"Oh Tristan texted back, he's coming too", Declan informed, putting down his drink on the round glass table in front of him, as he checked his phone. Elian, who was sitting opposite to him, didn't give a response. His drunk, turquoise eyes were staring at the crystal tumbler in his hand, half-filled with the tawny colored liquid, lost in deep thoughts. The dim yellow lighting of the posh bar lounge they sat in was complimenting his mood.
He could hear Declan talking about something, while soothing jazz music filled the background along with the sounds of glass clinking against one another. He was probably talking about Ava, his ex-girlfriend that left him for a guy who plays for the same football club as him.
It had been a year but his friend was still hung up on that incident. Usually, he would listen to him rant about her and her new boyfriend Jayden but today he was too tired to pay attention.
"HeYy! aRe you even lissing to me?" , Declan shouted, his words slurred as he spoke. He'd probably had enough at this point, Elian thought, after his contemplation was interrupted by his friend's loud voice.
"I was, before you started talking about Ava", the blond replied, in a dull tone.
"What kind of best friend are you? You should be consoling me!!", the other Alpha complained, "She invited me to her fuckin engag-ement. Who invites their ex to their engagement!?! It's like she's trying to-to hurt my feel-lings", he stuttered, in his inebriated state.
"Jesus, get over it Deck. You're starting to sound like a loser ", Elian chided, irritated listening to his friend cry over the same woman for the thousandth time.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I came to you to talk about my problems", he replied with a sarcastic tone, "I CAN't believe you're taking out that omega's anger on me. WHat did he even do to make you so upset hUhh?".
Elian didn't answer his question. Just stared at him, wondering if he'd be able to listen to him in such state.
"That was one hell of day", Tristan's voice interrupted them as he arrived and immediately flopped onto the vacant seat next to Elian, with a visibly exhausted expression on his face.
"What's up with you?", Elian asked, looking at him as the lawyer dropped his head back onto the headrest of the seat and closed his eyes.
"Family dinners are the worst", he answered rubbing his forehead and his temples, "God, my head hurts".
"Why-y'd you even go?", Declan scoffed as his shaky hand reached for the glass sitting on the table.
"He said he had an important announcement to make", Tristan said, pulling his head back to the original position, "Didn't know he wanted to waste my time introducing his new girlfriend. He invited my brothers, my step-sisters, everyone just to give us another reason to not visit home".
Tristan ordered himself some whiskey. He really needed it today.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What on earth is wrong with you? Why are you so pissed?", Kian yelled, irritated by Will flouncing around the apartment, ignoring him completely. He'd normally not respond to such tantrums, but since the past few days his temper kept getting worse and worse.
"What is wrong with you?", Will yelled back, "Why'd you have to be so rude to him? He's been only trying to help you ever since he came here and you're just hating on him for no good reason. Why do you even hate him so much?"
Kian felt like something hurt him inside. He couldn't believe that Will had switched sides so quickly. He has been his best friend since they were kids. They'd been through thick and thin together. Kian loved him so much that he could even give his life for that boy. But seeing him defend the man he hated so much hurt like hell.
He had only met that alpha a day ago. Was he in love with that man? Did he really like him that much? Kian wondered. Some part of him went as far as to wonder whether Elian liked him back. He'd been nothing but nice to the 18 year old omega ever since he had met him. That wasn't the case for Kian. Elian didn't like him at all when they had met. Would they be a couple now, he thought. He could feel his breath shortening, his heart began to race, like he was losing control.
"Why do you care if I hate him? Why should it bother you when I'm rude to him? Are you in love with him?", Kian questioned, his face reddening with rage.
Will looked at him with disbelief, "I'm NOT in love with him, Kian. I just don't want you to be the bad guy here. You really crossed a line there by dragging his parents into this", his tone was filled with exasperation.
"Oh yeah? And why is that? Because it was true? Was I being too hard on him by letting him know that he is a spoiled brat?", Kian asked, faking sadness in his tone.
"No Kian. It is because his mother died in a car accident and his dad left when he was a kid. You and I would be hurt too if someone said something like that to us, and you know that. Just because he's rich and famous doesn't mean that his life was perfect. It was harsh of you to question his upbringing when he grew up without parents, just like us", Will explained.
The apartment was consumed by silence. Kian just stood in his place, stunned by the revelation. He didn't know what to say.
His rage subsided. He didn't feel hurt anymore, he didn't know why, but he felt a little relieved that Will wasn't in love with Elian.
To his surprise he even felt a little sorry for Elian, he regretted saying those words to him. He didn't want to admit this to himself but, today he'd probably been the bad guy.
The phone sitting in the back pocket of his black jeans rang and he reached for it. It was the landline number of the orphanage. He picked up the call wondering who it could be at this hour. "Hello?", he said.
The response from the other side shook the ground below his feet. "What? When?", he cried.
His panicked voice caught Will's attention. "Who is it?", he asked. Kian was too busy with the call to respond to him.
Kian nodded as he talked on his phone, and walked over to the apartment door, picking up his coat on the way. "I'll be right there", he said.
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Declan gulped down all of the whiskey left in his glass in a single go. "Gahhh!!!", he grunted. He took another drink from the table and raised his hand in the air, "To Ava, for making promises as fake as her bREAsts!!", he yelled out loud, earning a few scornful gazes from the crowd, while his other two friends grimaced at him.
"Jesus, why'd you bring him here?", Tristan asked, grimacing from the second hand embarrassment his friend brought him while trying his best to make a fool of himself.
"I didn't. I came here to drink on my own but he called me up, crying about Ava's engagement. And then he insisted on joining me to rant about her", Elian responded.
"Why were you here drinking by yourself dude? Shouldn't you be with little miss 'Gimme money', taking care of him?", Tristan questioned.
Elian didn't answer right away. He just moved his gaze back to drunk Declan. He was providing a good distraction with his constant tomfooleries.
"Wow. Already giving up? Damn, I thought you were serious about that whole baby thing?", Tristan said, taking a sip of his ice cold whiskey.
"I'm still serious, Tristan. It's not that. I just-", the blond paused, he didn't know how to say it out loud, "I was just confused about something", he said, and fell silent. His mind went back to contemplating.
"I'm not begging you to tell me so just spill it", Tristan frowned.
"He said some stuff about my parents, like really rude...stuff", Elian revealed.
"Good lord! Please tell me you punched him or something, cuz that'd be hilarious", Tristan laughed, "No wait, you spanked his ass, that'd be way better", a grin appeared on his face.
Elian took a deep sigh and placed his drink onto the round table. "See that's the thing, I should be mad right?", he said leaning in towards the table, "I should be furious. I should be a little angry at the very least, shouldn't I?", he asked.
Tristan looked at him with a puzzled look on his face. "Well, yeah. That is how you usually behave, when people bring up your past", he said, "Wait so, what is the problem here?".
Elian let out another sigh, "I just don't get it, why didn't it hurt this time?", his eyes were focused into nothingness.
"Damn!", Tristan exclaimed, "You really do love him", he said, in a serious tone. "And here I was calling Declan an idiot for thinking that". .
"Declan thinks I love him?", Elian asked, surprised by the revelation.
"Oh he believes that. And I don't think he's wrong anymore either", the lawyer said.
"How can you love someone you don't even know?", Elian thought out loud.
"No. What you should be asking is why do you love someone when you can love everyone", Tristan winked at him and went back to sipping his whiskey.
As the night passed, Declan was forbidden from drinking any more. Tristan decided to take the drunk soccer player with him.
As they were getting up to leave, Elian's phone rang. He looked at the phone screen and saw that it was an unknown caller. He'd usually not pick up such suspicious calls but the alcohol had clouded his judgment. "Hello?", he asked, in his deep voice.
"Elian, It's me. Can you please come here? It is an emergency", Will's trembling voice came from the other side. He was crying.