Chapter seven
I could hear Chris giggling as she served a customer, but couldn’t see his face from where I was standing at the far end of the bakery. She was good with people, always smiling and winning people over with a single glance. I admired that about her.
“Hey, Amir?” Chris yelled to be heard over the dishwasher noise and the running water as I washed the last of the big trays that didn’t fit into the machine.
“Yeah?” I stopped the water and turned to face her, wiping my hands on a towel.
“Are you okay to close up?”
She rarely asked to leave early, so I raised an eyebrow, biting the inside of my cheek to stop a smile forming. The usually cool and collected Chris was fidgeting and bouncing on the balls of her feet.
I snuck a glance over her shoulder and saw a guy thrumming his fingers on the counter and pretending not to eavesdrop on our exchange.
“Sure,” I drawled, throwing the dishtowel on the counter behind me. “Got plans?” I added, glancing at the guy obviously waiting for her.
“Something like that,” she said, a bit too cheerfully, and took a few steps towards me to collect her bag and coat. “Say another word,” Chris whispered under her breath as she passed by me, “and I’ll ‘accidentally’ put coconut flakes in everything for the rest of time.”
I gasped.
She knew how much I hated coconut flakes.
“Now, that’s just mean.” I threw my hands in the air as she opened the back door and walked out, throwing me an evil smile over her shoulder.
Once I was alone, I decided to clean up and get ready to leave. We were technically still open, but it was late, and nobody was queuing out front. I packed the remaining cookies for the centre, keeping an eye out for any customers coming my way. Nobody showed by the time I had everything wrapped in foil and arranged in a bag, so all that was left to do was clean the counters, throw the rubbish away and store everything in its place. I liked finding the bakery clean and tidy in the morning.
“Hey,” I heard a familiar voice and turned to face the counter, meeting Jay’s twinkling eyes.
“Jay,” I said, both surprised and happy to see him. “What are you doing here?” I glanced at the clock on the wall – it was a few minutes past five. Jay was usually still in school at that time.
“My last class was cancelled,” he said with a grin. “So I decided to stop by on my way home and see if you had any cookies left.”
“I just packed them all for the centre.” I jerked my chin towards the bag on the opposite counter. “Why don’t you come in through the back door and I’ll show you what I have left and you’ll take your pick?”
Jay looked a bit lost, but I showed him where to go to get to the door, and went to open it. Next thing I knew Jay walked in and straight into my arms. His lips were cold as he kissed me, and so were his fingers as he cupped my face. He tasted of coffee and faintly of mint, and the feel of him against me sent tingles down my body. I clutched at the coat on his back, trying to fuse our bodies even closer together, and felt Jay’s lips spread into a smile.
“What?” I whispered, our lips still brushing as I spoke.
“Nothing,” he said, giving me a final peck before pulling away. “When I found out my class was cancelled all I could think about was coming here and kissing you.”
“Oh yeah? And my cookies had no leverage on your decision to stop by?”
“None whatsoever,” Jay said way too fast. “Where are they?”
I laughed and shook my head, brushing past Jay as I headed towards the counter. Unwrapping the packaging was no easy feat considering I’d packed them to be safe from a Flo attack, but I managed, and offered Jay to pick whatever he wanted. He took a cinnamon roll in one hand and a caramel and praline cookie in the other. As he munched happily, I repacked everything and drew the shutters of the customer counter down.
“So what is this centre you mentioned?” He asked, biting into the cookie, the cinnamon roll long gone.
“It’s the John Sherwood Veteran Rehabilitation Centre.” He didn’t react at the name so I continued. “It’s a privately run centre for war veterans. My friend Shane runs it.” Jay chewed his cookie, his eyes urging me to continue.
I wasn’t in the mood to talk about the centre, or veterans like me who needed all the help they could get.
A loud bang on the door startled me, making my heart rate speed up. Jay looked at the door questioningly, but didn't otherwise react. Two fucking years and I still couldn’t react to sudden noise like a normal person.
I knew who it was as I marched to the door and swung it open.
“For fuck’s sake, Greg! Learn to make less noise, will ya?” A brief flash of regret appeared in Greg’s eyes but quickly disappeared.
“Good to see you, too, mate,” he said with an annoying smirk. He brushed past me without waiting for an invitation. “And who’s this?” The glee in his voice made me want to smack him.
“Hi. I’m Jay.” Extending his hand, Jay realised he was still holding his cookie and hastily put it on the counter, wiping his hand with the dish towel. “Sorry.”
“Hi there, Jay, nice to officially meet you. The other night at the club Amir didn’t let anyone get close to you and introduce themselves.” Greg leered at Jay and I rolled my eyes as I walked past him to Jay’s side. “Whatever he’s told you about me is not true.” Greg winked at Jay and dropped his hand. Jay smiled at him.
“I told him you had a huge cock,” I said.
Jay laughed and looked at me in disbelief.
Greg was, of course, unfazed. “Alright, I was wrong. Nearly everything he’s told you about me is not true.” Greg winked at Jay and his lips spread into a huge grin, dimples and all.
“Actually, he’s never mentioned you,” Jay said.
“Ouch,” Greg said, his hand flying to his chest.
“When did you come back?” I asked, trying to get Greg back on track or he’d be rambling nonsense all day.
“Couple of hours ago,” he said, his smile faltering a little. “Left Shane at the centre and came to see you.” He glanced at Jay nervously, or as nervous as Greg ever got. Someone who didn’t know him well would miss the slight thinning of his lips, but not me. “To say goodbye, I guess. I’m leaving tomorrow.”
“I should go...” Jay said, sensing the change in the conversation. He reached for his bag that he’d dumped on a chair, but Greg stopped him.
“No, it’s fine, mate. Amir and I, we do this shit all the time.” Jay glanced uncertainly at me as if making sure I didn't want to be alone with Greg, and I shrugged. “I’m never around for long.”
“Where are you going?” Jay asked as if unable to stop himself.
“Back to work.” Greg stuffed his hands in his jeans pockets and came out with a pack of cigarettes a second later.
“How’s he?” I asked.
Greg lifted one shoulder without meeting my eyes. “He’ll cope.”
We both knew he left ‘eventually’ out.
I turned around and grabbed the bag of cookies from the counter, handing it to Greg. He didn't reach to take it.
“Take it back to the centre. You know they’ll be waiting for their daily dose of sugar overload.”
“Amir...” Greg exhaled my name as if it was the biggest inconvenience in the world to argue with me.
“Fuck you, Greg,” I snapped, and took a step closer until our feet nearly touched. I’d ignited something fierce inside him and could see the fire blazing in his dark eyes. “Take the fucking cookies to the centre and then take Shane home, or he’ll spend the night there trying to catch up on work.”
“I’m not going back there. We’ve already said our goodbyes...”
“I don't give a damn.” The determination in my voice made the fight leak out of Greg and he reached to take the bag, his shoulders slumping.
The advantage of knowing someone since you were kids was that you could read them so well they had nowhere to hide. I hated when Greg did it to me, and it seemed he hated it right now even more. We both knew why I wanted him to go back.
Shane.
“Give him tonight,” I whispered, placing a hand on Greg’s shoulder and giving it a squeeze.
Greg nodded and when he raised his eyes to mine they were damp.
“Thanks,” he said, and with a wave at Jay he left.
“You okay?” Jay asked, coming closer to me and weaving his arm around my waist. I turned into him, hugging him tight, grateful that I didn’t have to do what Greg was about to do tomorrow.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, pulling back slightly and kissing Jay on the nose. He scrunched it and wiped it with his hand, making an annoyed face. When he was done I kissed it again, making him roll his eyes. “Come on, let’s go.”
“Where?” He slung his messenger bag over his shoulder and headed for the door while I turned off all the lights.
“I don’t care. I just want to be with you tonight.”
Jay nodded and took my hand in his as we walked out on the street.