Wake Me Up

I snorted and Leigh cracked up, always finding herself funnier than anyone else did.

We didn't have to pay so we left a hefty tip for Doris and headed back to the brewery to get ready for when Harp came in and the night began.

*

Gabriel

After lunch with Carly, where she tried to convince me that the chicken caesar wrap I was eating was murder to the highest degree, and I told her that she could take her vegan practices and shove 'em where the sun don't shine, I headed back to my dorm.

Logan was sitting on the edge of my bed, furiously typing away on his phone. I jumped and made a light squeak in the back of my throat.

It was a manly squeak, I swear.

Logan looked up when he heard my door open and a panicked look was replaced by a masked smirk. He closed his phone and tilted his head backwards, silently asking me to come closer.

"Logan, jesus you scared the crap out of me. I thought you had class right now?"

"Yeah but I skipped, I know I'm gonna pass anyway. Professor Field loves me and the finals gonna be a breeze."

I gave Logan a skeptical glance, but kept my comments to myself. Logan talked a big game, but he was a senior same as me, and I knew he was struggling as hard as I was to make sure he didn't fail and not graduate on time.

Logan gave me his best pouty, forgive me eyes and I was a puddle to his whims. I snuggled into his lap and laid my head on his shoulder.

"Hey, next Monday, I have a lecture I have to go to at 4 or I'm gonna fail out of Professor Cords class. I hope that's alright."

"Baby, don't you want to hang out with me while I'm here? You know I have to go back to my parents estate on tuesday." Logan was talking calmly, but his shoulders had tensed up and I knew he was slightly pissed.

"I'm sorry alright, I wish I didn't have to go, but it's only 2 hours and then we can hang out for the rest of the night."

"You know what? Since you have this lecture thing I think I might just go to my parents house early. I mean, you obviously don't want me here, so what's the point of staying?"

I was beginning to get tired of all the passive aggressive ways he acted. At first I wanted to please him so we didn't have to fight, but it was happening so often these days that it was getting old, quickly. I decided to jump right to the point, since we were going to end up their anyway and I really did miss him.

"Fine Logan, what can I do to convince you to stay Monday night and leave Tuesday?"

Logan smirked, his lips curling and I could feel his arms wrap around my waist and bring me even closer. My nose got nuzzled even closer to his neck, and I had to crane my face to be able to see his face so I could see his reactions.

"Come out with me tonight, I wanna check out this bar down the street. It's called Lucky Tap."

I love to be with Logan, but I hate going out on weekdays. Going out on weekends is great, but weekdays I always have to worry about waking up for class in the morning and going outside hungover. Not my cup of tea. Unfortunately, my boyfriend felt I owed him and I was too drained to fight about this.

"Fine, but I'm only drinking a little bit and were leaving by 12."

"Woo." He pumped one of his fists in the air and then brought it back to my waist, wrapping me in a huge muscled hug. Ah yes, this is the reason I put up with all his crap.

We spent the rest of the afternoon making out like teenagers and watching movies. We ordered Thai takeout, and after we both got ready to go out. I threw on a new pair of black jeans I had recently gotten because Logan said they made my ass look like two snowglobes. They were pretty tight, and they almost looked painted onto my skin. I put on a grey button up shirt, my leather jacket, and my vans. I threw a little bit of product into my hair, trying to tame the dark brown locks into some semblance of order. I sprayed myself with some cologne and looked over at Logan.

He was dressed in a black shiny button down that made his top half look like an oil slick. He had on a pair of black slacks, kind of dressy but who am I to judge? His black hair was perfectly styled as usual, with his little superman curl falling down and brushing his forehead. His eyes were focused on the phone screen in front of his eyes, enraptured by the conversation he was having. I tapped him on the shoulder, and he quickly turned his screen off and hid it behind his back.

"Hey, ya ready to head out?"

"Yea, yea that sounds good."

He looked a little shaken up but I couldn't tell by what. He calmed down by the time we had made our way out of my building. We slipped through the crowds in town, making it to Lucky Taps pretty quickly.

I was surprised I hadn't been here before. It was pretty close to campus, and I had heard a couple of classmates discussing it before. It was in what looked like an old factory that had been renovated. It was one of the taller buildings on this street, and seemed to take up almost the whole block. I did see a little diner right next door that I may have to check out with Carly another day.

Logan and I had our IDs checked at the doors and then stepped in. The entire place smelled like beer and leather. I felt like I was at a hunters lodge. The place looked very clean and home, but I hoped the company was gay-friendly, or Logan and I may be out of here quicker than usual.

The bar was crowded but their was still a lot of walking space. Though a lot of the seats were filled, it still felt like everyone had a lot of space because of the ceilings. Logan brought us to the bar and ordered us one of the beers on tap. I was already enjoying the vibe of this place, and could see myself coming here often to sit with a beer and work on papers or come out with friends.

When our glasses came out, the bartender looked at me a second longer than usual. She was gorgeous, with big dark brown eyes ringed by long eyelashes and high cheekbones that made her look sophisticated and worldly. Her back turned and she went back to helping other guests, but I felt a little weird about the whole situation.

Logan soon got my mind off of it. He led me to the top balcony where their were cute wrought iron tables and leather chairs set up for people to sit at. We found one open and sat down. I sipped on the beer, and my body hummed in pleasure. The beer had a bitterness that mingled with the spices in an interesting dance. The beer was fantastic, probably the best beer I had ever had. I drained my glass pretty quickly, which I knew was not good since I'm a lightweight and I have class in the morning.

I went down to grab another, and Logan stayed upstairs. After i had gotten a new one from the odd bartender, I looked up and saw that Logan wasn't at our table anymore. Weird, but I decided that was fine, he would find me at some point. I sat down on one of the plush bar stools when the bartender came up to me again.

"Hey, how are you?"

"Hi their. Look, you're a very gorgeous woman, and I've watched you glancing at me all night. I'm sorry, but I'm gay so I probably won't be very much help to ya."

"Ha! No, sorry I'm married, and you being gay actually helps me out quite a bit. What's your name hun?

"Gabriel, and how exactly does it help you?"

"Um I'll answer that later, how are you liking the beer?"

This woman was puzzling, but she was someone to talk to, and since Logan had ditched me this was better than nothing.

"It's absolutely fantastic, I'm going to need to buy a six pack later in the week so I can keep it at home and drink it whenever."

"Glad to hear it! I'll make sure to tell our brewmasters your rave reviews, unless you want to tell them yourself?"

"Wait, you brew this beer here?"

"Well the tanks aren't just for show sweetie, we brew all our beer in house. All the wine and liquor we buy, but the beer comes from us."

I was enthralled, and being able to meet the makers of such a wonderful beer sounded like an awesome opportunity. Besides, Logan had ditched me, probably for some freshman twink I know he's been texting, so fuck him.

I could tell once my thoughts started going that I was a little buzzed, but still pretty sober.

"Well I think it's necessary for me to give my respects in person, and it must be awesome back their, so if you insist..."

"Absolutely, right this way Gabriel! Also, my names Harper if you need anything, but you can just call me Harp."

"Thanks Harp, I'm really excited to see the lab!"

Harp led me to the end of the bar that opened up, and let me through. She then led me to the door behind the bar, and we slipped through their while she waved at one of the other bar keepers to cover for her.

We came out onto the other side of what looked like a factory. Huge, hulking metal

structures filled the space with other contrapments and equipment laying around like scattered parts. The whole place felt very comfortable and home, even with all the machines. I could see a lot of personal touches with pictures of the workers and lots of little decorations hung up around areas.

I saw only one person back their, and she looked to be heading out for the night. She looked very familiar to my new tour guide. They had the same complexion, face structure, and lean build. The hair was the biggest difference I could see between them. Harps was sandy brown, long and had a beach wave effect. She had it all pulled back in a high ponytail and drifting down to her mid back. This new woman had chopped almost all her hair off into a nice pixie cut that was pitch black. When her head whipped to see who had entered, the side bangs in the front swished almost violently to the right. Her eyes glimmered with a look of mischief that fit her elfish appearance to a tea.

"Harp, you're married! You have to stop bringing cute men back here to have your way with them!"

My eyes grew to saucers as I prayed that wasn't this was and tried to stammer out a response. "Um, I'm actually gay and here for a tour, so I promise no ones having their way with me tonight back here!"

Both the girls giggled for longer than necessary. The new girl smirked at me.

"We'll see about that. I hope you weren't planning on a tour from me though, since I was just heading out."

"No problem Leigh, I was gonna let Wes show him around since he's the big boss man. Have a good night, say hi to Bailey for me!"

"Will do Harp, goodnight!"

This new women, Leigh, sauntered out a back door and into the chilly May night. I looked back to Harp with a couple of questions.

"So, Leigh I assume is your sister? You guys look very alike."

"Yeah that's my sister, she's in charge of the brewery and beer productions. I run the front of the house and the bar. Our brother is the owner, and he works on both sides and does all of the finances and paperwork. I'm gonna have him do the tour since I have to get back out to the front and Leigh has to get home to feed her dog."

I nodded my head in understanding, and became even curiouser about this little family business.

We headed to a door on the right side of the warehouse, which led to a set of stairs heading down to some sort of basement. The stairs looked older than anything I had seen yet, and the staircase seemed sparsely lighted. The only light I could see was at the bottom of the steps coming from an adjoining room. We clamber down the steps, my still slight tipsy self gripping the railing like a lifeline.

Harp got to the bottom of the stairs first and I quickly followed her. The room was a medium size, with a large wooden desk dominating the space. Most of the walls had huge file folder racks organized by date. Above those shelves were a multitude of white boards, that looked to have schedules, reminders, and different ideas sloppily written on them. The light was coming from some old looking string lights and one large floor lamp in the right corner. It casts a warm glow in what would probably be a creepy basement if not for all the warm light. The desk has a lot of file folders and photo holders stacked on the edge, with the center of the table cleared for a Mac Laptop decorated with stickers. Behind the best looks to be a comfortable spinning desk chair, and in the chair is a guy.

Well, not really a guy. Guy doesn't do him justice. This is a man. Short cut dirty blonde hair framed the top of his head, shaved at the sides and styled in a pompadour updo. It lead down to a chiseled face, strong nose, and mediterranean coloring. His chest looked sculpted, and it led down to a belly that looked cut, but yet not pure muscle. The light layer of toned muscle sat well on his body,and made him just look even more manly and filled out. His eyes were golden in this lighting, they actually seemed to sparkle when he looked up from his laptop at us. He stared at me a little longer than normal, seeming to have that in common with his sister. He was gorgeous, and I felt my dick start to chub up a little bit with just a look.

"Hey Harp, who's this?"

His voice rumbled from his throat. It was a throaty, deep voice, like he had just woken up slightly dehydrated. It matched his looks perfectly.

"Hey little bro, meet our new biggest fan! He loves the beer, and I thought you might want to meet him and maybe give him a tour!"

He stared at his sister like she had grown a second head. That look told me that this didn't happen very often, maybe ever. I felt a little intrusive, and didn't want to bother this hunk if he had important work.

"If you don't have time that's alright. I'm sure I'll be back, so it's ok if you need to take a rain check on the tour."

My face felt like it was in flames the entire time I was talking. Just having his full attention was unsettling me in a good way, if not for the fact I had a boyfriend.

Fuck. I completely forgot about Logan.

Then, for the first time in a while, I chose not to care about Logan. He had ditched me first, so I was going to do what I wanted, Logan be damned!

Wes looked pensive for a moment, weighing his options. I couldn't begin to tell you what Harper looked like, my entire focus was on the beautiful specimen in front of me. If this may be the last time I see him, he was going to get my full attention.

"I have a little time right now, most of my paperwork is done for the night and I'm sure I can finish the rest tomorrow. Harp, can you head back to the bar? I'm sure Joel's doing just fine, but it makes me nervous when you're not out their. I'll start showing our new fan around. What's your name dude?"

How did he make dude sound so sexy? Almost like a pet name, I felt it slither down my back as if he just moaned baby while my throat was wrapped around his cock. I shook my head to clear the thought, knowing my eyes probably looked a little glassy.

"Oh, um, My name is, uh, Gabe. Well, it's Gabriel, but you can call me Gabe."

I stuttered through the easiest question you could ask someone, as I felt my face catch on fire. He smiled a broad, easy grin and, if possible, he became even more gorgeous. His eyes crinkled at the edges, giving his manly face a quick boyish look.

"Alright Gabe, lets get this show on the road! I'll see ya around sis. If I'm still giving him a tour after the bar closes, you can start cleaning up without me."

"Sounds good Boss Man! Gabe, I'm sure I'll see ya later."

"Yeah of course. Thanks Harp, see ya around!"

Harp quickly jogged her way up the stairs, probably jittery about leaving Joel alone with the crowd for that long. Her pony tail swished behind her as she bounded up the stairs until she was out of sight, and I heard the door click shut behind her. I was left alone in a basement with Wes.