{TWENTY-SEVEN}

{TWENTY-SEVEN}

"Why do I have to go to this?" I groaned, fixing my shirt collar for the fourth time since putting it on, it is the fifth shirt I've worn. Scott was in the adjacent bathroom, fixing his hair and getting dressed as we both got dressed and ready for his work Christmas party. I didn't want to go, I didn't even want to think about Christmas.

Janet and I had agreed that I would come to the house and stay the night on Christmas eve just to bring some normalcy to the holiday, I would never want to split our family up, it wouldn't be right. Another reason I was going to stay at the house was the fact that my mother was coming into town on Christmas Eve, leaving two days after New Years just like she did every year.

I had fully planned on telling her about Scott and me, but I was still pondering on how to tell her If I should break it to her on the way home from the airport, or wait until after Christmas. I just knew I couldn't wait until after new years, I wanted to spend it with Scott, living our new life together. And we both had agreed that my mother could stay at his place if she wanted to.

I worried that she would share some of the closed minded views that her brother and his wife shared, I was an adult, and I didn't speak to my mother as much as I should. But the idea of her hating me because of something I couldn't help rocked me to the core. Sure, she wasn't in my life like she should have been, but she was still my mother, and there was a part of me that always wanted her approval.

"You don't have to go no, I understand if you don't want to. But I kind of do want to show you off." Scott said peeking his head out the door to me with a smile. "But don't feel obligated to go, babe, I'm not forcing you."

No, he wasn't. But he seemed so happy that I was going to be there, he kept going on and on about his co-workers, how his parents wouldn't be there but his grandfather might show up, but he rarely ever did with his health and age. The party was more for the lawyers in the office rather than the owners of the company, but Scott saw himself as an employee, not a one day owner.

I wasn't too worried about seeing anybody I knew there. Though Janet and I didn't go around telling everyone that we were separated, I was still nervous about being out with Scott, as a couple. We didn't live in a small everybody-knows-everybody town. But I am a dentist and I have clients who work at jobs all over the city.

"I want to go," I casually said as I turned towards him as he walked into the room, his plated rusted orange shirt sleeves pulled to his elbows, giving a full view of his tattoo's, his messy hair styled back and to the side, he looked amazing, he always looked amazing. "I'm just nervous."

"There's nothing to be nervous about," Scott assured, kissing me on the cheek. "I'll be there with you. Promise."

__

Scott and I stood outside of the 'Buckshot' a medium restaurant, slash dance bar where his Christmas party was being held. It had a rustic feel to it, the building a dark brown stone wall, wide wooden and glass double doors. I looked at Scott as he typed something into his phone before stuffing it in his pocket. "How are you feeling?" He asked, coming beside me and patting my shoulder, leaving his hand there when he finished.

"I'm good." I smiled at him, we walked in through the large doors and were greeted by a dimly lit foyer and dining room behind it, with large orange lit lights hanging low. There was laughter from the dining room as Scott spoke to the host, who grabbed two menus and ushered us into the dining room.

A big table sat in the middle of the room with at least twenty people, all of them chatting while drinking beer or wine. Scott and I sat at the end, next to a woman with red-framed glasses and her hair flowing down her back, and a man in a suit jacket and white dress shirt.

I didn't really look anyone over as we sat at the table, Scott spoke to his colleges as I sat beside me, smiling when I needed to smile, or adding a simple yes or no to something they were saying. But I didn't get to speak too much, which I was almost thankful for. The only moment at the table that made my heart stop was when Scott has told everyone at the table who I was.

"Hey everyone," He smiled, pulling his chair out to sit down. "This is my boyfriend Sidney, play nice, he's a bit shy."

When he said that I could feel my face heating up. We hadn't really talked about what we were. We never labelled it, as we had agreed. But hearing him call me his boyfriend was like music to my ears of a song I didn't know needed to be sung.

It was hard to keep focus after that because I just couldn't stop replaying those words in my head

Boyfriend

I haven't been somebodies boyfriend in years, and it actually felt nice.

After the dinner was over everyone stuck around to mingle, the bar was open, a DJ was in the booth playing music as people danced on the open floor. Scott had vanished in a crowd of friends, promising to be back in a couple minutes, and I wasn't worried about him being by my side all night, it was his party, his friends, he should be having fun.

"Excuse me?" A voice said from beside me, I turned looking at a taller man with dark, almost burnt red hair. "You wouldn't be Sidney Quinlan by any chance would you?"

I knew that red hair, I would know that hair, those eyes, the scattered freckles anywhere, and the last time I had seen them they were of a scared sixteen-year-old boy who had just come out to everyone he knew, but now, they were on a tall man who stood with curious eyes, waiting for me to reply to him.

"Timothy?" I questioned, in total shock. "What are you doing here? You're a lawyer?"

Timothy laughed, shaking his head. "Oh my god I can't believe it's really you, I wouldn't have recognized you if Scott didn't tell us your name. No, I'm not a lawyer, I own a car shop down on 6th, my husband is though," He said, pointing his finger that was holding a bottle of beer across the room to a shorter man with a bread, talking to the woman in red glasses. The man I could only assume was his husband.

"Congratulations," I said, looking at Tim, he'd gotten tall and lanky over the years, but it suited him well, but besides that, he hadn't changed.

"Thank you, though we've been married ten years now, we have two little girls. Dylan was telling me you'd gotten married too, but Scott doesn't strike me as a Janet." He smirked, taking a swig from his bottle.

"No, no he is no Janet," I awkwardly said, looking around, "Janet and I are separated, for obvious reasons. You've been talking to Dylan?"

As far as I had known, Dylan and Tim hadn't spoken since he had come out, which was years and years ago, so for him to bring him up was shocking, let alone knowing that they had spoken.

"Yeah, he comes to me to get his car fixed from time to time, not as close as we used to be, but we've gone for the occasional beer."

Timothy, or Tim as he liked to be called now spoke until his husband -Marcus-came and whisked him away to dance, and thankfully by then Scott was back, we'd exchanged numbers, promising to keep in touch. He had a daughter around Morgan's age, who also enjoyed sports, so I was sure we'd see each other.

"Did you enjoy yourself?" Scott asked me as we huddled close int he back of a taxi, our breath smelling of wine, beers and a few shots of vodka that Scott just had to take.

"Yeah, yeah I did." I smiled, kissing his forehead. "Thanks for dragging me out."

A/N: This is the official cover of He Will Be Loved. Eric's story that I will be writing during the April 2019 NaNo Camp! I hope to see you all there, thank you again for your support.

I would give you a glimpse inside, but I would hate to spoil ;)

Robyn♡