Josiah
Josiah’s head was spinning with too many emotions to differentiate. He was relieved to have Denny back, he was nervous about… something, he felt angry about not having known Denny was bisexual—not that Denny himself had known or it had changed anything, really—and he even felt a little bit of resentment, and hated himself for that.
But he had Denny back and maybe, sometime in the future, they’d go on a date. Which would be weird as fuck but it would also answer some questions, maybe?
Denny was right though, he needed to work on himself with this new therapist to learn how to live with himself. The thought made something in Josiah’s brain perk up.
“You know,” he said as they started to leave the office. “I think you should talk with your therapist about learning to exist with just yourself?”
Denny frowned slightly and glanced at him. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you’re rarely alone. I know you jumped into a relationship with Stacey because you were freaked out about the first divorce, right? And sure you didn’t immediately marry the next girl you met, but you did date a lot, didn’t you? Between Stacey and Kristin?”
Denny stopped in the hallway and spoke a bit louder over the noise coming from behind the swinging door.
“Yeah, I think you’re onto something with that. I guess I have issues with being alone. Thanks!” The statement and especially thanking Josiah in the end could’ve been sarcastic, but it sounded genuine and Denny smiled at him.
“What are friends for, right?” Josiah returned the smile and they went through the doors.
Drea had been the MC so far that night, but since Josiah felt better, he grabbed the Post-it she handed him and went to announce the next performer when the current set came to an end.
When he came back and a two-man Irish band took the stage, Denny was already sitting at the end of the bar with a pint of his favorite lager.
“Hey, can you move to the next one?” Josiah asked him.
“Oh, sure.” Denny moved to second stool and clearly thought Josiah wanted the first one for himself.
“I’m going behind the bar, I just want to keep this one open because we have a newbie who might come tonight,” Josiah explained as he went to pick up a couple of beers for regulars who were signaling at him.
Denny nodded and turned so he could lean his back against the bar as he watched the performers.
They were good, one of them had a violin and the other had a drum that looked like an authentic bodhran. The drummer was the singer, and they performed a few Irish classics for the crowd.
“It’s almost funny how happy some decent Irish music makes people in a pub,” Drea said, smiling at the duo.
“Yeah, and they’re good. Not just hobby musicians, I don’t think,” Denny said thoughtfully. “I mean, they could just be very talented.”
“One day, I want to go to Ireland and Scotland, travel up there and get the authentic experience,” Yolanda commented as she came to hand over a drink to a woman a couple of seats from Denny.
“I’ve never been either.” Denny glanced at Josiah, “You’ve been to England once, right?”
“Yeah. I started to work here and after I’d saved some money I went there for a week. This was about… thirteen years ago now?” He hummed. “Yeah, something like that. Jesus it’s been a long time.”
“Oh yeah. Well, if you ever want another vacation, let me know. I’m due one myself.”
“You’ve not been anywhere other than business trips since you and Kristin’s honeymoon.”
Denny grinned. “No. Maybe we should leave Sammie here and go together. She travels around the world all the time.”
“Hey, that’s work and you both know it,” Drea scolded them, but she was smiling a bit.
“True, true.”
“Who’s next?” Joshua asked Drea and leaned to see the notebook.
“Some girl doing button poetry, she has really cool green hair,” she murmured, looking around the bar. “There.” She nodded toward the girl.
“Okay, these guys will be done soon so do you want me to intro her?”
