Chapter 2
At Charlie's the guys were sitting at a table having a laugh. Once all of their glasses were empty Hudson stood up.
"Another round?" he suggested
The others all agreed. Chris looked at Hudson, who smiled at him, before going to the counter. Jack and Alex noticed this and shared an amused look.
"You fancy him, don't you?" Jack stated
Chris quickly and obstinately denied it
"You couldn't be more obvious" Jack laughed
"It's irrelevant either way"
"Why?" Jack asked
"Because he's straight"
Jack and Alex grinned at each other and Sean raised his eyebrows
"Sure" Sean said quietly
"Isn't he?" Chris queried
"Why don't you ask him?" Alex suggested
"You can't ask someone that!" Chris argued
"Are you gay or straight?" Jack asked, casually
As if it was the most obvious thing in the world, Chris responded, "Gay"
"There you go- you can ask someone that!" Alex said, smugly
"You can't ask someone that you don't know" Chris objected, "I mean, if he's straight I've basically said to him 'I think you're gay' or 'I fancy you', which no straight guy is gonna want to hear."
"Okay then, your loss" Jack said, teasingly
Chris sighed. He suddenly remembered something that his ex, Aidan, had said to him before they got together: 'You don't know if you don't ask, right?' "You're right" Chris said, suddenly
"About what?" the others asked simultaneously
Chris stood up and joined Hudson at the counter. Hudson smiled when he saw him approach.
"Hey"
"Hey. I just thought I'd help you with the drinks. I mean, there's five of us and you've only got 2 hands- not like an Octopus which has eight-"
"Octopuses don't have hands" Hudson replied, amused.
"Yeah, I know" Chris babbled, "I mean, not some kind of multi-handed alien. I know you're not an alien, well if you are an alien you're a very human-like one" he gave up, "Do you know what? Just ignore me"
Hudson laughed, then glanced over at the table.
"Look, I know there's supposed to be a storm tonight but would you want to come back here later for another drink? Just the two of us?"
Chris looked intrigued, "are you asking me out?"
Hudson bit his lip, "depends. Are you gay or straight?"
"Gay" Chris responded confidently- he knew where this was going.
"Then yeah, I am"
"Sounds good"
They smiled at each other and Hudson passed him a small piece of paper.
"Here's my number" he said, looking at the paper
Chris looked bemused, "do you usually carry around a piece of paper with your number on it?"
Hudson shook his head, "no. I was planning on giving it to you at some point"
Chris smiled, and put the piece of paper in his pocket
"I'll text you later" he said, still smiling. Hudson nodded and collected the new drinks.
