Soho Pride: A Soho Nights Story

Episode 9

He knew it was unlikely he'd see Tom again, but he couldn't help the flashes of memories going through his head. He remembered everything about him. Every joke or funny comment me made. Every hair on his chest or ripple on his stomach. Every single kiss. Everything feeling that he had. Tom had been everything he wanted in a man, but he knew he'd done the right thing in tossing him back in the pool. He had so much to offer somebody. Somebody who didn't spend eleven and a half months of each year in a remote farming village. It could never have worked, he knew that.

As much as Oscar had tried to deny his feelings to himself, he knew that he'd fallen in love last year. He kept his memories of that weekend in a box in his mind. They'd had their moment in time, now it was time to move on to new things. There must be like a million guys here. He wanted to find another love story.

He spent most of the day in the dance tent. He danced in the middle, moving only to get vodka and cokes from the bar. He had a lot of male attention. The guys seemed to flock around him for his typical Swedish boy looks. He had the pale blonde hair which he had swept back on his head and the strong jaw line. He even kissed a few of them. It didn't come to anything with anyone, but it felt nice to kiss another guy again. He hadn't done that in so long.

As the sun started going down on the first day of Pride, Oscar became more and more excited about the evening ahead. He knew that in the day time, people wanted to hang out with their mates. But at night, people were looking for something more. He left the dance tent and started the walk over to Soho. He'd seen it from his room and had even been there at the start of the parade, but this was different. This was Soho at night and he couldn't wait to get there.

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Luke was disappointed at first how his day had gone. He hadn't really spoken to anyone or made any new friends. There had been passing comments with the occasional guy, but nothing of any real substance. But then he told himself what a massive step he'd made today. Until this morning he'd never even been to a gay venue. He'd come to Pride all by himself, stepping way outside his comfort zone. It was a huge step for him and he knew he should be proud of himself for making that leap. Besides, there were another two days yet. He had time.

Despite what he'd done today, he didn't feel ready to make the next steps yet. He knew that everyone else would be going out into Soho, but that scared him. He'd hoped to have met some people during the day who he could have gone with, but seeing as that didn't happen, he certainly didn't feel confident enough to go alone.

That's when it hit him again. He had nobody in his life, not a single friend to call his own.

Luke put his shirt on again and started towards the exit. The park was closing, so a lot of people were leaving. He doubted many of them were going home like he was though. No doubt they wouldn't get home until the late hours of the morning. He contemplated it again, but still came to the same conclusion.

There was no parade tomorrow. The park opened again at midday, so that was where he'd be again. He looked over his shoulder as he left. Despite not achieving what he'd done to do, he'd taken the very first steps into his new life as a gay man. He knew he had a long way to go to be where he wanted to be, but today had been his first baby step. He smiled to himself as he walked towards home.

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Jack had no intention of going home early. For him the park was just the warm up to what he expected to be an epic night.

'Shall we go to Soho?' he suggested.

'Let's do it,' said Kai.

They walked from the park to Soho, all drinking beer from the bottle. They were all in high spirits and extremely tipsy.

Kai seemed much more relaxed with a few drinks inside him. He still hadn't worked at at what point in the day he'd pop the question to Ali. He wasn't worried about it now. He figured when the moment arose, he'd just know. It wasn't like there was any rush. He had all weekend to do it.

Ali had all but forgotten their run in with Kai's ex earlier. She felt stupid for letting that girl put thoughts in her mind. She was clearly trying to cause trouble between them and Ali was ashamed that she'd let her. Kai was a good man, she knew that. How could she ever have thought that he was capable of hurting her in such a way?

Milo put some music on his phone and played it through the speaker. The five of them half walked, half danced down the street.

Jack looked at his two best friends with their boyfriends. Both Ali and Milo seemed so happy. He was thrilled for them, but there was a twinge of jealousy inside him. Not because they had someone, but because he didn't. He'd never really considered himself the relationship type. It wasn't at the top of his list of thing he wanted to do. He was mostly happy with his single lifestyle, but every now and again he thought it might be nice to have someone. He hadn't really thought that way since Ocean. He knew that was over. The two of them were friends now and he was happy with that. But just because he didn't want to be with Ocean like that anymore, didn't mean he didn't want that with anyone.

He wondered if he had it in him. Was he capable of being faithful to one person? He shook the thought from his head. It was Pride weekend and he intended of having some fun.

'Where we going first?' said Ali.

'How about The Eagle?' said Jack. 'We could pick up some supplies for tonight.'

Author's Note

Hey peeps. Hope you're all keeping safe. If you enjoyed this chapter, please consider giving me a like or dropping me a comment.

Ben writing alot on this project at the moment, so should be a fair few chapters up over the course of the week.