Butterflies (boyxboy)

Chapter 32: Let's go!

"While I was suffering from a fat tongue in the hospital, you were getting yours wet."

☆

"So, any plans this evening?" Alfie asks Dale who was about to lock the shop door as his boss cashes up his till.

Dale takes on board the question, deciding that maybe this was an opportune moment to have a spot of fun. "Well I was going to go for a barbecue with Henry, but he says he's had his fill of meat this week."

"W...what?" Alfie nearly traps his fingers in the till.

Dale stops short of the front door and turns around. "Alfie, I know." He says, a playful smile presenting on his face.

"What exactly do you know?" Alfie wonders. Did he know every detail? Surely he didn't know it all!

"While I was suffering from a fat tongue in the hospital, you were getting yours wet!" He adds a slight flick of the eyebrow to end the cheeky sentence.

Alfie looks down at the last few notes in the till, hurriedly putting them into a zippable bag. A half frown on his face. "You know I've been feeling guilty about that since it happened, guilty about how I left you in the hospital with that savage tongue, but now I want it to fall off."

Dale just smiles at his boss. The guy was so easy to wind up it was criminal! He turns back around and is about to lock the door, when he sees Blake through the glass. He is hurrying in his direction and is soon pushing the shop door open.

The comotion then causes Alfie to look up, who is about to say the shop is closed for the day before seeing who it is and knowing enough that his actions are concerning. "Blake, what's up!" Dale asks, with Alfie hurrying around the counter to join them.

"Tam. It's Tam. Something's happened to him. He..." Blake suddenly stops talking. How the hell was he going to explain this?"

"What? Blake! What's happened?" Alfie says, now equally as panicked.

"Just come!" Blake says as he turns and heads again out of the shop, with Dale and Alfie following quickly behind.

As they enter the gallery, Blake heads straight through the beaded curtains and is about to head up the stairs, when he hears his name being called from Tamesh's studio. "Blake, in here!"

Blake looks into the studio to see Tamesh with a rather large gown on his upper half, paintbrush in hand, standing with his painting. "Tam what's going on with your..." Blake looks at Tamesh who is staring back at him, a finger lightly pressing on his own lips, indicating for the model to stay quiet.

"I've finished your painting." He says with pride, and he steps back slightly from the work, to reveal the completed image of Blake, it looked spectacular and to finish off, a small purple butterfly had been painted on Blake's shoulder.

"Is this what the commotion was about?" Alfie says. The relief leaves him as he sees the completed work in all of its glory. "I thought you were going to die!" He laughs in jest.

Tamesh just laughs back at the comment, not enlightening his friend at how close to the truth he actually was. "Do you like it?" He asks everyone there, but is especially interested in what Blake thinks.

Blake again looks at Tamesh a little confused before his attention turns to the portrait "It's beautiful....I mean I know it's me, but how you've painted it. It's a masterpiece Tam"

"It's yours."

"What?" Blake looks at Tamesh in surprise.

"I will give it to you. And of course the seascape as well! Do with them what you will!" Tamesh says smiling.

"I don't know what to say?" Blake says.

"Say ok." Tamesh replies.

"If you don't want it i'll have it!" Alfie says, maybe a little too keen.

"Y...yes." Blake replies, much to Tamesh's relief and to the disappointment of Alfie.

"Well it seems the emergency is over!" Dale says. "Well done Tam. You did a great job."

"Thanks." Tamesh says with an appreciative smile.

"Well I've left my till open and the door unlocked, so I'd better go back to the shop before I get robbed." Alfie says with a happy sigh.

Tamesh watches as his friend goes to leave. "Hey Alfie?"

"Mm?" Alfie says, looking over his shoulder.

"I love you."

"Hey, I love you too." He replies chuckling. Dale receives a pat to the shoulder before he follows behind Alfie and soon once again it is the two of them.

Blake waits for the sound of the gallery door to click closed before he speaks. "Tam. What's going on? Are you seriously ok now? Have the wings gone?"

Tamesh lifts the gown over his head. The wings once again spread wide, looking more vibrant than before. "I want to do something for you." He says as he moves away from Blake and pulls a bar stool to one of the higher up windows.

"What is it?" Blake adds, still not sure what was actually going on. "Tam what is this? Are you ok now?"

"Don't worry about all of that." Tamesh says dismissively "Just answer me one thing."

Blake looks at Tamesh, a little apprehensivly, who was now forcing open the large window, pushing the sash fitting all the way down. "Ok, what is it?"

"Do you love Sonny?" Tamesh stops what he's doing and looks Blake in the eyes, with Tamesh looking straight back.

He doesn't even have to deliberate the question. "Of course I do. I love him with all my heart."

Tamesh approaches Blake and as he leans forward he takes his hand, pulling Blake towards the window. "So then, let's go tell him."