What if...?

The Date

Author's Note (A/N): What if, on the 9th January 2014, John Paul hadn't realised that Finn had attacked Marlena as he was leaving detention duty that night? What if he had gone on his date with Ste? Would things have panned out differently?

John Paul made his way to The Dog, hands in his pockets and a spring in his step. Why he had a spring in his step, he wasn't sure. He was running slightly late due to having to cover detention - that was definitely a decent reason - but perhaps he was excited about his date with Ste. John Paul almost hesitated: never would he have imagined that the words 'excited', 'date' and 'Ste' would ever appear together in the same sentence, but it did.

xxx

He was wrong to be excited about his date, John Paul realised as he entered The Dog and spotted Danny sitting at a table with Ste. Nonetheless, John Paul approached them with a forced grin on his face.

"Hey" he greeted through gritted teeth, "Sorry I'm late"

Ste shrugged, "It's no problem"

Danny just smiled at John Paul expectantly. John Paul realised that he wouldn't be leaving any time soon, so he took a deep breath.

"Another round?" he offered. The other two nodded in agreement and John Paul sighed before heading over to the bar.

xxx

As John Paul gulped down his pint of beer he realised that the cliché was right: three was definitely a crowd. And not a fun party crowd either. No, this was an 'I'm-on-a-date-with-a-guy-who-I-couldn't-stand-a-couple-of-weeks-ago-as-well-as-his-dad-who-I-was-having-an-affair-with-a-few-months-ago' kind of crowd. Awkward, to say the least. Danny noticed the empty glasses around and stood up.

"The next round's on me" he stated as he sauntered over to the bar. Ste leant over the table towards John Paul.

"I'm so sorry about my dad" he apologised earnestly. John Paul shook his head,

"It's fine" he reassured him, though he was disappointed, "I'm the one who kept you waiting"

"Well you were on detention duty, right?"

John Paul nodded, "Yeah, but the weird thing is, Danny was supposed to be doing it. He made it seem like there was an emergency, so I offered to do it instead"

"Strange, 'cos he hasn't said anything about it"

"Well maybe he really wanted to celebrate your birthday with you. This is the first one after all, which is kind of a sweet thought-"

"Or the more likely idea is that he didn't want us to go out tonight because he still wants to be with you" Ste retorted bitterly.

John Paul scoffed, "Well the feeling isn't mutual"

"Good" Ste responded contentedly. After noticing John Paul's quizzical expression he covered his tracks to prevent John Paul from figuring out his feelings, "I mean - as I said the other week- he's married with kids. You know, off-limits"

John Paul nodded uncomfortably, which made Ste feel guilty so he elaborated.

"Plus, you don't deserve to be anyone's dirty little secret anymore"

John Paul smiled, "That's what I keep telling myself, but I just keep falling into the same trap over and over" he shook his head sadly before glancing up at Ste, "Then again, you can't help who you have feelings for, can you?"

Ste shook his head, "No, you can't" he murmured thoughtfully, inwardly scolding himself for having these kinds of feelings for a guy that he despised not long ago. A guy who had been with his ex-boyfriend, ex-husband and his dad. If there was ever a sign saying 'Don't go there', that would be it.