Tyler meets a new boy, Daryl tries to mess with Hunter again, and Charlie and Tristan play Hardy Boys on Week 3 of Volume 3. Volume 4 launches November 19th!

CHAPTER 11 - CLOSE TO THE CHEST


Tyler took off his HRC t-shirt right when his shift was over. He needed to figure something else out soon. He was glad that his efforts support a good cause, but he needed to figure out what he'd do long term. Being stationed in the Gold Coast especially sucked as the soccer moms and nannies actively ignored him like he was a leper.

He kept thinking about how he needed to move on all together. Getting Andy off his mind was a lot harder than he thought. He thought that random hook up would help with that, but all it did was bring drama at home. He decided he'd give Grindr one more chance, but this time, he was going to play it smart. A little closer to the chest. He wouldn't be so quick to hook up; maybe he'd find someone he could actually date.

Ducking into a funky coffee shop, the first few guys that messaged him with so many abbreviations, he didn't know what was going on. He was half-way through his strawberry lemonade when a cute, youngish guy that looked close to his age messaged him.

"Hey," messaged the guy.

"Hey, how's it going?" messaged Tyler.

"Just got out of a meeting. Kinda lame, but whatever."

"I'm Tyler, BTW."

"Hey, I'm Zan."

"Zan?"

"Childhood nickname."

They chatted enough for Tyler to refill his strawberry lemonade twice. They talked about Zan being ready to finish school, his LGBT activism, about Tyler's move from Ohio and his work at Haven and HRC. Zan never said what his major was, but Tyler hoped Zan wouldn't think he was lame for only going to community college. They chatted for the better part of an hour and not once did Zan mention hooking up or sex. It made Tyler smile. When his Droid started to lose battery, Tyler decided to take a chance.

"Would you like to hang out some time?"

"Yeah. That'd be cool. How about this Friday? Jess Godwin is playing a private house concert, I've got an in."

"Who's Jess Godwin?"

Zan sent him a link to a video of a spunky red head with a lot of soul.

"I'm in," said Tyler.

"You're not gonna flake are ya? Grindr is full of flakes."

"Nope."

They traded numbers. Before he signed off, Tyler remembered what happened last time he hooked up with someone on Grindr. The drama at the house with Charlie.

"You don't have an ex named Charlie or Hunter, do you?" Tyler asked, thinking better same than sorry.

His phone died before he got the answer.

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CHAPTER 12 - WANT YOU TO HURT


Hunter was so deep into his latest Spider-Man trade paperback that he didn't pay any attention to the guy who sat next to him in the Howard Brown waiting room.

"Fancy meeting you here," came a snide, effeminate voice. Hunter looked up and it took everything in him not to punch Daryl in the face.

"Leave me alone," said Hunter. "I don't want a scene."

"Well then don't make one."

"You're really fucking lucky I'm about to go in. Otherwise, I'd take you outside and knock you the fuck out." The aide sitting at reception looked up suspiciously, causing Hunter to look sheepishly down at his book.

"Better watch that temper, boy," Daryl said, his voice barely a whisper.

"Look," Hunter whispered back. "I don't know what the fuck you want from me... "

"I'd think it was pretty obvious what I want from you."

"I'm not coming back, Daryl."

"Of course, not. I gave up that a long time ago."

"Then why do you keep trying to fuck up my life?"

"Because I want you to hurt like I hurt."

"Look, keep coming at me all you want. I don't care cuz I'll always beat you at your own game. But leave Charlie and Tyler out of it."

"Hunter Storm?" called the aide at the desk.

"You're nuts," said Hunter, getting up. "You know that? Move on with your life."

"How can I when you fucked it up?"

"You fucked it up yourself. If you weren't driving while your chasing the fucking dragon, I wouldn't have needed to give you that transfusion. End of story. I saved your life and you're wasting it. Don't blame me, blame yourself." And he was gone.

But Daryl knew all he needed for his next move. He'd ordered the mark against the little twink noob Tyler over the summer. Seeing Hunter get so riled up it was obvious: the next target would be preppy Asian guy Charlie.

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CHAPTER 13 - BID

"I haven't even done a show since high school," Mason whined, fidgeting with his bowtie. "Why would I want to embarrass myself on stage now?"

"It's for a good cause," Josh said, handing him his drink. "This theatre company does some awesome work. Plus the casting auction is like a Chicago institution. Chadwick really wants to do this."

"Whatever, I just think the only reason the guys want to go to these galas is so we have an excuse to get all dressed up."

*

"I'm so nervous," said Chadwick, chugging his martini.

"It's not like you're auditioning for the show," Bryan said, rubbing his shoulders. "You raised thousands of dollars on that sponsor driveor whatever. You're gonna get it."

"Look at him," Chadwick sneered at the handsome rugged man a hundred yards away. "He is SO sure of himself. SO sure that he's gonna get to play Joseph. I'll take him down like one of those wannabes on that reality show on BBC."

Bryan was too distracted by the handsome African American theatre company member with dreads to respond.

"Are you even listening me?!"

"Yeah babe, yeah. He's going down."

Chadwick watched his main competition laughing with some of the members of the company, drinking and having a great time. What the fuck? Didn't he know it was game on?

*

"I can't believe you dragged me here," Charlie said.

"I paid for your ticket," said Eddy. "It's open bar and full of hot gay men. Stop complaining, you'll have a great time. Now keep your eyes out for a hot blonde."

"You paid all this money just so you can hit on... "

"Brittany! Hey!" Eddy waved as a tall and leggy blonde turned and smiled at her. Eddy shoved her coat at Charlie and strutted towards her.

"Eds, I'm pretty sure that girl is straight!"

"You know me," said Eddy, with the prowl in her eyes. "I love a good challenge."

Charlie sighed and checked their coats, heading for the open bar right away. He bumped into the guy leaving the bar with two drinks. The guy spilled one on Charlie.

"Christ!" Charlie yelped, running to the bar, to grab napkins to clean up with.

"I'm so sorry," said the guy from behind Charlie.

"Don't look at me," said Charlie, covering his eyes. "I mean, it's ok, but... this feels like some obvious, stereotypical ‘rom-com' moment where we awkwardly meet and spend the next two hours jumping hurdles on our way to falling in love. I don't think I can handle it tonight. So let's pretend it didn't happen and not look at each other."

The guy behind him chuckled. "Fair enough." Charlie continued to clean himself up in silence.

"Hey Ben, let's go!" Charlie heard someone call.

"Coming!" said the guy who spilled a drink on him. Fuck, not the Ben that Charlie thought he'd lost? The whole drink spill happened so quickly, Charlie hadn't even looked at the guy's face. He finished cleaning up as quickly as he could and turned around, but there was no one behind him anymore.

"Charlie?" someone from the other side called. Charlie turned to see Josh, looking at him elated. Josh rushed over and hugged him right away.

"Hey Josh."

"I haven't seen you since... I mean, I was so worried while you were in your coma and I haven't seen you at Haven... "

"Yeah, I've only been able to stop in a couple of times since. Catching up at school has been... "

"It's so good to see you," Josh said, with a gleam in his eye.

*

"Nice to see you again," Bruce said to Diego, as the teaser performances before the live auction began.

"Shh. Singing."

"Right, right." Bruce sipped his drink for a moment. "You look good."

"Whatever," said Diego.

"Diego, have you seen Josh?" Mason asked, approaching. "I've been waiting for my drink for like ever."

"Isn't that him, over there?" Diego motioned. "Talking to that Asian guy?"

"Oh I see. Tom is walking over to them. What the hell, I'm waiting for my drink and he's talking to some Asian guy?"

"That's Charlie," said Bruce. "He lives in a building I used to own."

"Charlie?" asked Diego. "Charlie Parker?"

"Yeah," said Bruce.

Diego's eyes narrowed. "Huh."

*

"I just... I just keep thinking about that night," said Josh.

"Yeah?" Charlie felt himself blush, but knew that somewhere in the crowd, Josh's boyfriend had to be present.

"Hey Josh," said Tom, coming up, eyes locked on Charlie.

"Hey Tom. Do you know... ?"

"Excuse me," Charlie said, avoiding Tom's gaze as he walked away. Josh and Tom sipped their drinks in awkward silence. Then they noticed their boyfriends glaring at them from across the room. They waved. Their boyfriends just glared back.


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CHAPTER 14 - CLARIFY OR WHATEVER


"So you just left?" Tristan asked, sipping on his extra shot grande soy caramel macchiato.

"I didn't know what else to do," said Charlie. "I didn't want to cause a scene at this event, but there I was, face to face with Tom. And Josh."

"Leave it to me to miss all the drama."

"The worst thing is, I might've run into Ben."

"Dr. Fargo?"

"Yeah. But I, mean, he spilled a drink on me and I went to clean up and by the time I figured it out, he was gone."

"This is silly. You've been wondering about this for like two weeks. Aren't you sick of not knowing?"

"Yeah."

"Well then," Tristan said. "Let's do something about it."

*

"I didn't think I'd see this place again so soon," Charlie said, feeling claustrophobic as they entered the hospital waiting room.

"Excuse me," Tristan said, approaching the nurse's station. "We're looking for Dr. Ben."

"Um, we don't have a Dr. Ben here," said the nurse, suspisciously.

"Well, he's an intern. And his first name is Ben."

"I see. And what is the nature of your visit?"

"Well my friend Charlie here as in his care. And, um... he told us something about his, um... post hospital care. Yeah. And we forgot cuz we're... well, we're pretty and not that smart. Can we talk to him?"

"Uh huh." The nurse wasn't buying it. Charlie wanted to crawl in a hole and die of embarrassment. "What's your last name?"

"Parker," said Charlie.

The nurse left the desk for a moment then came back with Charlie's file. "There's no follow up documented for your after care, nor special instructions. And you look fine."

"Well, is there a way we can talk to him?" asked Tristan. "Just to make sure."

"Ben the intern isn't here at the moment."

"Can we have his home number? Just to... you know, clarify. Or whatever."

"I'm afraid we can't release that information."

Charlie turned to Tristan, defeated and mortified. Tristan hated seeing his friend so disappointed. He had to do something.

"Ooooh!" Tristan swooned and fainted. Several nurses rushed to his aid. Charlie bent down to help him up. Tristan discreetly opened his eyes and made a sideward glance towards the file.

"Are you ok?" asked the nurse.

"Just feel... light headed... " Tristan faked. The nurses escorted Tristan to a chair, leaving the nurses' station unattended. Charlie quickly grabbed his file and saw "B. Finn" signing off on one of his charts. He had a last name. It was a start.


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CHAPTER 15 - BE A LIGHT

"Omigod, she's fucking amazing," Tyler said, as the effervescent red head on piano finished a song.

"I told you," Zan said. She started a new song and Zan grabbed Tyler's hand and near-squealed with delight. "O-M-G it's her new single! I love this song! It's from her new EP, she's having a release party at the Double Door next Friday!"

Tyler looked at his hand in Zan's and smiled. "Would you like to go? That can be our second date."

"Oh," Zan stammered, letting go of his Tyler's hand. "I'd love to, it's just... I can't."

"Oh," Tyler said, not doing a good job masking his disappointment. "It's cool."

"Oh, it's not that... "

"What?"

"It's just... the Double Door's a bar and... "

"Yeah?"

"Nothing. Bars just aren't my thing. I prefer a more intimate setting. Like this house concert."

"I get it."

"It's not that I wouldn't want to... "

"No?"

"No. I mean, yes. I do. I'd love to go on a second date with you."

Tyler beamed. "Really?"

Zan smiled back and held his hand again. "Yeah. I like you Tyler. You're sweet. And uncomplicated. Not like the jerks I'm used to."

"I like you too, Zan." Tyler said, squeezing his hand as Jess Godwin finished her new song "Be A Light."

"One more," yelled someone in the crowd, with the rest of the crowd cheering in agreement.

"All right guys," she said. "Here's one from my first album." She started the coy and sexy chords of "Almost Funny." As the song continued, Tyler looked at Zan and smiled. And went in for the kiss.

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Volume 4 will launch November 19th!

Just joining us? Catch up now!

Volume 1 -
Week One, Week Two, Week Three, Week Four, Week Five

Volume 2 -
Week One, Week Two, Week Three, Week Four, Week Five

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