Dear Uncle Vic [boyxboy]

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven (Ace's POV)

"Ace... Ace! ACE!" I almost had a heart attack at the voice echoing in my skull, jarring me out of my dazed stupor as I jerked my head up from the computer monitor that seemed to glare at me with countless numbers and accounts. I looked up to see my co-worker, Tristian Michaels, staring at me with a cocked brow of curiosity.

"Jesus, man. Three times. I called you three times and you were still in La-La Land. Cherri keep you up snoring again or somethin'?" He asked with the faintest touch of a Southern drawl. He was younger than me by at least five years, but he had his mature moments. Ironically, only when he was drunk.

"Sorry," I muttered, running a hand through my hair before taking my headset off and turning the mic off before rising to my feet, "It wasn't Cherri. Just a lot of stuff on my mind right now with the holidays coming up." I wanted to kick myself for lying again, especially to Tristian. I hadn't made very many friends in Jensen since we moved here, but Tristian was very close in that category.

He followed me to the back room where a very welcoming looking coffee pot sat steaming with black chichory coffee and a wicker basket of small breakfast goodies.

"Holidays," Tristian echoed flatly, "I hate the holidays." I probably shouldn't have mentioned the holiday part, but lack of sleep led me to ask stupid questions all the time. Tristian lived completely alone on the outskirts of town, his parents having died several years prior in a house fire. He was an only child and his wife had left him when he started working at the office. I almost felt sorry for him, but I also envied him. Despite living alone and taking college classes at the same time as having a job, he managed to do well enough to afford a nice farmhouse with several acres of land.

"I invited you to our Christmas party. Cherri would love to have you." I said as I poured myself a hot cup of coffee. Tristian scrunched up his nose in distaste and I knew he didn't mean it rudely. It was just a natural reaction for him. Because of his lack of family, Tristian was also not a people person and prefered spending his days alone.

Or so he says.

"Dunno. Sounds like you got a crowd. Who's all comin' again?" He asked casually, averting his bright, leafy green eyes to a cinnamon bun in the basket. I sighed, ripping a couple packets of sugar open to pour into the coffee.

"It's just me, Cherri, the boys, and, uh... A couple of their friends and their uncle. I think Cherri's friend Carmen might come too." I added flatly. For some reason, when Cherri had announced that Carmen was attending, I felt a surge of irritation. Carmen was, as Cherri had so nicely put it last night, a creepy woman and it explained why her daughter was so... off.

"Carmen single?" Tristian asked, caving into the temptation of the cinnamon bun and snacking down on it, the icing smearing on his face. I rolled my eyes and sat in one of the lounge chairs comfortably with Tristian sitting on the arm of it.

"Recently divorced, Tristian. Dunno if you wanna tred those waters anyway. She seems to have a thing about Cherri."

"Jeez," Tristian exclaimed, "Is everyone goin' homo? My college buddy, Anthony, came back to town recently and he said he's got his eye on some guy. The guy who owns that body shop a few blocks from North Main." Immediately, I snapped my head to stare at him as he licked the icing off his fingers, catching my eye.

"What?" He asked uneasily.

"Anthony who?" I pressed. Tristian blinked, obviously caught off guard, but being the oblivious kid he was, he shrugged.

"Stewart. He and I went to college together, the first time I went. He was the teacher's pet, apparently a freakin' prodigy. He's got to have a least three masters or somethin'. Son of a bitch is like Jimmy Neutron." I ignored the obsure reference to a cartoon that Tristian really shouldn't be watching. In fact, at his age, he should be watching things like Law and Order, but of course. No one acted their age anymore.