A/N: "Waves" is a short story written in collaboration by Michael BN and Xander Grey, with each author giving voice to a character in first-person Chapters as well as co-written third-person Chapters. The result is a narrative that no single author can achieve, as evidenced by the distinctive personal styles, pacing, and unique individual creativity. "Waves" is the first time that Michael BN and Xander Grey have worked in collaboration with a fellow author and they both thoroughly enjoyed the process.

Below you can find the first Chapter, the rest of the book can be found on Inkitt.com/XanderGrey

Julian's POV:

It's funny how life can create situations that in the long run turn out to serve a completely different purpose than we might have expected.

One of my good friends and colleague from work, Pete, was getting married. His best man was throwing him a bachelor party and I was on my way to pick up another guest; Declan.

There was a catch, however. Declan was Pete's single friend whom he thought would be the perfect remedy for me to get over Darren.

I'd promised Pete that I'd give him a chance but I wasn't sure if I was ready to move on yet. It had been only four months since I'd broken up with the man I'd presumed was going to be my "forever guy".

However, Darren and I had managed to drift so far apart that our relationship was no longer functioning properly anymore. Darren even suggested opening it up to someone else... just to see if they could help us reignite our spark.

I refused.

I didn't think either of us was to blame. Over the course of four years, we'd just become different people with different expectations from life and each other. Expectations that we were no longer able to meet.

Of course, I had plenty of meaningless sex after we broke it off. Then I started to miss the feeling of a connection. I was stupid enough to tell this to Pete after a glass too many, and he claimed to know just the guy.

Pete really meant well, and he definitely was a good friend. I'd even had a crush on him at some point, but then he got engaged to the love of his life. I got over myself. Especially since I genuinely liked his fiancée, Marcella.

Recently, Pete told me that Marcella had never liked Darren. She'd said that there was something about him that didn't feel right. I thought the timing of the statement was a bit convenient considering that we'd already split up.

I did end up wondering a lot about what Marcella meant. Was there something about Darren that I didn't know? He hadn't been cheating, had he?

Oh, fuck.

Now that I thought about it, that would make a lot of sense. Darren had been less and less emotionally available towards the end, and the sex had been... mechanical to say the least. Had he suggested an open relationship so that he could cover up the fact that I was already in one without realizing it? Was he really capable of doing that to me?

Fuck!

It bothered me that I was thinking like this, it felt like I was trying to find a way for this breakup to have a reason that took all the blame away from me.

I decided that I would give Darren the benefit of the doubt.

Again, I really didn't want to be set up with this guy, I felt like it was too early... but I couldn't just skip Pete's bachelor party to escape it.

Pete had told me nothing about Declan except for the fact that they were childhood friends. We'd been texting back and forth during the day, only to coordinate the pickup. He seemed nice enough.

My mind had conjured a million impressions of what Declan would be like. It was dangerous to create expectations but I couldn't help myself. The crazy thing was that I caught myself infusing my blind date with many of Darren's best traits.

My ex-boyfriend had always been an amazing conversation partner. He held passionate opinions about the state of the world, and he was well-read in the areas of science, technology and the future of mankind.

He also had an incredible quirky sense of humor, one that easily rivaled my own. In hindsight, one of the biggest signs that things were going wrong was that we couldn't laugh together anymore.

I also had to admit that Darren had made me feel... safe. He was sure of himself; and, although he wasn't always right, he took action every time I got stuck in indecision.

Oh, my god! I'd almost arrived at the address Declan gave me and all I'd done was think about my ex!

Did this mean that I was right? That I wasn't actually ready to move on? Or maybe it was the opposite, I wanted to keep a lookout for all the things that I liked in a man.

Ok, so what other qualities did I appreciate?

Well, my family was always very supportive of me. I'd messed around with some boys in high school but all pretty hush-hush. I brought home my first real boyfriend; Ian when I just started college.

More than anything, Ian was kind. A little bit naïve at times but he always went out of his way to make me feel good about myself. The irony was that he claimed that no one, except for me, had ever treated him the same way.

Then there was Leo. I was so madly in love with him but he proved too much for me. He was an untamable free spirit with an insatiable lust for adventure. The sex had been utterly mind-blowing, which was why I never told Darren about him.

Just before Darren, I'd gone out with Hamish. He had worked for years on cruise ships and had some truly wild stories to tell. Hamish was great company and had an awesome group of friends... but he couldn't carry his own financial weight. For as long as we were together, I'd paid for almost everything.

The navigation suddenly pinged, indicating that I'd arrived at my destination. Why did I suddenly get nervous? Over a stranger? I'd had plenty of those in my bed recently without ever giving it a second thought.

Did I now secretly want this to work out? After all my claims of not wanting this, did I deep down crave a new start? There was only one way to find out for sure.