"So that's why you guys were acting weird," Antonia sipped on her iced bubble milk tea, while I sat opposite her in the café.
I had just told her all about the things that happened between me and Nathan after she had insisted that Nathan was 'not being himself' recently.
"I had no idea that was going on," She spoke calmly. "So Nathan must be devastated."
"I hope not." I replied.
"I could go talk to him." Antonia suggested. "He just needs some time, I think."
A text notification popped up on my phone's screen. "Hey, I'm there", it read.
"Sorry, but Brad's here. I have to go, see you!" I bid farewell to Antonia.
"Have fun at the party!" She blew me a kiss.
"I'll send you pics if I remember!"
One of Brad's close friends called Zayn was going to host a pool party later that night, and Brad had been generously invited, of course. Brad was also asked to bring his new boyfriend, so those naturally became my plans for the weekend.
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"There it is," Brad pointed at the blue neon sign that read 'Tropicana Beach Club' next to a stone arch which served as the entrance to the club. The sun had already set so the area was illuminated by neon lights and long bamboo torches. I could hear loud pop music being played, with plenty more party-goers arriving in taxis and Ubers.
We walked along a path of iridescent tiles towards what I presumed to be the main pool, crowded with people.
The kidney-shaped main pool was illuminated by bright purple neon lights from underwater, while LED orbs floated on its surface. A lot of people were chillaxing on transparent pink swimming rings, with multiple inflatable flamingo and unicorn floats dispersed in the pool. Some guests were even dancing in the pool, drinks in their hands, talking to their friends. I could see most of them were only in their bikinis and trunks, with few wearing more than that.
Brad and I went straight towards the bar table after he spotted his friends hanging out around there. A familiar face immediately greeted him.
"Hey! Brad! Ped!" Kaito called, a rainbow cocktail in one hand, and his other hand around the shoulder of an unfamiliar woman.
"Guys, this is my girlfriend Lara." He patted her back as she greeted us as well. Lara was wearing a sleeveless, slim black cocktail dress, and had enormous eyeliner wings while Kaito was in his navy blue patterned swim trunks.
"Zayn!" Brad suddenly exclaimed, seeing another man approach us. He was wearing black swim trunks.
Zayn and him briefly hugged for a moment before Zayn turned to me and said, "I've heard a lot about you. Ped's the name, right?"
I smiled awkwardly and nodded. "Haha, yeah."
"I'm Zayn Wong. Nice to finally meet you, and welcome to my party!" He shook my hands and gestured towards another man who was walking towards us. "Kyle! Come here!"
"Yo, Brad!" Kyle chuckled. "And this must be Brad's new man!"
I nodded politely in response, giving him a warm smile.
Both Zayn and Kyle were slim and tanned, looking more twink-ish than the guys I've met before. Zayn had short black hair and was shorter than Kyle, having small features on his round face. Kyle had messy, wet brown hair and a very charismatic face. Both of them were actually really attractive, along with Kaito; why was I attracted to everyone I meet? Or were all of Brad's friends hot?
"What are you still doing in your clothes? Go get naked!" Zayn pushed us towards the changing rooms.
"Get me two ginger beers once I come out here!" Brad laughed as we entered the male changing room.
"So how're you feeling, buddy?" Brad asked me.
"Ready to get drunk!" I snickered. "And your friends look like they're around my age."
"Kind of, yeah. Hmm, Kyle's the youngest," Brad replied. "I think he's 22."
When we returned after getting into our swim trunks, the gang had already gone down into the pool. People were having fun splashing each other and drinking in the pool, with green and purple lights flashing onto their wet bodies.
"Oh my god, it's Charli XCX, girls!" Kyle screamed upon hearing a pop song playing.
"Lock it, lock it, lock it, lock it, lock it, lock it, unlock it!" He began to sing the lyrics, as Zayn and Kaito joined in. "Got the key can you unlock it!"
"Who's Charli XCX?" I curiously asked.
Brad turned to me, surprised. Zayn and Kyle also stopped dancing to gaze shockingly at me.
"What?"
"All gays know the queen of pop that is Charli XCX!" Kyle boomed.
"You need to be educated." Zayn said. "I'll go tell the DJ to play Charli all night."
I confusingly looked at Brad, who was holding back a laugh.
"Don't mind them, Ped. They're all loco Charli stans." He chuckled.
"Stans?" I asked, half expecting them to be shocked again.
"Stans like from stan twitter?" Kaito chimed in. "You don't use twitter?"
I shook my head.
"No wonder you can't keep up with our lingo, boy." Kyle spoke.
There was a lot to the gay community that I apparently need to know about, I thought, remind yourself to search for 'stan twitter' after this.
"Oh yes, Brad." Zayn mentioned. "Come with us to Ophrus Pride this November!"
Zayn then looked at me. "You, Ped. You should come along as well."
"Sure, I missed last year's anyways." Brad answered, putting his hand on my shoulder.
"That sounds fun." I added.
We then started drinking from small ginger beers to Hennessey cocktails to jelly vodka shots, getting both me and Brad quite drunk during the process. Zayn also had to leave our group to entertain some other friends at the party soon after.
We danced along to the pumping music in the pool, eventually trying to sit on one of the unicorn floats.
"Come on!" Brad pulled me up as he sat on the float, and I held on to the neck of the unicorn.
"Shit!" I slipped and fell back into the pool, splashing water onto some people nearby.
"Get on this one instead!" Kyle pulled my hand from the other side, helping me climb onto a metallic rose gold flamingo float. "I'm stealing your man from you, Brad."
"Hey! No fair!" Brad cried, thrusting his body to force the unicorn float move towards me and Kyle.
"It's a girl's night out!" Kyle suddenly sang to the loud song playing, putting his arms up in the air. "Let's have a girls' night out tonight!"
The surrounding people were also bopping to the music, moving their bodies to the rhythm. Everyone was illuminated a shade of light purple from the lights. Some guys were enjoying themselves by the bar while some were on their phones by themselves. But one thing was for sure, everyone there was obviously drunk as fuck, I thought as I watched Brad make his way beside us, calling me to climb over to his unicorn float.
"No, he's mine." Kyle joked.
"Ped! Don't leave me!" Brad laughed, leaning towards me. I carefully stepped onto the unicorn float, just to fall into the water once again.
"Ah!" I shrieked.
Brad joined and jumped into the water with me.
"You're so clumsy." He smiled.
Seeing his stubble all wet and his face glistening in the blue neon lights, I pulled him close for a deep kiss.
Brad whispered in my ear.
"Do you want to go to the hot tubs?"