All's Fair In Love and War

I Hear The Echoes (Present)

Playlist
- King 810 - Alpha & Omega
-Halsey - Nightmare
-Brand New – Degausser
-James Arthur – Echoes
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Ben walked briskly from Number 45 across The Square to the Car Lot. Hands in his coat pockets. Purpose to his walk. He had an important sale to clinch today that he just couldn’t afford to mess up if he wanted to prove to Phil that he could be responsible as Co-Owner alongside Jay.

There was a slight chill in the air and, as he walked, his breathe came out in white small puffs which hung in the air before dissipating into the atmosphere beyond. When Ben’s daughter Lexi had been a bit younger, she would pretend she was a steam train when it was this cold.

She had been obsessed with trains that year, and had even demanded a Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake. But, ‘in pink’ and ‘definitely not in blue.’ He and Lola definitely had trouble finding a cake that even remotely resembled what Lexi had in mind and in the end, they had to resort to buying a Chocolate Caterpillar cake and making some ‘minor adjustments’ to it. Nonetheless, Lexi had been ecstatic with the outcome and was grinning from ear to ear all day.

As per usual, she would wrap Ben around her little finger and coax him into joining in with her and they would make their way to Walford Primary, breathing out puffs of air just like a steam train, with Ben adding the train whistle noise for added affect.

Walford Primary. Those two words would forever resonate over and over in his head. The same Primary School, where he had first met Callum all those years ago. Before ‘it’ happened, before ‘things’ happened, before that weird fluttery feeling Ben got in his chest whenever Callum was around, started to happen.

He was still deep in thought about his time at school when he bumped, smack into someone coming the other way, causing them to drop the shopping bags they were carrying back from the Minute Mart.

“Watch where yer goin’!” He snapped, knowing full well it was he who had not been looking where he was going and had collided with the person.

He narrowed his eyes at the person who was crouched at his feet, frantically trying to gather the spilled items, quickly reaching out to grab a tin of chopped tomatoes before it rolled under Mick’s Mitsubishi Shogun parked outside The Vic.

The person looked up at Ben, hand poised on the tin.

“C-Callum?” Ben stuttered, then cleared his voice to try and regain his composure. He didn’t want Callum thinking he had found a chink in his armour. “I-I didn’t see ya there. Let me help.” He gestured, pointing down at the items scattered about on the tarmac. He bent down and picked up an onion, before reaching for a pepper that was lying in a puddle, before Callum’s hand got there first.

Ben hesitated for a second; looking at his hand resting on top of the taller man’s larger hand, before quickly yanking it away and gathering up another onion. He stood himself back up and put them back in one of the plastic bags Callum had been holding and held it out to him.

“So er…what’s all this for then? Planning a family meal over at The Carters are ya?” He chuckled, rubbing an eye with one finger. He must have had something in one of his contacts, he couldn’t see what the hell he had been doing this morning, and was apparently ‘running up the electricity bill more than was necessary’ according to Ian’s bland voice that had come floating irritatingly through the bathroom door, between a fist being thumped angrily.