Young Writers Society

Note: This is a piece I wrote mostly for fun. It's unedited and mostly dialogue at the moment. I'd like it if reviews were focused more on characters and dialogue instead of the quality of the writing, because that wasn't a big concern with this piece. 

San Francisco’s bars are busy every day of the week, but the city’s favorite time to drink is on Friday night. The Giraffe is not one to argue, and it’s as busy as any other place.

Jules has picked it as his bar-of-choice, and he walks through its doors at no earlier than eleven o’clock. He gives himself a few minutes to take in the sights and sounds before hopping to the middle of the crowded floor. It’s too packed for him to see more than a blur of faces, and he finds it impossible to pick out a single person. But he doesn’t need to. A shout of, “Hey! Jules!” tells him where his friends are, and he uses the voice to push his way to the little group at the counter.

“Hey! Thank God you saw me. It’s too damn packed in here.” Jules grins at his friends, kisses Dani’s cheek, and gives Justin a one-armed hug.

“You’re late,” Justin teases. “Again.”

“Only a little!” When they give him a look,he laughs and says, “Okay, shut up. All of my good clothes were dirty, so I had to wash these.”

“Clean clothes are more important than us?” Justin gives him a once-over, tugging on the hem of Jules’ button-down and nodding. “I like the purple shirt.”

“It’s maroon, thank you,” Jules says in mock offense. “But no one wants to pick up a guy with a coffee-stained shirt, even if he has cute friends.”

“Maybe we want him to pick up your cute friends instead.” He tries to wink, but one too many drinks makes him struggle. He scrunches up half of his face, oblivious that what he’s doing isn’t quite winking.

“Yeah, well-” Jules goes to shove him off of the barstool when Dani finally cuts in.

“Shush, there are probably a hundred guys here. Jules, do you want a drink?”

“Please. I’ll take a martini.” When it comes, Jules takes a contended sip of his drink. “Thaaank you,” he drawls.

While Jules and Dani are talking, it doesn’t take long for Justin to find what he’s looking for. They don’t see him again after he strolls out of the bar with a bleach-blonde boy and a beer.

There’s a silence between them after he’s gone, but Jules doesn’t let it last for long. “How are things going with Melek?”

“Fantastic,” Dani says, and he beams at the mention of Melek. Jules is quick to notice, and even quicker to keep the conversation going.

“You guys are pretty serious, aren’t you?” he asks. “You’ve been together for awhile.”

“Nine months. And yeah, we are.” Dani’s grin is infectious; Jules smiles along with him. “I love him.”

“You should invite him out with us next Friday,” Jules says, and it’s not out of obligation. “It’s been forever since I’ve seen him.”

“I always ask him to go, but he’s been crazy busy with schoolwork since he’s still in college.” Passion makes Dani’s words animated, and the more he talks the louder his normally quiet voice becomes. “He’s graduating soon, thank God.”

The Melek-talk continues on until Dani stands up, yawns, says, “It’s getting late, and I’m exhausted. I think I’m gonna head home.” He tries to continue, but another yawn interrupts him.

“Yeah, you sounds like you need some sleep,” Jules laughs. “I’m going to hang around for awhile, see if there isn’t someone who’ll go home with me.”

“Have fun with your potential one-night stand. I’ll text you tomorrow,” Dani promises, leaving Jules with a hug and a smile.

Things aren’t as lively after he leaves. Jules relaxes into his seat, takes the occasional sip from his glass. He watches the few dozen people left around the bar. They’re scattered between tables, booths, the counter. Some are alone, but the majority have already found their man-of-the-night. Even when it approaches one in the morning, Jules is still looking for his.

He’s chatted with a handful of guys, nearly went home with one until they realized that they were looking for very different things. None of his conversations have led to anything, and when the bar begins to clear out he decides that nothing will come of the night.

His attention turns from hook ups to his bartender, an ex-boyfriend of his who--luckily--ended things on good terms. When Jules smiles, Sean asks, “How’s your night?”

“Lonely.” His sigh is exasperated, overly dramatic.

“We’re not closed yet,” Sean cheerfully reminds him. “You’ve still got awhile.”

“I suppose.”

“Ugh, don’t be grumpy. Look, there’s a guy over on the other side of the bar who’s been sitting there, like, all night with no luck either.” Sean points out an older guy with a beard and a Heineken. “I think he’s thirty-something, definitely new here, and I’m pretty sure he told somebody his name is Christian.”

Jules nods, smiles. “Do you know anything else about him?”

“He’s cute? I don’t know. But he’s been here forever, lookin’ lonely, and he’s kind of depressing me.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“I’ll tell you what. If you go talk to him and he turns out to be creepy or something, I’ll give you a free drink.”

“Alright, I can do that.” Jules takes his time getting up, unsure of why he’s so hesitant to go over to him. At a glance, there’s nothing he doesn’t like about the man, and there’s nothing to deter him from saying hello--so he does. He sits himself in the barstool beside Christian, says, “Hey. I’m Jules.”

For a moment, Christian seems surprised. “Oh, ah, hi,” and he smiles. “Christian.”

“Can I buy you a drink?” When he gets a nod, he orders them each a drink: another Heineken for Christian, and a Guinness for himself. He lets the moment sit before he says, “Sean said you’ve been here for awhile.”

“Sean?”

“The bartender over there. The red headed one.”

“Oh. Yeah. I guess I have.” Christian pauses for too long before he says, “I’m not really used to this.”

“To what?” Jules asks even though he knows the answer.

“To, you know, like-”

“Gay bars?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, it’s a great time,” Jules grins. “I come with a couple friends every Friday night. We drink, flirt, the usual. I usually go home with someone, but I haven’t been having too much luck tonight.”

“I talked to a couple of guys, but that’s it. I guess I’m not really used to the whole dating-flirting-thing in general. It’s been awhile.”

“Aw, yeah, I get that. I just got out of a pretty long term relationship. I mean, we were open so it was a little different, but still, I know what you mean.”

There’s another long silence before Christian asks, “Are you… exclusively into guys, or are you… bisexual?”

“Just into guys. I slept with a girl friend of mine once, but that’s because she was a lesbian and we were both curious.”

“Oh, okay.”

“You?”

“Um, I’m not really sure.”

“Understandable. Labels are unnecessary, all I need to know is that you like guys.” Jules grins again, rests a hand on Christian’s knee and takes a sip of his beer. “Have I charmed you enough for you to want to go home with me?”

“I think so.” Christian gives him a smile, seems surprised by his answer.

“Good. Do you want to go back to my place or yours?”

Christian is quick to answer, “Yours.”

“Alright, good with me. My apartment is a little bit sloppy because I’ve been to busy to clean, so I hope you don’t mind.” Christian shakes his head, and Jules continues. “Before I leave with anybody I like to, like, make sure there aren’t any misunderstandings about my intentions or whatever. I’m just kind of looking for a one night stand. I mean, I wouldn’t be opposed to it developing into something eventually, but right now I’m just kind of thinking about sex. Is that okay?”

“That’s okay.”

“Awesome. Let’s go.”