I turn around

Original Story by FireDreamer()

This is NOT fanfiction, meaning these characters belong to me, and if you rip them off I CAN sue...just to letcha know.

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Jason returned the smile and waited for the girl to get far enough away that she'd stop looking at him. He looked down at the payment for the drink she had ordered an hour ago, before she had started on some insane babble about how terrible her life was. Jason had wanted to scream; he didn't care if her puppy died, or whatever the hell she'd been babbling about. He especially didn't welcome her flirting, but would put up with it for the sake of the sales.

He wasn't here to be flirted with and certainly didn't do anything to encourage the girls, who for some odd reason thought he'd be a great boyfriend. He didn't think he'd be perfect for them. Jason glanced at his hands, dark nail polish, which he suspected was more a dark blue than black, even though the bottle had said the color was black, silver jewelry all over his fingers. He did not look like the ideal boyfriend for any girl in his mind. Hell, half the time he had to call in sick from work because he was extremely prone to illness. It made jobs like this a slow torture, but it paid much more than fast food, and he had taken the classes when he thought being a bartender might be an interesting job. This was a wonderful job for him, and even though he was now the manager of the restaurant, he still remembered leaving home and starting with nothing. He had moved away after many years of argument about his style of dress, but the thing that really made him move was something his father had said over the phone to one of his friends. "I think he's just slow to find a girl, you know, some guys have trouble attracting a decent woman. He couldn't possibly be gay, he knows how wrong that is." Three weeks later he was here, in the middle of nowhere, a small city that most people wouldn't even believe existed.

He didn't think his father would be angry at him, he just didn't want to disappoint him. So he found work and an apartment, small and dingy though it was, and settled into a new life. He could find a guy here if he wanted, though he didn't particularly care if he had a relationship at this point and time. His savings were becoming a nice little sum, and if he waited a few more months, he might be able to afford a few semesters at the community college nearby. A real career sounded wonderful to him after depending on his parents for so long. Maybe he could make them proud of what their son had become in return for letting them down about the whole girlfriend thing.

When the girl stopped watching him he turned away and sighed. Stupid air head girls. He put the money in the register and turned to the man who had just walked in. Bright green eyes glanced at him, looked away, then stared at him, there was red around the edges that spoke of a lot of crying recently. It was interesting to see a man come into this bar with tears barely wiped from his eyes.

The redhead sat at the bar and hesitated for a moment. "Er... I don't usually drink. What's good for getting drunk fast?"

"Well, we have a straight shot of vodka, but that's probably too much for you if you don't normally drink, I could mix it with something. ID?"

"Whatever you think's good." The man dropped his license on the table indicating he was 23, and Jason shrugged as he got the man his alcohol. The man almost smiled when he took the drink from the bar and drank it down. Jason raised his eyebrows, and the shook his head at the man. He didn't even show any emotion from the drink.

And after the drink. "Can I get another?"

"You'd better see how you handle that first. Give it a few minutes at least." Jason leaned on the bar and did his normal routine of idle chatter with this customer, seeing as how no one else needed anything at the moment. "What's so wrong that you want to drink yourself senseless?"

"Got dumped. For her best friend."

"Oh, well... I'm sure he wasn't as nice a person as you are."

"She." The man said staring at the wood grain on the bar.

"I see."

"Isn't it insane?" The man laughed, a high pitched, forced sound, and then sighed.

"I wouldn't know. Never had a girl leave me for another girl." Jason said and turned to refill another guy's drink. "Sounds terrible though."

"Girls are nothing but trouble."

"That's something any man will drink to." Jason placed another drink in front of the man. "It's on me. You sound like you really need it."

The man smiled, some of the depression leaving. "Thanks. I'm Alex by the way."

"Jason."

"Thanks for the drink, Jason," He paused for a moment. "I really don't know what I did wrong with her you know?"

"Maybe she didn't love you. You could have done everything right just with the wrong person."

"You think?" He snorted and looked at the tiny glass in his hand. "I'm sorry, I like to think I'm not that rude to people..."

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Alex watched the bartender in such a seemingly cheerful mood. His thick dark hair was tied back, a good amount of it trying to escape, and his too pale face seemed tired, and not at all as if he had been acting. It was nice to see someone trying to make a customer feel better, but this man looked just short of falling ill and he was still trying to cheer him up.

Jason, he said his name was, Alex recalled and the man turned to glance at him once more, dark brown eyes smiled at him even if the mouth did not. "Can I get you anything else? You know there is a restaurant part to this place too, you can get food if you want."

Alex laughed. "I'm not really hungry, I'll just sit here and enjoy the atmosphere of people either extremely happy or as miserable as I am. Is that okay?"

"Certainly, it's a Tuesday night after all, and this is the busiest it's been, all five of you." He gestured in the direction of the other four patrons.

"This must be a terrible job."

Jason seemed to consider this for a moment, head tilted slightly to one side. "Not really, more an exhausting one. When the drunk women aren't hitting on me it's actually quite pleasant."

"Oh, I work at a lawyer's office."

"Law student?"

"Do I scream student that much?" Alex looked at his hands, as normal as they were.

"I don't think so. I just guessed because of your relative age." Jason picked up a glass from where it had been left by an earlier customer and placed it in a tub behind the counter to take back later.

"I look like a kid."

"Yes, but your id on the bar here says otherwise." Alex hadn't even seen the bartender glance at the shiny ugly piece of plastic next to his drink.

"How long have you been working here?"

"I was in the kitchens until I was 21, and that was two years ago... hm. Almost six years."

"That's commitment."

"Or hell. No really, I like working with people. They're so interesting."

"I can't stand people sometimes. I want to help people though."

Jason shrugged and wiped the now cleaned off place on the bar with a white washcloth and then looked up and shook his head. "I could never help people like that. What if they were being dishonest? What if they..." What if they...

"That's just too deep for me to think about." Alex stared down at the wood grain of the bar, encased in it's scratched and worn, but well taken care of enamel and tried not to think about moral questions. His mind was pleasantly fuzzy, and Jason had stopped paying attention to him to aid a waitress in carrying her trays over to a table. He watched the strange man move, wasting no movement in his work and smiling and being politely cheerful, as was so rare to see these days. He acted like he really loved his work. There was a stubborn set to his jaw, that told any onlooker that this was not a female, despite the soft glowing eyes and long dark hair.

Alex thought about Her. Allison. The girl that had just destroyed the perfect little world he had been in. He had known they were growing apart for a long time, but it was terribly depressing that he hadn't been the one to get up the courage to say it. To see that she loved someone else. He was wholly dedicated to his work during the week and much of the weekend, and that hadn't left enough time for the immense amount of closeness that their relationship needed, that she had wanted. He looked up at the bartender again, the nice feeling in his head giving him more courage than usual. Well, why not? If she could pick up a girl he could certainly try to date a guy. They had done that before together, Alex had never attempted it alone. It was one of the advantages of being in a couple that didn't mind a third or fourth person from time to time, but only if they both agreed to it. After awhile it became Allison and Laura, and sometimes Alex. Not Allison and Alex and sometimes Laura as it had been. Yes, though, he could do this.

When Jason walked back behind the bar Alex waved him over. "Hey... uhm... when you get off of work... would you like some coffee or something?" The words came out rushed and Alex cursed his nervous stutter.

Jason smiled, an honest smile, not the one normally pasted on when serving customers, there was a minute difference between them, that if Alex hadn't been paying so much attention to him, he would have missed. "Sure, why not? It's almost the end of my shift anyway. I can ask someone else to close. Wait a minute, ok?"

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Jason looked at his watch. 11:57. Close enough. "Brie?" He looked around the cluttered but extremely clean kitchen and his eyes settled on the blonde who was carrying a stack of pans over to the sink. "Brie."

"I hear you. Just go ahead and talk." She discarded the pans on to the metal counter next to the sink with a loud thump.

"Can I ask you a favor?"

Brie dropped a pan into the water. "I guess."

"Can you close tonight? I know you aren't scheduled to do it..."

"Is something wrong?" Brie glared at the food that was attempting to take permanent residence on the pan and scrubbed at one patch of it roughly, trying to break it up.

"Actually I just got asked out for coffee."

"Our dear manager... on a date? Wow. I don't think you've had one of those for the entire time I've been working here." Brie smiled and flicked some water at Jason who was standing just close enough to have a few drops on his shirt. "Sure. Anything to see you with a social life. Get out of here. Don't want to keep him- I assume it is a he?" At Jason's embarrassed nod she finished her sentence. "waiting."

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Alex looked up when someone came out of the back, only to see a woman come out and start serving customers. She smiled when she noticed his stare. "Can I help you?" A normal middle aged blonde woman. Nothing spectacular about her, but for some reason Alex felt she had a very forceful personality when pushed. Probably something in the way her eyes sparkled.

"I...uh...er...No I'm just waiting for someone."

"Oh so you're the cutie Jason is going out with. Don't hurt him, it's too rare he takes a break from work anyway. We have to throw him out sometimes." She nodded towards a back door that Alex hadn't previously noticed. "He'll be out in a minute ok?"

"Hey lady! Some service over here?" A voice called from the other side of the bar.

"Yeahyeah...you can wait, Rob!" She yelled back to him, then turned her attention to a red faced Alex one last time. "Good luck."

Alex looked around the restaurant part of this place, the bar was the only place with people at it in any great number. He hadn't noticed that the customers at the tables had trickled out as their meals were over, and very few new people came to replace them. Alex had never set foot into this place before today, not because it was a bad place, but because he just moved here with his sister. Vivian was ever practical, and told him to come here for work, knowing his relationship with Allison was shot. She had helped him pack and take the stuff over here yesterday, no reason not to she had said. It was only a 30 minute commute to his university anyway. He had fallen asleep, and Vivian had kept him busy unpacking all day, but then she left for work, his dear sweet older sister left him in the apartment alone, and Alex couldn't ignore the loneliness anymore. He had found the nearest place that served alcohol, and walked there. Somehow it didn't hurt so bad now. It was a kind of distant memory, like a sad scene in a movie.

"Hey? Lost in thought?" Alex jumped and focused his attention on the person that had brought him out of his cloudy memories. "Guess so." Jason smiled at him, white work shirt replaced with a black tank top that clung like a second skin, the jewelry on his hands and wrists was much more apparent now, as was a single charm on a chain around his neck. The charm was a small dragon with a tiny gem in it's simple pewter hands. He had braided his hair back loosely, and it shimmered softly in the mediocre lighting of the bar. There were tiny crosses dangling from his ears.

"Oh...do you know any place for coffee? I'm sort of new in town."

Jason shook his head and looked to the ceiling in a gesture that said "Why me?" After thinking a moment he nodded. "I know a place."

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Jason held the dress shirt from work a full arms length away from him, as if to somehow distance himself from the smell. He knew he should do laundry more than once every other week, especially when there was sweat smell on the clothing. However he didn't bother trying to make a mental note to do laundry more, because he knew he'd just forget anyway. He threw it into the laundry machine and reached into the bag of doom as he liked to call it and pulled out a pair of pants.

Jason reached his hands into each of the pockets and pulled out a folded napkin with a phone number on it. He smiled at the phone number, remembering the strange young man and the fact that he had managed to him out for coffee, even though Jason hated coffee. "Call me sometime you have some time off and want to do something." He had said.

He stuffed the number into the pocket of the jeans he was wearing and finished putting the clothes in the washing machine, dropping the heavy metal lid with a loud thud. He inserted the required amount of quarters into the machine and carried his empty laundry bag up to his apartment.

Alex was a nice guy, and Jason really didn't have anything to do today other than laundry. He laughed into the silence as he realized he was mentally talking himself into calling this guy.

Jason reached for the phone only to grab air and turned his attention to the empty space where the portable phone should be. He pressed the find button and listened for the beeping. Following the annoying, faint noise to the sofa he frowned at the pile of newspapers and lifted them up. He was rewarded with the increased volume of the noise and the flashing light of the phone.

He pulled the napkin out of his pocket and dialed the number.

One ring,

Two. Three.

...Four.

"Hello?" A sleep filled male voice answered.

"Uhm, Hi. Can I talk to Alex?"

"That's me."

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Alex was jarred awake by the ringing of the phone. "Vivi get the phone!" Another ear drum piercing ring was his only answer.

"Damnit." He reached for it, missing several times and knocking over his alarm clock before his hand settled on the familiar shape of the phone base. He grabbed the phone. "Hello?" He mumbled into it.

"Uhm, Hi. Can I talk to Alex?"

"That's me." Alex yawned and sat up. "Who is this?"

"It's Jason." The soft quiet voice answered with a hint of uncertainty showing in the tone of his voice.

"From the bar. Yeah. How are you doing?" Alex smiled and sat up. He hadn't wanted to call the beautiful bartender, afraid he wouldn't be home, but he had hoped that Jason would call him.

"You remember me."

"Of Course I do. Black hair, pale, workaholic." Alex looked at the clock

"Did you want to do something today?"

"Okay, like what?"

"Well I'm doing laundry now, so..."

"If it's not too far away from where I live I could bring over a movie or something."

"A movie'd be great." Jason gave him directions to his apartment, and Alex hung up the phone.

"Yes!" He jumped out of bed and dug around on the floor for a pair of jeans, and after finding a pair that didn't smell like they had been worn more than four times he put them on and hurried to get ready.

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Alex climbed the stairs slowly, the plastic supermarket bag, reused to carry the movie, crinkled in his hands as he moved. Jason was leaning against the wall outside his door. He looked tired. "Hey, perfect timing, I just got done with the laundry. So what are we watching?"

Alex handed the bag to Jason, who reached in it and pulled out the movie in it's paper case and looked at the cover. "Oh Entrapment..Which one is this?"

"Well, it's got thieves in it and to know more you'll have to watch it."

"I haven't watched a movie in about two years. No reason to." Jason pushed his half open door all the way open and gestured for Alex to enter.

"Nice place."

"Thanks. I'm not usually home enough to mess it up, or it'd be terrible here." Jason walked over to the tv and dusted off the vcr, and plugged it into the wall. The vcr responded with a blinking "12:00" and he sighed in relief. "Okay. Let's see." He put the tape in the old vcr and pressed the play button. "No remote..sorry.."

"Hey it's okay." Alex looked at the board up next to the phone covered in tiny slips of paper and post it notes, there were pictures dotted through it, and their little flashes of color drew the eye. Alex's gaze settled on one of Jason with two adults, he looked to be around thirteen, and the straight cut black hair framed an adorable child's face which had a small pair of glasses on the large chocolate colored eyes, but he looked unhappy in the picture, as if the smile didn't reach his eyes. The adults looked content with this false happiness. "These are your parents?"

Jason jumped on the couch and leaned over, pushing his bangs out of his eyes and looking across the small room. His eyes narrowed at the red head's examination of his message board. "Yeah. That's them..why are yo-" The couch tilted backwards dangerously for a second and Jason sat back quickly and stood up, glaring at the couch.

"Cute kid in the picture." Alex looked to him and smiled. Jason frowned when Alex commented this and grabbed his glasses off the counter.

"I'm not cute. Never was." He wiped them off with his t-shirt and put them on.

"Sure you are." Alex said, and glanced at the TV, which was now playing the last of the previews. "We're going to have to rewind the movie if we don't pay attention to it now." He sat down on the couch and Jason turned off the lights, throwing the newspapers to the floor and sitting next to Alex.

Alex personally thought this was a great movie, and for about 20 minutes Jason seemed to think so too, but he leaned against Alex, and before the movie was even halfway through Alex was holding a sleeping black haired man, glasses off his face with one earpiece hanging out of his mouth. Jason was sleeping curled up against Alex, content with the world for once.

End part 1