The weirdo and the freak

Christmas breakdown

The next few weeks past in a little bit of a blur of work, school and Eddie. We were at the point now where Eddie was practically living with us. My Mum had even starting sending extra money to my Aunt to keep her quiet about Eddie staying here so often. His Uncle Wayne didn't mind too much either as we still visited him often and he knew that I was giving Eddie a reason to go to school and thanks to my job and my saved money Eddie's deals were becoming less and less.

We were both doing well at school and work was a breeze. It was fun and finally Steve and I seemed to be able to work together with hardly any tension. Although I did think of him passionately from time to time and there was the odd occasion where I would find him staring at me. But thankfully Robin was always on hand to make sure that it never went any further than a cheeky wink or glance.

That was until the first evening shift of Christmas break. It was snowing again and although cold it wasn't heavy enough for us to get away with not opening the store. It was however cold enough that Robin was too ill to be able to get in for her shift, which meant that for the next few hours it would just be Steve and I.

Eddie dropped me off and there were a fair few customers in having a browse. Once we had served them all it started getting later into the evening and darker and colder. Then the power went out. The problem was that this meant that doors decided that they weren't going to work, we had a generator but it didn't seem to want to kick in. When the power went out the doors auto locked and as hard as we tried we were not able to unlock them. Steve and I were stuck.

We went out back to get the torches that we kept for just such emergencies and a camping light too we had should an incident like this occur. We had 2 hours left before we were due to finish and with the power being out, the phones wouldn't work either so we had to just sit tight and hope someone came by. I went back to the front of the store, grabbed a drink from the chiller, some chips and some candy. "What are you playing at Henderson?" Demanded Steve as he saw me grabbing a few treats for myself.

"Oh I'm sorry, did you want something?" He scowled and shook his head at me. "Look, we are locked in with nothing to do and all alone for god knows how long. I will take notes as to what I have and pay when the power comes back on. But I guarantee you one thing Harrington, I will not starve so forget your righteous ass and grab yourself a soda. My treat." Steve sighed but seemed to agree with me as next thing I know he had grabbed a soda, a three musketeers and a giant bag of funyuns.

I went back behind the counter and sat on the floor. "What are you doing down there? Are you seriously camping out behind the counter?" Steve asked while looking confused.

"Think about it, it is cold and drafty so if I sit behind here I am closed in so no draft and slightly warmer but also if someone comes to the door and knocks we will hear them to be able to tell them to go and get help to let us out so that I am not stuck in here alone with you for longer than is absolutely necessary. I promise if you join me down here then I will keep my hands to myself as long as you do." I smiled and tried to be cheeky but it didn't seem to work on him.

He came behind the counter and sat opposite me. "That's the problem. I don't think that that is a promise that I can make you or even that I want you to make and keep for me." I sighed and looked away, that really wasn't what I wanted to hear. I was still having thoughts of him occasionally and thought that he had given up on chasing me. Obviously not.

"Trust me Harrington, you eat them funyuns of yours then there is no chance of anything anyway. The smell is vile." I laughed and he did too. "See you can smile and you can laugh. You're even more handsome when you smile so you should try and do it more."

"I smile. I laugh. You just never see it because you don't see me." I looked at him confused but he carried on. "When you're around, I smile and I laugh but you spend so much time avoiding me that you don't see it. You don't see how happy I am when you are here dancing and mucking around with Robin. It makes me smile to see you smile. The only time you see me is when Eddie is around and then for obvious reasons my smile fades." Steve stopped, sniffed and looked away. It started to look as though he was trying to fight back a tear.

I shuffled across and sat next to him. I placed my head on his shoulder and linked arms with him. He didn't move. "Look Steve, I like you. A lot but we have already taken things too far. I thought that we had got past this. Do you think that it would be easier if I left? Would it be better for you if I quit and we stopped being friends?" Now was my turn to blink back the tears.

Steve whipped his neck round so that he was looking me dead in the eyes. "No, that is the exact opposite of what I want. I know I can't have you but I can't cope with not having you in my life at all. I would rather hurt with you in my life than hurt more because you aren't in it." I felt the tears starting to fall. I meant it, I did like him but I had chosen Eddie. "Come here you, I never meant to make you cry." He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in for a hug.