'oddly quiet'
Jacob’s POV
“You can keep the change young man,” an elderly customer insists.
“Ma’am it’s over one hundred dollars I have here,” I say wide eyed.
“And your handsome face deserves it, thank you for your help,” she says, her wrinkly face smiling at me as if I’m her grandchild or something.
“I really appreciate it,” I finally say, still hesitant however.
“Good, maybe you should go and buy your loved one flowers or something, a handsome boy like you must have someone,” she says sweetly, as I give her bag with her purchases inside.
“No,” I say with a smile, a deep crush maybe.
“Nonsense!” she calls, and cackles to herself, making me laugh as well. “Well when you do find someone they will be very lucky, bye now,” she says with one final smile.
“Thank you ma’am, have a good day.”
“You too,” she says as she walks out the door, the bell tinkling.
I laugh to myself under my breath once more, there should be more people like that women in this world.
I don’t take the money, I can’t. I put it in the register as the bell above the door rings again.
I am surprised to see Troye and Bruno so much earlier than they normal show up while I am at work but I don’t think more of it. That is until I see the grave expression on Troye’s face.
Instantly, I sense that something is wrong. I raise an eyebrow and I walk over to him as I normally would.
“Hey,” I say as I make my way over to him tentatively.
“Hello,” he says, his smile returning slightly but I can see it is a mask he has just put on so that I don’t ask questions or get worried or something.
Too late for that.
“You are not okay,” I state, placing a hand on his shoulder gently. He faces down to the floor and shakes his head in defeat.
“No, not really,” he whispers. “Can we talk about it later though? Not in here, not in public in case I cry or something,” he says with a nervous, very forced laugh.
“Okay, that’s fine. Are you sure you want to wait until my shift is over? It’s still gonna be a while.”
“That’s fine J,” he reassures me with a small smile, very forced once again but I let it go.
“We got some new stock, I think you will like the feel of it,” I opt for changing the subject and he perks up a bit.
“Oh yeah?” he says with a whisper of his usual smile now.
“Come along,” I encourage and take his hand to lead him to the new stock of dresses.
I take his hand and place it on one of the dresses; his muscles seem to be less tense soon after. I knew he would appreciate the fabric of these dresses.
“Thanks J,” he says. “You always seem to know what to do,” he whispers that last bit, making me think it has a double meaning but I don’t dwell on it and go back to working at the register.
I watch Troye carefully for the full half an hour. He is not impatient in the slightest; he rather spends his time slowly skimming his hands over the clothes and hums soft tunes under his breath.
I soon notice how much he is muttering things to Bruno, he normally talks to Bruno in public but I never noticed that he did it so much; I am surprised I missed that.
My shift eventually ends and Troye seems almost reluctant to leave the store. I’m not sure why but I don’t want to push his buttons as it seems his mood is not one any close to good.
We drive back home in silence but I know once we are back in his apartment I will get whatever is bothering him out and I will, no matter what it is. I will help him wherever I can as I promised I would on numerous occasions.
When eventually inside his apartment we remain quiet as Troye gets us both something to drink and I take off Bruno’s harness.
Troye hands me my drink and he takes a seat on the sofa and I join him, Bruno sitting at our feet quietly, he has been oddly quiet I realise.
I decide to break the silence that is slowly becoming tense, I think Troye has tears in his eyes. But I can't really tell.
“Why so quiet Bruno?” I ask with scrunched eyebrows. Troye then abruptly sets down his drink on the end table beside him and suddenly breaks into full on sobbing. What did I say?
I don’t say anything myself as I put down my own drink and then hug Troye tightly immediately, laying his head on my chest.
I am taken by surprise but push those thoughts aside and rather centre my mind on trying to calm Troye down. I rub my hand up and down his back, hushing him softly. I stroke his soft curls. I feel him calm down beneath my touch a little bit.
“I-I’m sorry,” he stutters.
“It's okay. Troye calm down first then we can talk okay?”
He nods his head against my chest and sooner or later his breathing has evened out and he is sitting up again but he distances himself from me for a minute or two while I sit silently and patiently but then he finds me again and snuggles back up to my side, scrunching up my shirt in one of his hands.
I place my larger hand over his tense one to relax him and he lets go. I keep hold of his hand.
“Talk to me,” I encourage softly.
“Bruno,” he says simply, and sniffles.
“What about Bruno?” I ask patiently but also feel my own thoughts buzz about as the dog has become very special to me as well.
Troye proceeds to tell me what had happened on Saturday morning and the rest of the weekend about Bruno not responding quickly and I run my hand up and down Troye’s side the whole time to keep him as calm as possible.
“Has he been drinking a lot of water and, or panting a lot?” I question Troye.
“I uh,” he is taken aback by the question.
“Those are the two main signs that a dog is in pain Tro, if he is in pain it could possibly be an ear infection, don’t immediately think of the worst thing possible okay?” Troye nods.
“I have noticed how often he leaves me to go drink water actually,” he says, thinking back obviously to the recent days. “I… yeah... I have to fill up his bowl a lot but I thought… oh God,” he says with a sigh and nuzzles further into my shirt.
“Shh Troye, just make an appointment tonight before they close. Don’t leave this for later okay?”
“I won’t…thank you Jake.”
“Of course T, I promise what I said is not changing. I will help where I can.”
I don't break promises.
