A Friday Night Like This

We went out to dinner with Tony, Mike and Jaime to celebrate the ending of another tour and the start of a new one. We met at DiCaprios, an Italian restaurant, on Friday, a few days after the boys being home. Mike was sitting at the booth when Vic and I arrived, a beer already sitting on the table in front of him.

We sat across from him, Vic sliding into the dark red leather covered booth first. He leaned against the back of the seat, finding only thin padding between him and the wood. He adjusted himself so that he was comfortable before wrapping his arm around my waist. I blushed, and looked down at my plate.

I was unused to having more intimate moments in public, and I could feel the gaze of our waitress, who had very conveniently just arrived, lingering on my side. To be more specific, where Vic was holding me. I took a quick look at the menu before deciding on a drink. I then passed it to Vic.

'Hello, is there anything I can get you?' The girl asked. She was easily in her early twenties. Even possibly nineteen. Her eyes flicked around nervously. She was new to the job, that much was obvious. I smiled up at her reassuringly.

'A coke, please.' I answered. 'Vic?'

'Same. Thank you.' Vic said to her.

She turned to Mike. 'Can I get you another beer, perhaps?'

'No, thank you. I'm good for now.' Mike replied, checking the level of his drink. A few minutes passed, with the waitress coming back with our cokes. Mike started rattling on about how he was going to need a new cymbal because he had somehow broken his on tour. Vic listened, nodding his head at appropriate moments. When Mike finished talking, I voiced a question that had probably been weighing on all our minds.

'So, where's Tony and Jaime?' Mike looked down at his beer, signaling for the waitress to get him another one.

'You see... They have had a "thing" for quite a while now. Tony fessed up the day we got back. Jaime didn't like us being fuck buddies when he knew that Tony liked him so...' Mike accepted the new beer and took a swig. 'I'm cool with it though. I just wish Tone hadn't led me on.'

'Mike, that's not cool.' I said, trying to comfort him.

'Yeah, he's using you! Jaime doesn't like him anyway.' Vic added. 'Hime doesn't like any of us in that way.'

'He got to Vic, and now he's getting to Tone. You have to make Tony see sense before it breaks up whatever you two have going on.'

'Nothing's "going on", really. I mean, when the band split, we realised how much we really meant to each other. You know how it goes. Date, ask out, and so on and so forth. We've been on-and-off dating for the past few years.' Mike confirmed.

The waitress came back to take our orders, efficiently cutting off that conversation.

'Is there anything I can get you to eat?' She asked, smiling at Mike. She had obviously zeroed in on him due to the fact that Vic and I's hands were clasped and the restaurant was almost empty, leaving him to be the only available-looking, age appropriate guy.

Vic ordered first, with a small "Aussie" pizza heading our way along with a meat lovers pizza for Mike and some type of pasta with carbonara sauce for me.

'Isn't that cool?' Vic asked excitedly as our food arrived. He pointed to his meal, which smelt extremely appetizing. A layer of tomato paste, ham, cheese and some other things that I didn't quite recognise. There was something white and brown-pink cubes.

'Egg and bacon on a pizza! Australians sure know how to prepare their food.' Vic dived in, enjoying his meal. I ate mine at a slower pace, Mike leaving his almost untouched. About halfway through our meal, two other people walked into the restaurant. We didn't take much notice of them until they stopped by at our table.

'Why didn't you leave room for us?' Tony asked, motioning with his free hand for Mike to squidgy over. Tony's other hand was busy clutching Jaime's. Mike begrudgingly did as he was asked.

'Or wait for us to arrive to order?' Jaime added. Mike pushed his meal in front of them.

'I'm not hungry.'

'Thanks.' Tony said, picking up a slice and biting into it.

'I thought you were a vegetarian.' I said, confused.

'Well, not now. It's hard to keep it up all the time. Especially while touring. And as much as I hate to admit it, I love meat.' Tony said, delicately taking another bite and slowly chewing.

When we had all finished our meals and we had paid, Vic stormed off, grabbing Tony as he slid out of his place in the booth. He made a beeline for the men's room. I went up and paid, before turning to Jaime to receive his share of the payment.

Jaime and Tony left once Vic and Tony came back from where Vic presumable chewed Tony's ear off. That, partnered with Tony's cowed look, only confirmed what Vic had probably said to him. Mike left soon after and Vic drove us home.

'You know how you wrote me a song?' I asked as we were on our way.

'Yeah.'

'Could you perform it for me tonight?'

Vic stopped at the red light and turned to me. He opened his mouth and I cut him off.

'It's okay if it isn't finished.'

'Tomorrow.' Vic decided. 'Not a moment before.'

We got home and crawled into bed, Vic falling asleep almost instantly. I didn't have any work tomorrow, for which I was glad.

Notes

Title cred: In The First Place - Tonight Alive

"Squidgy" is a perfectly acceptable word. I use it all the time. No, I am not referring to the OM&M mascot. Another variation is "squidge".

And my great idea will be in the next chapter #sorrynotsorrybecauseitiswothwaitingfor ;)