Run Away Home Chapter 7
Chapter: 7/?
Prompt: Table 2, Prompt 71 (sex)
Word Count: approx 2300
Summary: Jeff goes to a bar and makes a very bad decision.
Rating: M in this chapter.
Jeff started his job that Saturday evening. The previous day he spent with Byron watching Sophie and Henry, and much to Byron’s dismay they actually did have to play a couple of rounds of Candyland with Sophie, but Jeff laughed it off.
“I’ve played a few times with my nephews,” he said.
Once the kids went to bed, Byron and Jeff watched a movie, Shaun of the Dead, which Byron couldn’t believe Jeff had never seen.
Overall, it had actually been a pretty fun night, and Jeff was still there at one in the morning when Mallory and her husband came home from their night out. She quirked an eyebrow toward Jeff, but didn’t say anything as he and Byron left the house.
Training at his Fix-it Geek job consisted of shadowing Eduardo and the two other employees who were working that night, then Eduardo shadowing him the following morning.
Eduardo was a nice guy, and Jeff could tell was going to be a ridiculously easy boss to work for. He was, as Jeff suspected in their interview, only twenty-one years old. In fact, all of the employees seemed to fall in the twenty to twenty-five age range, which made Jeff feel stupidly old.
But his age seemed to make him something of a star at the Fix-it Geek counter, and Jeff had to admit, that felt good.
Within a week of starting, Eduardo was coming to him to discuss computer problems and even a little bit of software design, which was his hobby. It was likely that Eduardo was just too young to be a boss, because Jeff realized he could fuck up in many ways and he’d never get disciplined for it.
But he wouldn’t, because he genuinely liked Eduardo and wouldn’t put his position with the Fixit Geek regional manager at risk.
Still, it was nice to work somewhere where his co-workers were nice and where he had something in common with them. In California, he’d worked mostly with lawyers and legal staff, and while they got along for the most part, he never quite fit in.
Jeff celebrated his first paycheck a couple of weeks later by going to The Eagle’s Nest one Thursday evening. Mary Anne had told him it was a bar that hosted gay nights on Thursday evenings, but had warned him that gay guys were outnumbered by straight girls who wanted a night out without being hit on by creepy guys at any of the other bars.
He’d asked Byron one more time to go with him, but he begged off again. He also asked Mary Anne, who said she’d love to, but she had a PTA meeting that evening for Joshua’s school.
Thinking a town as small as Stoneybrook wouldn’t boast much of a gay bar scene, Jeff was slightly surprised to have to stand in line at seven in the evening to get in. He glanced around, and realized Mary Anne was right. Girls outnumbered guys by a ratio of about three to one, but he did notice that many of the girls were probably lesbians. He also noticed that most people had come in groups, or at least pairs, making him feel even lonelier as he slowly crept forward in line. He considered leaving the line and going to hang out with Byron.
When he got in, he was surprised to see how big the bar was. He wondered what kind of crowd it drew on the weekend nights. He seemed to recall this bar drew a lot of students from Stoneybrook University. The bar was big and square and smack in the middle of the floor. To one side of the bar there was a fairly large dance floor with a very small stage, which currently held a DJ instead of a band. Two other parallel sides of the bar had a few booths, all of which were currently occupied. The fourth side of the bar, the one closest to the front door, was mostly open, with a handful of tall round tables for people to gather. Although the booths were all full, most people were huddled around the tall tables.
Jeff looked around and gathered his bearings. He decided to sit at the bar and have a few drinks. Maybe he could meet someone. Marcus had told him once that gay men were the hot new accessory for straight girls, and said that Jeff was ridiculous for not trying to befriend more straight girls.
Jeff, for his part, always thought girls were a mystery and decided they were best left for straight guys to deal with. In fact, he was pretty sure it had been Marcus’ myriad straight-girl friends who’d probably convinced Marcus to break up with him.
So Jeff sat at the bar and ordered a beer, which he nursed slowly, glancing around the bar, seeing if there was anyone he recognized. Of course there wasn’t, and he was starting to curse himself for not trying to find someone to come along with him. He should have asked Adam or Jordan. They’d made it clear at the poker game that they were fine going to gay bars with Byron.
Jeff was on his third beer and paying very little attention to his surroundings, when someone sat next to him, and scooted the barstool uncomfortably close to him. “Jeff Schafer, let me buy you a beer.”
Jeff jumped a little in his seat and turned to see Jerry Haney sitting next to him. Jeff looked, shocked, at Jerry who looked very much like he did at sixteen. Perhaps a little pudgier and a little balder, but there was no mistaking who’d taken that seat. “Hi Jerry. No, thanks I’ve got my own.”
Jerry took Jeff’s beer bottle and held it up for the bartender to see and raised two fingers. “No big deal, I heard you were back in town and unemployed.”
“I’m not unemployed anymore, I got a job. But, how’d you hear that?” Jeff had an urge to punch him in his stupid smug face again, just for good measure.
Jerry smiled and shrugged, “It’s Stoneybrook,” he explained. “Word gets around, you know.”
“Huh.”
The bartender came over and handed Jeff and Jerry each their beer. Jerry raised his bottle toward Jeff, “Drink up,” he said. They drank in silence for several minutes and Jeff drank his beer much faster than the previous three to cover up for the discomfort of the silence.
Finally, Jerry said “I knew I wasn’t wrong about you all those years ago.”
“What do you mean?” Jeff asked warily.
“When we were in high school. When I kissed you right before you skipped town. “
“Oh, that.”
“Right, that.” Jerry laughed a little. “I didn’t realize I’d had such an effect on you.”
Jeff turned to him, “Jesus Christ, Jerry. I was fifteen! How’d you think I would have reacted? I was barely out to myself, much less anyone else. I thought you were doing it so you could go tell your stupid football playing buddies that I kissed you and have them beat me up.”
Jerry raised his hands in surrender, “OK, fine. I was only sixteen, I was stupid too. Forgiven?”
Jeff looked at him in disgust. “Yeah, forgiven.” He turned slightly in his stool, away from Jerry to attempt to give Jerry a hint. Jerry did not take the hint.
“So what brings you in to my bar?” Jerry asked.
“Your bar?”
“Yep. I own it.”
Jeff paused “Seriously?”
“I bought it a couple years ago. I got an inheritance when my dad died and this is what I did with it.”
“But this bar was here when we were in high school.”
“It wasn’t this nice though,” Jerry said proudly. “It didn’t have gay Thursday.”
When Jeff still looked skeptical, Jerry added, “Why do you think I didn’t pay for the beer?”
“You have a tab?”
Jerry snorted. “No, I sign that bartender’s paycheck, is what.”
Jeff was still unsure. Byron hadn’t mentioned this. Then again, Byron tended to shut down at the first mention of Jerry, so he wouldn’t have mentioned it. But he could have said something to Jeff, maybe when Jeff asked him to come today, Byron could have given his real reason – that Jerry owned the bar.
Jerry waved the bartender over, “Two more of these, please Cory.” He held up the bottle of beer.
“Yes, sir,” Cory said and hurried to the small fridge behind the bar.
Jerry turned to Jeff, “See? He called me sir. Did he call you sir when you came in?”
“No,” Jeff admitted.
“Do I look like someone that would be called sir?”
Jeff gave the once-over to Jerry, seeing his jeans, too faded and slightly too baggy, and a button-up work shirt, also too baggy, with the sleeves rolled up.
“Did you lose weight recently?” Jeff asked suddenly. After asking it, he blushed a little. It was a stupid thing to say, but four beers in and he was starting to feel looser and light-headed.
Jerry looked at him oddly. “A little.”
Jeff nodded, “Your clothes are too loose.”
The bartender came back with their beers and set one in front of each of them. “Anything else?” he asked nervously, looking at Jerry, but glancing sideways at Jeff.
“No, Cory. Thanks.” Cory stood for a moment before turning to help another customer.
Jerry switched bottles with Jeff, “Here, in case he spit in yours.”
“Why would your bartender spit in my drink?” Jeff asked, suddenly and drunkenly curious
about Jerry Haney and his bar.
“Because I am currently sleeping with my bartender, and he is a jealous little bitch who probably doesn’t like me here talking to you.”
“You’re sleeping with an employee?”
“I am.”
“You know that’s a bad idea, right?”
“Oh, I know. But you should see what this guy can do with his mouth.”
Jeff took a long swig of beer. “You’re going to get sued for sexual harassment, you know.”
“Nah,” Jerry waved his hand. “His family are Christian Fundamentalists. Admitting we slept together would be admitting he’s gay, and he’d be disowned for sure. They almost disowned him for daring to work in the evil industry of drunks. They don’t even know about Gay Thursday.”
“You’re a dick. You’re totally taking advantage of this kid.”
Jerry shrugged, “He’s twenty-one. He’s not a kid.”
Jeff shook his head. “This is totally fucked up, Jerry. He’s got this shitty home life, will probably be forced to marry a girl and get some dick on the side, and you could be...something more. You could be helpful, let him see that there’re people outside his family who could help him and care about him, but you’re just taking advantage of him.”
“He’s not complaining.”
“You think he spit in my beer.”
“I told you, he’s a jealous bitch.”
Jeff put his fifth beer bottle, now nearly empty, back down on the bar with a loud thud. Cory looked toward him quickly and brought a sixth bottle. “Thanks,” Jeff muttered. Jeff looked at Jerry and shook his head. “Maybe he’s jealous because he doesn’t know how else to be because his situation between home and here is such a mess. You shouldn’t screw with this kids’ head.”
“Oh my God. Could you stop with the lecture for just one second?” Jerry asked. Jeff bit his lip. “Good god, what happened to you that you think you’re the protector of every gay kid out there? Did you fuck around when you were twenty-one?”
“Not with my boss,” Jeff said snidely.
“But you did fuck around.”
“Sure.”
“That’s what this is, OK? We’re just fucking around.” When Jeff didn’t say anything, Jerry rolled his eyes. “Look, I’ve got to go check on the guys in the kitchen,” he took Jeff’s beer away and finished it. “Have something else to drink, I think the beer is depressing you.”
Jerry walked behind the bar and whispered something to Cory, while pointing to Jeff. Cory nodded and quickly mixed up a drink, which he brought over to Jeff.
“Thanks,” Jeff said.
“Jerry says that this will cheer you up.”
Jeff took a sip, Long Island Iced Tea. Oh for crying out loud. Jerry was treating him like a girl. Still, it didn’t stop Jeff from finishing it, probably too quickly and from Cory bringing him another two after that, which Jeff did, at least, have the judgment to finish a little slower.
Finishing the last two drinks slowly did very little to prevent Jeff from getting very drunk. By midnight, he was feeling drunker than he had since college, when he had a habit of getting plastered to the point of blacking out with alarming frequency.
So even though he knew he was drunk, and he knew he was making a bad decision, he did nothing to stop Jerry Haney from taking him upstairs to his apartment above the bar. He did nothing to stop Jerry from kissing him deeply, from pulling him onto the bed. And because it had been so long since he’d been touched, and it felt so damn good, he did nothing to stop Jerry when he pulled Jeff’s pants down and took him into his mouth. It felt good, and at the time Jeff was not about to stop Jerry. In fact, it felt so good, he happily and sloppily reciprocated.
