"Take a seat"
☆
"E...excuse me?" Ben leans forwards a little to try and get the man's attention. The man turns to see Ben looking at him, a moment of confusion gracing his face, before recognising the staff member. He says nothing, waiting for Ben to continue. "I have this for you.' He offers over the wrapped up cookie, causing the man to look down at the white napkin in Ben's hand.
He takes the offering put to him, with Ben having the pleasure of seeing the fingers of one of those beautiful hands curl under the wrapped cookie. A moment of physical contact feels like an electrifying spark on Ben's pale skin, before the contact is lost and he is left statuesque with an empty upturned palm.
The man now places the offering on a newly made space on his plate and unwraps the napkin like a present. "A biscuit!" He declares which instantly makes Ben smile.
"It's a cookie apparently." He says laughing lightly, making the man look up.
"Oh... but I didn't order a cookie, you must have the wrong person, ...but now I've touched it, I'm sorry." He says, retracting those gorgeous hands like lightning from the cookie.
The look of confusion on the man's face followed by the guilt for handling someone else's treat hit Ben strongly. He holds up his hands as a means of calming the man down. "It's yours. Don't worry." He says, adding a reassuring smile to boot.
"Mine?" The man questions, once again looking at his plate, before looking back up at Ben. His eyes so wide in surprise, Ben wished he could freeze the moment so he could just gaze back for as long as he desired.
"Yes…free with the meal...like a meal deal." Ben replies, pleased with his convincing answer, he stands up a little straighter, hands linked behind his back. He might have subconsciously been puffing out his defined chest under his tight white t-shirt and green and yellow apron, whilst showcasing his strong biceps to boot, but the man had already diverted his attention back to the cookie on his plate.
"Well, thank you. I didn't realise…Ben." The man looks up and smiles once again, with Ben totally enjoying his name being rolled off the man's tongue, before he furrows his brow in confusion. "H...how do you know my name?"
The man points to Ben's chest, raising an eyebrow. "It says Ben on your badge."
Ben looks down on himself, pulling at the badge and reading it upside down. "Oh yeah." He says, feeling so embarrassed and maybe a little foolish for thinking it was because he had noticed him on another, more personal level.
The man then looks away, picking up the remainder of his baguette and resumes his stare out of the window, taking a bite in the process. But Ben doesn't move. This can't be the end. He looks back over at his work colleague. Malroy was watching it all unfold from behind the counter with an amused grin on his face. Ben pulls both his lips back into his mouth, biting ever so lightly. He turns back to the man and asks, "What are you looking at exactly? You know, out of the window?"
The man looks at Ben again. He puts down his sandwich, pushes himself back on the stool a little. The sound makes a tiny screech on the polished floor and causes Ben to take a step back. The man then pats the stool next to him a couple of times before adding, "Take a seat."
Ben again quickly turns to look at Malroy, whose smug grin had now gone, to be replaced by a straight stare, arms folded. He then looks at the seat he had been invited to sit on, which he does so."Take a good look and tell me what you see." The man says as he again directs his gaze out of the window.
So Ben looks…"I see hair, mid to dark brown, a tiny stud earring, a…"
The man suddenly looks at Ben who is staring directly at his profile. "No, not at me, out of the window." The man says laughing as Ben quickly, shifts his body round and refocuses on the window and subsequently onto the world outside. "Ok, tell me what you see now?"
Ben had much prefered the first image, but he does his best to do as he is asked as he stares out of the window and onto the busy street. "Ummm, I see cars, people, buildings...ooh that man has Nike SBs on!" Ben suddenly points excitedly at a guy crossing the street.
"You see what is in front of you, yes?" The man questions as if he knew Ben was going to say all of those things. Like it was some kind of clever trap.
"Yes?" Ben says, furrowing his brows at the question. Maybe this guy was actually a weirdo. Why was he always attracted to the strange ones?
"Look again. Try and see what isn't there." The man says, with Ben now wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into. He looks once again but he doesn't know what he is supposed to be looking for.
"Can you see ghosts or something?" Ben asks as he tries his best to see the unseeable or whatever the man meant by that comment.
"Of course not!" The man says laughing before taking a sip of milk through his straw. "Ok...let me explain….
YOU ARE READING
The Therapist (boyxboy)
RomanceROMANCE The big window. That was where it all began. 'The window to the souls of many' he had once said. For the longest time, Ben had never understood what he actually meant by that. But it must have had significance to him, as at this time, every...
