Chapter 4

The next day Ash showed up 2 hours late at the coffee shop. He ordered his usual but didn't take Dan's order because Dan is a punctual person and had his coffee earlier. Jason was at the counter and he gave him that funny 'i know your secret' look . Ash silently rolled his eyes and went for the booth. He pulled out his phone and took a few pics of his tattoo and tried it with different filters. A few minutes later his coffee was put in front of him and he looked up. It was Jaryd.

"You're late" Jaryd said with a worried look on his face.

"Couldn't sleep last night". Ash blushed. "I kept thinking about our kiss all night".

Jaryd beamed at that and sat next to Ash." Was it that good? " He said with a smirk.

Ash nodded then looked around. " Are you allowed to sit with customers? "

"Relax, there's no boss around here" Jaryd chuckled. " We split the work equally. What were you doing before i came?"

"Getting a good picture of my tattoo for insta" Ash smiled and showed him the pics he took.

"You really like it, Don't you?" Jaryd said proudly.

"I love it" Ash nodded.

Then his phone chimed and they looked at the notification. 'Text message from ORV : missed you earlier today '

Jaryd frowned. "Who the heck is that?"

Ash had this amused smirk on his face. "It's just Dan. What, are you jealous or something?"

"Oh... What does ORV mean? " Jaryd scratched the back of his neck while his face went red with embarrassment.

"It's an inside joke. I always save people's contacts as inside jokes" Ash explained.

"Ok tell me the joke then" Jaryd looked curious.

"Dan is almost always all knowing about everything and everyone so i call him omniscient. Like the protagonist of a light novel I'm reading " Ash rambled.

"What about me then? " Jaryd asked excitedly

"Ryan Rose"

" Please elaborate"

" Ryan specifically because you kinda look like the Drummer from my favorite band" Ash explained.

" And Rose because of the tattoo and it's funny because it reminds you of Ryan Ross from Panic! At the disco" Jaryd continued.

"I knew you'd get it" Ash nodded .

"Ok what about Jason?" Rain pointed at Jason who walked by them.

"Gandalf" Ash shrugged. "Why? Is it the white hair? I haven't seen the Hobbit"

"Because he waltzed into my life and shoved himself & co into my life. Like what Gandalf did to Bilbo" Ash explained.

Jaryd chuckled. " Jason tends to do that to everyone. What about Zain?"

"I didn't get his number but I'll save it as Stoick the Vast" Ash said .

"I don't get it"

" There's no joke here. He is just stoic and vast" Ash shrugged.

It took Jaryd a second but he snorted eventually.

"Come closer" Ash told Jaryd and Jaryd obliged happily. Ash took a pic of them together and they looked at it. "Nice. What's your @?" Ash asked.

"@jaryd_not_jared"

" I'm @dying_to_dye. I'll tag you"

Jaryd's phone chimed and he got 2 notifications. One of the tag and the other for the follow. He tapped on the follow button.

"You play the drums?" Ash asked while scrolling through Jaryd's account. "That is so hot. They say drummers hit it harder" Ash wiggled his eyebrows.

Jaryd turned red at that but to his luck Zain showed up from behind them. "Jaryd enough flirting with your boyfriend and get back to work. We're getting swamped in here".

"Saved by the bell" Ash said smugly and Jaryd slowly walked away. Then Ash realized what he just said, got up and left the coffee shop. The cringe was eating him alive. Then he got a text from Dan.

= I take it you spent a lot of time with your boy toy .

- Do you like, have a spy cam that flies behind me at all time?

= I just know you too well

= I also know you attempted to flirt and it somehow backfired and you want to disappear for 10 years

- oh my god! if you ever had the feeling I'll attempt to flirt call me immediately

= Wow. You always emphasize on to never call if it's not an emergency. And you're requesting calls now?

- keeping the remains of my dignity is considered an emergency!

= Honestly i saw the post on Instagram and compared the tones between the caption on it and how you texted me back and i figured you somehow blew it

- alright, Sherlock. Fuck off i gotta clean up now.

= I love you too, Rainbow Dash.

- me being gay does not mean you get to call me that!

- also I'm more of a Flutter Shy

= I regret that reference. You brony weirdo.

Ash cackled at that. Dan always managed to switch his mood. So Ash put some good music and got to work. Later he realized he got three texts. One from Dan saying "heads up: we're going out tonight" and two from an unknown number .

> You free tonight?

> It's Zain btw

- hi Zain. I'm getting the feeling that i won't be free anymore

> It's open mic night at the local bar

- so?

> We want to play some songs and thought you can be our lead singer

- Where'd you get the idea that i can sing?

> Jason showed us a video of you in a karaoke place.

"Fuck" Ash cursed.

> I gotta say i did not understand a word from the song you were singing but you sounded good

- it was a Japanese song and i think Centimillimental (the band) would be proud of me

> Anyway are all the song you know otaku based?

Ash debated lying himself out of this situation but Dan texted him again.

= I'm going to the open mic night with the coffee shop trio. You should come too. It'll be nice

- why would i go?

= to impress Jaryd with your voice. Duh

Ash fiddled with the idea in his brain. Maybe it won't be so bad. He texted Zain again.

- my range is wide. What do y'all have in mind?

> You know any p!atd or fob songs?

- fob is my jam.

> Great. We'll see you there.

Ash switched chats back to Dan's.

- I'm gonna regret this

= No. you're gonna make the most of it

- but I'll regret the rest of it

=Quit being dramatic

- but being dramatic is my only personality trait

= Asher i swear

- ok ok god damn