Saturday, evening

After baking cupcakes, agreeing on a date and watching a movie together, Frey and Jenna had said their goodbye's-with a kiss-and agreed to meet after Frey's shift in the club had ended.

But Frey hadn't thought about Daniel, and the fact he too was thinking about their kiss and the meaning behind it.

Or the fact they had a five-hour shift behind the same bar together, and they would constantly be in the same couple of square meters.

And after five minutes, tension was already rising, and Frey didn't know how to handle things. Mostly since Jenna stayed close and kept sending him smiles.

He wanted to make her smile, laugh-hear that laugh.

But in the same time, Daniel was constantly sending him small smiles too, and they kept bumping into each other, touching each other in little meaningless ways, that still had their effects on Frey.

He couldn't stand being apart from Daniel for too long but being close to him was unbearable in the same time.

He had asked Jenna on a date, while he knew he wanted to explore his feelings for Daniel too.

What had he gotten himself into?

It was a mess, and someone was bound to get hurt if he wouldn't stop either of it.

He either had to let Daniel off easily, or he had to cancel his date with Jenna. But he didn't want to ditch Jenna, nor did he want to turn down Daniel.

For once, he wanted to be a decent person, dating, not using others for his own pleasure, and faith just had to mess with him and throw two people at him at once.

And to top it all, Frey had to stay sober during his shift, and it was plain simple a hell.

Daniel probably wasn't even aware if the fact he was driving Frey crazy. With all his little jokes, his smile. That damned smile of his.

That made his eyes sparkle even more than they already did.

Frey had forced himself to keep talking to Jenna, to keep looking at her.

But Daniel and him were doing their weekly dance, where they didn't really have time to talk to people, rushing to get everyone their orders as soon as possible, while Lacy was taking care of most of the cocktails that got ordered.

But Frey noticed little things, like how Daniel and he kept brushing their hands against the other's when grabbing things, or how they handed each other things and every god damn time their fingers would touch.

Or how-it only happened once but Frey got hot and bothered because of it-Frey had been in front of the register, and Daniel stood behind him to reach for a bottle of liquor that was on a shelve above Frey, and Frey wanted to freeze time and stay there, with Daniel so close he could smell his scent-a musky, yet fruity scent-while Frey's back was against his chest.

He was at a loss about his own feelings, and it frustrated him to no end. So, his mind wasn't able to make up its own damn mind and decide whether he was depressed or hyperactive, and his heart was now thorn between a boy and a girl? Could anything in his body stop acting two-sided?

He needed a break, and so he told someone to take over his spot, and left the club to sit in the back, with a cold coke and a wet towel pressed against his face to cool down a bit.

He needed the world to stop. But not because he wanted to get off, but because he wanted a pause to overthink everything, before he could continue.

He knew it was progress, he was crawling out of his depressed faze again.

But now he was too confused to enjoy.

"Tired?" Daniel's voice made him jump in his seat. The seat.

The one where they had kissed.

And Daniel sat down next to him again, and blandly took his coke to take a sip, before handing it back to Frey.

"So..." Daniel drawled when Frey didn't answer.

"So..." Frey repeated, not having a single clue on how to behave in that moment.

"Jenna's ecstatic."

"Jenna's what?"

"The date. She's really... happy." Daniel told him, not sounding very pleased with it. Jenna had told him about their date? Well, that was awkward.

"Oh."

"Do you regret it?" Daniel asked after a moment of awkward silence had passed and Frey had been fiddling with his can of coke nervously. He had nothing to say.

"Regret what?" Frey frowned. Did he mean asking Jenna out?

"Our kiss. You, kissing me..." Daniel's face flushed in embarrassment.

"Well... no." Frey shrugged, then swallowed, trying to get rid of the nerves that were building up inside him.

"Did you... like it?"

He swallowed again, opening his mouth to speak, but closing it again because there were no sounds coming out.

"I... liked it." Daniel whispered, while they both did everything they could do to not look at each other. "And then Jenna said you asked her out."

"I... I-"

"Are you going to hurt her feelings? Or mine?"

Frey took in a sharp breath and took a sip to have something to do. Anything to delay his answer. He wasn't intending to. He just had no idea what was going on in his heart and mind lately.

Daniel sighed, groaned, and leaned against the back of the sofa, covering his face. "I'm so stupid..."

"Stupid?" Frey squeaked, silently cursing himself for losing the ability to speak confidently.

"I fell for it, didn't I?" He laughed bitterly. "I allowed you to kiss me, I fell for it... I thought there was something between us. Even you claimed to feel it. That click we had? You faked all of it, didn't you?"

"What!? Wait!" Frey grabbed hold of Daniel's wrist, pulling one hand away from his face, forcing Daniel to look at him. "I didn't lie, or make things up... I... I really felt it, I feel it. I'm just... I'm so confused. Because I like you, and I like Jenna... and I never liked anyone before so why do I like two people at once now?"

He should stop ranting now.

Daniel blinked a couple of times, before he sat up straighter again. "You like me?"

"Yeah..." Did Daniel really not listen to the rest of his ranting?

"But... you asked Jenna out..."

"Because I like her too and I just don't know what to do... so I figured I'd get to know both better and... well... see what happens?"

"And of course, you give her the first chance... because she's a girl."

"I don't want to be a jerk, dating two people at once..."

"You kissed me first, didn't you?"

"Well... yeah."

"Then date me first."

Frey choked on his breath, wondering if he heard things correctly.

"Go out with me." Daniel pushed the matter even further, and Frey was frantically searching his mind to come up with a decent answer.

"But... what about Jenna?" What about Jenna? Was that all he could come up with?

"Explain her the same as you did to me. She'll understand... I mean... I think she will."

"And then what?"

"You go out with both of us."

Frey hadn't given Daniel an answer. Not exactly, anyway.

He had shaken and nodded his head in the same time, squeaking an incohesive answer, scrambling up to tell Daniel they needed to get back to work again.

Frey, however, couldn't stop thinking about his date with Jenna, or Daniel's suggestion to go on a date with him.

For once, Frey wanted to things right. He didn't want to hurt Jenna or Daniel and he didn't want to date two people at once either.

But while his mind told him to take to familiar route and go with Jenna, his body was telling him different; Daniel's touches made him go crazy.

Even if said touching didn't really mean anything.

Even though Frey was highly aware him and Daniel made a lot more physical contact than he previously realised.

Which, in its turn, made Frey wonder if Daniel was provoking him; mostly because Daniel kept sending him certain looks that suggested he was deliberately touching Frey as much as possible.

And suddenly the kind, polite and innocent Daniel, didn't seem as innocent at all. In the contrary, Daniel seemed to be flirting with him shamelessly.

Right in front of Jenna, who was starting to frown more each minute, since she too noticed that Frey was getting restless and jumpy. Even Lacy was now sending the two boys weird looks, and eventually-when the people in the club started drinking in a less fast pace and they had more time-Jenna had pulled Daniel aside and Frey was freaking out while they were talking in a secretive way.

"What is happening?" Lacy pulled Frey away from the two, sending him a displeased look. "What's going on between you and Daniel?"

"No-nothing..." Frey stammered back, pretending to be very busy with cleaning glasses. She didn't buy it.

"Didn't I tell you to stay away from my friends? You're lucky Jenna is just a kind person that didn't want to push you over the edge. But if you hurt Daniel in any possible way, I will kill you. Got it?"

"Jeez, Lacy." Frey rolled his eyes, now turning to face her since he might not be good in pretending there wasn't anything going on; he was good at picking fights. "Daniel is old enough to take care of himself. He doesn't need his personal pit bull to defend him. So, please, back off."

"This isn't just about Daniel, you know." Lacy continued while ignoring his words. "You asked Jenna out on a date, and I will personally rip your dick off if you use her like you did with Michelle."

"Well, Pitbull Lacy, first of all, Michelle knows more about me than you do-"

"She doesn't."

"and second of all, I asked Jenna out on a date with a reason... What do you mean, she doesn't?" Frey stared at her confused. "You don't even know what I mean..."

"I know you're depressed."

"I'm not depressed." Frey grumbled, cursing Michelle for spilling the things he told her-when drunk-to none other than Lacy. And probably Jenna and Daniel too.

"Well, you depress me." Lacy rolled her eyes and Frey stared daggers at her. "Go take your whole 'boohoo-my-life-is-so-shitty-while-it's-actually-not act' somewhere else and stop messing with my friends. Daniel and Jenna both dated enough dickheads to last a lifetime. They both deserve more than you."

"The sad fact is that you don't get to decide who I like, and who they like. So go take your 'boohoo-nobody-likes-me jealousy and stop getting into my business."

He-for a second-wanted to add a warning to stop it if she wanted to keep her job. But somewhere in the last couple of days, his mind and heart had at least agreed on one thing; stop being a jerk.

So, he didn't.

And that in itself was a big improvement to Frey.

Maybe he needed the trick they tried to pull-and ruined themselves-as a wake-up call. He was going to be eighteen soon, and he really needed to grow up and start getting his life in order.

He couldn't keep going on like this for the rest of his life.

He didn't even want to in that moment. He felt too good to let himself ruin his life by drinking and using people.

He liked making new friends, even if said friends were Jenna and an eight-year-old girl called Hannah.

He liked making them smile, instead of cry.

He couldn't even really explain why he had done it to so many others, for so long. And somewhere inside him, Frey knew he wasn't always in control over his feelings. But for that part he was getting help. And maybe with the right help, he could stop being a jerk, and start being a friend.

A likeable version of himself.

A version that had managed to ask Jenna-of all people-out on a date successfully.

The version that didn't want to hurt her with his feelings for Daniel. Or vice versa; he didn't want to hurt Daniel with his feelings for Jenna either.

He really needed to find a way to figure out his own feelings, without hurting anyone in the process.

And then maybe, Daniel's idea wasn't as bad as he initially thought.

Maybe going on a date with both would help getting rid of some of the conflicts between his mind and heart.

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