by Nicola Haken
“Uh, yeah. Yeah I think we kinda sorta maybe did.” His words played it cool, but the expression on his face as he glanced back into the room told me it was something he didn’t regret.
Wow. Didn’t see that one coming.
“But don’t worry, it was on the floor. Didn’t go near the kid’s bed or anythin’…I think.”
My face twisted into a half shocked, half what-the-actual-fuck expression. “Too much information. I’m going to give these to Seb. Get some underpants on for Christ’s sake.”
In our bedroom, my instincts were proved right about the paracetamol when I placed the cat on Seb’s chest, and he let out a pained groan. “Oh, God…” He covered his eyes with his forearm, blocking out the light. “Time’s it?” His words were barely audible as his dry lips stuck together.
“Almost noon. I brought you some painkillers.”
“Mmm yeah,” he moaned like he’d just come in his boxer shorts. “I knew I loved you for a reason.” Dropping his arm, he rolled onto his side, groaning like he was eighty years old and sending poor Marv flying off the edge of the bed.
Shifting further onto the mattress, I lay on my side next to him, propping myself up on my elbow while I popped out two little white tablets from the blister pack before handing them to him, along with the bottle of water. “So, uh, Rhys and Benny had sex last night.”
Seb flew into a sitting position, coughing and spluttering and trying not to choke to death on the pill he’d just swallowed. Maybe I should’ve waited a second before telling him that.
“Um…okaaaay. Do we congratulate them?”
Laughing, I bowed my head. “Unless they announce their engagement over breakfast, pretty sure that’d be a no. Rhys looked happy though. He had that dreamy look in his eye.”
“Yeah?”
“You look surprised.”
“That’s ‘cause I am. Benny hasn’t given me any hint at all that he was into Rhys. In fact, the last I knew he was into some guy at work. Dillon, or Darren, something like that.”
Oh. That made my heart sink a little. I hoped my friend wasn’t about to get his hopes up only to have them squashed like an ant. He’d been there before, and it hurt to watch him recover. Nah, I inwardly told myself. Just because I hadn’t had a tonne of experience with drunken one night stands, that didn’t mean they weren’t a perfectly normal situation, one I was sure Rhys, and probably Benny, knew how to handle. The romantic side of me was likely reading far too much into it.
Flopping backwards onto the bed again, Seb passed the bottle back for me to screw the lid on, because that would have been far too much effort for him in his fragile state. “Christ, it’s going to take me a month to recover from this.”
A smug smile tugged on my lips as I twisted the cap back on before placing it on the bedside table. It always felt awesome being fit and dandy around a hungover person, like a reward almost for managing to show restraint and willpower the night before. I could’ve easily drank as much as everyone else, I wanted to, but I’d experienced enough sickness in recent months to last me a lifetime so I refused to risk it, limiting myself to two vodka and lemonades instead.
“Hey, look at this…” Pulling out my phone from my pocket, I opened the Facebook app and brought up Tyler’s profile, scrolling to the photo he posted this morning – a selfie he’d taken with Mickey Mouse – before angling the screen towards Seb.
“Oh for God’s sake. Please tell me that’s not Scott doing the wanker sign in the background.”
Chuckling, I nodded. “Photobombing at its finest.” Lowering the phone, I dropped it onto the bed. “They look like they’re having a good time.”
“They do. They deserve it.”
“Yeah.”
“And so do you. Did you have a good time last night?”
I sighed just thinking about it. It was one of those pathetically dreamy sighs, the kind that make your insides feel all gooey, like when your first crush looks in your direction when you’re thirteen years old and you start to wonder if they’ve realised you exist. “Last night was incredible. I didn’t think I was ready. But the second my first heel stepped onto that stage it felt like I’d come home. I’m ready, Seb. I’m ready for it all. Working full time, drag, life. The whole damn future. I’m ready and I can’t wait. And what excites me even more, is that I get to do it all with you.”
He looked at me and smiled, seemingly forgetting the pain he was in as his hand slipped behind my neck, trying to pull my face down to his.
I fought against it, staying exactly where I was. “Sebastian Day…I love you. You’re an amazing man and I don’t think I’ll ever stop feeling lucky to have met you…but your breath hums. Seriously, I’m not kissing you until you’ve brushed your teeth twelve times and drank three bottles of Listerine... which you should do soon, shower too, because, well…” Leaning over, I took his hand and dragged it over to my crotch, letting him feel how hard I was through my jeans. I couldn’t help it. Even hungover he looked stunning, with his hair all mussed up in a hundred different directions and two days’ worth of stubble coating his square jaw.
He cocked an eyebrow, his lips curling into my favourite devilish grin. “Are you flirting with me?”
I shrugged a shoulder, feigning a nonchalant expression. “Is it working?”
Grabbing my cheeks, he forced my head down before I had chance to protest and planted a lingering, sloppy kiss on my forehead before jumping out of bed and heading straight for the bathroom. Stopping at the door, he paused for just a second, looked over his shoulder and winked. “Always.”
Epilogue
~Oliver~
One year later…
“HAVE YOU BEEN across the bridge to the treehouse? It’s fucking mint!” Anyone could’ve been forgiven for thinking that was one of the boys talking, but no, it was Rhys – a thirty-nine-year-old adult. Plus, I say boys, they were almost adults themselves. They’d left school back in July, making Seb and I proud with their amazing GCSE results, and now they were both in college studying for their A levels.
Tyler, studying for A levels. I couldn’t even think about it without cracking a gigantic smile. He chose drama and theatre studies, English literature, and philosophy. My heart felt like it could literally burst from the amount of pride it held for him. I mean, philosophy…I wasn’t even sure what the word meant, and yet my brother, the kid who at one point I couldn’t stop worrying about because his sole mission in life seemed to be to get in as much trouble as possible, was studying it. He didn’t know what he planned to use his qualifications for, or whether he’d go on to university, but he had time to figure all that stuff out. For now, he just wanted to learn. He was happy, and that’s all I, and our mum, had ever wanted for him.
Scott, on the other hand, had his whole future mapped out in his head. He was studying applied science, biology and maths, with the aim of venturing into the forensic science field…whatever that entailed. One thing’s for sure, these boys had more intelligence in their little fingers than I had in my entire brain, and they had fantastic lives ahead of them.
“Girl, I’m bagsying the treehouse for me and Benny,” Rhys continued. “He’ll blow his load when he sees the place.”
I didn’t miss the fact his eyes sparkled when he mentioned Benny’s name, just like they always did. Of course, he wouldn’t admit that…unless he was drunk. Nothing ever came of them sleeping together on the night Miss Tique made her return to the stage. Both he and Benny were adamant they were just friends, but everyone except them knew better. They spent all their free time together. They bickered like an old married couple. They teased and insulted each other at every available opportunity. They were hilariously adorable.
“Maybe this is it,” I suggested. “The right time you’ve been waiting for. We’re in a forest cabin, the middle of nowhere. It’s romantic. You should tell him.”
This wasn’t the first time I’d teased him about his feelings for Benny, and I expected the usual response of, ‘I don’t kn
ow what you’re talking about.’
“Hmm.” He shrugged. “Maybe.”
Well fuck me sideways three times. My eyes widened. “Really?”
“Look, just…act normal when he arrives, okay? I don’t know if I’ll say anythin’. I don’t even know if there’s anythin’ to say.”
“We both know that’s not true,” I said, raising an eyebrow that oozed a bucket full of scepticism.
Rhys opened his mouth to reply, but we were interrupted by Seb and the boys bustling into the cabin with the rest of the suitcases. “That’s the last of it,” Seb said. “And Benny just called. He’ll be here about four.”
Benny had work to do this morning so he was travelling separately, which was a good job really. Despite the seven seats in Seb’s car, with all our luggage in tow we may have ended up strapping Benny to the roof rack.
“I’ll go put my cases in the treehouse,” Rhys said with childlike excitement dripping from his voice. The treehouse was a separate cabin, joined to ours by a rope bridge, built high above the ground and around an actual tree that ran through the middle of it. It was kind of awesome.
“Hey!” Tyler cut in. “Scott and I want the treehouse!”
“Tough shit, buttercup. I bagsied it first.”
“You’re practically a pensioner. You’re too old to bagsy.”
Rhys narrowed his eyes, making me wonder if I was about to witness my first murder. “Respect your elders.” He picked up his case, swished his head like he was in a L’Oréal advert, and then added, “This elder is going to his treehouse. Toodles, girls.”
“That’s not fair,” Tyler said, even though Rhys was already half way out the door. “Go tell him, Olli!”
Trying not to laugh, I offered my hands into the air and shrugged. “Look on the bright side. You’re closer to the hot tub in here.”
“Hmm.” Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he turned to Scott. “Wanna get in it now, mate?”
“Sure. Just gotta text Hannah first,” Scott replied, already tapping out a message on his phone with a ridiculously wide smile on his face. Hannah was his third, or maybe even fourth, girlfriend this year. I’d lost count. Tyler, however, was still with Evan, who Seb and I had got to know pretty well seeing as he spent so much time at our house. He’d brought out a confidence in Tyler that was truly joyous to see. He made him happy. He made him act stupid and jealous, soppy and coy, and all the other things that came with being young and in love. Would they stand the test of time? I didn’t know. But he was having fun figuring it all out, and I’d be there for him, being mighty damn proud, throughout.
This week was about escaping the real world for a while. It was about celebrating being cancer free for a year, embracing friends and family, and…relaxing. Although, the trip Seb and the boys had planned to some outdoor adventure park tomorrow didn’t sound all that relaxing. Zip wiring, rock climbing, and Segway-ing through the forest didn’t sound like my brand of fun. I hadn’t told them yet, but I planned to talk Rhys into staying behind and drinking martinis in the hot tub. Either that, or faking a stomach bug.
They would not see my arse hooked up to a safety harness, that I was certain of.
The trip had been months in the making. It wasn’t easy getting everyone off work and college at the same time. Speaking of college, I was back there myself now, part time on Thursday and Friday evenings, studying towards my NVQ Level 4 in hairdressing. The fees were covered by my new employer – Jamelia Rogers – who owned one of the biggest and trendiest salons in the north of England, situated slap bang in the centre of Manchester. It’d taken me a couple of months to pluck up the courage to turn my dream into reality, or more specifically, to tell Claire my plans…but she took the news well. She was happy for me, in fact, and we’d stayed in touch via social media and texts. I worked hard, as hard as I planned all those years ago before my mum passed away, and I relished every second of it. Even better, I got to come home to Seb every night.
Who knew, maybe one day I would get to open my own salon after all.
This past year we’d got to do all the ‘new couple’ things we’d missed out on. We had regular date nights. We went to restaurants, the cinema, he took me to an art gallery one night which was…shite, if I’m honest. I think he was trying to be more sophisticated after I noted the cinema was full of teenagers, but I wouldn’t know a Picasso from a Sharpie special on a club toilet wall. Still, I enjoyed the KFC on the way home, taking me back to our first dinner together in his truck. The sex at the end of the night was pretty memorable too. We didn’t even make it to the bedroom, a ball of tangled naked limbs by the time we’d reached the couch.
Had to love the nights Tyler stayed over at a friend’s and Scott was with his mum and Jenny.
Twelve months on and were still growing, still learning new things about each other. Just last week, for example, I learned that Seb had the dab move down to a fine art. I hadn’t even heard of the bloody thing until he lowered his head into his forearm, whipping his other arm out into a straight line, in one swift movement after acing a bottle flip, Ty and Scott cheering him on. For a moment he became less man of my dreams and more friend you walk a few steps behind so no one associates you with them, until he grinned like he’d just won an Olympic gold and I fell in love with the goofy gobshite all over again.
Unfortunately, the bottle flip craze hadn’t died over the last twelve months.
It hadn’t all been rainbows and butterflies. We’d had a couple of scares too. Six months ago I got another chest infection and it was difficult not to think cancer at the first sign of anything untoward. Even reassurances from my doctors, both GP and haematologist, did little to quash my overactive imagination. The only thing that seemed to work was getting better, my body providing me with the evidence my brain needed that it was, indeed, a run-of-the-mill infection that anyone could’ve picked up. The same thing happened when a whopping bruise appeared on my shin…until I remembered banging it on the door of the dishwasher a couple of days earlier. I’m not sure that fear will ever go away. It’s just something I had to learn to cope with, and I was doing better at it. I think.
“This isn’t working,” Rhys grumbled, squinting as he tapped on the TV remote. We were all sat together on the large L-shaped couch, in front of the flat screen TV that was set into the wall opposite. We may have been on a forest holiday, but none of us were cut out for being one with nature. This was the best of both worlds – a flashy cabin with all the mod cons, set amongst lots of trees and nice scenery.
For the last fifteen minutes, Rhys had been trying to set up the TV so we could order food to be delivered to the cabin later, and he’d been getting frustrated for fourteen of them.
“You need to put in the code from the welcome pack,” Seb said, caressing the top of my arm as I snuggled closer into his side.
“I am. It’s not working.” He looked down at the printed matter in the welcome pack again. “UVGGPO7F.”
Seb held out his hand. “Give it here.”
With a huff, Rhys handed over the pack.
“That’s a zero not an O.”
Rhys offered an exaggerated blink before snatching the paper back and re-entering the code into the remote. It worked, and Seb smirked, which Rhys completely ignored. In true diva style, Rhys wore an impressive pout, but it quickly disappeared at the sound of a car pulling up outside, followed by the slam of a car door…and then another.
Hmm.
Scott jumped up, padding over the heated hardwood floor to open the cabin door for Benny.
“Hi, honeys! I’m hooome!” Benny sang, waltzing into the cabin waving his car keys in the air.
“Thank Christ,” Rhys said, standing to join him. “Save me from these boring old grandads. I’ll show you to our room. We’re in the treehouse!”
“Oh, uh…” Benny’s expression twisted, and then some random guy I’d never seen before walked up behind him, wearing an awkward smile and an ugly jumper. “I, um, booked a different cabin. Everyo
ne…” He turned to Mr Random, and then back to the rest of us. “This is Darren.” Benny took hold of Darren’s hand, giving it a squeeze.
And that’s the moment I saw Rhys’ heart sink right in front of me…just before he forced a smile in place and offered out his hand. “Nice to meet ya, sweetness,” he said, shaking the hand of the man I was pretty sure he hated already.
“You too. Benny’s told me a lot about you guys.”
“Really? He’s told us nothing about you.”
Oh God. Play nice, Rhys.
After clearing his throat, from nerves I suspected, Benny held his head high and said, “We’re in cabin twenty-four. We’ll go put our luggage away and then come back and join you for dinner?” It came out like a question, as if he were worried he might not be welcome any longer.
“Sure,” Seb agreed. I recognised the ‘and you’ll tell me everything’ stare as he spoke.
And then they left, and I started to worry about my best friend, and our holiday, which is why I took Rhys off to one side. “You okay?” I asked, placing my hand on his shoulder.
He smiled wide, flashing his teeth, but his cheeks barely moved at all. “Course I am.”
“It might not be serious.”
“Oliver, I’m fine. Seriously. Don’t worry about me, girl.” He gave off a small shrug. “I’m forty next year. I’ve missed my chance. Maybe I’ve missed all my chances, and that’s okay. Maybe I will get a cat after all.”
“Rhys-”
“He looks happy, therefore I’m happy. Although, he does look like a dick don’t you think? The seventies called and they want their jumper back. And he was wearin’ wellies. What grown arse man owns wellies? And don’t get me started on his fringe. What did he do? Take the N*Sync poster he’s had on his bedroom wall since the nineties into his barber and say ‘copy that’?”