Wilted (boyxboy)

Chapter One

It was hot. Really, really hot. The kind of sweltering that induces heatstroke and increases the death toll. Humidity caused steam to raise from my bonnet and waves to appear from newly laid asphalt. Damp skin tore from the back seat when I shifted for my water bottle, but still I stayed in the car.

The air conditioning was humming roughly, only managing to generate a tepid breeze that was still cooler than the outside temperature.

It was my break, and while I could have stayed in the staff room where the corner fan was blasting papers and receipts every which way, I'd instead decided to take a nap. Now, my hairline wet and smelling of something foul, I wish I'd been smart enough to buy an ice cold slushy and cosy on up to the decidedly more powerful air conditioning inside. Rummaging around for my deodorant, I find an almost empty can in the glove compartment and finish it off.

My half hour was almost up and I needed to head back inside the shop for the last leg of my shift. Still, I put it off, tapping my phone against my knee and clicking the home button to keep an eye on the time every few seconds.

'You'd never guess whose back.' I'd caught in conversation yesterday. I'd been down the aisle from two girls who'd been in my year at school, Alice and someone or other, pulling boxes from a crate and restocking the biscuit shelf. From what I'd already overheard, I'd guess they'd just met up today after splitting off after A levels and had three plus years of gossip to leak. It was a fairly large town I lived in, so I wasn't expecting to gain anything interesting from eavesdropping, but I'd clocked in just over seven hours ago now and not much had happened to pique my interest thus far.

'Who's that?' The other girl had replied, grabbing a bag of chocolate and holding it up to her friend for confirmation. Alice nodded, leaning in close to the other girl, bangles clanking as she grabbed her friends wrist in her pure excitement to be the one to inform her.

'Only Lowell "leave me the hell alone" Hester.'

I stopped in my tracks, listening harder.

Her friend looked somewhat shocked, cocking an eyebrow up. 'Ha, no way?' She asked. 'And after that speech at the leavers ball?' She paused for a moment. 'I thought he was in prison again?'

The snort bubbling up from my throat could barely be contained. That was always the first assumption, wasn't it? Even when back in school. 'Where's Lowell today? Is he back in juvie?' Or 'What brought you to the park today?' They'd taunt me, 'Keeping Lowell company while he gets ahead with his community hours?' And even though we were no longer friends and I wasn't inclined to defend him against petty rumours anymore, I felt I had to bite my tongue to swallow back a rude retort. Maybe if my respect for him was anywhere near where it used to be, I'd have spoke up, told them how he'd not once been on the inside of a prison cell.

Alice shook her head with a laugh. 'No, Pegs, he left for a gap year or something before uni. His friend, what was his name again? Lanky boy with wild hair?'

'Ezra?' Pegs, or Peggy as I'd then remembered, supplied. I stepped behind the crate, assuming they were unaware anyone else was around, or maybe just not recognising me. I'd changed a bit since my school years ended, now neither very lanky nor sporting wild hair. Much.

'That's the guy!' Alice shouted, clicking her fingers, and for a moment, I thought she'd been pointing directly at me, rather it seemed the action was caused by my name registering in her head.  'Anyway, so Ezra was meant to go with him or something? And then they were going to share a flat up near the university they'd both chosen rather than go for the halls experience.'

'Ha, no way.' Peggy repeated. 'What a bummer for Ezra then. You know, after the whole drugs and police raid thing?'

'Right?' Alice agreed hitching their basket higher up her arm. 'So when he'd been released, and the whole scandal and that had been sorted...'

I'd not caught the rest of their conversation, as they'd carried on through the aisles to pay.

I was burning with a curiosity to know how much their story of him and I resembled the real events, tempted to follow them as they unloaded their shopping at the till. I'd love to chip in with some details just to see their reaction at being caught discussing my life. Instead, I allocated myself a toilet break and locked myself away, contemplating what I'd just heard until the door handle jiggled with an impatient colleague wishing to use the only cubicle.

I didn't like the thought of him being back home. Not now. Years ago, maybe. If he'd only stayed away for a couple of months, I would have understood. If it had been a year, I'd have forgiven him. If he'd sent a text at all in the last three years, dropped by when he'd attended his sisters funeral, sent a card for my birthday, answered my daily, then weekly, then monthly calls at least once before I gave up hope and deleted his number, I'd have felt a spark of joy at hearing from him, to know that he was alive and well. I'd have wished he happened to stop by the shop, went out of his way to ring my doorbell.

I'd have waited as long as it took for him to come to his senses and figure his life out. I'd have been there to support him, held his rough palms as he'd cried on his bad days, soothed his scarred knuckles with the pad of my much smoother thumb just as I'd done a thousand times before.

He'd tell me I was the best thing in his life, just like he always did, making my heart thump at double pace against my ribs. He'd say how I always made him feel better, how I was always there for him when he needed me. How I was good for him, how he couldn't, wouldn't, imagine not having me around. He'd beg me to reassure him I would never leave him without a friend in this cruel life. Because we were a team, partners in crime, the best of friends.

Then he'd stay silent when I comforted him, claimed he'd do the same for me. It's a shame it took me so long to understand it was because he'd made it a point never to lie to me.