Lost in Manchester - 32. Aftermath. June 2010. Adam.

The sun was high in the sky over Heaton Park on the edge of town. Thomas and Cameron appeared in the distance and gradually got larger and larger, approaching the group of them sitting on a picnic rug, munching crisps and sipping wine from plastic glasses.

They were far enough into the park that there was no sound of traffic, and the only distractions were the invisible buzzing crickets and three guys in shorts and nothing else, kicking around a football seductively.

“I wonder how you chose this spot” Cameron said as soon as he got close enough, glancing over obviously at the footballing torsos. The two of them joined the group, offering a couple of bottles of bubbles.

Ali got to work opening up the first bottle, and the cork was quickly flying through the air over their heads.

Cameron laughed. “It’s funny. That sound always takes me back to this time in an underground club in Berlin.

“Cam, don’t even…” Ali started.

“Honestly, the look on his face when that cork flew out…”

“So is everything sorted out with your old flatmate?” Thomas asked, once they had settled down and poured the wine around.

Adam nodded, and swallowed a mouthful of the prosecco.

“Yeah. I mean, we haven’t heard much more since seeing his parents. All I got was a text to say he came back, they spoke to him, and they’re going to sort out all the bills. Simon got his money back straight away too. I guess Paul’s going to be working off that debt for a few years.”

“So all’s good with the world now?”

Adam nodded, slightly half-heartedly, and Thomas raised an eyebrow.

Ali rolled her eyes. “He’s spent the last half hour moaning about the poor supply of nice men in Manchester.”

Thomas nodded. “You don’t have to tell me”.

“Seriously though. I’ve been single for almost a year now, and the number of credible dates I’ve been on has been, oh, now, let me count them, erm, that would be, none.”

“No harm playing the field a bit” Cameron suggested, his eyes dancing mischievously.

“Exactly, Cam’s been doing it for twenty years” Thomas added, and received a light hit on the arm.

“I actually think I might be ready though. I’m kind of done playing the field. I’ve had my fun. I’m ready for something slightly more serious than a few alcopops, a quick shag and an early morning walk home”.

“So what does your ideal guy look like?” Nancy asked. She was sitting on the opposite side of the picnic blanket, her right hand in James’ left.

Adam shrugged. “I mean, you can’t overthink these things. You never know who you’re going to fall for. But, I don’t know, he’d probably be about 6’, blond, maybe like a strong jawbone. Deep sexy voice, but probably with cool arty type glasses. Bit of a geek maybe, but he’d be pretty athletic, strong arms, big thighs, maybe like a runner. And I reckon he’d have a creative but also quite technical job. Some kind of designer or something maybe.”

“It’s so messed up” Ali said. “Nine months and you still haven’t met someone that meets those very basic criteria…”

James and Nancy started to jointly tell the story of their up and down relationship and Adam watched his flatmate. He knew that James wasn’t going to tell them the whole story. He doubted that would ever go far beyond him and Nancy.

He had been so much better though since he’d told her all about what happened. When she touched him now he didn’t flinch. Or if he did, he covered it expertly. He had been seeing a counsellor again, and she had started attending too, which had improved things a lot. He looked so comfortable with her now. She knew that when he freaked out about something that it was probably not about her.

They were such a handsome couple too, and just had that connection between them. That spark. God, he wanted that.

“So, Mr Delaney” Ali said. “You’ve been here 45 minutes, and you still haven’t told us about your rocketing to the seat of power”.

Adam watched Thomas laugh modestly and deny any sort of influence, but he could see beneath that a new self-belief in his friend. The election had been a disaster for the Liberal Democrats in many ways. All but one of their candidates up for re-election lost their seat, but one man came through it. The electoral swing against the party was huge, but it was a national party problem. The same thing had happened across the country. There was nothing that the local politicians could do about it. But Thomas’ vote remained steady. He lost a few, but he held on. Suddenly local voters had something new and fresh to get interested in. He was saying things that people actually responded to. People had actually voted for the person, not the party.

The next day, amidst the gloom of the defeat and the triumph for Labour that was on the front pages of the local paper, there was a big article on page 6 about the emergence of a new leader. The local journalists knew that something interesting had just happened, even if it wasn’t quite headline news.

That was a month ago, and since then Thomas had taken the party by the scruff of the neck. Their old leader had been deposed in the election, and gone into retreat, and so Thomas stepped up. Within a week the party had voted with a two thirds majority for Thomas as the new leader.

Adam never fully understood what happened with the guy from Australia, Ciaran. Ali told him all about their reunion after the big speech, and the obvious bond between them. He gathered they’d been old lovers, but then the guy just disappeared off again. Thomas seemed to be doing ok with it, but it had to be tough finding a guy that was perfect for you, and then having to accept that you couldn’t have him.

Adam tuned back into the conversation as Thomas brought up the airport development with Ali.

“Man, I don’t even want to hear. It’s just another chapter in my year of shit.”

“No, no, you might like this.”

Ali looked sceptical.

“The whole thing has ground to a halt. It turns out there was a bit of a problem with one of the guys involved in raising the funds. A lot of the arrangements have been made through tory old boy connections, but it turns out there was a weak link. They’re trying to keep it under wraps because it’s not going to look good if it leaks out into the press. But the upshot is the whole thing will be pushed back at least a year. They’re calling it site readiness issues, I think.”

Ali was grinning. “So what’s the real reason?”

“Well, this is the good bit. Apparently this guy had got involved providing some informal legal advice. Quite a young guy, a high flyer. Worked at a big tobacco firm”.

“You’re fucking kidding me?” Ali said grinning wider.

“Paul?” Adam said, obviously.

Thomas smiled and raised his eyebrows affirmatively.

Ali shook her head. “You might have just made my year.”

James got onto questioning Thomas and Cameron about the old days and the beginnings of Canal Street. Daniel suggested an ice cream, and Adam was the only one to take him up, so they got up and left the others to talk history.

“You’re going to meet the right guy you know” Daniel told him. “You just have to give it time, and, you know, enjoy the interim.”

Adam made a non-committal noise. “How long since you were with a guy you could see yourself staying with?”

Daniel thought about it for a second.

“It wasn’t so bad with Carl…”

“What?” Adam said, ready to launch the case against Carl.

“No, I mean, it wasn’t right. At all. But he was on the right track I mean.”

Adam looked unconvinced.

“Look, it’s hard, obviously. But it only has to happen one time.”

Adam nodded. “So how about this guy you’re seeing now?”

“Oh, Aled? No, I don’t think he’s a long term one” Daniel said shaking his head. “But damn, his arms are like rainforest branches”. Daniel gestured with his hands as he got into the description. “Veins bulging out like creepers running along them. Oh god, and he goes at it like a ma-chine, it’s like the hottest…”

Adam laughed. “I get it!”

Daniel smiled. “So hey. It can be good to be single for a bit too. You can come watch box sets with Ali and me on Friday nights too. Eat Mexican food and drink gin.”

Adam laughed, and in his head planned to never become part of that. Daniel went off to the toilet block as Adam queued for the ice creams.

He picked up a pair of extravagant three-scoop ice creams from the van and turned to head back. As he took a turning step away from the van, the guy behind took a step forward, and then realising their momentum towards one another, both quickly chose a direction to step towards in order to avoid the collision. They both went the same way, and Adam couldn’t pull back in time. He watched in slow motion as the top scoop of honeycomb ice cream, already lubricated from the sun’s heat on it, slid forwards and made the 10 cm jump from the cone in his hand that he was desperately trying to pull back towards him, onto the bright white t-shirt of the guy in front of him. It splattered right around the guy's stomach, before sliding down to the floor with a slop.

“Fuckfuck” Adam said hopelessly, then looked up into the green eyes standing before him, and felt as though the air had been squeezed out of his body.

“Don’t worry, it’s my fault” came the deep, kind voice. Adam was lost in the rash of blond hair swept across his forehead and the designer stubble clutching that strong jawbone.

“I’m so sorry, let me get you some water to clean it off”.

“It’s fine man” the guy said. “It’s getting hot anyway”. He took off his backpack and pulled the tshirt over his head, carefully folding it so the stain was on the inside, then placing it in the top of his bag. He stood back up and Adam tried not to be distracted by the six pack”.

The guy looked at him strangely for a second.

“Do I know you from somewhere? I feel like we’ve met before.”

“I don’t think… erm…”. His gaze caught on the superman logo on the skimpy royal blue shorts the guy was wearing.

“I don’t know. Maybe”. His heart was seriously thundering. This guy was…unexpected.

A few seconds seemed to pass and Adam knew something had to happen. Their eyes were definitely making contact more than you’d expect. But two guys couldn’t just hook up in the queue for an ice cream van in a Manchester public park in 2010, could they?

“Ok” the guy said, smiling and raising his eyebrows in conclusion. “I’m going to go get myself one of those.”

“Or you could go on a date with me?” Adam blurted out.

What the fuck am I doing?

“Maybe I could do both?” the guy said, raising his eyebrows before his face broke into a relaxed smile.

Goose pimples rose across Adam’s whole body.

“What, really?”

The guy laughed, pulled out his wallet, fished out a business card and slipped it into Adam’s back pocket.

“Call me”, he said, then raising again those beautiful curved eyebrows, “soon.”

Daniel strode back up as Adam started to walk away from the best moment of his year so far. His heart was in overdrive, trying to bounce its way out of his chest.

Daniel grabbed the card that had been slipped into Adam’s back pocket.

“Wow. Liam Silversmith. Liam with the ridiculously beautiful body. Liam the architect. Honestly. Who cruises a bloody ice cream queue?”

Adam smiled. It only had to happen once.