Lover Boy

Chapter 2: Talk to me

Bray was sitting by himself on a chair at a table in the café, a half empty cup of coffee in front of him. It was still very early and no one else seemed to be awake yet but Bray hadn't been able to sleep anymore. Not after everything that had happened the day before... and last night.

He was still broken up over losing Trudy and his niece but he also felt awful for the way he'd treated Lex. It had felt right at that moment. He'd needed someone to blame and Lex had been the obvious target. But when Lex had stood inside his room the night before crying and apologising... Even if he'd been drunk Bray knew those emotions had been genuine, more genuine than he'd ever seen Lex be before.

He'd immediately felt like utter shit then and he still did even now. Of course Lex and him had hardly ever got along amazingly but especially recently there had been several moments where they'd had each other's backs, where it had finally seemed like they were forming a genuine friendship. Bray did care about Lex and he felt terrible for saying he wished he'd died instead of Trudy being taken...

Of course he'd said sorry but it still left a nasty feeling inside him whenever he thought about it.

Other than his feelings of guilt though he also felt almost relieved that last night happened. Lex and him had never had a heart to heart before, not really. He finally felt as though he was starting to learn more about who Lex was and he couldn't help wanting to dig deeper.

Bray could tell Lex was carrying some form of trauma with him, something that he didn't think had anything to do with the aftermath of the virus and he could only hope that Lex would make good on his promise and let him in at least a little.

Bray knew it wasn't going to be easy but if there was anything he could do to help Lex heal, to be there for him, he would make it happen. There was no doubt Lex would resist and complain but Bray was nothing if not a patient man. They could take it one step at a time.

Letting out a sigh, he ran a hand through his hair and finished his cup of coffee before getting up. None of the others would be waking up for at least another hour or so and he didn't expect Lex to be up until much later, still judging by the amount of alcohol he'd had.

Bray retreated to his room to lay in his hammock and read for a while. Once he began to hear footsteps and voices outside he put his book down and decided to have a proper breakfast with whoever was awake.

He walked back to the café and found Danni, Salene, Ryan and Jack already out and about. He made himself some cereal and sat with them, talking a little about what had happened the day before and what they could potentially do to find Trudy but since they had no idea where those boats had gone and they had no boats of their own it seemed impossible...

The café filled up more and more over time. Some of them ended up asking him about his fight with Lex and Bray wasn't really sure what to say. He couldn't tell them about what had happened last night, he'd promised Lex and he wasn't ever going to break that promise.

In the end he simply said he didn't really feel like talking about it and the others largely accepted that which he was grateful for.

After everyone was done with breakfast the café cleared out again more and more but Bray stayed seated, Lex still hadn't shown up. Was he okay? Should Bray go check on him? He didn't want to seem too pushy...

"Bray? Are you listening to me?"

Danni's voice ripped him out of his thoughts and he looked up at her. She was standing by his table, one eyebrow raised and a hand on her hip.

"Uh, sorry what did you say?"

"I only wanted to know if we could go over the draft for the Bill of Rights again. I'm pretty much done with it and I thought you'd want to see it. I understand, though, if you've got other stuff on your mind."