Queer as Muke

1.8.7 Arq-ing Boomerang

Maddie bumps deliberately into Geordie's bum as they're both putting the breakfast items out on the dining room table, making them both smile and make eyes at each other before Maddie starts dropping kisses on Geordie's shoulder.

Things would have heated up fast had Geordie not heard a sniffle and a tired moan to her right. Looking over to the sofa in their living room, they see Luke waking up slowly, rubbing his face and shifting position on their lumpy cushions.

"Morning Luke! How'd you sleep?" Geordie asks, patting Maddie's hands away from where they're getting dangerously close to her breasts.

"Uh, okay, it's a little lumpy..." He moans in a tired and croaky voice.

"Come have some breakfast," Maddie tells him, pulling a chair out.

"I'm not hungry," Luke tells her, removing a teddy bear from underneath one of his knees and lying it carefully on the arm of the sofa.

"You're got to eat something, you're a growing boy! Oh Jesus, did I actually say that?" She says under her breath to Geords.

"Do you want me to wash the sheets?" Luke asks, sitting up fully to look around, his hair sticking up in a bunch of directions.

"No, it's okay."

"But if you like you can wash my car!" Suggests Maddie not seriously, making Geordie laugh.

Luke smiles at their humour together, "I really appreciate you letting me stay here."

"It's no trouble," Geordie assures him, "You can come anytime. Right Mads?"

" Anytime," agrees Maddie, pouring out coffee for both of them.

"He hates me," Luke slams his sketch pad shut on their coffee table in front of him. Even last night he couldn't stop drawing Michael's face and he can't stand it looking at him now, in the cold light of day.

"He doesn't hate you!"

"Yes he does! And so does my Dad!" Luke runs his hands frantically through his hair, making it stand up all the more. "I pulled him off Michael and I hit him and now I can't even go home!"

"Oh sweetie..." Maddie and Geordie abandon the breakfast table in favour of sitting either side of Luke. He looks so lost sitting there in the middle of a pile of blankets, with his bed hair and just a tee and boxers on. "...It's okay..."

"Don't say it's okay! And don't say anything bad about Michael either," Luke warns Maddie, knowing that she's just about to come out with something.

"Well that doesn't leave much room for conversation," Maddie says to the room before slurping her coffee to shut herself up.

"I don't know what I'm going to do," Luke complains, dropping his head into his hands and slumping in worry. "What am I going to do?"

"You're going to do one thing at a time..." Maddie tells him, rubbing his back encouragingly after getting a warning look from Geords to not give a lecture to Luke on Michael's character right now.

"Right. First you're going to take a shower," Geordie also rubs his back encouragingly.

"Then you're going to have breakfast."

"Then you're going to school."

Once Maddie and Geordie have given him a list he can concentrate on, Luke stands up wearily, stepping over toys and teddies on his way to the bathroom.

Geordie sighs once he's out of the room, "Poor Luke."

"And still he defends that fucking prick. You know, it amazes me..."

Geordie puts her hand up to stop Maddie, "Don't start. Allow me." Grabbing her phone from her dressing gown pocket she dials a number quickly, her resolve hardening the longer it takes to answer.

"Mike! It's Geords. Did I wake you?" Geordie keeps her tone light and airy before listening for a second and then changes it instantly to hard and tough when she informed that he'd only gone to sleep a couple of hours ago and what the fuck can she want at this time of day, she doesn't want Michael to be under any illusions that this is a social call, "Good."

~~~

Calum talks to himself as he sorts out the stock in the greeting card area, running through possible scenarios for when Bob finds out from Vincent about the rumours circulating about him, nearly jumping out of his skin when Bob comes around the corner.

"Hey Calum!"

"Hi Bob. Thanks again for inviting me, I mean us, to the party last night. We had a great time."

Bob waves his gratitude away, "Beth was crazy about you, all she wants to know is when are you and Anna getting hitched?"

Calum wipes the smile off his face, getting serious quickly, "Listen Bob, there's something I need to talk to you about..."

"That Anna, she's a really pretty girl," Bob carries on, ignoring Calum. "Do you know if she's busy tonight?"

"Excuse me?" Calum has no idea where the conversation's going.

"Because you might want to have a little celebration of your own..."

Calum shakes his head, confused as to what's happening.

"After all, isn't that what you do when you get a promotion MR MANAGER!!!!" Bob shouts the last part of the sentence, waving with all his might to get the store staff who've been hiding in the nearby aisles to pile in.

Anna's one of the first to congratulate him with a kiss on the lips and a big smile on her face as Calum stands stunned with both the news and the kiss as his new employees surround him with cheering and clapping.

~~~

As Luke exits school that afternoon through one of the side doors he's confronted by the sight of some of the boys in his year that he's never got on with. Steeling himself for their jibes, he walks up to them to leave through the iron gate that they're standing in front of, but just before he reaches it one of them slams it shut with a clang.

"Hey Luke, heard you're not living at home anymore huh?"

Luke forces himself to laugh, making light of the situation, that information could only have come from one source, "Fucking Chloe and her big mouth."

They laugh along with him, until their faces change. "Maybe it's because you're a fucking faggot!" One says, pushing Luke backwards as they surround him.

Another knocks the books out of his hands as yet another pulls his backpack down his arms. "Yeah, go home you little bitch!"

Luke bends down to pick his books up hoping that this is all they're going to do as a screech of tyres sounds and a car door opens, "Luke! Get in the car."

"Who the fuck is this?" One of the boys asks, the bravado in his voice wavering as he sees an angry man looking over at them as he stands in the doorway of his Jeep.

Luke's never been so pleased to see Michael but still, he's wary as to why he's here, "What for?" he asks nervously, opening the gate and stepping through with no resistance from his antagonists.

"I said get in the car." Michael's face is serious as he glares at the boys still standing behind the gate like a pack of wolves.

"Where are we going?"

"Home."