a chained heart

12 | drunk on plane-jet?

Adam and Lawrence stood hand-in-hand for what felt like hours next to the isle that held Adam's first ever professionally displayed photo. Adam had never felt so proud of himself, and Lawrence could see it.

Every time someone shook Adam's hand and complimented his work, Lawrence couldn't help but smile at the kid's look of sheer gratitude. He wanted to brag from the rooftops, Hey! Look! That talented, handsome guy right there? Yeah, that's my boyfriend!

Despite the happiness that this new accomplishment brought the two of them, their legs were killing them, and Adam's brain was almost melting at the robotic maneuvers of shaking hands with someone then humbly accepting their compliments.

Over,

and over,

and over.

This was fun for about the first two hours, Adam thought.

Luckily there was food and refreshments as promised. A table behind them held cheese platters and fancy wine bottles.

Adam was working on his third glass of the evening and couldn't tell if it was making the social interaction more or less tolerable.

The sky outside was dark and the building slowly cleared as it neared closing time. There were a few stragglers left roaming around in the back of the gallery, but Adam was much more relaxed as all the attention was no longer on him.

So he thought.

The quiet atmosphere filled with nothing but the low murmurs from the back of the room was interrupted when the door came flinging open and in popped a loud, sporadic man. His hair was a mess and his breathing was heavy as he pointed at Adam and Lawrence with a smile.  "Ah—Adam and Lawrence! Just the gentlemen I was looking for." He was dripping with a british accent that said "hey, I'm kind of an asshole."

"Great," Adam thought to himself. "Someone who recognizes us from the news." Feeling overwhelmed and impatient, Adam raised his half-full wine glass and stuck his finger out at him. "And you are?"

"I'm Swindler. Zachary Swindler," the man finished off, sticking his hand out to Adam with a large grin on his face.

With one hand holding Lawrence's and the other holding his wine, Adam made no efforts to shake Zachary's hand. Instead, he brought the glass up to his mouth, speaking through his cup before taking a swig, "Yeah, you sure do look like a swindler to me."

Lawrence squeezed Adam's hand as if to shout at him "don't be rude."

Luckily, the annoying brit let out a boisterous laugh, taking no offense. "I like you already," he pointed at Adam. "You're a funny fella, aren't you?"

Adam put his glass down and eyed him suspiciously. Before he could say anything else stupid, Lawrence piped up. His voice was steady but Adam could tell that he was trying to not let annoyance seep through his words. "Look, we were actually about to close shop here, so if you came to look at the photo how abut you just—"

"Oh, no," Zachary declared, holding up his hands. "No, no, no. I didn't come for a photo. I came here for you two!" Zachary became suddenly distracted by Adam's photo that he'd just denied so harshly and Adam and Lawrence shared a perplexed look.

Zachary put his hand on his chin. "Now that you speak of it, that is a lovely picture." Looking back at Adam and Lawrence he smiled again, "Wait a minute. Are you two—?"

"Looking for a third party?" Adam interrupted rudely, not holding his wine very well. "No sorry, our relationship isn't open, unfortunately."

Zachary let out another bellowing laugh and turned red faced. Adam was getting annoyed that he wouldn't just take offense to everything he said like anyone else would. Maybe it's cause he's British? Adam thought to himself.