My Own Medicine ¦ TomTord

Chapter Twenty One: Cigars And Tea

After a bit of banter on the phone, Tord and Tom came to the conclusion that yes, they were in fact dating. Officially now. Officially, but not publicly. Sure, Edd, Matt, and Ringo might have their suspicions, but Tom and Tord weren't going to confirm their suspicions anytime soon.

It was extremely awkward to be having that phone call at Tord's parent's house. Paul and Patryck had to look after Pepper the puppy when Tord was on the phone. Not that they were complaining.

"What'd you think he's talking to him about?" Paul whispered.

Patryck could just guess. "I don't know. Banter? No... Probably proclaiming their love for one another..." they snickered among themselves.

"Don't pretend we weren't like that..." Paul whispers back, almost like he's teasing.

"You sappy old man..."

Just then, Tord stepped out of the small bathroom in the London suburb house, still looking at his phone. "Alright, bye." He hung up before looking at his parents sitting in the kitchen. Pepper was snoozing under the table.

"So..? Any luck with boyfriend?" Patryck asked, totally forgetting the poor guy's name.

"Uh, yeah."

"Yeah?"

"We're going to get dinner. Not right now. Later." he seemed a little fidgety and giddy but he was trying to hide it. That led him to seem a tad bit awkward.

His parents knew and recognised that feeling in their son. Everything was going to be just fine.

"Good. Do you want some tea? And should I get anything for Pepper too?" Patryck asked carringly.

As Tord sat down at the kitchen table to join his parents, he couldn't help but let out an amused laugh. "So you can remember the name of my dog but not my boyfriend?"

"Well... Hasn't he been your boyfriend for... 5 seconds by now?" Pat teases back.

Tord just rolled his eyes and lit a cigar that he had taken out of the cigar box on the table. His parents were thoughtful even of his addictions. They kept it there even though Tord was the only one who smoked them.

Cigars and tea. Pat brought out the teapot and their each individual mug. Paul's mug was white with simple text on it that read: "WORLDS OKAY-est DAD". The bottom was scratched up from years of use. Patryck's was a little yellow one with Paddington Bear on it. Finally, A classic, Tord would drink from a bright red dinosaur cup. A friendly T-Rex was on the front of the mug, and Tord was smiling back at it. With a gust of wind, childhood came back.

"Don't you ever buy new tea cups? Jeez, I remember drinking from this on my first day of third grade."

"Didn't have the heart to."

Tea time was nostalgic and took hours. They caught up and reminisced.

The saddest part was seeing Paul and Pat wave goodbye as Tord pulled out of the driveway to go back to the city.

Pepper was rowdy in the back seats of the car, chewing on something. Not something important enough for Tord to care. He put his phone on the centre console and called Tom.

"Listen, I'll be a minute late. And Pepper's coming. The visit to my parents took a little longer than expected. Get us an outside table."

Tom sounded like he was in a rush, almost winded. "How late? Oh, and sure. I'll get an outside table."

"I don't know. 10 minutes? Anyway, I guess I'll set you." This whole being nice thing still felt a bit awkward for Tord.

"uh yeah, bye. See you." And Tom too.

Sure enough, Tord was fashionably late. Luckily this wasn't a fancy restaurant because he was speckled in black and white dog hair. Pepper was on a nice red harness. She sniffed the restaurant's floor as Tord went to sit down at the same table as Tom was sitting at.

"Hi."

"Hi. Thanks for waiting."

The beginning was so awkward. Especially when the puppy started tangling her leash around Tord's legs.

"Pepper— sit, lie down. Good girl, Pepper."

Tom slightly ducked under the table and smiled at the little dog.

"Wow, she's gotten bigger since the last time I've seen her. Good job on the training, she seems so relaxed in a busy place."

Tord smiled. "I got lucky with her. She's a very good dog..."

Dogs had that superpower to instantly warm up any room they were in. Tord and Tom really started talking after a bottle of beer when the remainder of any tension got washed away with it.

"No- it was never like that." Tom laughs and points a finger at Tord. "Well, no, I mean I only started liking you after the whole fiasco, you know, but I only hated you sometimes."

"No, I can remember how you'd get pissy with me over everything. Middle school boys flirt like that, you know."

"Now, I want flirting! At all!"

Both of them had a good laugh about their past awkward selves.

"Man, I'm full. You wanna split the bill?" Tom asked, happy and tipsy.

"You're fine, I'll pay," Tord called over the waiter for their cheque and paid. He was silently decided as the designated driver so he only had one and a half beers.

As they were standing up, Pepper yipped and followed them to the car, where she hopped into her V.I.P. back seat. Tom slouched in the passenger seat as a giggly Tord got behind the wheel.

"So... My place?" He grinned.

Tom didn't really have any other offer, so he just nodded. During the ride, he started rambling.

"Where would I be without you? Tord... Such a nice name... Tell that to your parents... Tell them... Next time you visit them, tell them Tom said hi." To Tord, his gentle British accent added to the overall honesty of their conversation.

The way upstairs to Tord's apartment was equally as entertaining. For some reason, they would pretend to stumble and randomly sit down on the staircase and laugh. They would laugh until they remembered people probably wanted to sleep. Then it would die down into small childish giggles. Pepper would also join in on the giggling and start whimpering excitedly. Eventually, after what felt like a journey, they made it up to Tord's apartment.

With a yawn, pepper went to lie down in her crate as the two men sat down on their beloved couch and turned on the TV in the background.

"Tom?"

"What?"

"We saved each other, huh?"

"You saved me."

"Tom?"

"I'm listening."

"I love you, Tom."

"Never in a million years would I have expected to hear that."

"Don't be afraid to be sappy..."

"I love you too, Tord."