holiday had turned out worse than even I had imagined, and we all know how much I was looking forward to it. Trystan didn’t have a nice word to say to me and had reverted to more or less how he’d been five years ago, admittedly with less physical abuse. Josh wasn’t allowed anywhere near me, and well, Vince never spoke to me out of choice anyway. Jorja was pissed with me, my dad was furious because he just went ahead and assumed it was my fault everyone had fallen out, and Mum was just sad, which was worse than her being annoyed with me.
The cherry on the metaphorical camping cake was that it hadn’t stopped raining.
When we pulled up in the farmyard earlier, I had unpacked my stuff from the 4x4 straight into my car and driven off. I didn’t even stay for the roast dinner I had technically earned by going in the first place. But no one tried to stop me.
“ Go on, what did ye do? ” I could basically hear Theo shaking his head at me.
I smiled even though there was nobody to see the melancholy it was tinged with. “Ye know, I know gay men that don’t like t’ gossip as much as ye do?”
“ Yeah? Well there has t’ be some benefits t’ having a gay best friend, eh? I’m in touch with my feminine side, the girls dig it. What do ye city kids call it? Metro? ”
Theo was the same age as me and the least “metro” person I could think of; he drove a mud colored jeep so that he didn’t have to clean it, wore jumpers his Gran knitted, and dressed mostly for his job—which as a farmer required him to wear things he didn’t mind getting covered in shit. With the exception of his love of gossip, cheesy pop music and tendency to turn into a mother-hen where I was concerned, he was the straightest person I knew in personality and appearance. But still, it made me laugh for the first time in a few days.
“Sorry for bailing on ye, man. But ye know what she’s like when she’s got one on her. Best t’ give her some space and let her chill out.” Actually I was giving her space because I was pissed with her almost as much as she was pissed with me. I don’t care what she thought had gone on, we were supposed to stick together, but she abandoned me and sided with Trystan- fricking -Jackson, of all people. It made my blood boil and I needed the alone time to chill out as much as she did.
“ Aye, that I do. Well drive safe, and ye owe me a beer next time yer back. ”
“Sure thing, Theo. See ye.”
I was almost home when I hung up with a lingering half-smile. I kind of wished that I’d just taken the five minute drive to Theo’s instead of the two hour trip to York. He would have let me crash there, and I could have caught up with him and probably got the clearance I needed to sort out this shit with Jorja. But I had wanted to come back to York, I wanted what only the city could offer me.
Ten minutes later I parallel parked into the only free space on my street, loaded my shoulders with my bag and tent and headed to the beaten up town house that was my student home. I didn’t bother calling out a hello because it was really only me and Jason that stuck around over the summer and he was probably at work. Plus, I was kind of disgusting because bathing in the lake had been less fun in the rain, not to mention surrounded by people that didn’t like me very much.
I gave Carmella’s still empty room a rueful glance as I headed upstairs. Penny, Jason, Matt, Carmella and me had lived together since first year, and I’d thought I knew all of them pretty well. Obviously I hadn’t known Carmella as well as I’d thought, because while I was in Canada she’d dropped out of uni with no explanation. I’d come back to find her room deserted and Jason panicking about how the hell we were going to pay her part of the rent.
But that was a problem for next week ; in fact, it was a problem for any time other than right now.
At the top of the house I unlocked my attic-room, chucked my bags against one of the other
The cherry on the metaphorical camping cake was that it hadn’t stopped raining.
When we pulled up in the farmyard earlier, I had unpacked my stuff from the 4x4 straight into my car and driven off. I didn’t even stay for the roast dinner I had technically earned by going in the first place. But no one tried to stop me.
“ Go on, what did ye do? ” I could basically hear Theo shaking his head at me.
I smiled even though there was nobody to see the melancholy it was tinged with. “Ye know, I know gay men that don’t like t’ gossip as much as ye do?”
“ Yeah? Well there has t’ be some benefits t’ having a gay best friend, eh? I’m in touch with my feminine side, the girls dig it. What do ye city kids call it? Metro? ”
Theo was the same age as me and the least “metro” person I could think of; he drove a mud colored jeep so that he didn’t have to clean it, wore jumpers his Gran knitted, and dressed mostly for his job—which as a farmer required him to wear things he didn’t mind getting covered in shit. With the exception of his love of gossip, cheesy pop music and tendency to turn into a mother-hen where I was concerned, he was the straightest person I knew in personality and appearance. But still, it made me laugh for the first time in a few days.
“Sorry for bailing on ye, man. But ye know what she’s like when she’s got one on her. Best t’ give her some space and let her chill out.” Actually I was giving her space because I was pissed with her almost as much as she was pissed with me. I don’t care what she thought had gone on, we were supposed to stick together, but she abandoned me and sided with Trystan- fricking -Jackson, of all people. It made my blood boil and I needed the alone time to chill out as much as she did.
“ Aye, that I do. Well drive safe, and ye owe me a beer next time yer back. ”
“Sure thing, Theo. See ye.”
I was almost home when I hung up with a lingering half-smile. I kind of wished that I’d just taken the five minute drive to Theo’s instead of the two hour trip to York. He would have let me crash there, and I could have caught up with him and probably got the clearance I needed to sort out this shit with Jorja. But I had wanted to come back to York, I wanted what only the city could offer me.
Ten minutes later I parallel parked into the only free space on my street, loaded my shoulders with my bag and tent and headed to the beaten up town house that was my student home. I didn’t bother calling out a hello because it was really only me and Jason that stuck around over the summer and he was probably at work. Plus, I was kind of disgusting because bathing in the lake had been less fun in the rain, not to mention surrounded by people that didn’t like me very much.
I gave Carmella’s still empty room a rueful glance as I headed upstairs. Penny, Jason, Matt, Carmella and me had lived together since first year, and I’d thought I knew all of them pretty well. Obviously I hadn’t known Carmella as well as I’d thought, because while I was in Canada she’d dropped out of uni with no explanation. I’d come back to find her room deserted and Jason panicking about how the hell we were going to pay her part of the rent.
But that was a problem for next week ; in fact, it was a problem for any time other than right now.
At the top of the house I unlocked my attic-room, chucked my bags against one of the other
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