Mitch was glad that Avi had been able to pull Scott away from his sofa and he felt himself relax when he saw his best friend having a drink and snatching a few snacks from the buffet. He turned back to people he was talking to when all of a sudden he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Can we talk, Mitch? Please?"
Mitch smiled even wider. "Of course, Scott. You'll excuse me." He turned to his best friend. "Another drink first?"
Scott nodded and ordered two glasses of wine for them and led Mitch over to the sofa he had been stuck to for the past hour. "I need to apologise, Mitch. I know we don't see eye to eye when it comes to Nick, but I don't want to lose your friendship over a boy I am dating."
Mitch nodded. "I appreciate the apology, but I just want you to know that my views on him are not changing unless he proves to me he's different. It's not because I hate him, it's because I love you, Scott. Still, I don't want to fight either and I promise to not bring it up again" he explained.
Scott took a deep breath. "That's more than enough for me," he said and then sighed deeply.
"This kind of sigh calls for a big sip of this one" Mitch said and raised his glass. "To us."
Scott smiled. "To us. And to this tour."
Scott finished the glass quickly and without saying anything, Mitch offered him his glass, which was still half full.
"You're not drinking?" Scott asked.
"Slowing down, for now, don't want to be drunk at 1 am, this night is going to be a long one," Mitch said. "I am planning to go to the hotel room for a shower and breakfast this time. Last time I napped and it ended up in a disaster."
"Oh wow. Go hard or go home, huh?"
"More like go hard and then go home" Mitch replied. He eyed his own glass of wine which was almost empty. "Want another one?"
Scott nodded. "Do you think they'll give out bottles? This one is really nice."
Mitch shrugged his shoulders. "I'll ask them."
When Mitch was gone, Scott pulled out his phone once more and he was not surprised that he had an unread message from Nick:
"I find it funny that you need to think about if you want to attend my mother's birthday party. But well, you do you. I'll see you whenever you feel like coming home."
Scott didn't know if he should be angry or sad. But he knew that he didn't want to answer him so he put his phone away, knowing that Nick would see that he had read it.
~
The rest of the night was a blur. After finishing the bigger part of the bottle, Scott and Mitch hit the dancefloor. They had a wonderful time celebrating the end of the tour with the band and the major part of the crew. And since they were all used to having long nights, the crowd only thinned out after 5 am.
Scott was standing at the railing, looking down on the city. Even though they were on a rooftop, he had needed some fresh air.
"Here..." a glass of what seemed to be coke suddenly appeared in front of him.
"Oh thank you, Avi," he said and took it.
"You're welcome. Figured you'd need a non-alcoholic drink to keep going, hmm? I haven't seen you without a wine glass in your hand in hours."
"Mmhm" Scott hummed and took a sip from the coke. "But the wine is so good. Like... fuck we're in Italy? Where else would you drink wine?"
Avi chuckled. "Touché. And the wine is really good. I mean I prefer red, but I tried the white one, too."
"Every wine is good wine if you ask me" Scott replied. "But right now I am digging this coke."
"I can see that" Avi commented. "But I am glad that you were able to enjoy the party."
Scott nodded. "I was. And Mitch and I made up. I apologised and we're good now" he explained. "I'm just wondering..."
"Yeah?" Avi asked.
"He said that he thinks that Nick is a... toxic person," Scott said. "And I've been thinking about his words and I just don't know."
"Okay..." Avi just said. "And what are you wondering about?"
"Do you think that he's toxic, Avi?"
"Scott..."
"Please just answer, Avi. I trust you. You've always tried to be objective and you never said anything negative about him" Scott said.
"You know, Scott" Avi began and took a short break to sort his thoughts. How easy it would be to just conform Mitch and to make Scott break up with Nick. But Avi couldn't do it. It would be manipulative and thus he wouldn't be any better than Nick himself. "In the end, it is not about what Mitch thinks or what I think, Scott. It is about what you feel."
"But I don't know, Avi."
Avi sighed. "It's just the answer to one simple question, Scott. Are you happy with Nick?"
"I-" Scott was taken aback. He hadn't expected this and didn't know how to react.
"You don't need to answer me, Scott. You need to answer yourself" Avi said. He wanted to turn away, leave Scott alone to think about it, but somehow he knew that he should stay, at least for a moment.
"I want to be" Scott finally said, and, after drawing in a shaky breath he repeated. "I really want to be happy with him, Avi."
Avi didn't say anything. Instead, he just pulled Scott down into a tight hug. "It's okay," he said when he felt Scott sniffle softly. He held him until he had calmed down enough and loosened the embrace. "I'm sorry, Scott."
"Don't be sorry" Scott said. "You didn't do anything wrong. It's just..." The blonde shook his head. "I can't."
Avi took Scott's hand and squeezed it softly. "You don't need to talk right now," he said. "Just take all the time you need. Everything will turn out fine. I promise."
"Thank you, Avi." Scott's voice was merely a whisper and while Avi's brain was still trying to catch up to what was happening, he suddenly felt warm lips on his own.
~~~~
