Soho Dreams: a Soho Nights Story

Episode 15

Introductions had nothing gone well a all. Not that they'd have expected them to, but it was worse than they'd even considered. Michael wasn't allowing Sam to see his daughter when Milo was with him. It wasn't ideal, but Sam needed to see Jess, so agreed to do so on his own for the time being.

After an uncomfortable dinner, things had escalated again and Milo's parents had forbidden their son to see this older man again. Milo had argued, but they'd dropped the live under my roof, live by my rules speech. Milo had called their bluff and said that was fine and that he'd move in with Sam. They'd backed down as they didn't want Milo moving in with him, but they still weren't happy with the situation.

'What do we do next?' said Milo. He was round at Sam's place and they were sitting on the couch after dinner.

'I don't know,' said Sam. 'I guess the only thing we can do is give them time.'

'But what if they ever accept us?'

'Then that's sad, but it's their loss. I'm not going to break up with you, so they'll just have to get used to it.'

'But what if Michael won't let you see Jess?'

'He won't have any choice. He can't keep her from me.'

'Maybe it will be easier when I'm eighteen. I know the age gap will still be the same, but I'll legally be an adult so Michael won't have any grounds. Maybe when I've left college I can come and live with you anyway. I'll get a job so you won't have to pay for me.'

'But what about university?'

'I'll go locally, so we can stay together.'

'But won't you need your parents to pay for your tuition fees?'

'I'll get a part-time job, maybe in Soho.'

It wasn't ideal, but it was the worst-case scenario. They'd tried breaking up once before and they couldn't do it. They needed to be together, so would do whatever it took.

'Let's just cross that bridge if we come to it,' said Sam.

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After considering it for a few days, Jack had decided he'd accept Oscar's offer and would trial sleeping with other men whilst they were apart. He and Marcus had been chatting in messenger since Jack sent the friend request.

Marcus had been really happy to receive Jack's message. He'd been thinking about him since they'd seen each other in the club. It was just general chit chat at first, then it moved into flirting. Once Jack had made his decision, he knew the next step was to ask him outright. He typed and deleted a message several times, before getting to a message he was happy with.

J: So you made me an off the other weekend. Is that offer still open?

M: the offer of hooking up?

J: Yeah

M: of course. I'm wide open for you.

Marcus knew how blatant he was being in his last message, but there was no point in wasting more time. They both knew they wanted it to happen.

J: Want to come over to mine one night?

M: How bout tonight? It's my night off.

It was sooner than Jack had expected. He'd suggested doing it in a few days so he had the opportunity to change his mind. But if he did that, then he'd keep going forward and backwards. The best option was to just do it.

J: Okay

He forwarded his address.

M: Great - free in an hour?

J: Sure - see you then.

Was he doing the right thing? He was about to find out. He considered calling Oscar to let him know what he was about to do but had second thoughts. If he told Oscar he was about to sleep with someone else, then that's all he'd be able to think about. He already had permission, so decided the best approach would be to call him afterwards.

An hour later there was a knock on his door. This was the moment he'd been wanting and dreading in equal amounts.

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Also looking for someone online was Danny. He didn't have any social media. Ocean had tried to talk him into it, but he'd never been interested in the past. But now he knew he had to. He opened himself a profile and uploaded a photo. He entered all his personal details and he was all set. He didn't have any friends on there yet, but that wasn't unusual, as he didn't have any on real in real life either.

He typed Ocean's name in the search bar. His boyfriend's face appeared straight away. There wasn't anybody else with the same name. He sent him a friend request.

It seemed slightly pointless creating the profile as he didn't have anyone else he wanted to connect with, although he hoped he would in time. He looked up a few friends from his old life, but didn't friend request them. He'd done everything he could to distance himself from them and didn't want them back in his life.

He looked at Ocean's profile again and found his friends list. He scrolled through them, going through name after name. He didn't recognize most of them. He had over six hundred friends. How could he know that many people?

Then he saw her.

Ali.

He'd wanted to see her again since the day she'd visited him at Ocean's apartment. He wasn't looming for anything to happen. He was with Ocean now and didn't want that to change. But Ali had offered out a hand of friendship when he'd me needed it most. As he was looming for more friends in his life, he figured she was the best place to start. She'd seen something in him even then, something that wasn't bad. She'd asked him for tone and space before moving forward with a friendship, but surely it wouldn't hurt to message her and open up the lines of communication.

He sent her a friend request and carried on scrolling down the list of names. He saw Jack. He didn't even contemplate sending a request to him. He knew they'd probably never be in that place.

He'd settle for two friends for a start.

Ocean accepted his friend request and posted something on his wall.

Hey baby. Fancy seeing you in cyberspace x

He checked Ali's page again, which still showed request as pending. He looked at the pictures she'd posted. She looked really happy. He was glad. She deserved it, especially after what he'd put her through.