"Hurry up, they'll be here in a minute." Aaron moaned to Jackson through the bathroom door as the builder took his time in the shower. "You've been ages."
"You want me to look and smell nice don't you?" Jackson called back, he was almost finished. "I don't know why you're moaning for, I'm sure you can answer the door without me holding your hand." He could feel the younger man glaring at him through the door due to his comment.
He didn't get a reply to that, the teen had already gone back into their room to flick through the radio stations on the T.V before switching it off all together, having not found any station playing a song he liked. He was wound up. He was going to be all night. Jackson had suggested they hold a new years eve party at Smithy. Hazel was away, celebrating the coming of the new year in Hawaii, and Paddy and Rhona were away for the weekend in some Hotel in Leeds, celebrating there, which left the boys with the house to themselves. When Aaron found out they would be alone in Smithy cottage for New years eve he had thought they would be spending it together, alone – just the two of them. But no, apparently not, Jackson was excited about holding a new years party and before the young mechanic new it, he'd already invited a bunch of people, a few from the village, his work and a few mates he knew from bar west or other places. Smithy was going to be packed with people he didn't know and others he rather didn't. None of Jackson's mates went much on him; he knew they disapproved of the builder's choice in a boyfriend. So that was why he was wound up, awaiting the moment when Jackson's friends would be arriving to drop snide comments about him all night and he would be the one having to keep his cool.
"Lighten up Aaron, it's going to fun." Jackson said strolling into their room with just a towel wrapped loosely round his waist. The younger man rolled his eyes and threw himself down onto the bed. He wasn't happy that Jackson had picked his clothes out either. He felt like a child how his own boyfriend had told him what not to wear. He was stuck in a pair of dark jeans and a black slim fit shirt, none of it was comfortable.
Jackson carefully picked his own clothes out, laying them out carefully on the bed beside Aaron's slumped form before retrieving a pair of boxers and socks from a draw. He spotted a couple of his friends already arriving outside in their car as he passed the bedroom window. "Go downstairs and let them in for me." Jackson asked.
"Who?" Aaron asked, straining his neck to see out the window himself from the bed.
"Tony and that." Jackson answered, ditching his towel on the floor before pulling on his boxers.
"Do I have to?" Aaron scoffed. "You're nearly dressed why can't you?" He didn't want to. He knew Tony didn't go much on him. He'd heard him drop a few nasty words about him and he knew he would find it difficult to keep up a good mood if he was to say anything to him right then.
"Just do it." Jackson sighed. He was aware that Aaron didn't like his friends but it was something he was going to have to get over.
"Fine!" Aaron snapped as he got up and headed out of the room.
He took his time descending the stairs, taking each step carefully, rather than his rushed thunderous skip of several steps at time in a haste to reach the last. He went through into the lounge first, turning the volume up on the stereo, allowing the music to blast out at an unsocial level, a level at which any conversation would be hard to hold in its volume. He double checked the door to the surgery, as well, remembering the last house party he had held at Smithy when one of Holly's friends had broken in. Since then a new and improved lock had been fitted on the door. Satisfied that the music was at the right volume and the lock on the surgery door wasn't going to be broken, Aaron strolled through to the front door when Tony and some of Jackson's other mates, knocked a fourth time.
"Alright, alright!" Aaron snapped quietly before he opened the door to reveal Tony and four others he recognised.
He quickly stepped aside to let them in. The sooner he let them in the sooner he could go back upstairs and see how long Jackson was going to take to throw on some clothes. "Jackson's just upstairs." He awkwardly told them. He'd never be left alone with any of Jackson's friends, he'd always been with him.
"That's okay." Tony said. "I know how long he likes to take to tart himself up." He teased. "Where should we leave the alcohol?" He asked as he looked down briefly to show the crate of beer he held in his arms.
"Anywhere." Aaron answered as he closed the door. He didn't care.
"Right then. Anywhere sounds good to me." Tony said as he headed towards the bench under the kitchen table to rest the beer on.
While Tony and the other's busied themselves with ditching their drinks they'd brought with them, Aaron headed back upstairs.
"What you doing back up here?" Jackson asked, now fully dressed and spritzing on some aftershave. ". . .You haven't left them down on there on their own? Aaron you're supposed to talk to them, make them feel welcome!"
Aaron just looked at him. At what point did the builder think that Aaron would ever talk to them.
"Never mind, I'm ready now." Jackson said heading towards their bedroom door. "Come on let's get down their before they think we've disappeared."
"You'd be lucky." Aaron mumbled as he followed.
A couple of hours later and most people who had been invited had arrived, including a few people that Aaron knew. While Jackson busied himself circling round his friends, Aaron stayed in the same place, sat on one of the sofas with Adam drinking as they watched Holly and Victoria try to get a new years kiss sorted.
"Your sister's desperate." Aaron said without thinking as he downed another beer.
"Hey!" Adam said jumping to defend her but re thinking as he watched her chat up a forth guy that night in the hour and a half they'd been there. ". . . Maybe you've got a point."
"Then again, Victoria's no better." Aaron cringed as he watched her obviously fake a laugh over some guy's rubbish joke.
"What can I say, they must be if they ever went out with you." Adam teased.
"Yeah but . . . I went out with YOUR sister. I got with your SISTER." Aaron reminded Adam smugly who went quiet rather quickly.
It took Adam a while before he was able get back at his best mate. "Don't forget you tried it on with me and I knocked you back big time." Adam laughed satisfied he'd got one up on his best mate. "Another beer?"
"Yeah, I'll get these." Aaron told him. "See if I can track down Jackson while I'm at it. . ."
"Yeah where is he?"
"Who knows." Aaron answered before heading into the kitchen in search of his boyfriends and more drink.
In the kitchen Jackson was stood near the sink, chatting to several of his friends, two of them being Aaron's worst haters Sol and Jay. He was currently listening to the two of them trying to change his mind about Aaron. He had to admit they never gave up. But neither did he, he loved Aaron and nothing was going to change that.
"You seriously cannot like that chav!" Sol commented as he rolled his eyes. "He's everything you said you hated."
True, there were some attributes in Aaron that he said he hated. Violence being one of them. The young mechanic had a tendency to resolve to violence when he couldn't see any other way out, he'd used it on him not weeks since he met up. But there were also things inside of Aaron that people didn't see that he loved. How he would seek comfort when he was tired or nervous, his sense of humour when he would let himself go or how he would ask silly little questions, "if an orange is called an orange then why aren't bananas called yellow and strawberries called red?"
"I'll admit. There are things I don't agree with. But I like him and that's why I'm with him." Jackson explained. "He can surprise you."
"I wouldn't bet on that." Jay scoffed over his drink.
"Hey, be nice." Jackson defended.
"Nice? Have you seen how he is with us?" Another one of Jackson's friends, Tara said. "He grunts or just glares at you."
"He's shy." Jackson told her.
"Shy? No, he's just rude Jackson, it's about time you found someone you deserve." Tara continued not caring who heard.
"She's right, just a while ago I heard him and his mate laughing about bedding his friend's sister!" Sol Scorned. "He's a pig!"
"Liste-." Jackson began only to be cut off by Jay.
"Listen to us. Soon or later he'll most probably be off with somebody else or in prison for beating somebody up." Jay explained to him. "You need a boyfriend who you're not scared to be around, scared when he'll next lose his temper and swing a punch."
"He's-." Jackson started again.
"Don't. I hear Bradley is still single." Sol winked to Jackson.
Is that what Jackson's friends really thought about him? That he was a lose cannon ready to explode, ready to beat the closest person to him up. He wasn't like that. He wasn't. He knew how to keep a check on his temper. They all thought Jackson could do way better than him as well. He often wondered that. Often thought why Jackson, such a kind genuine man like him, was doing with putting up with him. A guy who grunted when spoken to, glared and lost his temper at the slightest thing, a stones throw away from being put in prison at any moment. Jackson had just stood there as well, as the insults and snide comments had rolled in about him, the builder had just stood and allowed each of them to vent there hate towards him.
Feeling he'd heard enough when Sol mentioned another man who would be interested in Jackson, Aaron strode into the kitchen. Walked straight through the middle of them to reach the fridge and pulled out a cold pack of beers, ignoring all of them.
"See what I mean." He heard Tara mutter for only them to hear.
He gave her a scathing look as he walked past again.
"Aaron. . ." Jackson said as he walked past, he hadn't even acknowledged him.
"What?" Aaron asked shortly, stopping midway to the living room door.
"Having a good time?" Jackson asked politely. "I'll be in there in a minute with you."
"Don't rush." Aaron said, a subtle meaning hidden in his words. He didn't want to pull Jackson away from the hate party.
Aaron didn't stick around for an answer, he wanted to get away from them and sit down with Adam to get drunk. He was going to get drunk. He didn't want to care about he heard said about him. Alcohol was the only solution to that. When he was drunk, he didn't care or he couldn't remember. Either seemed good enough to him. If Jackson was going to be with his friends all night, then he was going to keep himself amused, with a good supply of drink and Adam to keep him company.
"Here, get that down ya." Aaron said chucking a bottle of larger at Adam.
He ripped himself a bottle from the pack, pulled the cap off and took a very long sip from it, enough to get him started.
"Easy." Adam laughed when he noticed Aaron necking his drink.
"What?" Aaron snapped.
"You're gonna be half cut by the time new years gets here. You won't remember it!" Adam told him. "Either that or you'll be passed out by 11:30."
"No I won't." Aaron argued before continuing on his mission to get wasted.
By half nine he'd already drank seven bottles of larger, three shots and a glass of wine Holly had insisted he drank. He had sworn never to drink wine once, only real gay people drank that in his world. But he'd been too out off it to care. He was not supporting his weight against the window, as he perched himself on the window sill outside as he took a long drag from his cigarette. The fresh had hit him as he walked outside for a smoke, mixing with his alcohol intake, he was finding it hard to see things clearly.
"There you are!" He heard Victoria call from the front door.
"Where did you think I where?" Aaron slurred as he puffed out the smoke in his lungs.
Victoria rolled her eyes. "Obviously not where you're at now. How much have you had?" She asked as he made he way over.
"A few." Aaron answered, staring off down the village.
"A few?" She scoffed. "You've had way more than that. Jackson's going to kill you, you can barely stand."
"Shut up." Aaron yawned. ". . . Can you remember when we used to get drunk together?" He asked after a while, going off subject. "We nicked that crate of wine from Diane that time and downed it at the cricket pavilion."
"Yes, I paid her back though." Victoria told him.
"-Then your Andy came looking for you and put on the hard man act." He slurred.
"Scared ya though." Victoria teased.
"No he didn't!" Aaron argued pushing himself away from the window sill too quickly.
"Woah!" Victoria cried out as he grabbed hold of the young mechanic's arm. "Easy."
"Get off!" Aaron snarled pulling his arm quickly out of Victoria's grasp, his mood changing rapidly.
"Alright, calm down." Victoria exclaimed. What had gotten Aaron to be so mardy.
"I am calm!" Aaron snapped aggressively before stomping off back into the house.
"What's up with him?" Adam asked as he dodged out of the way of a moody Aaron as he stormed past on his way outside.
"God knows." Victoria sighed. "Just keep an eye on him. He's off his head."
"Will do." Adam said, turning back round. He'd seen how much the young mechanic had put away that night.
It took a while for him to track Aaron down again; he had disappeared amongst all of the guests. Jackson had invited quite a few people, enough to fill out the whole of Smithy Cottage's ground floor. So it proved difficult to find his best mate who had taken refuge in one of the bedrooms upstairs, this time chucking another shot down his throat with group of people who he didn't know.
"Aaron, there you are mate." Adam exclaimed, clamping his hands down on the teenager's shoulders. "What you doing?"
"Do you want one?" Aaron asked.
Adam shook his head. "Nah, mate." He declined; he could see the state Aaron was in. He'd been matching his drink with Aarons. So he couldn't work out how he'd gotten so wasted, unless he'd been sneaking in shots when he wasn't watching. "Where's Jackson?"
Aaron shrugged his shoulders.
"Don't you think you should find him?" Adam asked, it was nearing midnight, surely Aaron wanted to be with him at new years.
"No, he can find me." Aaron shot back.
"Don't be stupid mate." Adam told him. "I bet he is looking for you."
"I can't see him."
"That's caus-."
"I bet he's off with somebody else, somebody Sol or that Jay has set him up with." Aaron continued spitefully.
"Aaron, he wouldn't." Adam argued. "He's got you."
The group of people, that Adam presumed to be Jackson's mates, arranged more shots and handed another to Aaron.
"No you don't." Adam said, taking the shot from Aaron's hand.
"What you doing?" Aaron snapped, reaching for his drink back but clumsily missing.
"You've had enough, come on." Adam said grabbing Aaron's arm again. He would take the young mechanic into the kitchen and force him to drink coffee and eat something full of starch until he sobered enough to greet his boyfriend into the New Year.
"No." Aaron argued, trying to rip his arm away from Adam.
"No, come on. You need sobering up." Adam scolded, as the group of people ignored them too wasted to care either. "You're off your head and acting like a pratt."
"I said get. Off. Me." Aaron snarled, this time successfully ripping his arm from Adam's grip but loosing fight against gravity. The young mechanic stumbled forwards, reaching out a hand to grab the door frame in front of him but unlucky too far away. He fell to the floor, smacking his head on the corner of the partly opened draw.
"Aaron?" Adam called out, quickly going to help his mate back up.
"m'fine." Aaron snapped, slowly dragging himself to his feet, shrugging off any help offered.
"Aaron-." Adam started trying to get a look at his mate. He thought he'd saw him bang his head.
"M'fine." Aaron repeated before pushing away and going downstairs.
Adam watched his mate disappear down the stairs as he ran a hand over his head.
"If he alright?" Somebody asked behind him.
"What?" Adam shot at them as he spun around, he'd forgotten they were there.
The girl who had spoken looked back startled.
"Yeah, sorry. . . He'll be okay." Adam quickly said.
A/N – New Year Eve's 'one shot' as I promised. I just remembered I promised such a thing a couple of hours before the end of 2011. So I haven't had time to finish it. It shall be 3-5 one shot Hope you enjoy!