Soho Pride: A Soho Nights Story

Episode 3

Luke Hill stood in his room looking at himself the mirror. He couldn't believe he was going to do this. Going to a gay pride event was a huge thing for him. He'd not even been to a gay bar or club before, so this felt like he was jumping in at the deep end. What would his mates from the rugby team say now if they saw him?

He hoped he wouldn't feel too out of place. He'd seen pictures of Soho Pride events before and knew that people dressed in all kinds of outrageous outfits. He was wearing his best jeans, a polo shirt and a pair of Adidas trainers. But he always thought Pride was about being who you were, and this was who he was. He'd just had his hair cut the day before, especially for the occasion. He felt like he looked all right.

He tried to move a couple of times, but found himself stuck to the spot. You can do this Luke, he said to himself in the mirror. He took a deep breath, turned around and left his room.

It had taken him Twenty-Two years to get to this point in his life. If only you were allocated your sexuality at birth and given a card with the word gay or straight on it. If only you didn't have to work it out for yourself. That would have made things so much easier for him. He wouldn't have wasted those years dating and being engaged to Annabelle. They'd met when they were so young that he never had time to work it out. He figured that seeing as he had a girlfriend, then he must have been straight. He'd been happy with that in the younger years of his life. They'd walked around the schoolyard holding hands. But then sex became a thing and threw his whole life out of sync. Even then, it had taken him a couple more years to work out what the problem was and another year to have the courage do anything about it.

He wished he had someone he could do today with, if only one of the boys. But none if them understood. He had to do this, so he'd just have to do it on his own. He was ready. Well, maybe not ready but he'd do it anyway.

❤🧡💛💚💙💜

Kai jumped on the bus. He was sweaty and breathless as he'd had to run to catch it. He was hoping to meet Ali in Soho so they could walk the parade together. It was important to do it together. He wanted to walk hand in hand with her and show the world how proud he was to be with her. He had every intention of being with her on time for the start of the parade, but then he got a call for the only thing more important.

The call had woken him up earlier than he'd planned on getting up. Ali had decided to stay in the night before, so she could be fresh for today. Kai on the other otherhand had been working, so he stayed at his own apartment. It wasn't often he and Ali spent the night apart.

'Mr Masters, your order is ready for collection,' the man on the other side of the call had said. His heart skipped a beat at those words.

He took out his phone to text her. Just as he started typing he got a message from her.

You nearly here yet babe? x

He sent a message back straight away.

I'll be there in ten x

He should be there before they started walking towards the park. All the floats went first which he wanted to watch, then once they'd all gone everyone followed on behind.

He suddenly had a feeling of panic, like he'd lost something. He put his hand on his pocket. It was still there, but he wanted to see it. He pulled the little box out, opened it up and looked at the ring. The diamond wasn't the biggest one in the world, but he'd had to save months for it as it was. He'd considered saving up longer, but he couldn't wait. He wanted to do it this weekend, at Pride.

The old woman sitting next to him saw what he was looking at and started to get excited. 'Oh my goodness, is that what I think it is?'

Kai smiled. 'Yes. I'm going to propose to my girlfriend this weekend.'

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Oscar looked out of his hotel window. He was on the fifth floor, so had a good view of everything that was going on in the streets. He'd booked this hotel because he'd wanted to be as central as he could be and close to all the action. The streets were packed full of other people like him. In a few moments he'd be down there amongst them. He'd been waiting for this moment all year. It had been a full twelve months since he'd been in Soho.

He'd chosen to fly out a couple of days before things kicked off. He didn't want to arrive the day before and be too tired to enjoy the festival. He planned to live to the fullest and party as hard as he could. He had a lot of time to make up for and he knew that after this, it would be another year before he went to another club, before he spoke to another gay person.

Oscar wasn't a naturally outgoing person. He was from a small farming village in Sweden with a small population. It was the kind of place where everybody knew everybody else. When he'd been at school a few years ago, there were only four other kids in his class and one of them was his cousin. As far as he was aware, there were no other gay people in the village. He'd had a crush on his best friend from school since they were young. His name was Hugo and he was straight. Hugo has a girlfriend now. He knew nothing could ever happen there.

Last year he'd gone travelling before he started working fulltime on his dad's farm. During his travels he'd found himself in Soho without knowing anything about the place. He was only meant to be passing through, but when he'd seen it was Pride weekend, he'd ended up staying the whole weekend. He swore to himself that he'd return every year. It had taken a while for him to convince his father to let him go. There was a lot of work to do back on the farm, but he needed a break. It was to be his only holiday for the full year and he would be returning back the day after Pride ended.

He smiled as he looked down at the crowds. He was all ready to go. He didn't want to be in his room anymore. He wanted to be down there amongst it all.

He wished he had someone with him. He would have to make friends when he got there. He didn't find it easy talking to strangers, but he'd push himself out of his comfort zone to do it. It was his one and only opportunity to have himself some fun.

Author's note

So a couple of new characters in this chapter. Hope you enjoyed meeting them. You'll get to know Luke and Oscar much more as we go along.