Hide Your Heart

The Morning After

"Paul? I gotta throw up. " was the first thing Paul heard as he made coffee. Letting out a small laugh, he heard Tommy running to the bathroom. "Maybe it's the wine." He continued to make coffee as the water turned on. 

Soon after, Tommy shuffled into the kitchen and sat down. Jumping right back up, he groaned. "Too much booze. Now I hurt all over."

Almost choking on his coffee, Paul burst out laughing. "Do you not remember the dinner....cake....um, afterwards?"

Tommy was quiet for a few minutes. "I remember the cake. It was called Better Than ......Oh my God!!!" He went pale and ran back to the bathroom.

Paul didn't know whether to be offended or laugh. After a few minutes, he headed to the bathroom and knocked on the door. "Baby?" 

"P-p-please g-g-go a-away." "I-i-i j-j-just f-feel a-a-awful." came the sob.

Paul walked in anyway. Sitting down beside Tommy, he stroked his hair. "Baby, talk to me." He pulled Tommy into his lap. "Was it so awful you're upset?"

"I don' 'member anything. I didn't throw up on you, did I?"

"No, you were totally relaxed. You seemed to enjoy last night so why are you upset?"

"I-I-I ,um, was a ...." "Is that why I hurt now?"

Paul's eyes grew wide as he realized what Tommy was talking about. "You mean you and Jaime never went all the way?" 

Tommy shook his head as he broke out into fresh tears. "Y-y-you're g-g-gonna leave me now. I was told that when you take someone's innocence you leave them afterwards."

"That's not going to happen."

Paul held Tommy close and rubbed his back until the tears stopped.

They were sitting in the bathroom when Gene walked in. "Hey, you two okay?" 

Paul shot daggers at Gene as he stood up, after setting Tommy on the floor. "Tom, take a shower. Gene, you and I are gonna talk."

Once the shower turned on, Paul let Gene know what he thought about the comment. "Thanks to you, Tommy now thinks I'm leaving him."

"My God. I made that comment five years ago." "He  didn't hear it from me."

Paul rolled his eyes and let Gene out. Heading back to the kitchen, he drank a second cup. "Tom will need extra reassurance now."

In the bathroom, Tommy cried harder. He finally got out when the water got cold. After dressing, he took a few breaths and headed to the kitchen. "Is there any more coffee? Paul, I'm sorry for crying so much."

"It's okay. Yes, there's plenty of coffee. " Paul had placed a cushion in Tommy's chair.

Breakfast was mostly silent, broken up by a few spoken words but not a full blown conversation.

Paul placed a kiss on Tommy's cheek as he headed to the sink. "I love you." he said simply.