"You have to be kidding me right now?"
"Actually, no. I am being completely serious."
"Well, it's not going to happen."
"And why not Sonny?" Neil asks, angrily.
"I am not firing Will because you don't want us working together. It's not going to happen."
"Why are you so adamant about this? Don't my feeling matter at all?"
"What? Are you kidding me right now?"
"Why do you keep asking me that? Of course I am being serious."
"Then please explain what your problem with Will is."
"I don't trust him around you. Don't think I didn't see the looks you guys were giving each other. Sexual energy was emanating off of you two!"
"Oh, here we go again. I need you to stop doing this all the time."
"Doing what?"
"Doing this!" Sonny points between them, emphasizing his point. "This insecurity you have with me cheating on you has to stop!"
"Well, do you blame me?" Neil whispers.
"Actually," Sonny sighs. "I do. I am not the one who cheated, remember?"
"Just because you aren't the one who cheated, doesn't mean that it still won't happen."
"Have I ever gave you a reason to doubt me? Ever?"
"Well, no."
"Then why do you insist on believing I will start now?"
"Have you forgotten how we met?"
"No. Of course not. But you can't blame what happened on me. You are the one who cheated on your boyfriend. Who, by the way, I had known nothing about when we had sex."
"Wow. Thank you for throwing that one in my face!"
"Look, Neil. I have to go into work now. I really don't want to, but we will continue this conversation later."
"Fine."
Sonny grabs his things and walks out the door. Neil feels pretty miffed by his boyfriend. He couldn't even give me a kiss goodbye, Neil thinks sadly.
Sonny bringing up how they met still burns Neil a little bit. He never wanted to be that guy. He never planned on cheating on Tyler, but it just kind of happened. Too much alcohol mixed with Sonny made for a bad combination that night. Not that this was the first time he cheated. It was always under the same circumstances. It still surprised him that he and Brian were able to remain friends after they broke up. Although that situation was completely different. They had both cheated on each other. And they always came back to each other when things went sour in their respective relationships. But Sonny didn't need to know all of that.
Neil was on his sixth beer when Dustin introduced him to Sonny. Sonny has this way of making people feel comfortable around him. And that's what happened to Neil. Neil grabbed Sonny a beer and they decided to go outside to the porch to talk. It was actually Sonny's idea.
"Dustin has told me a lot about you."
"Oh. I'm afraid to know."
Sonny laughed. He has this lyrical laugh that made me smile. "Oh, good things. I promise."
And there it was. That calmness that overtook me. I leaned in to give him a kiss, but he leaned back. "Whoa. How many of those have you had?"
"A couple," I said sheepishly. "Enough to make me realize that kissing you right now is all I want to do."
"Yeah. I think you have had enough. Let's go inside."
A couple of drinks later, we couldn't keep our hands off of each other. Next thing I remember is waking up next to him and feeling like shit. Then reality hit me. Tyler was going to be home soon. Sonny had to leave before Tyler saw us together. Naked. In his bed. But then Tyler walks in and all hell breaks loose. Tyler is yelling at me, which wakes up Sonny. He has the most adorable "deer caught in headlights" look. He scrambled to get out of there. I'm actually surprised he even talked to me after that. But Sonny is such a forgiving guy. I never expected that drunken mistake to turn into something more. But it did. Tyler broke up with me after Sonny left that day and kicked me out. I had nowhere to go, but I remember someone mentioning he owns Common Ground. I went there and talked to him. Explained everything. He offered his couch to me to crash until I figured things out. He barely knew me and he was being a better friend than any of my other friends were being. I crashed at his place for a week until I was able to find a place to go. By then, we were inseparable.
Neil is scared he will lose Sonny. He knows that Sonny is the best thing that has ever happened to him. He is everything that Neil is not. Sonny can calm him down when no one else can, make him see things clearly. He is so loving and patient and understanding. Neil doesn't know what he would do without Sonny, nor did he want to figure it out. But he just had this nagging feeling that Will was someone he needed to keep an eye on. He knew that Will and Brian were together, but Brian has told Neil that something has changed with Will. That their relationship is changing. He feels like he is losing Will. Neil was not going to let the same thing happen to his relationship with Sonny. He was not going to ruin another amazing relationship. He can't let his insecurities and his lack of self-restraint ruin what they have. He has done it too many times. And Sonny was too amazing to let slip through his fingers.
Neil picks up his phone and makes a call. "Hey, it's me. We need to talk."
