The thought of seeing Harry and the party that evening had gotten me through the day. I had spent most of it attempting to avoid Dan, and I was doing pretty well until he entered the storage room which had been my hiding place for most of the afternoon. The space I occupied was towards the back, the light on that particular row of shelves had needed to be changed about a month ago, meaning I had to work in shadows.
“Bo?” He called out.
The sound of soles on tiled flooring echoed around the space.
“Shoot.” I mumbled, backing up further into one of the shelves.
My endeavour at covertness was ruined, stumbling over a box I had placed on the floor earlier. The commotion of CDs and records scattering across the chilly ground brought awareness to my presence. Dan was soon stood over me, his hair flopping over his forehead as he offered me a hand. I accepted, eager to brush the dust from my clothing.
My quiet “thank you” was received with a nod; after a few short seconds I turned away. I knew it was rude, but I didn’t know what else to say, we hadn’t exactly been on speaking terms lately especially after he had gone behind my back. He shouldn’t have told Harry, not like that.
I bent down again, stacking the items that had been knocked from their elevated position, organising them into piles. It surprised me when an extra pair of hands proceeded to aid in the retrieval. The noticeable twitch to his mouth made me believe that he was preparing to communicate his thoughts.
“I’m sorry, Bo.” Dan burst out. “I know it wasn’t my place to say, and I feel awful about it. But I was just worried about you. Harry had to know.”
His abrupt confession left me somewhat bewildered. Dan appeared a little panicked with my lack of response, placing the record down and shifting to sit beside me. Both of our backs were to the shelving. I hadn’t been expecting an apology, more concern had been given in the assumption of an imminent shouting match, but that never came about. I wasn’t prepared.
“If I can do anything to make it up to you, I will.” Dan offered.
I cautiously placed my hand over his that was resting upon his knee. I hoped the soft rejection of his attempt to entwine our fingers wasn’t recognised by Dan. The gesture hadn’t been meant in anything other than a friend.
“I was kind of annoyed with you at first.” I admitted. “But I understand why you did it, you were just looking out for me and I really appreciate that, Dan.”
The blue in his eyes seemed to lighten, relieved that what he’d done hadn’t left a horrible brand on our relationship. I removed my hand from his, placing it in my lap.
“Can we go back to the way it was before? I like hanging out with you at work.” He smiled.
“Of course, as long as you help me tidy this up.” I gestured to the mess around us.
“Sure.” He laughed.
The process was made much easier with an extra set of hands, placing the box back on the shelf and walking out onto the shop floor. I took notice of Dan’s more reserved demeanour, a change in how he carried himself around me. Despite us burying our differences there was just something about the situation that normality couldn’t reach. Maybe he was starting to realise just how far Harry and I were willing to go to make our relationship work.
“Are you doing anything after your shift?” Dan casually inquired, smiling at a customer as he handed them their change and receipt.
“Yeah, we’re going to a party.”
I shoved the replacement bags under till’s shelved area, flicking my hair from my face once finished.
“We?”
