Regrets

14

I must admit, Tom gave me quite the scare back there. Edd had told me he was sick but I would've never thought that sick. I was glad he was joining me on the walk. I think it'd do him good, plus Edd had messaged me saying to not stress him out. Who does he take me for? Matt?

We were walking down the street, just seeing what was around. The park was a long ways away and I knew he had work later so I didn't want to tire him.

"So, been on any adventures lately?"

"No. You?"

I shrugged. Ok, now what?

"There's a park not to fair from here. Wanna go?"

"But won't you need to sleep soon?"

He shrugged. Ok. Guess we're going to the park after all.

The whole way there I was trying to think of a conversation starter, but Tom and I hadn't really talked in years. Up until I left for the army, it had just been constant fighting matches.

I noticed Tom messing with something, but it was too small to see. But just by seeing his grip on it told me that he was feeling awkward.

"How's work?"

He clenched his jaw. Ok, not a good topic. Noted. "It's going fine."

"That's nice, although you must so busy as I never hear Susan over in the other apartment."

He loosened up a bit. "Yeah, been busy. She's still stuck in that shitty storage unit."

I perked up at hearing this. "Storage unit?"

"Yeah. I still have a lot of things in there as well as Edd and Matt's things. It's a shared thing."

"I see."

When we made it to the park, it was just full of children screaming their heads off. Tom made that face, that face he gets when he'd feel a headache coming on.

I looked around. There was a small gas station, I grabbed Toms hand without a word and dragged him along. I expected him to take his hand back, but he surprisingly just held on. Even when we got there we held onto each other. I took him back to the refrigerators and looked for something in particular.

"You still like lemonade?"

"Yeah?"

Perfect. I grabbed us each a lemonade, paid, and then both decided we wanted to go back now.

So, there we were. Two grown adults walking the streets of London, sipping lemonade and trying to not be awkward. It was nice. It was like we were back in secondary school

"Hurry up Tom!" I stood underneath the roof of some gas station that was a few blocks from our school. The sound of Toms footsteps as he ran to catch up with him were emphasized by splashes made from the puddles he'd cross.

Once he made it, we just burst out into laughter. I held the door open for him, "After you." And we made our way to the refrigerators to get our daily lemonades. And everyday we'd walk home together as we lived fairly close.

Those were the days. The days before he moved away.

I pulled myself out of my thoughts and looked over at Tom. How can someone change so much but still look the way they used to. As I admired him, I realized that the dumbass hadn't brought a jacket. He was shaking, so I started to take my hoodie off but was stopped.

"Just leave it on. We're already here anyways." He was right, I held open the door for him and he rushed in. We hurried back up and basically turned the apartment into an oven.

As Tom threw himself down on the sofa I glanced over at the time. "You should probably get some sleep. You've got three hours until work."

He let out an exaggerated sigh. "Night. Thanks for the lemonade."

He slumped over to his room as I shouted behind him. "Goodnight."

Once I heard his door close, I waited. I waited half an hour before searching again. I checked where he kept all of his keys again, nothing. I looked through cabinets without making a mess, nothing. Ok, what if it isn't in here? He did say the three of them shared it.

Going back, I grabbed the keys to Edds place and Toms place in case I got locked out. Going over to Edds was odd as they weren't home. I locked the door behind me and turned on the lights.

I looked around where he'd keep keys and found one that wasn't on a key ring. Right one or not, Edd wouldn't be back soon so I had plenty of time to figure it out and return it. I continued looking around and actually found a few different keys in Matt's room. Guess I've got a lot to choose from.

Now I just need to find where this unit is. Come to think of it, I saw quite a bit of paper work in Toms room. But I'd have to wait until he left for work and I don't have the patience nor the time to wait.

Locking Edds door, I stealthily made my way back into Toms apartment. After returning his keys I crept up to his bedroom, and listened.

Nothing.

I gently grabbed the door knob. Here goes nothing.