One Night Stand Gone Wrong

Mathew laughed, “I am so loving where this is going.”

Joe gulped some more wine, “Can’t we skip the embarrassing parts.”

“Nope!” Arielle continued, “We started dating, or whatever you call it. By then, we had already known each other for a year and a half. We were good friends for a year and knew each other pretty well.”

“When we went on dates, it was oddly awkward because I thought he was just messing with me, and he could understand why I was being weird. At that time, he had not quite figured out he was gay.”

“We were buddies and used to eat together and go to movies that we both liked, but mostly we used to go to a cafe and compete over hacking or some games. And that used to be a lot of fun. Our dates were anything but fun.”

Joe laughed, recalling those dates, “We dated for an entire semester, and we had formed a weird rapport. We would have a lot of fun when we hung out normally. But when we called it a date, it would be awkward and mentally draining.”

Arabella added for them, “6 months of supposed dating, they had not even kissed. And then came the exchange students, and El had an influx of admirers. Things got very interesting after that.”

Joe sighed, gulping away his embarrassment.

Arielle laughed, “It was so hilarious. Joe would get annoyed whenever anyone made a pass at me or asked me out. Expected behavior from a supposed boyfriend, except his reasoning would be all over the place.”

‘He is so cute. What does he like about you? You are hideous.’

‘He is the topper of the batch. You are above average at best. Why would he be interested in you?’

‘He is a football prodigy. What does he see in you? You suck at all sports.’

‘Look at those muscles, he is so hot, and you are an ugly duckling. Is he blind?'”

Arabella snorted, laughing as she recalled those days.

“Oh, dear god! El and I talked about how miserably Joe was handling the joke that was their relationship.” Arabella managed to say with her face covered with tears as she rolled off the couch laughing.

Arielle finished the story.

“One day, when we were talking about one of Joe’s antics, she asked if Joe was aware that he was gay. That got me thinking that maybe he did not know, hence the weird behavior.”

“I knew he would not believe me if I just went up to him and told him that he was gay. So I made a plan.”

“I went to this guy in our data analytics class who I was pretty sure Joe was crushing on. I asked him to ask me out when Joe and I were together during the lunch break. I did not tell him the details, merely asked for his help. I told him it was important, and we would be in a semi-secluded place.”

“He agreed, and a few days later, I was with Joe under this tree behind the cafeteria, which did not have too many people. He walked up to me and asked me out. I smiled at him, but before I could reply, Joe exclaimed that she had a boyfriend and asked him to leave.”

Joe sighed heavily, “Ah! The heartbreak and bad memories.”

Arielle pointed at Joe and explained.

“This guy spent two hours, two freaking hours, accusing me of seducing that guy. He went on and on about how that guy was perfect, and I was way out of his league. I did not even speak, but I recorded him.”

“Then, after a week or so, when he had calmed down, I played the recording and pointed out to him that he was not upset that someone asked out his “girlfriend” but upset because that semi-perfect guy asked me out.”

Arabella snickered, “Even then, he did not get it.”

Joe thumped his glass and said, “In my defense, that idea had never crossed my life.”

Arielle laughed at him, “You were not living under a rock.” She continued before he could comment.

“We spent 2-3 hours arguing, I can’t even remember, about some nonsense. Long story short, one thing led to another, and, would you believe it, Joe accused me of changing the narrative to initiate a breakup. So, I taunted him that anyone would break up with a guy who would not even want to kiss her.”

“Finally, it dawned on him that we were platonically dating for more than half a year. He said he would just kiss me and prove his point.”

“We kissed! Hardly 3 seconds later, he pushed me away and was like, ‘Okay, you are right. I am gay. ew!’ I will never forget the look on his face that day.”

Everyone started laughing uncontrollably, and Arielle had to hush everyone to keep quiet, or the kids would wake up.

Joe grumbled, “That was embarrassing. God! You guys will tell this story to our kids, won’t you?”

Arabella could not speak, so she nodded repeatedly.

Joe continued the topic.

“Anyway, these two bitches held a coming out of closet ceremony for me. Which was weird because I had never even realized I was inside the closet.”

“I told my parents. They already knew and were waiting for me to find out. The next few months were the most wonderful. I had never realized I had been so stressed inside without even realizing it. But realizing that I was gay freed me up in unbelievable ways.”

They all clicked their glasses to cheer for that.

Joe continued, “After that, the three of us became even closer. I realized firsthand what girls mean when they say ‘every girl needs a gay best friend!’.”

“I was their human shield to repel all unwanted attention. A few years down the line, I became Belle’s dad when she managed to get knocked up when she was shitfaced drunk over her breakup.”

Arabella shrugged, “Don’t parade my shame, which is now my badge of honor.”

She had never regretted giving birth to the child she had borne from a one-night stand when she was drunk over a breakup.

Joe clinked glasses with her, “To our daughter.”Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

Joe continued, “Anyway, using me as a human shield finally showed its consequences. Around half a year later, the footballer guy who had asked her out cornered her close to a public library in the late evening one day. He tried to harass her, and I tried to fight him, but he was a football prodigy, and I was, well, me. He beat the crap out of me and then continued to try to kiss her forcibly.”

“Then Rick showed up, he had just graduated from the Police academy, and it was the first month of his assignment. He was patrolling the area. He was like those knights in shining armor who came to save the princess. Except, I fell in love with him at first sight, while the ungrateful woman only said thank you!”

Arielle snorted, “You exaggerated it so much to get Rick to send us to hospital. And I will never forget how you asked for his help.”

Rick finally spoke. He was a man of few words, but he could never forget that moment. That night, part of him knew his life would never be the same.

“Please save her, good sir. She is my best friend and the future surrogate for my children. I will need a surrogate since I am gay, but it can’t be a random person. The mother must be in the picture. It’s for the wellbeing of a child.”

Arielle proposed a toast when they finally reigned in their laughter, “To being brave in love!”