The Boy Between Us

Chapter Four

My next instinct was to run up to him and give him his change, but I wondered if he only did it as a compensation for our earlier encounter. Still, it seemed a little too much and my mind was uneasy. Not knowing what else to do I put the money in the register. My anger was slowly dimming but it was still lingering about. I was still annoyed at how rude he had been and I got even madder at the thought of him trying to compensate me with money. A simple apology would’ve done anyways but he was still too proud, wasn’t he?

I had to push all those thoughts aside as more customers came in. I decided to close up the shop at three since I had made more money than I usually made in a day. I texted Josh and waited for him to show up.

Josh and I were in something of a relationship and we were on and off a lot sometimes. Currently, we were on again and everything seemed to be going well between us.

The sound of the bells thirty minutes later startled me a bit. I guess I had dozed off after a while. I looked up to see Josh, tall, brown haired, wide grin; marching confidently towards me.

“Sorry babes.”, his voice boomed over the empty bookshop. “I had to pick up the car from the mechanic’s.” And he met me with a hug and gave me a kiss.

It was when I was almost breathless that I disentangled from his embrace and begun packing up.

“How did the day go, huh?”, he asked, leaning on the counter and turning the the globe.

“Not too bad. A bit busy but yeah. Some ‘unwanted’ persons too but it was overall for a good cause so.”, I shrugged and my mind went back to the man.

“Unwanted visitors, sounds interesting”, Josh said as he grabbed me by the waist and leaned over for another kiss. His breath smelt of those candied toffees you see a lot at the mall and his stubble was a bit grown and scratched my cheek. His hands slowly moved up to caress my breasts and then moved down slowly again to my behind. He pulled me in closer and kissed me even harder. The heat rising quickly from below my stomach and I could feel his erection on my thigh.

“Josh, Josh wait!”, I whispered in a gasp and pushed him away slightly.

“Why? I’ve missed you so much, baby.”, he nibbled at my ear and let a flight of kisses down my neck.

“No, wait stop!”, I insisted. “We can’t do this here. Not now.”, I added.

“Then let’s go over to my place.”, he said, grabbing my bag and my hand.

“Ava might be waiting for me at home”, I said, not moving.

Josh stopped with a slight frown and said: “What for? Come on, Ryan, you always do this. Ava will be fine, just tell her you’re a bit busy or something. Or you had to work overtime. She’ll understand.”

I was tempted to just give a number of excuses but I only sighed inwardly and went along. As I locked up and handed Josh the keys, I felt a sudden sense of guilt at leaving Ava behind alone at home to make dinner by herself after probably having a long day at work but I knew that Josh wasn’t going to have it.

“I love you baby”, He said as he cupped my face in his palms and then his lips crushed mine. He kept on rubbing my thighs as he sped down the opposite street to his place. Inside, he tore off the shirt right in the living room.

“Josh, at least wait until we’re in your room or something.”, I said to him as he removed my coat.

“There’s no one at home right now.”, He replied as he kicked of his shoes.

I squirmed a little until he gave in and lifted me and carried me all the way to the bedroom.

It was almost 8:30pm when I woke up beside Josh on his bed. His mouth was opened a bit and he snored a little. Siting up and rubbing my eyes, I reached for my phone.

“Oh no, Ava”, I thought to myself when I checked the phone and saw the time. Sure enough I had received a number of calls and texts from her. I quickly dressed up and grabbed my coat from the floor. I wrote Josh a note telling him that I had left and texted Ava to say that I would be home in ten. With that I rushed out, slowly closing the door behind me as not to wake Josh up and flagged down a cab.

“Where have you been, Ryan?”, Ava asked, looking worried the instant I stepped inside the house. I could see some unopened envelopes on the table and the sense of guilt came flooding again. I was busy making out while Ava was struggling to keep us together.

“I… uhm, I was at work. I had to work an extra shift because Miss Jones called in sick.” Which was almost the entire truth anyways.

“But the shop closes at six o’clock maximin, doesn’t it?”, Ava asked.

“Uhh...yes, yes it does but Mr. Eric was out of town so I had to wait some time so he could come for the keys.”

It was obvious I was lying and Ava looked me over suspiciously but said nothing, only shaking her head and sighing.

“Your hair is a complete mess by the way.”, she said, and went back to her computer. “Dinner is in the kitchen. You can microwave it up if you want.”

“I’m not hungry.”, I said as I trudged up to my room. Despite the soft growling of my stomach, I didn’t think my gnawing guilt would allow me to eat.

Well eventually I got overwhelmed at midnight and I was so hungry that I couldn’t help but eat after all. Ava had fallen asleep at the table and I tapped her a little to wake her up for bed. She bade me goodnight and went sleepily to her room. In order not to wake her up, I decided to eat my food cold.