HOME | DD

Description
"...On FM, online and D.A.B. Digital Radio, BBC Radio One Newscast." The radio said as I reversed My car into a parking space.

I guess I should introduce myself, shouldn't I? Hi. The Names Alan. I'm about 6 feet tall, Brown curly hair, Brown eyes, a long face, my nose is kind of bent from a fight I got into when I was at school. I've got black rectangular glasses, the kind that change and go darker as I walk out into the sunlight. I'm British, Still living at home and Studying a degree in computer science at university. I work part time Behind the customer service & Tech Direct counter of the UKs largest computer retailer and I drive a 2008 Vauxhall Corsa Breeze "Plus" which is Silver. Oh, and I forgot to mention; I'm gay...and single...and I DEFINATLY need a boyfriend

I'd been invited to a formal party going on at my university and I had been looking forward to it Since Craig had told me about it.

"Air France have issued a stateme-" The news reader started to say, but I turned off the engine, set the hand break and got out of my car. I'd parked by the football stadium near the university, I shut the door and pressed the button on the key fob to lock the doors as I looked up at the tall, yellow football ground, shoving my hands into my pockets with my keys, I walked towards the university, my breath visibly hanging around in the cool night air.

The walk from the stadium to the university isn't a long one. I'd made it many times before. Up the hill, under the subway, up the stairs then you can either go in through the back entrance of MD block, or the library, as anyone with any eyes would call it. Okay, it has the student union in there too, along with the sports centre and the shop, but still, it generally gets called the library building.

You could go Further around and into the MA block. It's built onto the side of a theatre and has a bar in the same building. MA block is the old Polytechnic and has the big marble entrance hall which is where the main reception is. The building is pretty old and looks it.

A bit further around, on Stafford street is the alley way to the rest of the university. The Student support centre, the I.T. Block (MI block) and the Millennium City Building (MC block. General Teaching)

Anyway, I'm rattling on and the last thing you want to hear is a full description of the university...or my car, or the city I live in. What you want to know about is the events of that night. Sorry about that. I get a little side-tracked sometimes.

I went in through the library building and into the main out door area that all the buildings open onto. Heading towards MC building I see my friend, Craig Smith, standing in the entrance waving at me standing with someone else who was a friend of his, Tom Squires. Craig was a good friend of mine, Tom most defiantly was not, but I kept up appearances for Craig's sake. I'll not bother going over why I dislike Tom other than to say he uses people then when he's done with them, just pushes them to the way side. He takes a lot, but only gives back the bare minimum.

Craig's pretty easy to describe. At 6'2" He's a little taller than me, His hair is dyed black (he's naturally blonde, although you'd never know, and don't let on I told you) and he has fair skin. He was wearing his glasses that night instead of contacts, which I think look better on him. He's kind of average build, No fat but not thin either, ya know what I mean? And, as usual, he had a smile on his face.  You hardly ever saw him without it that. He always smelled nice as well. Be damned if I know what aftershave he wears but I love the smell of it. He doesn't have an accent local to the area. Craig's from a city about 60 miles away so his accent is drastically different. It makes him sound very well spoken, although its not a posh, Queens English accent.

Tom is quite the opposite. He's still reasonably tall, being the same height as me (6'0") he has light brown hair and, although he is a white guy. His skin's on the darker side of white...oh, and greasy too. Although I'm not one to talk there! His eyes...well, I've heard people describe them as "creepy", one girl I work with said "He's got dishonest eyes" (meaning that just by looking at him, she doesn't trust him) and some say just down right "Beady". Oh, and not to be rude, but he's fat and as a total contrast to Craig, he smells! I'm not even sure he knows what a bar of soap is, much less how to use one. I'm sure you get the feeling that he's not my favourite person.

I would say they contrast each other well, and to a certain degree, I guess they do but, judging from the fact Craig was putting air space between him and Tom, I guess even Craig noticed the smell. I would not call that a GOOD contrast.

Sorry, Side-tracked again.

"Hey hot stuff!" I said to Craig, waving back as I approached him. "Hi Tom" I said, somewhat less enthusiastic.

"Hi Alan" Tom replied

"May I escort you up?" Craig said with his usual smile, offering out his arm for me to take

"Heh, Indeed you may!" I said, linking arms with him like we were a couple.

That's one thing I SHOULD note. I've asked Craig out in the past, twice, as it would happen. Once directly, once NOT directly and fell flat on my face both times. We've talked about this a little and I think we're both in agreement that the fact we're friends is good enough, and I don't want to mess up a good thing...but this doesn't mean we don't get a little flirty sometimes. All in good humour though!

We walked up the stairs that are immediately in front of you as you walk in through MC block and into a large room with the wooden tables and chairs you would normally find in MC Canteen. The room was full of people all dressed reasonably smartly. Looking right to the back of the room you could see straight through the windows into the night. The art building across the other side of the ring road was lit up in full colour, and the dark of night was broken up by the lights on cars on the roads below us.

"Foods over there" Craig pointed "It's pretty much all people you've met before so I'm not going to waste time introducing you because the ones you don't know...I don't know them either" He said. I have to admit, that made me chuckle. "I'll be back in a minute!" He said, putting his hand on my shoulder and walking away with Tom. I don't know why but I just assumed he was running to the loo. I still don't even know why he left then, but he did. So I'm just gonna stick with "Loo"

"My blood runs cold! My memory has just been sold! My angel is a centre fold (angel is a centre fold)" the music played in the background. I love that song and I have to say I was dancing gently to it as I moved across the room to get myself a drink from the coke machine that had been setup on the table across the other side with a huge spread of food.

I hummed to myself gently as grabbed a cup, put it under the machine and let the coke...or pepsi...whatever, flow out of the machine into it. I looked around at all the faces in the room. Pretty much every single one I recognised except a few.

One really stood out to me as I took a swig of my drink. He was about  5'9" I'd say, white guy with black hair, Green eyes and a very round face. His nose is very small and only sticks out slightly at the end. His hair is flat but his fringe comes out and curls over his forehead. His clothes were a plain white shirt, no tie, top button un-done, Black trousers with black walking boots instead of shoes and white socks, standing there on his own, like he was looking for someone. He caught me looking at him, I have to say that I really wanted to look away. You know that feeling you get when someone catches you staring? Yeah, it was that feeling.

The thing was, no matter how much I wanted to look away, I kept looking at him and felt myself slowly moving towards him. I was drawn towards him like a moth to a light bulb

"Hey Al!!" My friend Jurgen  came up in front of me "How're you?" He asked

"Hiya Jay. I'm good thanks, you?" 2 seconds Jay had distracted me for...and he was gone. My tall dark stranger had moved. I looked quickly around the room but he was gone.

"Pretty good" He looked inquisitively at me as my eyes came back to rest on him "What have you lost?"

"My sanity, quite possibly. There was a guy standing right there" I said as I pointed to where Mr. Stranger was "But now he's gone. Did you see him? Do you know who he was?" I asked

Jay looked behind him, then looked at me "No, sorry. Didn't even see anyone there"

"Damn" I thought "Okay. Oh well." I said, hiding my disappointment.

I spent some time mixing with the people in the room, talking to everyone I knew, being introduced to people I didn't know, None of which were the guy I saw earlier but in my head I had adopted the attitude that I take when I see a good looking guy in the street "I'll never see him again anyway so there's no use worrying about it" Okay, there was a good chance I might see that guy again tonight, and if I did, I wasn't going to let anybody get in my way. Even if I had to be rude and tell them to bugger off and leave me alone for a few minutes. Granted, not the kind of thing you generally do at a party but hell, I was determined.

It was pretty hot in there. Either the air conditioning was broken or, for some reason, Turned off. I had to go outside to cool down. It was still quite early in the evening, I looked at my watch as I stood around outside, 7:25pm. It didn't seem like it. It was so dark it could have been 10 or midnight, for all anybody who didn't check knew.

Apparently, I wasn't the only person to have the idea of coming outside to cool down, quite a few people were outside with me, although not one of them talking to me. Insert Emo comment about having no friends here. I'd cooled off rather quickly and decided to go back inside. Me being me, I thought I'll go in a slightly different route. And went up the stairwell up the side of MC block. As I approached it and as I climbed the stairs the smell of coffee from the costa place filled my nose.

As I rounded the top of the first flight of stairs, enjoying the smell of the coffee and snacks from the coffee bar below, I looked up and there he was, sitting on the stairs, the guy I had tried to approach earlier.  I stopped dead in my tracks.

My heart was thudding in my chest. This time he hadn't noticed me. "Okay, Alan. Play it cool. There's just you two here. You can take your time approaching him. No pressure" I thought to myself. No pressure. Yeah, right! I took a deep breath and started moving up the stairs. Each step felt bigger than the last and I had to hold onto the railing to make sure I wasn't going to fall back down the stairs. He'd notice me if I did that, but for the wrong reasons.

I got about half way up and the door behind him opened. Tom Squires stepped out and called behind him "Here he is" I thought for a split second he was talking about me, then I saw him shove black haired guy "Fucker" he said "Get the fuck up"

Just then, Craig came into view. "Hello dickhead" he said with a somewhat malicious smile on his face. He glanced at me and smiled "Oh, Al! Have you met scrotum sucker here?" he said, shoving the black haired guy enough that he stumbled and had to grab onto the railing for support.

"I can't say I have" I said as I got to the top of the stairs. I turned my back to Tom and Craig as the black haired guy got up. I shot him a look, hoping he picked up on it's message of "Don't worry, I'll help you"

"We were just about to teach him that he's not welcome around here." Tom said with a cocky half-smile on his face.

"heh, yeah, and show him the price you pay for walking off when I'm talking to you"

I had to think fast. I knew Tom was an asshole but I had never seen Craig like this. I've known him get angry before and I know I don't want to be the one who lights that fuse, so I can only dread to think what Craig was planning on doing. I wrote down on a piece of paper "Follow my lead. I won't hurt you, I promise" then turned to Craig and Tom, with my hand over my shoulder as if I was running my neck, making sure my note was visible to the new guy "Well, that ought to be a stern lesson!" I said, the fake devious smile on my face. "But not one you should teach right here. I know a good place. Listen, you two need to keep up appearances. Go back in there, I'll call you when I've found a good spot. Make your excuses then come and find us"

Craig looked at Tom, then back at me "Brilliant Idea." He said. With that he turned around and headed back in, Tom lingered, looking at me a little while longer. I could tell he didn't trust me and that could be a problem, but he quickly followed Craig.

I grabbed the black haired guys arm and whispered "pretend like you're struggling" I said, knowing they could still see me through the glass partition "and follow me" I said, dragging him up the next flight of stairs, Him lightly fighting all the way.

I pressed the button to call both lifts. The doors opened immediately, I shoved him inside and told him to press the button for floor 6 but block the door open, which he did. As the other lift got there, I pressed the button on that one for Basement then came back to the one the black haired guy was standing in, pushing him in standing there.

"This lift is going Up! Please Mind the doors. Doors closing." the robotic woman's voice said as the lights on the doors flashed red and they closed

"What're you doing?" He asked

"Shut up!" I said, pressing my ear to the lift door, listening for any noise outside. There were faint voices, then the lift motor hummed, then started to pull us upwards.

We didn't have to wait long before we got where the lift was taking us "sixth floor. Doors opening"

I pressed all the buttons on the lift, making sure to press the button for basement first so it would go right down, then call at every other floor on the way back up. I got the feeling that Craig and Tom would not wait long and could already be trying to follow us.

"This lift is going Down!" I jumped out and watched as the lights changed from green to flashing red "Please mind the doors. Doors closing" and it went on its way

"Follow me" I said with a smile and started running up the stairs. I ran as fast as I could up them and made sure I could hear another set of footsteps behind me. After two flights of starts we got to the very top, panting and leaning against the vending machines, I look back to the stairs. The guy I was with got to the top, holding on to the banister, out of breath "So what did you do?"

"Huh?" he asked, looking at me

"To Craig. He obviously doesn't like you. What did you do to piss him off?"

He stood up straight "Believe it or not, I didn't do anything. Not initially. But all that crap down there, that was because I walked away from him when he was talking AT me. I got one question though, I don't know you. Why did you help me?"

I walked over to him and stood square infront of him "I saw you across the other side of the room earlier and I....ahnnn..." I trailed off, only now noticing the erection I could feel in my trousers

"Yeah, you caught my attention too." He said with a shy smile "You're kinda cute"

I blushed slightly then looked him dead in the eye "I've been wanting to do this since I first saw you" then quickly, before I could stop myself, I leaned into him and kissed him softly on the lips. I drew back, my mind simply saying "Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit...." I was expecting something bad to happen, I don't know what but something.

I stood there, my heart racing, then he made the next move, slipping his arms around me and pulling me back into a warm, loving, embracing kiss. His lips softly caressed mine as we closed or eyes. I wrapped my tongue around his, closed my eyes, and lost myself in him.

I don't know how long we stood there for, and I don't care. I was in heaven. Eventually, we broke off the kiss, both of us needed to breath, after all. "I'm so sorry, my manners have totally escaped me; What's your name?" I asked

"Simon" He replied with a blushing smile. "Here, I'll write it down for you" he said, pulling a pen and scrap piece of paper out of his pocket, then writing something down on it before handing it to me. I don't know why, but I didn't look at the paper, I just folded it up and put it in my pocket "Most people call me Si though, except your friends down there"

"Yeah, thats totally unlike the Craig I know. I can't say I'm surprised about Tom though"

"Tom?" He asked me

"The fat one" I replied

Simon looked at me and giggled "So, what do they call you?" he asked

"Oh, Sorry. Manners again. Alan, but you can call me Al" I said, smiling back at him and gently taking his hand.

I don't know what it was, but I just sensed something bad was going to happen...and I was right. Immediately, I heard voices lower down the stairs. I looked Simon in the eyes, and he stared back. Neither of us could hear what was being said but we both recognised the voices. Craig and Tom, and they were coming up the stairs. They were a few floors below us but it wouldn't take them too long to get up to us. I looked Simon in the eyes and pulled on his arm with some urgency. Something told me they had already worked out that I had tricked them. That would not end well for me. I do kickboxing and could probably take either one of them on, just not at the same time.

There was more than one way around MC block and we were taking the second route. We dashed across the building and to the rear stairwell. I started practically jumping down the stairs. My feet were barely touching the steps with each flight, I was panicked. I looked at the lifts as we were going down. I was waiting until we got to the floor the lift was waiting at. I had to keep looking back too. Simon was noticeably slower than me so was one flight of stairs behind me.

Finally we reach floor 4 with the lifts open doors. I jumped down the steps and into the lift carriage. I could hear Craig Yelling "Get back here, fuckers!" he was still a ways above us and couldn't see me, but could obviously see Simon. "C'MON, SI!" I yelled as he got closer, jumping off the last flight of stairs and into my arms

"Please Mind the doors. Doors closing!"

I panted and looked at him "My car's parked by the football stadium" I said, feeling for the keys in my pocket "when we get to the bottom, run like the devil is chasing you. If they have any sense, they will have carried on down the stairs. Once we get to the subway, make sure I'm in front or you'll never guess which car is mine out of all the others on the car park" I told him. Simon nodded in return

The lift shuddered to a stop "Ground Floor. Doors opening" we were out of there like a shot. I don't know if we were being followed by those two or how close they were behind but I really didn't care. I was not going to risk looking.

We flew out of the back entrance of the university, down a flight of steps and into the subway tunnel. As we emerged the other side, I sped up a little to get in front and pulled my keys out of my pocket as we ran down the back of the stadium and towards the car park that sided-onto the supermarket.

My car came into sight and I started frantically jabbing the button on the keyfob that unlocked the doors. As we got closer the indicators all blinked and the car made that familiar "Clack-tic...CLACK!" noise as the doors unlocked

"Getin" I told him. We both jumped into the car, shut and locked the doors, I put the key in the ignition and turned it

"Beeeeeeep-Cough-cough-VrrrRMMM! Ping! Ping! Ping!" was how the car went as I started it up. I Threw the car in gear, driving out and away from the car park like a man possessed. Thank fuck there are no speed cameras in that area, is all I can say

Niether of us said very much on the way. I told Simon I would take him back home and he was directing me. It was much better to listen to his voice than the satnav. I don't know what it is about it. It was deep, smooth and relaxing.

Looking at Simon, I was expecting him to live in a big, posh house with a double garage, double glazing, possibly even in one of those estates that's gated off from the rest of the public and that I would have to register my car's number plate with a guard if I even wanted to look at the houses much less go up to one...or have sex with one of the occupants. Nothing was further from the truth.

We pulled into a car park and stopped "This is it" Simon said, not exactly with a smile as I switched off the engine. "Would you like to come in?"

Part of me wanted to say "No thanks" for fear of being beaten up and mugged for ten pence, But then I looked straight at him, smiled and replied with "Yeah, why not?" I'm not sure what his reaction was. Was it relief or was it worry? Damned if I know

We got out, I locked the car, making sure to double lock it as I looked up at the dingy block of flats. I am not kidding, the area really was in the centre of the rough part of town. There were blocks of flats all around me. Grey, solid concrete buildings that were built to last, not look good. Mobile phone masts on top of just about every block of flats, and 3 or 4 police cars either patrolling around or sitting idly by the side of the road, waiting for something to kick off.

We walked past a few blocks before coming to one where Simon put a key in the lock and opened the door. The hallway really stank, and I'm not even sure what it was of. The smell eased a bit as we climbed the stairs, but it never went away.

Finally we stop outside one of the flats, he stops and looks at me "Our home...ahm" He sighed "our home's not what you might expect. I'm not proud of it so I apologise in advance" he said. I nodded and he opened the door, shouting through "Hello? I'm home!" No reply came so he turned back to me "Come in, if you REALLY want to"

I walked through the door, thinking "It can't be THAT bad." And it couldn't, right? Okay, They live in, quite frankly, a horrible block of flats but there are plenty of people living in the dankest blocks in the world that manage to make their homes inside these places really nice.

Then I stepped inside

The smell wasn't exactly overwhelming but that doesn't mean it was a nice smell. I would be hard pushed to describe what it was. I think it was a combination of things, but whatever they were, they weren't nice.  The carpet looked old and worn out and looked like it hadn't been vacuumed since it was fitted. The wall was covered in a plain white wall paper which had discoloured and gone basically yellow.

There was obviously a cat around, I could hear it meowing and my allergies were starting to react to it and I sneezed four times in quick succession

Simon looked back at me in alarm "Are you okay?" he asked

"Yeah, I'm fine" I replied, looking up at him and rubbing my eye "Do you have any pets?" I asked

"Two cats" he replied

"Yeah, that would be it. I'm highly allergic to cats. I have some pills for it which I would have taken if I'd have known"

"Sorry." He said, opening the door to another room and leading me inside

"Not your fau—Woah!" I stopped in the door way to the room. It was obviously his bedroom and it was a total contrast to the rest of the house. It was clean, neat and it smelled nice which was, in part, thanks to a little electric air freshener that was sitting on top of his TV. It was a pleasant temperature in there and the room just generally looked inviting

"bit of a difference, hmm?" he said, proudly standing in the middle of his bedroom

"I'll say" I stood in there, astonished.

Simon sat on the bed and held out his arms, inviting me over.  I moved over, put my arms around him, straddling his lap and sitting on his legs, I kissed him deeply, knowing I could take my time over it this time, showing him just how much I loved him. Yes, I said love. We met less than 24 hours ago and I was in love. I knew it was true love too, and he obviously felt the same way.

I wish I could tell you that we spent the next few hours fucking like rabbits. But, I'm sorry to inform you that we didn't. I know, I know. It would make for a much more interesting read if I said to you that we'd gone at if, and if I described in detail how we'd done it but that would be a total lie and I'm not about to do that. Sorry.

It was starting to get late, and no doubt my phone, which I had deliberately left at home, would have about 20 million missed calls on it from Craig, not to mention my dad would be wandering where I was so, we said our goodbyes, kissed one final time, then I was reluctantly on my way. I walked out of the housing block with my heart singing. I had finally found a boyfriend, a GOOD boyfriend. I'd had crushes before now. My most recent one having done some considerable emotional damage but being around Simon, he just seemed to make everything right.

As I walked towards my car, I suddenly stopped. I didn't have his phone number, last name, e-mail address and I had not been paying attention to which block of flats or the number on the door...My heart suddenly sank. I had been with the perfect guy and I had lost him almost immediately through my own stupidity in forgetting to get his damn phone number. I looked around franticly for his flats but they all looked the same to me, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to re-trace my steps. I wanted to cry, I really did. I put my hand in my pocket for some tissues but didn't find them. Instead I found a piece of paper that I didn't remember putting there. "Great" I thought as I pulled it out of my pocket, my eyes already welling up. I unfolded it and through blurry vision, my heart jumped back up a beat. The paper read "Simon 0773 4949 03" The fucking GENIOUS had written his mobile phone number on there!

Suddenly, the song was back in my heart, I dried my eyes on my sleeve and made it back to my car with the world's biggest smile on my face. I jumped in the car, Started the engine and drove away with a mixture of happy and sad in me. Happy that I had met Simon and not lost him within the first 24 hours of meeting him but sad because I had to wait at least until I got home to call him much less see him again.

There you have it, there's the Story of Simon and Alan. I hope one day you all meet Simons of your own.

The End?

[i]

[b] Ultrabeat – Pretty green eyes [/b]

Pretty green eyes,
So full of sparkle and such light,
Let me remind,
You chose not to cry.
Its all right,
for your lover has come home,
by your side I'll always stay,
never have to be alone.

Younever have to be alone (x2)

Pretty green eyes,
so full of wonder and despair
its all right to cry
for i'll be there to wipe your tears
and in your arms
together we're in paradise,
and its so nice,
you'll never have to be alone

You never have to be alone (x4)

Pretty green eyes,
So full of sparkle and such light,
Let me remind,
You chose not to cry.
Its all right,
for your lover has come home,
by your side I'll always stay,
Younever have to be alone.

You never have to be alone (x2)

Pretty green eyes,
so full of wonder and despair
its all right to cry
for i'll be there to wipe your tears
and in your arms
together we're in paradise,
and its so nice,
you'll never have to be alone

never have to be, never have to be
never have to, never have to be alone (x4) [/i]

Description
"...On FM, online and D.A.B. Digital Radio, BBC Radio One Newscast." The radio said as I reversed My car into a parking space.

I guess I should introduce myself, shouldn't I? Hi. The Names Alan. I'm about 6 feet tall, Brown curly hair, Brown eyes, a long face, my nose is kind of bent from a fight I got into when I was at school. I've got black rectangular glasses, the kind that change and go darker as I walk out into the sunlight. I'm British, Still living at home and Studying a degree in computer science at university. I work part time Behind the customer service & Tech Direct counter of the UKs largest computer retailer and I drive a 2008 Vauxhall Corsa Breeze "Plus" which is Silver. Oh, and I forgot to mention; I'm gay...and single...and I DEFINATLY need a boyfriend

I'd been invited to a formal party going on at my university and I had been looking forward to it Since Craig had told me about it.

"Air France have issued a stateme-" The news reader started to say, but I turned off the engine, set the hand break and got out of my car. I'd parked by the football stadium near the university, I shut the door and pressed the button on the key fob to lock the doors as I looked up at the tall, yellow football ground, shoving my hands into my pockets with my keys, I walked towards the university, my breath visibly hanging around in the cool night air.

The walk from the stadium to the university isn't a long one. I'd made it many times before. Up the hill, under the subway, up the stairs then you can either go in through the back entrance of MD block, or the library, as anyone with any eyes would call it. Okay, it has the student union in there too, along with the sports centre and the shop, but still, it generally gets called the library building.

You could go Further around and into the MA block. It's built onto the side of a theatre and has a bar in the same building. MA block is the old Polytechnic and has the big marble entrance hall which is where the main reception is. The building is pretty old and looks it.

A bit further around, on Stafford street is the alley way to the rest of the university. The Student support centre, the I.T. Block (MI block) and the Millennium City Building (MC block. General Teaching)

Anyway, I'm rattling on and the last thing you want to hear is a full description of the university...or my car, or the city I live in. What you want to know about is the events of that night. Sorry about that. I get a little side-tracked sometimes.

I went in through the library building and into the main out door area that all the buildings open onto. Heading towards MC building I see my friend, Craig Smith, standing in the entrance waving at me standing with someone else who was a friend of his, Tom Squires. Craig was a good friend of mine, Tom most defiantly was not, but I kept up appearances for Craig's sake. I'll not bother going over why I dislike Tom other than to say he uses people then when he's done with them, just pushes them to the way side. He takes a lot, but only gives back the bare minimum.

Craig's pretty easy to describe. At 6'2" He's a little taller than me, His hair is dyed black (he's naturally blonde, although you'd never know, and don't let on I told you) and he has fair skin. He was wearing his glasses that night instead of contacts, which I think look better on him. He's kind of average build, No fat but not thin either, ya know what I mean? And, as usual, he had a smile on his face.  You hardly ever saw him without it that. He always smelled nice as well. Be damned if I know what aftershave he wears but I love the smell of it. He doesn't have an accent local to the area. Craig's from a city about 60 miles away so his accent is drastically different. It makes him sound very well spoken, although its not a posh, Queens English accent.

Tom is quite the opposite. He's still reasonably tall, being the same height as me (6'0") he has light brown hair and, although he is a white guy. His skin's on the darker side of white...oh, and greasy too. Although I'm not one to talk there! His eyes...well, I've heard people describe them as "creepy", one girl I work with said "He's got dishonest eyes" (meaning that just by looking at him, she doesn't trust him) and some say just down right "Beady". Oh, and not to be rude, but he's fat and as a total contrast to Craig, he smells! I'm not even sure he knows what a bar of soap is, much less how to use one. I'm sure you get the feeling that he's not my favourite person.

I would say they contrast each other well, and to a certain degree, I guess they do but, judging from the fact Craig was putting air space between him and Tom, I guess even Craig noticed the smell. I would not call that a GOOD contrast.

Sorry, Side-tracked again.

"Hey hot stuff!" I said to Craig, waving back as I approached him. "Hi Tom" I said, somewhat less enthusiastic.

"Hi Alan" Tom replied

"May I escort you up?" Craig said with his usual smile, offering out his arm for me to take

"Heh, Indeed you may!" I said, linking arms with him like we were a couple.

That's one thing I SHOULD note. I've asked Craig out in the past, twice, as it would happen. Once directly, once NOT directly and fell flat on my face both times. We've talked about this a little and I think we're both in agreement that the fact we're friends is good enough, and I don't want to mess up a good thing...but this doesn't mean we don't get a little flirty sometimes. All in good humour though!

We walked up the stairs that are immediately in front of you as you walk in through MC block and into a large room with the wooden tables and chairs you would normally find in MC Canteen. The room was full of people all dressed reasonably smartly. Looking right to the back of the room you could see straight through the windows into the night. The art building across the other side of the ring road was lit up in full colour, and the dark of night was broken up by the lights on cars on the roads below us.

"Foods over there" Craig pointed "It's pretty much all people you've met before so I'm not going to waste time introducing you because the ones you don't know...I don't know them either" He said. I have to admit, that made me chuckle. "I'll be back in a minute!" He said, putting his hand on my shoulder and walking away with Tom. I don't know why but I just assumed he was running to the loo. I still don't even know why he left then, but he did. So I'm just gonna stick with "Loo"

"My blood runs cold! My memory has just been sold! My angel is a centre fold (angel is a centre fold)" the music played in the background. I love that song and I have to say I was dancing gently to it as I moved across the room to get myself a drink from the coke machine that had been setup on the table across the other side with a huge spread of food.

I hummed to myself gently as grabbed a cup, put it under the machine and let the coke...or pepsi...whatever, flow out of the machine into it. I looked around at all the faces in the room. Pretty much every single one I recognised except a few.

One really stood out to me as I took a swig of my drink. He was about  5'9" I'd say, white guy with black hair, Green eyes and a very round face. His nose is very small and only sticks out slightly at the end. His hair is flat but his fringe comes out and curls over his forehead. His clothes were a plain white shirt, no tie, top button un-done, Black trousers with black walking boots instead of shoes and white socks, standing there on his own, like he was looking for someone. He caught me looking at him, I have to say that I really wanted to look away. You know that feeling you get when someone catches you staring? Yeah, it was that feeling.

The thing was, no matter how much I wanted to look away, I kept looking at him and felt myself slowly moving towards him. I was drawn towards him like a moth to a light bulb

"Hey Al!!" My friend Jurgen  came up in front of me "How're you?" He asked

"Hiya Jay. I'm good thanks, you?" 2 seconds Jay had distracted me for...and he was gone. My tall dark stranger had moved. I looked quickly around the room but he was gone.

"Pretty good" He looked inquisitively at me as my eyes came back to rest on him "What have you lost?"

"My sanity, quite possibly. There was a guy standing right there" I said as I pointed to where Mr. Stranger was "But now he's gone. Did you see him? Do you know who he was?" I asked

Jay looked behind him, then looked at me "No, sorry. Didn't even see anyone there"

"Damn" I thought "Okay. Oh well." I said, hiding my disappointment.

I spent some time mixing with the people in the room, talking to everyone I knew, being introduced to people I didn't know, None of which were the guy I saw earlier but in my head I had adopted the attitude that I take when I see a good looking guy in the street "I'll never see him again anyway so there's no use worrying about it" Okay, there was a good chance I might see that guy again tonight, and if I did, I wasn't going to let anybody get in my way. Even if I had to be rude and tell them to bugger off and leave me alone for a few minutes. Granted, not the kind of thing you generally do at a party but hell, I was determined.

It was pretty hot in there. Either the air conditioning was broken or, for some reason, Turned off. I had to go outside to cool down. It was still quite early in the evening, I looked at my watch as I stood around outside, 7:25pm. It didn't seem like it. It was so dark it could have been 10 or midnight, for all anybody who didn't check knew.

Apparently, I wasn't the only person to have the idea of coming outside to cool down, quite a few people were outside with me, although not one of them talking to me. Insert Emo comment about having no friends here. I'd cooled off rather quickly and decided to go back inside. Me being me, I thought I'll go in a slightly different route. And went up the stairwell up the side of MC block. As I approached it and as I climbed the stairs the smell of coffee from the costa place filled my nose.

As I rounded the top of the first flight of stairs, enjoying the smell of the coffee and snacks from the coffee bar below, I looked up and there he was, sitting on the stairs, the guy I had tried to approach earlier.  I stopped dead in my tracks.

My heart was thudding in my chest. This time he hadn't noticed me. "Okay, Alan. Play it cool. There's just you two here. You can take your time approaching him. No pressure" I thought to myself. No pressure. Yeah, right! I took a deep breath and started moving up the stairs. Each step felt bigger than the last and I had to hold onto the railing to make sure I wasn't going to fall back down the stairs. He'd notice me if I did that, but for the wrong reasons.

I got about half way up and the door behind him opened. Tom Squires stepped out and called behind him "Here he is" I thought for a split second he was talking about me, then I saw him shove black haired guy "Fucker" he said "Get the fuck up"

Just then, Craig came into view. "Hello dickhead" he said with a somewhat malicious smile on his face. He glanced at me and smiled "Oh, Al! Have you met scrotum sucker here?" he said, shoving the black haired guy enough that he stumbled and had to grab onto the railing for support.

"I can't say I have" I said as I got to the top of the stairs. I turned my back to Tom and Craig as the black haired guy got up. I shot him a look, hoping he picked up on it's message of "Don't worry, I'll help you"

"We were just about to teach him that he's not welcome around here." Tom said with a cocky half-smile on his face.

"heh, yeah, and show him the price you pay for walking off when I'm talking to you"

I had to think fast. I knew Tom was an asshole but I had never seen Craig like this. I've known him get angry before and I know I don't want to be the one who lights that fuse, so I can only dread to think what Craig was planning on doing. I wrote down on a piece of paper "Follow my lead. I won't hurt you, I promise" then turned to Craig and Tom, with my hand over my shoulder as if I was running my neck, making sure my note was visible to the new guy "Well, that ought to be a stern lesson!" I said, the fake devious smile on my face. "But not one you should teach right here. I know a good place. Listen, you two need to keep up appearances. Go back in there, I'll call you when I've found a good spot. Make your excuses then come and find us"

Craig looked at Tom, then back at me "Brilliant Idea." He said. With that he turned around and headed back in, Tom lingered, looking at me a little while longer. I could tell he didn't trust me and that could be a problem, but he quickly followed Craig.

I grabbed the black haired guys arm and whispered "pretend like you're struggling" I said, knowing they could still see me through the glass partition "and follow me" I said, dragging him up the next flight of stairs, Him lightly fighting all the way.

I pressed the button to call both lifts. The doors opened immediately, I shoved him inside and told him to press the button for floor 6 but block the door open, which he did. As the other lift got there, I pressed the button on that one for Basement then came back to the one the black haired guy was standing in, pushing him in standing there.

"This lift is going Up! Please Mind the doors. Doors closing." the robotic woman's voice said as the lights on the doors flashed red and they closed

"What're you doing?" He asked

"Shut up!" I said, pressing my ear to the lift door, listening for any noise outside. There were faint voices, then the lift motor hummed, then started to pull us upwards.

We didn't have to wait long before we got where the lift was taking us "sixth floor. Doors opening"

I pressed all the buttons on the lift, making sure to press the button for basement first so it would go right down, then call at every other floor on the way back up. I got the feeling that Craig and Tom would not wait long and could already be trying to follow us.

"This lift is going Down!" I jumped out and watched as the lights changed from green to flashing red "Please mind the doors. Doors closing" and it went on its way

"Follow me" I said with a smile and started running up the stairs. I ran as fast as I could up them and made sure I could hear another set of footsteps behind me. After two flights of starts we got to the very top, panting and leaning against the vending machines, I look back to the stairs. The guy I was with got to the top, holding on to the banister, out of breath "So what did you do?"

"Huh?" he asked, looking at me

"To Craig. He obviously doesn't like you. What did you do to piss him off?"

He stood up straight "Believe it or not, I didn't do anything. Not initially. But all that crap down there, that was because I walked away from him when he was talking AT me. I got one question though, I don't know you. Why did you help me?"

I walked over to him and stood square infront of him "I saw you across the other side of the room earlier and I....ahnnn..." I trailed off, only now noticing the erection I could feel in my trousers

"Yeah, you caught my attention too." He said with a shy smile "You're kinda cute"

I blushed slightly then looked him dead in the eye "I've been wanting to do this since I first saw you" then quickly, before I could stop myself, I leaned into him and kissed him softly on the lips. I drew back, my mind simply saying "Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit...." I was expecting something bad to happen, I don't know what but something.

I stood there, my heart racing, then he made the next move, slipping his arms around me and pulling me back into a warm, loving, embracing kiss. His lips softly caressed mine as we closed or eyes. I wrapped my tongue around his, closed my eyes, and lost myself in him.

I don't know how long we stood there for, and I don't care. I was in heaven. Eventually, we broke off the kiss, both of us needed to breath, after all. "I'm so sorry, my manners have totally escaped me; What's your name?" I asked

"Simon" He replied with a blushing smile. "Here, I'll write it down for you" he said, pulling a pen and scrap piece of paper out of his pocket, then writing something down on it before handing it to me. I don't know why, but I didn't look at the paper, I just folded it up and put it in my pocket "Most people call me Si though, except your friends down there"

"Yeah, thats totally unlike the Craig I know. I can't say I'm surprised about Tom though"

"Tom?" He asked me

"The fat one" I replied

Simon looked at me and giggled "So, what do they call you?" he asked

"Oh, Sorry. Manners again. Alan, but you can call me Al" I said, smiling back at him and gently taking his hand.

I don't know what it was, but I just sensed something bad was going to happen...and I was right. Immediately, I heard voices lower down the stairs. I looked Simon in the eyes, and he stared back. Neither of us could hear what was being said but we both recognised the voices. Craig and Tom, and they were coming up the stairs. They were a few floors below us but it wouldn't take them too long to get up to us. I looked Simon in the eyes and pulled on his arm with some urgency. Something told me they had already worked out that I had tricked them. That would not end well for me. I do kickboxing and could probably take either one of them on, just not at the same time.

There was more than one way around MC block and we were taking the second route. We dashed across the building and to the rear stairwell. I started practically jumping down the stairs. My feet were barely touching the steps with each flight, I was panicked. I looked at the lifts as we were going down. I was waiting until we got to the floor the lift was waiting at. I had to keep looking back too. Simon was noticeably slower than me so was one flight of stairs behind me.

Finally we reach floor 4 with the lifts open doors. I jumped down the steps and into the lift carriage. I could hear Craig Yelling "Get back here, fuckers!" he was still a ways above us and couldn't see me, but could obviously see Simon. "C'MON, SI!" I yelled as he got closer, jumping off the last flight of stairs and into my arms

"Please Mind the doors. Doors closing!"

I panted and looked at him "My car's parked by the football stadium" I said, feeling for the keys in my pocket "when we get to the bottom, run like the devil is chasing you. If they have any sense, they will have carried on down the stairs. Once we get to the subway, make sure I'm in front or you'll never guess which car is mine out of all the others on the car park" I told him. Simon nodded in return

The lift shuddered to a stop "Ground Floor. Doors opening" we were out of there like a shot. I don't know if we were being followed by those two or how close they were behind but I really didn't care. I was not going to risk looking.

We flew out of the back entrance of the university, down a flight of steps and into the subway tunnel. As we emerged the other side, I sped up a little to get in front and pulled my keys out of my pocket as we ran down the back of the stadium and towards the car park that sided-onto the supermarket.

My car came into sight and I started frantically jabbing the button on the keyfob that unlocked the doors. As we got closer the indicators all blinked and the car made that familiar "Clack-tic...CLACK!" noise as the doors unlocked

"Getin" I told him. We both jumped into the car, shut and locked the doors, I put the key in the ignition and turned it

"Beeeeeeep-Cough-cough-VrrrRMMM! Ping! Ping! Ping!" was how the car went as I started it up. I Threw the car in gear, driving out and away from the car park like a man possessed. Thank fuck there are no speed cameras in that area, is all I can say

Niether of us said very much on the way. I told Simon I would take him back home and he was directing me. It was much better to listen to his voice than the satnav. I don't know what it is about it. It was deep, smooth and relaxing.

Looking at Simon, I was expecting him to live in a big, posh house with a double garage, double glazing, possibly even in one of those estates that's gated off from the rest of the public and that I would have to register my car's number plate with a guard if I even wanted to look at the houses much less go up to one...or have sex with one of the occupants. Nothing was further from the truth.

We pulled into a car park and stopped "This is it" Simon said, not exactly with a smile as I switched off the engine. "Would you like to come in?"

Part of me wanted to say "No thanks" for fear of being beaten up and mugged for ten pence, But then I looked straight at him, smiled and replied with "Yeah, why not?" I'm not sure what his reaction was. Was it relief or was it worry? Damned if I know

We got out, I locked the car, making sure to double lock it as I looked up at the dingy block of flats. I am not kidding, the area really was in the centre of the rough part of town. There were blocks of flats all around me. Grey, solid concrete buildings that were built to last, not look good. Mobile phone masts on top of just about every block of flats, and 3 or 4 police cars either patrolling around or sitting idly by the side of the road, waiting for something to kick off.

We walked past a few blocks before coming to one where Simon put a key in the lock and opened the door. The hallway really stank, and I'm not even sure what it was of. The smell eased a bit as we climbed the stairs, but it never went away.

Finally we stop outside one of the flats, he stops and looks at me "Our home...ahm" He sighed "our home's not what you might expect. I'm not proud of it so I apologise in advance" he said. I nodded and he opened the door, shouting through "Hello? I'm home!" No reply came so he turned back to me "Come in, if you REALLY want to"

I walked through the door, thinking "It can't be THAT bad." And it couldn't, right? Okay, They live in, quite frankly, a horrible block of flats but there are plenty of people living in the dankest blocks in the world that manage to make their homes inside these places really nice.

Then I stepped inside

The smell wasn't exactly overwhelming but that doesn't mean it was a nice smell. I would be hard pushed to describe what it was. I think it was a combination of things, but whatever they were, they weren't nice.  The carpet looked old and worn out and looked like it hadn't been vacuumed since it was fitted. The wall was covered in a plain white wall paper which had discoloured and gone basically yellow.

There was obviously a cat around, I could hear it meowing and my allergies were starting to react to it and I sneezed four times in quick succession

Simon looked back at me in alarm "Are you okay?" he asked

"Yeah, I'm fine" I replied, looking up at him and rubbing my eye "Do you have any pets?" I asked

"Two cats" he replied

"Yeah, that would be it. I'm highly allergic to cats. I have some pills for it which I would have taken if I'd have known"

"Sorry." He said, opening the door to another room and leading me inside

"Not your fau—Woah!" I stopped in the door way to the room. It was obviously his bedroom and it was a total contrast to the rest of the house. It was clean, neat and it smelled nice which was, in part, thanks to a little electric air freshener that was sitting on top of his TV. It was a pleasant temperature in there and the room just generally looked inviting

"bit of a difference, hmm?" he said, proudly standing in the middle of his bedroom

"I'll say" I stood in there, astonished.

Simon sat on the bed and held out his arms, inviting me over.  I moved over, put my arms around him, straddling his lap and sitting on his legs, I kissed him deeply, knowing I could take my time over it this time, showing him just how much I loved him. Yes, I said love. We met less than 24 hours ago and I was in love. I knew it was true love too, and he obviously felt the same way.

I wish I could tell you that we spent the next few hours fucking like rabbits. But, I'm sorry to inform you that we didn't. I know, I know. It would make for a much more interesting read if I said to you that we'd gone at if, and if I described in detail how we'd done it but that would be a total lie and I'm not about to do that. Sorry.

It was starting to get late, and no doubt my phone, which I had deliberately left at home, would have about 20 million missed calls on it from Craig, not to mention my dad would be wandering where I was so, we said our goodbyes, kissed one final time, then I was reluctantly on my way. I walked out of the housing block with my heart singing. I had finally found a boyfriend, a GOOD boyfriend. I'd had crushes before now. My most recent one having done some considerable emotional damage but being around Simon, he just seemed to make everything right.

As I walked towards my car, I suddenly stopped. I didn't have his phone number, last name, e-mail address and I had not been paying attention to which block of flats or the number on the door...My heart suddenly sank. I had been with the perfect guy and I had lost him almost immediately through my own stupidity in forgetting to get his damn phone number. I looked around franticly for his flats but they all looked the same to me, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to re-trace my steps. I wanted to cry, I really did. I put my hand in my pocket for some tissues but didn't find them. Instead I found a piece of paper that I didn't remember putting there. "Great" I thought as I pulled it out of my pocket, my eyes already welling up. I unfolded it and through blurry vision, my heart jumped back up a beat. The paper read "Simon 0773 4949 03" The fucking GENIOUS had written his mobile phone number on there!

Suddenly, the song was back in my heart, I dried my eyes on my sleeve and made it back to my car with the world's biggest smile on my face. I jumped in the car, Started the engine and drove away with a mixture of happy and sad in me. Happy that I had met Simon and not lost him within the first 24 hours of meeting him but sad because I had to wait at least until I got home to call him much less see him again.

There you have it, there's the Story of Simon and Alan. I hope one day you all meet Simons of your own.

The End?

[i]

[b] Ultrabeat – Pretty green eyes [/b]

Pretty green eyes,
So full of sparkle and such light,
Let me remind,
You chose not to cry.
Its all right,
for your lover has come home,
by your side I'll always stay,
never have to be alone.

Younever have to be alone (x2)

Pretty green eyes,
so full of wonder and despair
its all right to cry
for i'll be there to wipe your tears
and in your arms
together we're in paradise,
and its so nice,
you'll never have to be alone

You never have to be alone (x4)

Pretty green eyes,
So full of sparkle and such light,
Let me remind,
You chose not to cry.
Its all right,
for your lover has come home,
by your side I'll always stay,
Younever have to be alone.

You never have to be alone (x2)

Pretty green eyes,
so full of wonder and despair
its all right to cry
for i'll be there to wipe your tears
and in your arms
together we're in paradise,
and its so nice,
you'll never have to be alone

never have to be, never have to be
never have to, never have to be alone (x4) [/i]