My Best Mate

I was in the city for the weekend and had arranged to catch up with my best mate Michael while I was here as I normally do when I’m up this way. As was usually the case on a Friday or Saturday night, I figured he had probably had a big night out at one of the local gay clubs and was busy sleeping it off with his boyfriend. So I ended up killing time by doing some shopping for my mother’s birthday that was in a couple of weeks. Be nice to not leave it till the last minute as I normally do.

Around lunch time I got a text from Michael to say he was up, and I headed over. He lived only a short walk from the CBD, so I made my way over. Michael’s been my best mate since Year 8 of high school. Back then he was a tall, lanky, scruffy haired boy. We used to always hang out at recess and lunch times with our small group of mates. After we both left high school, he moved up to the city to start Uni and I ended up getting a job in our local town. But we still stayed in touch and caught up whenever I went into the city or when he came home to see his parents. Over the year’s he’d finally stopped growing and started to fill out a bit more, so he wasn’t quite as lanky, but his hair was still scruffy.

we’re both now out and proud. But never hooked up. Never really even thought about it to be honest. Guess it’s similar to straight mates; a guy has a female best friend, but never hook up because they have that whole like a brother / like a sister relationship thing going on. Well I guess Michael and I are a bit like that.

And Michael’s got a boyfriend now, Ben. He’s a really nice guy. Was looking forward to catching up with both of them, it’s been a while. When I got up to his third floor apartment, I found Michael sitting out on the balcony drinking his coffee. From the looks of him he needed it. Turn’s out his boyfriend Ben had to go into work early, so he wouldn’t be home for a couple of hours. Passed out on the outdoor couch opposite was one of Michael’s gay mates, Hamish. Looks like he’d had a night he wasn’t going to remember anytime soon. Completely out of it he was.

I joined Michael out on the balcony. It was a nice sunny day. His balcony had a great view of the city skyline, thanks mainly to the spare block of land across the road, and then just more apartments adjacent to this. After offering me a coffee, Michael told me about his wild night with his boyfriend and mates at the gay club just around the corner. Turns out Hamish’s boyfriend was over east on a business trip for a couple of weeks, so he took the opportunity to get a little wild. No idea what he took, but it must’ve been good. Once he finally stirred after several nudges from Michael, he got himself up and headed to the bathroom for a much needed shower.

Hamish returned from the shower. Couldn’t see much of an improvement though if I’m honest. To both of our astonishments, he continued to pour himself a full glass of wine that he found on the kitchen bench.

“What the hell Hamish, you really think that’s a good idea”, said Michael staring at him in disbelief.

“Ah she’s good babe”.

“You remember my mate from school, Rowan?”

“Oh yeah, hey hun”, said Hamish with a small wave as he took another swig of his glass of wine. “Oh fuck, my head hurts so bad”.

“Well I’m not surprised. You had a pretty big night”.

“Where’s Josh?” Josh was his boyfriend.

“He’s over east remember, on a business trip”, replied Michael, looking at me and doing a verbal rolling of the eyes. “He’s back at the end of the week”.

“Ohhh really”, Hamish slumped down onto the couch, nearly spilling his wine. “Well what am I gonna do now? I can’t go home, the house is a mess and needs cleaning and I just can’t handle that at the moment…seriously babe”.

Michael looked sideways at me again. I just smiled as if to say….he’s your mate, not mine. Hamish continued drinking and moping about having to do the mountain of dishes at home and having to make the bed. Meanwhile I’d zoned out and was checking out Grindr to see who was around, when out of the blue I get a Facebook message from Michael. I looked up at him, but he was busy talking to Hamish.