Chapter 1 - Meeting

It was three in the morning for Keith, he was stuck laying in bed wide awake, waiting for the feeling of tiredness to wash over him, however, it hasn't in the past three hours of him being awake. No matter how much he tossed and turned, there was just no falling back asleep for him.

Instead of torturing himself by just laying in bed, he decided to get up out of bed and gets dressed into clothes that he commonly wears to go out. He got dressed in black skinny jeans, a black band t-shirt, a plain black jacket and to finish off the look, black combat boots on top of whatever socks he was wearing.

Heading out to the entrance of his apartment, he made sure he had his phone, wallet, keys and earbuds. Putting an earbud in and playing whatever song came up when he shuffled his playlist. He left his apartment and closed and locked the door behind him. Making his way out of the apartment complex he made the mile walk to the gas station. Yeah he could drive himself since he had a motorcycle and license, but it was just a mile walk, so he didn't want to essentially waste the gas.

Keith had made it to the gas station safely on foot after about ten minutes. He walked through the double doors to get inside the building and scanned the area quickly before locking onto what he had come here for. At the counter, there was an attractive man who greeted him as he walked in. Keith could feel the other man's eyes on him all the while he was browsing the isles of snacks and the wall of coolers with drinks in them. Picking up a couple energy drinks and a few snacks, he walked to the counter to check out all he had picked up.

"What brings you here at this time? Couldn't sleep?" The other man asked. He was tall, he was probably close to five foot ten inches in height. With the tank-top and shorts he was wearing, you could tell he worked out due to his somewhat muscular and very toned body. He had bronze skin and these beautiful, bright blue eyes.

"Yeah, couldn't sleep." Keith responded as he looked at the man's name tag. Lance. His name was Lance. Personally, Keith thought the name suited him. He watched as Lance scanned the items he had put onto the checkout counter. Lance gave him his total and Keith took his wallet out and inserted his card into the payment machine.

"Want your receipt?" He asked as he bagged Keith's items and double bagged it just to be on the safe side.

"Please." Keith answered, however, he was surprised when the other took the receipt and wrote something on it before handing it to Keith. Lance's note read: "Text me" and then his phone number written beneath it with a winky face. Keith blushed when he read it as he grabbed his bag and said his goodbye to the other. Keith began his walk back to his apartment with his snacks and drinks.

Hours had passed since he had been home and he still couldn't sleep, it was about seven in the morning, so, frustrated at not being able to sleep, he opened one of his energy drinks he bought and began drinking from it every so often while he worked on his writing. If he wasn't able to sleep, he might as well just stay up.

While working on his story, which is about a very depressing love story, he suddenly thought of the cashier at the gas station. Keith thought it was odd that he popped in his head, but he also knew that his mind loved to remember any attractive guy he met. Almost hesitantly, he pulled out his phone and the receipt and put the number into his phone as a contact.

"Hey, this is the guy from the gas station around three this morning." Keith typed out and sent the message to the number the man, Lance, had given him.

It didn't take too long for Keith to get a response, surprisingly. Moments later he got a text back saying: "Hey Cutie".

Keith blushed at the name the other called him, he wasn't expecting to be called that, especially by someone he barely knew. He typed back: "My name's Keith btw."

A message popped up seconds later: "Nice to meet you Keith, name's Lance".

"Nice to meet you too." Keith responded in a matter of seconds.

Lance seemed nice enough, a little bold if you asked Keith, but still nice.

"You're really cute btw" Keith blushed at the message from the other. He wasn't expecting Lance to be so forward. For some reason though, Keith enjoyed how forward he is because to Keith it seems like he's more honest in what he says.

"Oh, um, thanks. You too." Keith responded, a bright blush on his cheeks.

"Question tho, would you mind if I asked you out? It doesn't have to be a date, but just where we hang out and get to know each other." Lance messaged again, this message making Keith blush even brighter.

Nervously, Keith answered: "Sure, yeah. I would like that. What day works best for you?"

Another text popped up on Keith's screen: "Hmm. Today works for me or we can do tomorrow so you can try and get some sleep"

Typing back: "Yeah, today works. There's a coffee shop just down the road from your work if you wanna do that."

"Sounds great. Meet you there in an hour?" Lance typed back.

"Yeah, sounds good." Keith responded calmly, however, his mind was in a panic. He was going to a coffee shop with a guy he met just a few hours ago. He must be crazy for going through with this.

Somewhat hurriedly, he put on a pair of ripped skinny jeans, changes his socks into whatever pair he could find and then got into his black combat boots, put on a different black band shirt and slipped on his plain black jacket this time. Only this time he put on his black, leather gloves.

Once he finally was dressed, he realized about fifteen minutes had passed, so he had about 30 minutes before the earliest he should leave just so he could get a table for them. He sat back at his desk and closed his laptop and set it aside. So he could do some makeup. He wasn't going to do much, just primer, foundation, concealer, subtle eyeshadow, black eyeliner, and some black lipstick.

About twenty minutes had passed of him doing his makeup, trying to make sure he looked as good as possible. He wasn't really sure why, but he wanted Lance to like him.

He went into the bathroom of his apartment where his flat iron was and began working on his hair to make it fit his face shape better. Curling it inward in certain areas and outward in other areas. The last thing he did was brush his teeth. And with that, he was done and had five minutes to spare.

He gathered his things: phone, wallet, keys, earbuds. He once again made his way out of his apartment and locked the door behind him. Once again exiting the apartment complex to where his bike was parked. Getting on and starting it, he began to drive to the coffee shop that was about two miles from where he lives.

Finally, after seven or so minutes, he arrived and found a place to park nearby. He took his key out and put the leg stand down before getting off and walking into the coffee shop. He looked around and Lance hadn't arrived yet, so he took a seat at a table meant for two.