Meant to Be Chapter 1

Chapter One: Same Old Same Old

Nate Laird hung up his jacket on the rickety wall hook and replaced it with an apron around his waist. He bent his knee a few times, trying to loosen it up; a small car accident the previous year meant he had to have surgery on it and it was always worse in the colder weather. Running his hands through his shaggy red hair - a habit he had never been able to kick - he took a deep breath before pushing through the swinging wooden doors that lead to the main area of the coffee shop. He had worked there almost four months now and yet the strong aroma of the coffee beans still made his stomach churn and his nose curl up.

At six foot three he stood head and shoulders above the rest of the employees - young school girls who worked now and then for pocket money; Nate was 24 and had just finished university, where he studied economics. He had literally spent the last three years of his life in constant boredom, dreaming of the day he would finish and be set free from the confines of economy and money-talk. The only other person not in school was the manager, Lily, and she walked up to him now with a smile plastered on her face, an expression she almost always wore when Nate was around. She was only 2 years older than him and yet somehow had an older air about her, like she was a middle aged woman stuck in a spunky young lady's body.

"Hey, Natey!" Nate cringed at the nickname but Lily continued, oblivious, "You do know you're not due in until the late shift, right?" She saw Nate's expression darken as he realised his mistake but remained chipper, "Don't worry about it! You can do this one instead. I'll get Katie to do the late one, she won't mind."

That was one good thing about Lily, she wasn't some evil boss who kept her employees under constant fear of being fired. She was caring, sometimes a little too caring where Nate was involved, but caring nonetheless. He returned her smile and scratched the back of his head absently,

"Thanks, Lily. Sorry."

"No problem! You can make it up to me at dinner tonight!" She slipped the suggestion in like a wet noodle but Nate was having none of it. He started to turn and mumbled over his shoulder,

"Can't tonight, I'm washing my cat." He was lying of course. Cats didn't enjoy being washed. He didn't even have a cat.

The morning continued as usual; customers came and went, some complaining about the temperature of their beverage or the lack of gluten-free muffins, a pretty uneventful day. At around two-thirty, Nate looked up from behind the counter to see his own face staring back at him, green eyes and all. Well, his own face with slightly less stubble and a small mole beneath the right eye. His twin brother, Simon was standing with his hands leaning on the counter, a huge grin spread across his dorky face,

"What up, lil' bro!" he attempted to fist-bump Nate but the younger sibling simply stared him down,

"Please never say that again."

"Noted," Simon dropped his fist and stood up straight. He was exactly the same height as Nate and had the same crop of shaggy carrot-top, although his was usually coiffed a little better. The grey suit he wore made him look older, however, and somewhat serious, although Nate knew better.

"What brings you to our fine establishment?" Nate asked as he rubbed a glass with a small towel.

"The promise of caffeine and lots of e-numbers," Simon grinned widely.

"Mhmm..." Nate looked over his brother's shoulder, searching, "Where's Kyle?"

"He's parking the car, won't be a minute."

Kyle and Simon had known one another since high school and had been 'secretly' dating for years until they'd finally admitted it. Of course, Simon was as good at keeping secrets as he was at ballet and so Nate had known pretty much immediately. He was totally fine with it though, if Simon was in love then that was all there was to it, right? Too bad his father hadn't seen it that way. Both Simon and Nate had left home pretty soon after Simon came out to their parents, the older one sporting a lovely black eye and broken rib. They were doing fine now though, and Nate had never seen two people so besotted with one another. He was kind of jealous.

"Hey, Nate," Kyle seemed to pop up out of nowhere and was welcomed by Simon with a soft kiss on the cheek. Nate smiled warmly at their affection but felt the urge to clean the glass he was holding with a little more concentration.

Kyle was a good few inches shorter than Simon but they didn't look odd; he had short, thick mousy-brown hair, a scattering of freckles across his cheeks and almost always wore his thick-framed glasses over his hazel eyes. The only thing that was a stark difference between the two was the fact that Kyle almost always had a scruffy t-shirt on, smeared with various shades of paint. He was a freelance artist and never seemed to have enough time to change, or perhaps he was making some sort of fashion statement, Nate didn't know. Either way, he always managed to look somewhat 'cool'.

"So, what'll it be, Si? You're kind of holding up the queue." Nate put down the glass and motioned for his twin to hurry up and order something. The woman behind the couple was looking more and more agitated and when she saw Simon and Kyle holding hands Nate thought she might spontaneously combust.

Simon seemed to be shaken from a daze as he looked up at the menu, "Hmm..." he grinned as he rubbed his chin quizzically, knowing he was pissing off both his brother and the woman behind, "What's today's special, my good man?" he asked in a posh accent, making Kyle chuckle and Nate bite the inside of his cheek to prevent the smile that wanted to present itself.

"We don't have one. Choose already."

"Then I will haaaave..." Simon dragged out the word and snuck a glance over his shoulder at the irate woman before finally deciding, "A coffee. Black. To go."

"Make that two," Kyle gave Nate a thumbs-up and both he and Simon moved aside so that the woman behind could order.

As she waited for her skinny vanilla latte with skimmed milk, Simon and Kyle studied her closely. They weren't what you would call 'stereotypical' gay men who enjoyed fashion and fine wine, they were pretty much your everyday guys. However, when some poor unfortunate passerby was in their sights, they could put on 'bitchy' like a new pair of underwear.

The woman waiting for her latte was in her late thirties and seemed to have been poured into her pencil skirt and blouse and her tight high-heels were doing nothing for her cankles. She kept glancing over at the couple with a disgusted look and clicked her tongue loudly when Kyle interlaced his fingers with Simon's. This didn't go unnoticed.

Simon leaned into Kyle's ear and whispered, "She looks like a sausage."

Kyle started, "What?"

"You know, when they're shoved into their skin with those machines." He made a gesture with his hands like his finger was going into a tunnel - a very good example of sausage meat going into the skin if he did say so himself - and was caught by said sausage herself. Kyle flushed beetroot, knowing that the gesture looked in no way innocent and Simon's bellowing laugh echoed through the shop.

"Well I never!" Sausage-woman snatched her latte from an oblivious Nate and marched out of the coffee shop, her heels clip-clopping angrily.

Nate looked over at his brother, eyebrows raised, "What did you do?"

Simon raised his hands in mock innocence, "Nothing, your honour, I swear!"

"You know, for a lawyer, you're not very good at lying," Nate grinned and handed them their drinks.

"You still coming over tonight, bro? Kyle's burning lasagne," Simon asked as Kyle pouted slightly.

"Nothing else to do," Nate shrugged.

"Don't sound too enthusiastic, Jesus Christ."

"Hey," Kyle elbowed his lover in the ribs, "He said he's coming, be nice."

Simon rolled his eyes and nodded his head towards where Lily was standing, cleaning up a table, "You can bring someone along if you want to."

Nate's eyes followed his brother's gesture and he shook his head firmly, "No. Nope. Thank you."

"Shame," Simon sighed, "You'd make a cute couple."

"Okay, we're going now," Kyle shoved Simon towards the door and saved the younger twin from any more torture. Nate watched them leave, a big smile painted on his face.

"Did I hear someone say 'lasagne'?" Nate almost dropped the bottle of milk he was holding when Lily appeared behind him. She seemed to teleport rather than walk around, "That's my favourite!"

"Uh, yeah," Nate tried to shrug off the question but the woman was practically gnawing at his arm for more information. With a deep sigh the redhead explained that he was going to his brother's later on.

Lily wasn't satisfied, she continued with even more vigour, "I've never properly met your brother! Is he nice? He must be handsome if he looks like you! What's his partner's name? Is he cute too?"

She was not shutting up. Nate excused himself and said he was going for a cigarette break before quickly darting out the back. He flicked on his lighter and inhaled the sweet smoke deeply. Yet another habit he had failed to kick.

After almost five minutes, Nate's cigarette was long gone and he was starting to shiver from the autumn breeze. It was only late August but the wind was already biting and a coat was necessary if going outside. He turned to go back inside and face the ever-interested Lily but a small cough from further down the alleyway stopped him in his stride. He stepped into the alley and peered towards where the sound had come from before calling out,

"Is someone there?" He immediately regretted shouting out like the stupid protagonist in a horror movie and almost went back inside before another cough echoed down the passage. Nate gritted his teeth and walked up to a doorway, opposite the coffee shop; the light above it was flickering and Nate could just make out the outline of someone crouched down on the steps beneath it.

It was a guy. He looked like a teenager; his blonde hair was matted and there was a fresh cut on his cheek that hadn't been treated. He looked thin and, when he turned to look at Nate, his blue eyes looked as though he hadn't stopped crying in days. Nate crouched down beside him, ignoring the sharp pain in his knee, and pushed his own red hair away from his face before speaking quietly, as if to a stray dog,

"Are you okay? Do you need some help?" No response. The boy simply stared at Nate, blue eyes wide and scared. Nate bit his lip, trying to decide if he should call for someone or maybe even just walk away, he wasn't his problem after all. Something about the boy made his decision for him, though, and he held out his hand tentatively, "You look hungry, shall we get you some food?" The boy shied away from Nate's hand but he nodded,

"Food would be nice."

Nate relaxed a little and gestured over his shoulder towards the coffee shop, "I'm sure we can find you something in there, come on."

When the boy didn't move Nate didn't know what to do next. Did he bring something out to him? A muffin wasn't exactly going to help his situation. He pushed back his hair again and stood up,

"Come on inside, I can get you something."

The boy shook his head, making his blonde locks shake from side to side, "I can't- Too many people..." he was shivering now, all thoughts of food replaced by an indescribable fear of being within a crowd.

Nate bit down harder on his lip, "You're cold right?" He wasn't usually one for making such rash decisions but something else seemed to be controlling his body for him. He jogged backwards a little and shouted back to the boy, "Wait here, I'll be right back."

Within a minute Nate had replaced his apron with his coat and had told Lily that there was a family emergency he had to take care of. He exited the coffee shop and practically sprinted around the back to get his car, praying that it would start this time. He pulled up at the end of the alleyway two minutes later and stepped out of the car, leaving the engine running. No time to think about what the hell he was doing or why he was doing it.

"Come on," he held out his hand to the young homeless boy and was met with a terrified gaze, one he'd only seen on rabbits before they'd darted off the road at night.

The boy pulled his knees closer to his chest and frowned suspiciously, "What? Where? I'm not going back there!"

Surprised at his sudden outburst, Nate backed off a little, "Where? I'm not going to take you anywhere... Well, I am going to take you back to my place but not anywhere, you know, scary."

Blue eyes looked up from under a hood and for the first time, Nate saw his face in the light. He was no more than nineteen, maybe even younger, and the blue of his eyes was like the sky in summer. An old scar marked his angular chin and almost touched his full lips. He was pale, too pale, and dark circles under his eyes confirmed that he hadn't slept in days. Overall Nate thought that he would be a very handsome guy when he got cleaned up.

"It's safe, I promise. I'm Nate." Nate smiled warmly and something inside the boy seemed to melt. He got to his feet and stared at the ground as he spoke,

"Alex. Thank you."