20 – Yannick’s Mistake (2)

 

Sebastian drove over to Jake’s house, to pick up Jake and Axel. They went straight to the bar, to celebrate Sebastian’s use of his leg.

“You sure you don’t need my help?” Axel asked, after they got out of the car, and walked towards the entrance.

Sebastian still had a slight limp, and would have loved the excuse to lean on Axel. But he shook his head. “I’ll be fine.”

Axel held the door open for him and Jake, and the three stepped inside. The lighting was dim, and several people sat at various tables. The bar itself had plenty of empty seats.

“Where do you guys wanna sit?” Axel asked. “I have no preference.”

Which would be easier on his leg? The bar stools were up higher. But the tables would be harder to get in and out of. “The bar might be easier for me.”

“It’s fine with me,” Jake said.

Two men sat together towards the middle of the bar. Sebastian left an empty stool between them and his group. Axel sat next to him, and Jake sat on the other side of Axel.

The bartender took their orders, and handed them their drinks. Beers for Sebastian and Axel, a water for under-aged Jake. The brown-haired man next to Sebastian sniffled as he rambled on to his blond friend in a harsh-sounding foreign language.

Sebastian glanced over at the strangers, who looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t figure out why. They also had several bottles of beers in front of them.

The blond man said something back. The man buried his face in his hands, and let out a groan that caught Axel and Jake’s attention as well.

Axel gave them a friendly nod. “Hey Karl, Yannick.”

The blond returned his greeting, while the brown-haired man barely glanced up.

“Yannick?” Jake leaned toward the brown-haired man, and smiled. “How are you?”

“Bad!” Yannick said with the brute honesty of someone who had had one too many drinks. “Very, very bad.”

“What happened?” Axel asked.

“I have something stupid make.”

“You shouldn’t use the word-”

Axel elbowed Jake in the side. “I’m sorry. Do you want to talk about it?”

Yannick responded with a long string of what sounded like gibberish to Sebastian. Axel politely nodded as if he understood, but his expression said otherwise.

“Basically, he kissed his crush and his crush didn’t kiss back,” Karl said in some sort of European accent. Sebastian couldn’t pinpoint where.

“I know not, why I did.” Yannick sniffled again. “It feeled right. But it was wrong. All wrong!”

“That’s why you should ask for consent before kissing someone,” Jake said.

Sebastian, Axel, and Karl stared at Jake. Yannick did too, but he looked more confused than offended.

Jake shrugged at everyone as he picked up his glass. “What?”

“Later,” Axel said, then turned to Yannick. “Is the woman who I think she is?”

“Lady Callahan, yes.”

Sebastian nearly spat out his beer. “What!” He turned to face Yannick. “You kissed Stellaluna?!”

“It was stupid, I know.” Yannick studied Sebastian. “You are the mayor’s son. I have you seen. At the mansion.”

That’s where Sebastian had seen the two men. They were servants there. “Yeah.”

“Please say to nobody this.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t tell anyone,” Karl said.

“I wasn’t going to.” Sebastian just couldn’t believe someone would have the nerve to kiss Stellaluna. Especially a servant!

“Isn’t she your boss’s wife?” There was a hint of judgment in Jake’s tone that Sebastian found rather unnecessary. Axel even glared at him.

“Yes. I know! It was stupid. So stupid.” Yannick spoke more lines of his language. And more lines. And more lines.

Sebastian, Axel, and Jake stared at him as he babbled on.

Karl jumped in to translate. “They were good friends, and he ruined that. Now, she’ll never want to speak to him again. There was no reason for him to have kissed her. She’s married, and rich, and he has nothing to offer her. He was lucky to have her friendship. He should have been satisfied by it. But no, he had to act on his urges. And now she hates him.”

“Jesus,” Jake muttered.

“It’s not as bad as he says,” Karl said. “She never said she hates him.”

“But she must!” Yannick cried.

“You never gave her a chance to say anything. You just, ran away, leaving her confused!”

“She hate me…” Yannick took a long swig of his beer. “I would quit, but I need the money. I want to call in sick. But I want my sick time not use. But I can her never again see. It is for me embarrassing…”

“It was brave of you,” Sebastian said, startling everyone.

“Thank you. But… I feel not brave.”

“It is. I’d never be able to work up the courage to kiss my crush.”

“You have a crush?” The corner of Axel’s mouth twitched upwards. “Who’s it on?”

“Nobody!” Sebastian focused on his beer bottle, hoping the dim lighting concealed the pink in his face. “But if I did, I wouldn’t be able to.”

“You look and sound like somebody harboring a secret crush,” Jake observed.

“Well I’m not,” Sebastian snapped back. “I was speaking hypothetically.” Desperate to take the subject off himself, he returned to Yannick. “How do you know for sure she hates you?”

“She kissed me not back. She… She…” Yannick frowned, gripping his hair in frustration. “I know not the words!”

“She froze up on him,” Karl said. “Like he had terrified her.”

“Or shock,” Axel said. “Did she say anything?”

“He ran away before she could.”

“You ran away?” Jake’s incredulous voice was laced with disgust. “You kissed her randomly, and don’t even stick around long enough to hear what she had to say about it?”

Karl translated to Yannick. Yannick hung his head.

“So, you don’t even know for sure she hates you,” Axel said. “You probably confused her. You should apologize.”

“I can never again her see.”

“She’ll miss you. At least try talking to her one last time. Maybe she does like you and was just surprised.”

Yannick sat silently for a moment, then nodded. “I will about it think.” He downed the remains of his beer, and put the bottle down. “I need more beer.”

“You’ve had enough beer,” Karl said, and waved the bartender over for the check.

“Poor Yannick,” Axel said, after the two men had left. “So… Have you all heard about Clark Black?”

“My dad hates him,” Sebastian said. “But I can’t wait to vote for him. Can you imagine? Not being blacklisted?”

“By the time he’d do that, I’d already be past my 8 years.” Axel sighed. “But not having to worry about that happening again?”

With a jolt, Sebastian realized it would be the same case for him. Just one more year, and then he could apply for jobs and housing without anyone seeing that. Not like they wouldn’t know already, based off his name. But still. His chances would be greater. “I could get a job and move out.”

“Why can’t you get one now?” Jake asked. “Axel got one.”

“It wasn’t easy,” Axel said. “I got lucky my boss doesn’t care. But a lot do. They think it’s bad for business.”

Sebastian nodded along, but Jake stared at him.

“You’ve lived here long enough to not be surprised by that,” Axel said to Jake.

“He just sounds too good to be true,” Sebastian said. “No blacklisting. No conversion therapy.”

“Better wages,” Axel added. “Better labor protections. I hear he also wants to make it so cops can’t search us without a warrant.”

“I bet women would vote for him if they could,” Sebastian said. “He also wants to make it illegal to hit your wives. My dad’s pissed about that.”

Jake crinkled his nose. “Your dad hits your mom?”

“I’ve never seen him do it. But he says it’s the idea of having that right taken away.”

“Seriously?!”

Axel nodded. “That’s the unfortunate reality. People with power over others see this as having rights taken away, instead of rights being given. Clark will have a hard time winning.”

“But my dad’s worried he will,” Sebastian said, “after seeing all the support he’s getting. Still… no more conversion therapy.”

“For minors,” Jake corrected.

Sebastian looked up at him. “Huh?”

“I looked into all these wonderful things he’s supposedly proposing. The conversion therapy is only for minors. It’ll still be legal for adults.”

“Yeah, but parents can’t make their kids go.” Axel glanced at Sebastian. “That’s a big step forward.”

“It should all be illegal.”

“I’m not arguing against that. I’m just saying, it’s a good start.”

Sebastian took a swig of beer, trying to keep the memories at bay. “My life would be so much better if I hadn’t been forced into Camp Hope.”

“Exactly.”

Jake shook his head. “This guy is still only the bare minimum. Making it illegal to hit your wife? How is that legal to begin with?”

“It’s a start,” Axel repeated. “Or would you rather Waylon win and nothing changes?”

“Or change for the worse.” Sebastian remembered how his father wanted to open more conversion camps and schools in Jefferson. How he wanted to raise blacklisting from 8 years to 10. “My dad would make things worse.”

“This Clark guy still sucks. Did you know, back during that war in Europe, he supported giving military aid to Russia?”

Sebastian failed to see why that mattered. As far as he knew, that war was long over. “So?”

“So, maybe Switzerland would still exist if he hadn’t.”

“You know that bomb was an accident,” Axel said. “It was supposed to be for Poland.”

“Like that makes it any better.”

Axel shrugged. “He’s still got my vote.”

“Mine too,” Sebastian agreed.