Taking The Chance

Prologue

(This is the prologue to my new story and a taste of what's to come with a few stories that I've got in the works. Don't worry, the final few chapters of Life Isn't A Fairytale will come over the next few days - If you have any comments, feedback or just want some more info about me. Email me at [email protected]).

I walk out of the interview and let out a massive sigh before rubbing my face and swearing into my hands “FUCK”, I’m so angry at myself for blowing that opportunity because interviews with Wiggler come so infrequently, and to even get one took some massive work.

I wander down to the car park and just want to punch something right now “That one fucking question… I knew it would happen”. I just can’t believe that I blew a whole interview with one of the world’s biggest companies on something as simple as what the name of the new Wiggler audio downloader was called.

After a few minutes, I compose myself and head home to where I know Mum and Dad will have so many damn questions for me. I realise that I still haven’t had lunch so I pop into the Café that sits around the corner from home. I open the door as Mr. Lai comes out “We are closing… only coffee” he stands up from cleaning out underneath the counter “Oh it’s you Kyle… what were you after?”.

“I was just hoping for an Egg Salad Sandwich but if you’re closing it’s no problem, Mr. Lai,” I say as he heads round “Of course it’s alright for you Kyle”. The Lai’s have been running this café for longer than anyone can remember “Egg, Salad with Mayonnaise, right?” he says knowing my regular order off by heart. As he makes the sandwich for me, the door to the kitchen opens up “I’ve put the last of the boxes in the Fridge Dad”. I peer around and see this tall muscular figure lean around.

“Well look who’s back in town and without telling me” I smile and see the figure walk around the door “Kyle bro…” I smile as the figure comes from around the counter and gives me a tight hug with all his muscles “Yeah I know, I was meaning to call but I’ve been helping Mum and Dad since I’ve got here yesterday morning”.

Will was my best friend through primary school and then through high school but over time we grew apart as he moved overseas and I went to uni and then worked odd jobs around the city for different tech companies ranging from a service rep to social media manager and everything in between. “You’re massive bro… I mean I knew you hit the gym but fucking hell” Will laughs as I look up and down at his body. “So when have you got some spare time?” I ask him because there’s plenty to catch up on. He laughs and looks at me “Bro… you’re one to talk about hitting the gym” Will says as he squeezes my biceps and pokes at my chest sticking out from my black and white buttoned-up shirt. “Alright, alright I know I’m bigger too”.

Mr. Lai finishes making my sandwich and pays for it, I stand there talking to Will for a bit “So what brings you home now of all times?”. Will keeps a close eye on his Dad on what he’s doing as he talks somewhat distracted “Just visiting family been a while” he says waiting until his Dad goes out of earshot in the back. “The truth is bro, I’ve met somebody while I was over in the states and well they wanted to come to see where I grew up and where my family lived”.

I get excited and smile “Calm down…. I don’t want Dad to know because he’s not gonna be too happy I don’t think”. I look at Will strangely “Why not? Your Dad likes everyone, even Mr. Hampton from the bank”. Will looks at me “I’ll talk to you more about it later how about we meet at about 8ish at The Oak?”

I just nod, slightly confused because Will has never been secretive with me or anyone before. I leave the café and head home, what the hell is Will keeping secret? I know his parents weren’t exactly happy when his older brother Thomas married Beth because she wasn’t Chinese but they grew fond of her very quickly”.

The time with Will has least made me forget all about how badly my interview went until I walk into the front door and Mum rushes in “Well how did it go? I hope you gave the best impression because I know how much you want this job”.

I just look at Mum “I fucked it up, now I’m going upstairs”. Mum grabs me by my shirt collar and clips me behind my head “Watch your language, Kyle, now what do you mean by that sentence”. I let out a sigh “I don’t want to talk about it Mum alright, you get one chance and one chance only and I absolutely blew it”. Mum follows me upstairs and to my room as I take my shirt off and throw it on the floor “I give you a clothes basket for a reason” she snipes at me “what actually happened?”.

I groan knowing that she won’t let it go “Everything was going well, they seemed genuinely impressed by my work at Enterprise and my experience outside of the technology sphere and then they asked about what their big new Audio Downloader was called and I totally forgot what it was called”.

Mum just nods, I’m not sure she gets too much of what I actually do considering she refuses to update her mobile to a smartphone, “That’s alright, it doesn’t matter if you forget the name of something, it’s your experience and personality that matters”. I look at her “I wish it was Mum, but when you’re up against 10 hand-picked people that would all know their stuff, personality isn’t everything”.

I just get some reassurance from Mum “Look, whatever happens, is meant to be alright Kyle”, she closes my door as I just lay back on my bed, shirt off still in my interview pants grabbing my headphones to listen to some music for a while. I fall asleep for about an hour before Mum comes upstairs “Dinner’s ready Kyle”. I head down and see my twin older brothers already eating into theirs. Dad sits at the end of the table “Kyle, you didn’t tell us that Will is back in town”.I nod “I only just found out this afternoon when I stopped in there and he was helping his father move some boxes” I eat another mouthful “We’re actually going to catch up tonight at The Oak at about 8ish if that’s alright”. Both Mum and Dad nod “Just don’t get into trouble alright?”. I sigh and reply “It was one mistake when I was 18, I’m 24 now”. They still don’t ever forget that night.

My only run-in with the Police came when I was 18, only had my full licence for a few months and I was coming home from Football where we’d been playing in the Eastern Region Knockout Cup final which we had won and were celebrating. Stupidly, I agreed to an extra drink and decided to drive the few miles home”. As I drove home, there was a car stopped in the middle of the street so I decided to go around it, but as I did that, I had misjudged the room that there was in the dark street and crashed into a parked car setting an alarm off”.

Naturally, the police came to the accident and in the usual procedures, I had blown over the alcohol limit and had to go back to the police station. That naturally set Mum and Dad into a rage that lasted longer than the 3-month licence suspension that I had. Even though that was 6 years ago, Mum and Dad still never fully trust me when I drive to the pub.

I relay their fears “I’ll just get an Uber or something, I’m not really in the mood to drive tonight anyway”. We finish dinner as my brothers talk about work, Kevin is a trainee doctor at a nearby hospital and still lives at home because Mum and Dad agreed that it was cheaper for him to still be here than somewhere else. My other brother Jacob has his own apartment on the other side of town but somehow always seems to be here when he’s not working as an Engineer.After we all help clean the table and put everything away, I head upstairs for a quick shower and change into a pair of jeans, a Black CK logo t-shirt and head off to meet Will at The Oak. I’m sitting at a table when I see Will walk in with a stranger that I’ve never seen before. I wave to them as they walk over.

“Hey bro,” Will says coming in for a hug “Kyle, this is Sam, Sam this is Kyle” Sam is another tall muscular lad, with big broad arms and chest “I’ve heard a lot about you, Kyle, Will talks about you a lot, so it’s nice to place a name to the face”. I laugh “It’s probably been all lies you know,” I say to Sam. “So how do you two know each other?”. I look over at Kyle and realise the dumbness of my question.

“Well… Sam and I have been dating for 18 months,” he says really nervously, looking around like he’s scared that his parents are going to be just metres away from him. I sit there and look really surprised, I mean Will and I both lost our virginity on the same night where we shared two girls even though I came out not long after my 20th birthday.

I give Will a reassuring smile “Congrats bro, I’m really happy for you” I say looking at him as he relaxes a bit. Sam stands up “How about I order us some drinks, usual babe?” he says looking at Will before getting my order, which is just a beer.“This is why you didn’t wanna talk back at the Café then?” I ask Will “You know you could’ve told me at any point over the past 18 months”. I say worried about how Will is feeling, gone is the confident, cocky lad that I’m friends with and he portrays normally replaced with a really nervous and somewhat timid personality.”

Will just nods to me “Y…yeah that’s the thing, if my family finds out about this then they’ll never talk to me again and I know it’ll just break them especially after Thomas”. I look across at Will “I can get that, but sometimes family isn’t all that it is cracked up to be.” “If it’s family that are making you feel bad or upset, then they aren’t the people you want to surround yourself with, you want to be with the people that make you feel good and happy about yourself.

Remember ohana means family and nobody gets left behind”.Will leans over and whacks me “Do you seriously need to quote that movie at every opportunity”. I laugh “See, it got you smiling but that’s my point, Family isn’t necessarily your blood relatives, it’s the people that you want to be close to, friends with and are your support network”. I smile at him, “I might not be Asian like you, but you’re still my family bro no matter what”.

I smile and fist bump him as Sam returns with the drinks “Thanks Sam” taking the beer and having a mouthful. “So how did you and Will meet?” I ask trying to get to know my best friends’ boyfriend that I only found out existed five minutes ago. Will and Sam have a look at each other, waiting for the other to initiate the conversation before Will finally starts “It’s a funny story, Sam and I went to the same gym and we got talking but one day at work, I had to take over a client for someone else and it was Sam.”

As I listen to Will and Sam talk about their relationship, I feel ecstatic because I can see Will is so happy but at the same time there’s a sense of hurt given that we were best friends for so long and he didn’t tell me. My mind drifts off in its own thoughts before Will turns the conversation back to me “So Kyle, what’s new with you?”.

I shrug “Nothing new, still disappointingly single and living at home with my family other than that nothing exciting other than I suppose totally messing up a job interview today with Wiggler of all companies”. Will and Sam’s heads both pop up “You had an interview at Wiggler?” they both say at the same time. I nod “Yeah but don’t get too carried away, like I said I totally fucked up any chance that I had to do it”.

Sam looks at me “Surely it can’t have been that bad of a fuck up” and Will pats my shoulder sitting next to me. “What happened he asked, surely one thing isn’t going to make that much of a difference”. I shrug “Well everything was going really well; they were impressed with my resume and my skills so everything was going well. Then the questions came about Wiggler products and systems and well that’s where I just messed everything up, I totally forgot the name of their new Audio downloader and well that’s where I killed my chances”.

“That shouldn’t mean a thing Kyle, you forgot the name of something which is totally fine especially given that it’s brand new and they haven’t released it yet. They won’t care you forgot the name of something, the main aim is that you sold yourself the best that you could” Will says to me and deep down I know he’s right but I just feel stupid and self-loathing is an easier road than hoping they ignore it.

The night is fun getting to know Sam and seeing Will so happy, as we wrap things up Sam catches an Uber back to his hotel while and Sam and I start walking home to keep talking. “So how come you never told me about Sam?” I ask Will who lets out a deep breath “It sounds stupid considering everything but I thought you’d be upset that I found someone else”. I stop for a minute behind Will and slap him across the back of the head.

“Why would I care if you found someone else bro?” I look back at him “Just because I find out that you’re gay, it doesn’t necessarily mean that I fall in love with you, now does it?”. Will laughs “suppose not but you can get where I’m coming from”.

I nod as we get to his place “I really enjoyed catching up tonight and getting to meet Sam” he nods “We have to catch up properly with just the two of us in the next few days alright”. He smiles and hugs me and he heads inside his parents’ house.

It’s only another 10 minutes to walk and I wander inside and head up to my room and lay down on my bed and just go to sleep straight away. The weekend flashes by doing stuff around the house and catching up with Will and Sam a few times.

During the next week, I’m at work when I see my phone light up with a phone number that I don’t recognise so I answer it “Hi, I’m looking for Kyle Nicholls” the voice at the other end asks. “I’m Kyle Nicholls, who’s calling please?”.