cecil's an adult and deserves to have friends without you watching his every move.
In order to take his mind off of the text, Carlos dropped his phone into his desk drawer and returned to his experiment. He remained extremely focused on his science and didn't let himself even think about Earl or Cecil.
That is, until he heard his phone ringing incessantly from the drawer. Carlos looked away from his flasks and data sheet and rubbed his eyes underneath his glasses before looking at the clock on his computer.
Oh, my god, he thought. It's almost midnight. I've been working on this experiment for hours. Everyone else is probably gone already.
Carlos opened his desk drawer, grabbed his phone, and answered the call as he started packing up his things for the day.
"Hello?" he answered, realizing that he hadn't looked at the caller ID.
"Ca'los?" he heard his boyfriend slur from down the line. He recognized the worried tone of Cecil's voice and the panting associated with it and immediately stopped what he was doing to pay attention to the call.
"Cecil? What's wrong?" Carlos heard shuffling on the other end of the call and figured that Cecil was walking somewhere.
"I, uh, I need you to . . . to," Cecil seemed to lose focus before snapping back to attention. "You haf tuh come an' get me. Now, pref'bly."
"Where are you? Where's Earl? Isn't he with you? Oh god, Cecil, what happened?" Carlos shot off the questions in rapid succession, not giving Cecil a chance to answer any of them.
But Cecil didn't answer any of them and just repeated his demand again. Carlos took a breath and said calmly, "Cecil, I need to know where you are. So I can pick you up."
After taking a deep breath and steadying his voice, Cecil told him that he didn't really know where he was at the moment. "Ev'thing's really dark," he told Carlos, as if it would help him.
Yeah, everything's dark because it's almost midnight, Carlos thought as he forgot his briefcase on his desk, grabbed his keys, and ran out the door to his car.
"Can you see any buildings or signs, maybe?" Carlos asked as he started the car.
"Um. . . ." Cecil said. "There's a hole."
"Is it the hole in the vacant lot out back the Ralph's?" Carlos asked. Apparently, his question had too many things for Cecil's intoxicated mind to try to process because he didn't answer. So Carlos asked slowly, "Are you in a vacant lot?"
To this, Cecil responded affirmatively. Carlos spoke again. "And can you see the Ralph's grocery store anywhere?"
After a second, Cecil let out a cry of joy. "Yes! There it is! I's see-e it. It's ri't there."
Carlos let out a sigh of relief and began to drive to the Ralphs. "Good, stay there, Cecil."
Suddenly, Carlos heard Cecil shout, "No! Stop!"
"Cecil?!" Carlos called desperately. "What's going on? Are you alright?"
"No!" he heard again. "Stop it! My boyfriend is on his way here right now so you better leave me alone!"
"Cecil, is someone harassing you?" Carlos tried again. "Is it Earl?"
But Cecil didn't seem to hear him so Carlos drove faster until he saw the Ralph's just up ahead. He drove around back and jumped out of the car without turning it off. Looking around, he just made out the shape of two figures in the shadows.
"Cecil?" he called and saw that one of the figures began to run back around the building in the opposite direction of Carlos. He assumed that the figure that hadn't run away was Cecil so he quickly made his way over to him.
"Oh, thank god," Carlos said as he skidded to a halt beside his boyfriend, who was swaying haphazardly. Carlos grabbed his arm to steady him, but Cecil swung at him, although weakly.
"Stop!" he shouted. "Carlos is gonna be here any minute so you better get outta here!"
"Cecil!" Carlos said loudly to get his attention. "It's Carlos! I'm right here."
"Carlos?" Cecil asked, squinting his eyes in order to see in the darkness. "Oh, Carlos. Thank goodness you're here."
"Yes. I'm here. Now, let's get you out of here," Carlos said as he began leading Cecil back to the car. Cecil sat down smoothly in the passenger's seat and Carlos buckled him in before getting into the car and driving off.
Sometime in the short drive from the Ralph's to their apartment, Cecil must have fallen asleep, no doubt from exhausting himself in that argument between himself and the man in the shadows.
Carlos turned off the car and gently shook Cecil's shoulder, saying, "Come on, Ceec. Time to go inside."
Cecil groaned awake and Carlos helped him out of the car and into their apartment. Once Cecil's head hit his pillow, he was out for the count. Carlos could almost laugh at how easy it was, had Cecil not just called him in the middle of the night to practically rescue him from getting harassed by some creep, be it Earl or not.
Carlos was just as tired as Cecil was after he spent hours longer at work than he'd planned. After he turned off all of the lights, he collapsed into their bed, similar to the way Cecil had, and fell asleep.
The next morning, Carlos was woken by a groan. When he opened his eyes, he saw Cecil sitting on the edge of the bed, his head cradled by his hands that were supported by his elbows on his knees. Carlos pushed himself up in order to better watch him.
"Ceec?" he asked quietly, knowing that his headache must be killing him. "Are you alright, honey?"
"Yeah, just a headache," he replied, not looking back at Carlos. In response, Carlos rolled out of bed to fetch a glass of water from the kitchen and some painkillers from the medicine cabinet. He brought them back to the bedroom and sat down next to his boyfriend.
Cecil took the proffered items and took a couple of the pills before downing the entire glass. Meanwhile, Carlos rubbed soothing circles into his back.
After Cecil had set the glass down on his nightstand, Carlos took that opportunity to ask about last night.
Cecil merely shrugged. "Just a creep trying to come onto me." But Carlos pressed him for more. He had to know if all of this was really Earl's doing because he didn't want to blame the guy if he hadn't been involved. Although, that was looking less and less likely considering he wasn't even with Cecil when Carlos had found him.
Taking a deep breath, Cecil pulled his legs up onto the bed and folded them criss-cross, turning to face Carlos, who turned his body to face Cecil with one leg curled underneath himself.
"Yesterday, I ran into Earl when I was leaving work," Cecil began as he recounted his story of last night.
Cecil looked at the clock on the wall. The broadcast had ended a couple hours ago, but he had stayed behind with Dana to follow up on some things for tomorrow's show. Tired and with a sore neck from shuffling through papers, Cecil bid Dana goodbye, grabbed his cellphone from where he had left it on his desk, and walked out the front door.
He saw a car that was parked on the curb a couple feet ahead of him and watched as Earl Harlan got out of the driver's seat. The man greeted Cecil with a clap on the back.
"Hey, Cecil!" he said.
"Hey, Earl," Cecil said back. "What're you doing here?"
"Well, I came out to see if you wanted to get a drink with me."
"Oh, I don't know," Cecil answered honestly. "I'm really tired from work and my neck hurts."
"Come on," Earl said lightheartedly. "I'll bet a couple of beers will take all that edge off."
Cecil thought about it for a minute before finally agreeing to go.
"Yeah!" Earl cheered and motioned to his car. "Jump in."
Cecil walked around to the passenger's side and did as Earl instructed. Then they drove off.
When they got to the bar, Cecil sent Carlos a text to tell him where he was. Then, he pocketed his cellphone and followed Earl inside. They sat down at the bar counter and Earl ordered them two beers.
Then, they just got to talking. About their respective jobs and then about the people that they work with. The conversation slowed down after their nth bottle of beer and Cecil looked at his watch.
"It's getting late," he told Earl, who put his hand on Cecil's forearm.
"No, don't go," he said, pouting a little. "Just another round?" To which, Cecil agreed to stay.
"Let me go to the bathroom first, though," he said and Earl nodded his acknowledgment before calling for the bartender.
When Cecil came back, he found two shot glasses sitting in front of his seat and two empty ones in front of Earl.
"What're these?" Cecil asked. Earl just smiled.
"Drink up!" he told him. Cecil sat down hesitantly, and very reluctantly downed one of the glasses before trying to deal with the burning sensation in his throat.
"What is this?" Cecil asked again and Earl told him that they were straight tequila shots before motioning for Cecil to take the other one. When he did, Earl cheered and called for the bartender to give them two more.
"I think that I should really be going," Cecil told him, but Earl again told him to stay for one more round. Cecil begrudgingly agreed, but looked sideways at Earl at the four shot glasses placed in front of him and saw that Earl also had four. Rolling his eyes, Cecil downed each one in quick succession.
"Okay, now I should really go," Cecil tried to say. "Carlos will be wondering where I am."
"Carlos," Earl interrupted loudly. "Would want you to get out and have fun! God knows that you don't do it nearly enough."
Cecil pondered his words and eventually nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, alright. A couple more won't hurt, I guess."
Earl clapped him on his back and ordered another round of shots. As he was doing so, he looked up at the bottles lining the wall behind the bar and grabbed Cecil's arm.
"You have to try their Bourbon," he said excitedly. "It's the best. Bartender, two of the Bourbon, too, please."
The barkeep placed the shots in front of them and then poured a couple glasses of the whiskey.
Cecil watched Earl down the shots and then take the glass in his hands. Cecil followed suit.
"Won't it taste a little weird from all the tequila?" Cecil asked and Earl just swirled the liquor around.
"Yeah, but it's still gonna be the best you've ever had."
"Well, I haven't had much Bourbon in my life."
Earl laughed, which made Cecil laugh. "Well, then we've gotta change that!" He smiled before taking a long sip from his glass and Cecil did the same. Earl tapped the bar, indicating another round and Cecil leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes for a second.
Suddenly, a hand lightly hit him on the arm and Cecil almost fell out off the stool. He looked over at Earl who was trying, yet failing, to suppress his grin and Cecil burst out laughing.
Oh god, Cecil thought to himself somewhere in the back of his mind. I'm really drunk.
He grabbed the whiskey and practically downed it in one sip, before turning to Earl.
"Imma call you a cab, and then Imma call Carlos to pick me up," he told him, but Earl was still giggling as he called the bartender over.
"Hey, Earl," Cecil said as he shook his shoulder. When Earl turned to him, Cecil said, "You're getting a cab and I'm going ho-ome."
Earl smiled and told him, "Yeah, a'right." He held up the glass of whiskey to Cecil, who took it with a roll of his eyes, drank the liquor, and set it down with enough money to pay for all their drinks. He grabbed Earl by the arm and reached into his pocket for his phone, but it wasn't there.
"My phone is gone," Cecil said outloud. Earl looked expectantly at him.
"Did you leave it in the bathroom?" he asked.
"Maybe. I'll go check. You stay here." And Cecil walked off to the bathrooms. Once inside, he saw his phone on the edge of one of the sinks. Sighing in relief, he grabbed it and checked to see if he had any texts.
Still looking at the screen, Cecil exited the bathroom when he ran into someone coming the other way.
"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry," Cecil apologized. "I di'n't mean to."
The stranger merely laughed. "It's alright, honey. No harm done."
Cecil smiled at him and started to walk away when the man grabbed his arm. "Wait! Where you going, cutie?"
"Home," Cecil replied quickly. But the stranger shook his head with a smile.
"Why? It's still early!" he chastised.
"Well, my boyfriend is prob'bly w'nd'ring where I am," Cecil told him, expecting the mention of Carlos to throw him off. Unfortunately, it did not.
"Then let him wonder," he said. "You're having fun. Hopefully with me now." Cecil was so drunk that he couldn't tell if the stranger was being suggestive or not, but he assumed that he was since he still hadn't let go of Cecil's arm.
"Um, I don' think that's a good idea," Cecil tried to tell him, but the stranger just pulled him out a door by the bathrooms and into an alley next to the bar.
"Come on," the man said quietly right into Cecil's ear. "Your boyfriend will never know."
Cecil had backed up against the wall by accident and found that he had nowhere to go when the man placed both of his hands on either side of Cecil's shoulders, leaned forward, and kissed him.
Momentarily confused by what was happening, Cecil blinked a couple times to get his bearings back and then roughly shoved the man off of him. Unfortunately, Cecil pushed him so hard that he compromised his own balance and he fell to the side, using the wall as a support.
But then the man came back, and grabbed Cecil's arm to steady him. When Cecil was standing up straight again, the man gingerly cupped Cecil's cheek with his hand.
"I'm sorry, sweetie," he said and let the hand fall. "I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to." Then, he paused. "But . . . I have a feeling that you want to do this."
He leaned in again, but Cecil was prepared this time. He punched the man across the jaw, only somewhat weakly given his intoxicated state, and began stumbling down the alleyway. Quickly, he turned the corner and half ran, half jogged down the street. Luckily, there weren't many people to avoid crashing into. However, unluckily, there weren't many people for Cecil to try to blend into in order to get away from the persistent bar-goer.
Suddenly, he remembered his cell phone and pulled it out. He fumbled with the buttons as he kept walking quickly down the sidewalk. Eventually, he was able to press Carlos's contact and the phone dialed. As he listened to the rings, Cecil turned around and saw a figure a couple hundred feet behind him and he quickly rushed behind a building as he heard Carlos's voice answer the phone.
"Hello?"
"Ca'los?" he asked as he stooped to catch his breath from trying to outrun the stranger.
"Cecil? What's wrong?" Carlos asked as Cecil stood up straight and began to pace in circles.
"I, uh, I need you to . . . to," Cecil said before trailing off to focus in looking around the corner of the building that he was hiding behind. But there was no sign of the strange man so Cecil turned his attention back to the phone call. "You haf tuh come an' get me. Now, pref'bly."
Then, Carlos's voice got all high as it does when he gets really worried and he started asking tons of questions. But Cecil couldn't keep them all straight. The blood was pounding in his head.
"Car-los," Cecil enunciated. "Please come get me. As fast as poss'ble."
Cecil heard him take a breath before saying calmly, "Cecil, I need to know where you are. So I can pick you up."
After taking a deep breath and steadying his voice, Cecil told him that he didn't really know where he was at the moment. "Ev'thing's really dark," he told Carlos.
"Can you see any buildings or signs, maybe?" Carlos asked.
"Um. . . ." Cecil said as he turned himself around, surveying his surroundings. "There's a hole."
"Is it the hole in the vacant lot out back the Ralph's?" Carlos asked quickly. But Cecil had turned his head to look for the source of a noise that he had heard. Then, he heard Carlos ask slowly, "Are you in a vacant lot?"
"Yes." Then, Carlos spoke again.
"And can you see the Ralph's grocery store anywhere?"
Cecil looked around for a second before walking back around the building. He let out a cry of joy when he saw the sign for the store. "Yes! There it is! I's see-e it. It's ri't there," he told Carlos.
He heard Carlos let out a sigh of relief and say, "Good, stay there, Cecil."
Suddenly, someone grabbed Cecil's arm. When he saw that it was the stranger that had been following him, he shouted, "No! Stop!" moving his hand that was holding the phone away from his ear.
"Cecil," the man said. "Calm down."
"No!" he shouted again. "Stop it! My boyfriend is on his way here right now so you better leave me alone!"
"And that's when I heard your voice," Cecil finished his story. "And the man ran away."
Carlos sat still for a second before asking, "But how did know your name? You never told him that."
Cecil paused. The man had known his name, but Cecil didn't say that he had told him.
Carlos pressed on. "Did you know the man? Did he look familiar?"
Slowly, Cecil shook his head. "No, I didn't recognize him. But he must have known me. Or someone must have told him about me." Then, Cecil started shaking. It wasn't violent, but it was enough that Carlos could see. Cecil looked up at him with sad eyes and said, "I was so scared, Carlos."
The scene broke Carlos's heart and suddenly he forgot all about Earl. He moved forward and engulfed Cecil in a hug, whispering soothing words in his ear. Eventually, Cecil stopped trembling and looked up at Carlos.
"Thank you," he said. "For saving me. I love you."
Carlos smiled widely and paused for a second before saying, "I love you, too, Ceec. So, so much."
Then, Cecil smiled the widest smile that Carlos had ever seen. And Carlos made a quick decision.
Suddenly, he gently moved Cecil to the side and walked around the bed to his nightstand. He opened the drawer and grabbed the ring from inside. He made his way back over to Cecil and knelt down in front of him.
"Cecil Palmer," Carlos said whilst opening the tiny box. Cecil gasped at its contents and Carlos asked, "Will you marry me?"
"Oh, my god," Cecil whispered before saying, "Yes, Carlos, I most certainly will."
Carlos's face broke out into the largest grin ever as he jumped up and hugged Cecil before kissing him.
"I love you," Cecil reaffirmed. Carlos repeated the endearment before they continued the bone-crushing hug.
In the end, Carlos realized that he didn't need to propose in some fancy restaurant. Because he and Cecil loved each other dearly, and no one would get in the way of that; especially not Earl Harlan.
Person B plans to propose person A. Person C is in love with Person A and wants to put off the relationship. They hire a prostitute in disguise to get A drunk and cheat on B. If A cheats or not is up to you.