Page 23 of For Fake's Sake and other stories

“No worries.” Gage calls out to his friend, and a muffled conversation goes on. Then Banner’s voice greets me.

“What can I do for you?”

“Hi, I wonder if you have some free time one day this week for me to talk to you about a project. Well, it’s a foundation, actually. I want to make LGBTQ students in private sector education safer and better understood and looked after. You could have some information I would find useful.”

“That’s amazing, Ollie. I’d love to help. When would be best for you? Could you come to my office after work? I’m free on Tuesday or Thursday evening this week.”

“Thank you, that’s brilliant. Where do you work? I can figure out how long it will take me to get to you.”

“I’ll text you the address, along with my work and mobile numbers, and you can let me know what time.”

“Great, thanks. Sorry to interrupt your Sunday. I’ll be in touch.” I end the call and let out a long breath. Having more information from him will be so helpful. Maybe he’ll also be able to offer some of his time.

I turn on my laptop and write out some ideas to discuss with Henry Garvey tomorrow. I’m immersed in all of my ideas when Jack pokes his head around my door. “You want to eat? I was going to order pizza.”

I look at the time in the corner of my computer screen. “Shit! Is it that late already? Yes, pizza sounds great.” I save and close down my documents, then switch off my computer.

We spend the evening catching up on Netflix, bingeing on the programmes we love, but I find it difficult to concentrate as flashes of Kit and what he did to my body play in my mind. I still feel him, the muted ache that reminds me it was real. He wants me. He feels the same way about me as I do him. From the first moment we met, we were attracted to each other. If it hadn’t been for fucking Monty, we probably would have swapped numbers and started dating after the first meeting in the bar. But would we have fizzled out? Would we have bothered to get to know each other the way we do now? Or would we have got physical so quickly and burnt out? I’m thinking that even though we acted like twats by not owning our feelings and admitting that we wanted more to make it real, we now have the better outcome. We know each other. We’ve talked about our lives, our backgrounds. All the things we would need to make our relationship look real. And now it is.

By the time I get to bed, I’m itching to text him. We haven’t arranged to see each other again, but I want to. Before I can think of what to say, my phone buzzes in my hand.

Kit: My bed smells of you. Why aren’t you here?

Me: God, I wish I was.

Kit: Tomorrow?

Me: Yes, please.

When I walk into work, I feel Jack’s eyes on me, and a small smile plays on my lips. Is he expecting me to share? Ollie won’t have talked about us in any detail, so I’m damn sure I’m not going to.

“You look very pleased with yourself. Like the cat who got the cream.” Jack laughs. “I’m not going to ask for details. Ollie is looking equally as blissed as you. I know you’re going to treat him right, because I will break your legs if you hurt him.”

“Are you finished with the ‘dad’ talk?” I smirk.

“Yes. I think I’ve said all I need to. For now. Except that I’m happy for you both. I know you’ll be happy together.”

“Yeah, me too. He’s fucking awesome.” I’m grinning like a goon, but who cares? I’m counting the hours until I see Ollie again.

“The day isn’t going to go any quicker by constantly clock watching,” Jack says.

“Fuck you,” I mutter under my breath and then walk to the couple that have just walked in.

Two and a half hours and nine and a half grand later, I say a cheery goodbye to the smiling pair. Thank god for commission.

“Nice one. The competition has started well.” I grin smugly

“We’ll see. It’s only Monday. I’ll beat you. Just you wait,” Jack snaps. We have a race to see who can get the most commission each week. The loser has to buy lunch at the end of the week. We’re even at the moment, but I want to win this week, so I can treat Ollie to a night out.

The rest of the day goes quickly, and as we close, I’m still the winner. But Jack will be pulling out all the stops tomorrow. He’s a sneaky bastard when he needs to be.

I walk out with Jack and check my phone if Ollie has messaged me. Nothing. That’s weird. He said he’d be in touch. He told me he had a meeting with the headteacher today. Maybe it’s run on, and he’s not going to want to get together. Maybe he’s changed his mind and doesn’t want to be with me. Oh god, what if he doesn’t want to see me anymore? I shove my phone back into my pocket and try to calm down. I don’t want to have to ask Jack if he’s heard from him. He’ll be on Ollie’s side. Shit, shit, shit!

Someone bumps into my back and covers my eyes with warm hands. “Guess who.” Ollie’s cologne wafts to me, and I let out a long shaky breath. He drops his hands and step around to face me.

“Hey, what’s up?” Ollie asks.

“Nothing, I was being stupid.”

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