Quarantine

Chapter Seven

The next morning, as I went about my usual routine of getting ready, I noticed there was no sign of Hero at all.

Strange.

I willed myself to finish getting ready before fully worrying, telling myself that he was probably still asleep after being up all night trying to distract himself from the obvious.

The thought alone made me feel even more guilty.

I had the chance to help him, to help with his anxiety. And what did I do? I left him to face it all on his own.

I should of just sat through the bloody film. Even if it made me feel uncomfortable, so what? At least I would be doing it for my friend. My friend who has helped me a lot these part couple of days..

Bottom line is, he was there for me when I needed him. And where was I? In my flippin' rented room, hiding.

After heading downstairs and entering the kitchen, I became aware of some shuffling to the side of me.

"Morning." I hear Hero say a little sheepishly.

Looking up, I see he is stood by the cooker, rubbing his eyes repeatedly,

"Uh, morning Hero" I say heading straight for the double-doored fridge.

I think I might know a way to make it up to him. Some home cooking!? Or a traditional english fried breakfast to be more precise.

"Did you.. Sleep okay?" I walk over to the stove cradling the carton of eggs that I have just retrieved from the fridge.

Thanks to my guilt, I'm reluctant to ask and even more reluctant to hear the answer. I try and concentrate instead on firing up the gas, selecting a pan and cracking an egg open into it.

"If I'm honest, not really." He says padding over to the sink and getting a glass of water.

"Oh? How come." I pry, searching for another pan to fry some bacon in.

When there's no answer, I level up so that I'm standing and watch as he wanders about the room.

His hand is halfway up his back, causing his t-shirt to bunch and reveal his toned and defined back muscles.

"Hero?" I prompt.

"What? Sorry. Still half asleep.." He tells me groggily.

"Yeah." I laugh. "I can see that." I head back over to the fridge to grab the bacon, I'm sure I've seen some mushrooms in here somewhere too.. After rummaging around for a moment or two, I finally find what I'm looking for and close the fridge door.

When I turn to make my way back over to the cooker, I almost bump into Hero who is stood, one hand down the front of his shorts exposing a carved v line, the other rubbing his eyes again, repeatedly.

"Sorry." He mumbles, standing aside.

I try not to look at him as I smile and walk around him.

It's nothing I haven't seen before, I remind myself.

Well, technically, it is. Because despite filming scenes together semi-naked, I never actually looked at the parts of him that were exposed.

I guess that's one of the reasons why I was so adamant I didn't want to watch After. Not with him at least.. The whole film is about us falling in love afterall. The scenes would strongly depict that. And I don't want anything to get in the way of our established friendship.

I counted myself lucky for being able to call him a friend when really, he was simply a colleague or co-star.

So why would I go and make things awkward?