Spark & Stone - 27. The Mother Of All Misunderstandings

Chapter Twenty-Seven – The Mother Of All Misunderstandings

Aidan was on cloud number nine. It wasn’t only because Heath had been adamant about keeping him awake half the night – actually, that made him feel a bit wasted – and not even because of the shared love confession from the day before.

It was because, simply put, everything in his life was falling into place for a change. He had been a bit desperate lately about finding a good job, a good boyfriend, and finally living the life like everyone on social media. Only that, in his case, he didn’t feel any need to tout his happy life all over the place and wanted to keep it to himself.

Aidan knew he would have to call his parents and give them all the good news, though. They would undoubtedly be happy for him, both for the job that was getting better now and for the person he had in his life. He wondered briefly when it would be a good time to tell Heathcliff about visiting his parents together. If there were someone busier than the fitness guru, they were probably working for NASA or something. Or at least that was what he felt since Heathcliff was not missing a day, and not even Sundays to stay in touch with his subscriber base. But that made him so famous and likable, and Aidan liked that about him, too.

First things first, he would start with a call to his parents.

“Hey, mom,” he said, as soon as his mother answered.

“Hi, sweetie, how are you?” his mother’s voice came through.

“I couldn’t be better,” he replied and could feel a grin splitting his face as he said that. “I got promoted at work!”

“That’s great news!” His mother was excited. “Joe!” She yelled for his father, definitely wanting to break the news to him, too, but did that without putting the phone even a bit away.

Aidan was the one to take the phone at a small distance from his ear. His mother was a bit of a tyrant, but in a good way, and both he and his father were enduring in silence, most of the time.

“Your son got promoted!” His mom yelled at the top of her lungs.

Aidan smiled and listened to the small conversation between his parents that was about him but not including him, as it happened more often than he liked to admit. He had told Heathcliff about the helicopter parenting ever present in his life, and he had told the whole truth.

Finally, his mother remembered that she was actually on the phone with her son. “That is great, Aidan. You should come to see us soon, or is your job too demanding at this point to take a bit of time off?”

“I will find the time,” Aidan said solemnly. “Also, there is something else.” He drew one deep breath. “I have a boyfriend.”

There were two seconds of silence on the other end. “Who is he?”

Even through the phone, he could see his mother’s eyes thinning with suspicion. She was always so overprotective, and, for the most part, Aidan couldn’t hold it against her. Yet, that became overbearing once in a while.

He needed to be brave for this. “He is a fitness trainer.”

“That doesn’t sound like a real job to me,” his mother replied.

Here we go, Aidan thought. But it had to be done. “He’s actually quite successful.”

“Oh, does he have his own fitness center?” The next question came right away.

“No, but he has millions of subscribers,” Aidan said.

His mother snorted. “Subscribers.”

“Yes, subscribers,” Aidan insisted, emphasizing the word. “He is endorsing a product my company is selling.”

“And isn’t there some conflict of interest to be intimate with him?”

That was his mother’s not so subtle way of asking him if he was sleeping with his boyfriend. He decided to ignore the bait. “No. My company has pretty open views on this.”

“That’s surprising,” his mother said. “What’s his name?”

“Heathcliff Stone, he is --”

“Joe, Google Heathcliff Stone!” his mother yelled again.

That was so typical of her.

“Mom, seriously. Anything you want to know about him, you can ask me. I’m right here. I’ll tell you more than anything Google could tell you,” Aidan said.

His mother seemed to have, all of a sudden, a case of selective hearing. She was probably waiting for her husband to provide her with information on their son’s boyfriend.

“Anyways,” he hurried to say, “now I’m heading to work, and I can’t be late.”

“Yes, yes, go,” his mother said. “Are you eating enough?” she remembered.

Again, so typical of her. Now she would launch into an entire interview so that she could make entire radiography of what Aidan’s life looked like now.

“Heath is a great cook, mom,” he said quickly. “I really have to go. Bye! And give dad a hug from me!”

He cut the conversation quickly. If he let her have her way, he would have to talk to her all the way to work.

In a way, it hadn’t been that bad. He had managed to transmit all the information regarding the good news. Now, of course, there was the issue of what his parents would find out about Heathcliff from the World Wide Web. Obviously, it would be a twisted image, and he would have to work hard to change their minds, and present them the truth, and not how trashy magazines wanted to portray his boyfriend.

It was true that Heathcliff had been not until long ago the poster boy for the gay bachelor life on steroids, but he wasn’t that anymore. He was settled down, Aidan thought with a smile. Heathcliff Stone was settled down with him, of all people, no matter how much more beautiful or smarter they were. And Aidan could only consider himself lucky for that.

***

The office was unchanged, but Aidan felt like it was suddenly smaller as he walked in. He was so happy that he almost wanted to break into a waltz step and maybe engage one or two of the other people present and take them on a dancing trip by the water cooler, like in some forties movie.

Almost. He had gotten the promotion he had worked so hard for, but that was only the first step. Next, he needed to prove himself even more if he wanted to make it in the corporate world he was living in.

He took his seat inside his cubicle. That hadn’t changed, but Aidan couldn’t mind. One of the few hopes he had was that he would have to complete considerably less paperwork and get more involved in the creative process.

Oh, he could hardly wait for that. Aidan’s head was full of ideas, and all he needed was to channel all that into something productive.

“You got promoted,” he heard someone talking, perched on the side wall of his cubicle and looking down at him.

Penguin Pants had come to complain about it, most probably. Aidan schooled his face into a neutral expression. “Yes, I did,” he said shortly and pretended to be absorbed by the loading screen of the operating system on the digital display in front of him.

“Hmm.”

Hmm? What was that supposed to mean? He looked up and stared into his co-worker’s washed out eyes. He knew he should just let it slide, but now this new version of him, the happy, confident one wouldn’t let him do that. “Do you have a problem with that?” he asked, keeping his face from frowning with much difficulty.

Penguin Pants sighed theatrically. “Not everyone has a boyfriend who could blackmail the upper management into getting a promotion for him.”

Aidan snorted. “Is it really that difficult for you to understand that I got the promotion fair and square?”

“Is that the name of some sexual position you’re trying with your boyfriend? Fair and square?”

Aidan almost recoiled from the direct accusation. Penguin Pants had an ugly crooked smile. The guy knew he had gotten to Aidan with that, and he was gloating.

“Are you jealous or something?” Aidan laid back into his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Jealous?” Penguin Pants’s smile turned into a disgusted grimace. “I’m not gay.”

Aidan rolled his eyes. “I was talking about the promotion, not whom I’m dating.”

“Ah.” Penguin Pants seemed to realize his mistake, and his cheeks turned pink. “Let’s face it, Aidan,” he recovered quickly, “without Heathcliff Stone, you wouldn’t have gotten this promotion ever.”

Aidan could feel a muscle tic starting in his cheek. “Heathcliff Stone is none of your business. He worked hard. I worked hard. End of story. Now, please, if you don’t mind, I have plenty of work to do.”

Penguin Pants shrugged, opened his mouth to say something else, and then his face lit up with the same smile as before. It was clear his job there was done.

Aidan opened the folder with the work for the day, but he realized he was reading the same line for the fourth time without understanding a word. Frustrated, he closed the folder and took out his phone.

It was stupid to get so worked up about something a jealous co-worker was spouting. He would ask Heathcliff about it later, or was it a bad idea? It was like he was accusing his boyfriend of doing something, just based on something a creepy idiot had said.

Eventually, he took one deep breath and returned to work. Although it was difficult to focus on what he had to do, he insisted until his mind was free of the anxiety triggered by Penguin Pants’s ugly words from earlier.

***

“So?” Michael looked at him through his eyelashes, like he was suspecting Heathcliff of lying through his teeth. “The big L? Are we talking about the big L, Heath?”

“Yes. That’s exactly what we’re talking about,” Heath confirmed with a nod. “Why are you so surprised? I could swear you have pushed me since forever to take such a big step. And you’re the hopeless romantic, not me. You should be over the moon right now.”

Michael grinned. “I’m afraid I might wake up every minute now. That’s all.”

“This is no dream. I confessed; he confessed; you know how these things go.”

“Who did it first?” Michael asked right away.

“Does it matter?” Heathcliff sighed and threw his arms to the sides.

“With you? Yeah, it does.”

“All right, all right,” Heathcliff replied with a bit of irritation. “He did it,” he added quickly.

“Ah, so you were a coward, after all.”

“Shut up,” Heathcliff mumbled and pretended to be absorbed by the menu on the table.

“I’m just teasing you. I’m glad for you, Heath, I really am. But you really needed to be pushed to have him meet your family, didn’t you?”

For a moment, Heath made a sour face, but he couldn’t be mad on such a day. He was too damned happy. “Max insisted on meeting Aidan ever since I talked to them about him. Hope, too. So I was planning to introduce him to the family. Seriously, I was. I just wanted to have him to myself for a little while. Now my parents will surely insist like crazy for me to bring him over.”

“And? Will that take too much from the time you’re spending with him?”

“You can bet it will,” Heathcliff replied.

“Damn, man, you really are in love. I still can’t believe it.”

Michael’s eyes were smiling, too, as he was looking at him. His phone went off, and Michael reached for it. The smile on his face evaporated. He pursed his lips and rejected the call. Heathcliff stared at his best friend. “Who was it?”

“What would you recommend as a light lunch?” Michael pretended to be the one absorbed with the menu now.

Heathcliff didn’t want to let it drop, although it was clear that his friend would have preferred it. “Mikey,” he said in a warning tone, “who was it?”

Michael put down the menu and sighed. “Do you think is it possible to want someone so badly that you also want to strangle him at the same time?”

Heathcliff could barely keep a grin. Maybe he had gotten all soft over Aidan’s confession, and he was crazy in love, but it looked like Michael was going through some crucial changes in his life, too. “So, Mikey, do you have something to tell me? Was that Jess?”

“Yes. But I don’t want to talk about him,” Michael begged, his eyes like a puppy’s.

“No way. I spilled my guts to you; now it’s your turn. What’s the deal with you two?”

“We fight a lot. We fuck a lot, too. It’s complicated,” Michael said quickly.

“Is this still about his cage dance routine?”

“I had him do the wet t-shirt contest, too.”

“And he did it?” Heathcliff asked.

“Yes, he did it. The problem is that he eventually does everything I ask him to, only to come back at me with a vengeance.”

Heathcliff shrugged. “Maybe he considers it foreplay.”

Michael’s face softened. “He’s not cut for this. Dancing for money, I mean. I have no idea why he’s doing it.”

“Maybe he needs the money,” Heathcliff expressed his opinion.

“I wish I knew why,” Michael said. “He doesn’t say. And I would like to help him, but his pride is always in the way. I can’t believe it, but each time I touch the subject of why he’s dancing in a club, instead of doing what he loves most, it’s like I strike a nerve.”

“So you’re ignoring him? Because of that?”

“No. It’s something else,” Michael replied.

“Care to share it with me?” Heathcliff questioned.

“Well,” Michael exhaled, “he was right, in a way.”

“Right about what?”

“He is quite the sensation at the club. He’s an amazing dancer, and yes, that little sophistication he brings to the cage routine,” Michael rolled his eyes at his own words, “is bringing in customers, too.”

“So he makes you some good money,” Heathcliff concluded.

“Yes,” Michael said with a sigh.

“I don’t see a problem. So what is it?”

Michael cast his eyes down.

“Don’t tell me you can’t admit that he was right,” Heathcliff said. “You’re always the good guy. You cannot let such a thing bother you.”

“I’m, um, jealous,” Michael said, his eyes still down.

“Jealous? Why?” Heathcliff was truly taken aback now. “This isn’t like you. Wait, is he seeing other guys?”

“We’re not even together. I mean, not officially.” Michael shook his head like he couldn’t believe himself. “But it’s not that. It’s how I can’t stand other people staring at him while he’s almost naked. I know,” he added with a suggestive roll, “it’s crazy. He’s a cage dancer, after all.”

“It sounds complicated,” Heathcliff agreed.

“As I told you. But I’ll see what I can do to get out of this mess.”

“What mess? You know what, Mikey? I think you’re in love, and this time it’s for real.”

Michael snorted. “Love is not like this. Love is supposed to be a warm fuzzy feeling that makes you have pink dreams and butterfly fly around in your stomach without dissolving in acid.”

“Sure, sure,” Heathcliff replied. He could tell his friend was joking.

“Never mind. Let’s just celebrate your falling in love. You used to be the guy who thought would never do that. So, let’s just order lunch.”

Heathcliff wanted to help Michael, but, right now, he could understand why his friend needed a bit of space. Michael had to figure out things on his own; Heathcliff could attest to the fact that, when it came to the big L, one could not just have others tell him what was really going on.

***

Aidan was done with work for the day and ready to head back home to Heathcliff. Once he had closed his computer, the unpleasant thoughts triggered by his co-worker’s words came unbound. He needed to get this out of his system, somehow.

He couldn’t ask his boss about it; that was out of the question. No one approached the big kahuna with office gossip like that.

Which left him with the only other option available: to ask his boyfriend. Maybe Heathcliff would get upset over Aidan suspecting him like that, but he needed to find a way to do it, if only for his peace of mind.

He took one last look over the rows of cubicles, now almost empty. The first day after getting promoted hadn’t been that big a change after all. To make the transition easier, as the boss’s assistant put it, he had still needed to put a lot of paperwork in order.

Still, he had Heathcliff to go back home, too, and nothing could go wrong on that front. He would just be honest and tell him about what happened. After all, no one could understand him better than Heathcliff right now.

Aidan already felt better on the way home, just at the thought of spending a relaxing evening in Heathcliff’s arms. Despite the tiredness accumulated throughout the day, he had a spring in his step as he climbed the stairs to the door.

Heathcliff had the door in a second. “Hi, honey,” he said and opened his arms.

Aidan rolled his eyes and laughed. “Honey? I was supposed to say ‘Honey, I’m home!’”

“Maybe another time,” Heathcliff said and pulled him inside, almost making him crash against a hard chest.

Aidan was the one to kick the door shut, using one foot, as none of them could be bothered with closing it properly, absorbed by the hot kiss they were sharing.

“Hmm, that’s like the best welcome ever,” Aidan said and grinned.

Heathcliff’s hands were traveling down his back, and there was so much love with his blue eyes that Aidan could feel his heart skipping a bit. “I told my parents about us,” he blurted out.

Heathcliff smiled. “Oh. And what did they say?”

“Not much,” Aidan said quickly. “I was on my way to work, and I had to cut the conversation short.”

There was a small frown knitting Heathcliff’s eyebrows together, and Aidan looked away. “Is it something you’re not telling me, Aidan?”

Aidan drew one long breath. “My parents … they are a bit, I don’t know how to say it. Pretentious? Overprotective? No, not exactly. But I want you to meet them. I mean us. Together.”

“Ah, don’t tell me that your mom is reading the tabloids and knows everything about my ex life,” Heathcliff joked.

“Ex life?”

“Yeah. That’s what I want to call it. You know, the time before meeting you. I’m certain I have a bit of amnesia because I can’t remember what I liked so much about it. Ah, I know. I had no idea you existed.”

Aidan snickered. “I should record your words and send them to all the tabloids. They would have a blast with your confessions.”

Heathcliff made a face. “No way.”

“I wouldn’t do that, don’t worry,” Aidan hurried to say. “This is all mine,” he added, as he embraced Heathcliff tightly.

“I’m glad you think that. But are you worried that your mom would think bad things about me due to my reputation?”

“She was starting to Google you as I was still talking to you on the phone. Actually, no. She put my father to do it. Don’t worry, though. I know the real you, and that’s who they’re going to meet.”

“If you’re this sure, how come your kissable lips are still pouting?”

“Well, my mom has these old-fashioned ideas. Can you believe that she doesn’t think being a fitness trainer counts as a real job?”

“It’s not a job; it’s a calling,” Heathcliff said promptly and pinched his cheek. “C’mon, smile. Your mom will love me.”

“No one can resist you; that’s true.”

“I’ll change her mind about fitness, you’ll see.”

“Oh, it’s not that, but for some reason, she wants me to marry someone with a stable financial situation. Oops, sorry,” Aidan said quickly.

“For what?” Heathcliff asked.

“For saying the M word. I know it’s not allowed in this house.”

Heathcliff laughed. “You could tell your mom I have a stable financial situation. I could give you my bank statements so that you could forward them to her.”

“She’s a little too overprotective, I think. The moment I told her about how famous you are, she asked me if you own a fitness center. So it’s not really fitness she has something against. By the way, have you ever thought about that? Building a business in the real world, not just online?”

Heathcliff was looking at him, his eyes filled with warmth. “Are you trying to make me financially sound for your mother?”

“No, no,” Aidan protested right away. “It’s just that I believe you could do it, you know? You could have your own clothing line, and also even make your own recipes for healthy eating and all that. You know, like in a business.”

“And make your employer go bankrupt?” Heathcliff laughed again.

“I could come up with anything related to that.” Aidan got caught up in a bit of daydreaming. “I have a thing for stationery templates. I could make them look fabulous.”

“Wow, wow, slow down, Mr. Copywriter. I’m right where I want to be at the moment. Which is,” Heathcliff added, “about to take you upstairs and make you forget about dinner for like half an hour.”

“Half an hour?” Aidan asked. “I don’t know. I’m kind of hungry,” he teased.

“Or we could eat first,” Heathcliff offered courteously.

“Heath, there’s something I want to tell you,” Aidan remembered the thing that had been on his mind on his way back from work. “It’s a silly thing, really, and I don’t want you to think much of it, but I need to take it off my mind, you know? Promise me you won’t be mad.”

Heathcliff became serious right away. “What is it, love? You can tell me anything. I promise I won’t get mad.”

Aidan drew one deep breath. “There’s this idiot at work. I bet he doesn’t like it one bit that I got promoted and not him. And today, he came to me and told me something about you.”

“What?” Heathcliff frowned.

Aidan cast his eyes down. He just needed to get it out, and then they would just see about business as usual. “He hinted that you got me the promotion. By blackmailing my boss.”

He looked up to see the surprise in Heathcliff’s eyes, but there was nothing like that there.

Heathcliff smiled and winked at him. “Well, I don’t care if they’re gossiping about that. I didn’t exactly want for you to find out about it --”

Aidan pulled away. “Are you serious?”

Heathcliff seemed taken aback. “What? Your boss wouldn’t have promoted you if I hadn’t been there to squeeze his shriveled up balls.”

Aidan could feel tears of anger prickling his eyes. “Really? Don’t you think I’m capable of advancing at work on my own?”

Heathcliff came closer and tried to hug him. Aidan pulled away more.

“Don’t tell me you’re upset because I put in a good word,” Heathcliff said.

“You didn’t put in a good word,” Aidan said through his teeth. “You blackmailed my boss! Damn it, Heath, don’t you see? You make me feel like such a damned loser! How could you do this?”

Heathcliff was now beyond surprised. It was like he had just been slapped. Aidan couldn’t find it in him to feel any pity for that. “I worked so hard for this,” he said. “And you just went and grabbed the prize from the shelf and gave it to me, like I couldn’t have done it on my own.”

“You couldn’t have,” Heathcliff replied sternly.

Aidan turned on his heels and then back again to look at his boyfriend. “Thank you for the vote of confidence.” He poured as much acid as he could over his words.

“Stop it, Aidan. You’re not listening. You couldn’t have gotten the promotion because of your boss, the company you’re working for, which I think it’s fucking rotten, not because of you or how hard you work.”

“What do you know about anything? It’s enough for you to smile and people throw money at your feet! I would have gotten there! On my own! It’s like my efforts were all in vain!”

Heathcliff made a move to touch him again. “Chill a bit. Let’s talk this through.”

“I don’t think it’s anything left to talk about,” Aidan said icily. “I understand that my parents don’t trust me to do anything unless it’s closely supervised, but I thought you would be different. You’re just some … control freak,” he threw at Heathcliff, although he knew, the moment the words left his mouth, that he was unfair.

“Welcome to the real world, Aidan. Hard work is not always recognized, or appreciated,” Heathcliff began.

“You don’t know that.” Aidan shook his head. “Now everyone at work thinks I got promoted because I’m sleeping with the right person.”

“That’s on your boss or his close acolytes, not on me,” Heathcliff replied, crossing his arms over his chest. “Harry and I both know how sensitive such a thing would be. But I won’t have you standing there, filled with righteous rage when you don’t know one thing about the real world.”

Aidan felt like he was on the point of suffocating upon hearing those words. “Is that what I am to you? A helpless guy who can’t tell right from wrong? Geez, I wonder how I manage to tie my own shoelaces every day.”

Heathcliff sighed. “Look, Aidan, I didn’t mean to --”

“Oh, but I think you meant it,” Aidan cut his words short. “I think you like playing this role, and that’s who you are.”

“C’mon. I don’t quite see why you’re so upset, but let’s have dinner and calm down,” Heathcliff offered.

“Go, have your dinner. I lost my appetite,” Aidan said and turned on his heels, leaving a stunned Heathcliff behind.

His boyfriend didn’t hurry to stop him. Who the hell was he kidding? For one day, he had felt like he had won the lottery or something. Now the reality was smacking him in the face. Heathcliff Stone was no boyfriend material, the arrogant, know-it-all prick.

***

Aidan let the car windows down, his need for air bigger than anything else. His phone began ringing as soon as he turned the corner on Heathcliff’s street. He ignored it. All the way back home, his home, which he paid rent for from his shitty paycheck, it didn’t stop ringing.

***

Heathcliff wanted to throw the phone at the wall and make it blast into pieces. But he needed to calm down and think this through. He had thought Aidan would come back, but the moment he had heard the car engine running, he had known that couldn’t happen, at least not tonight.

Maybe he would let Aidan chill until tomorrow. Yeah, Heathcliff Stone from before wouldn’t think twice to let an angry lover get over it. But he wasn’t the same from before.

So, instead of seeing about his usual routine, he decided to call another number.

“Am I bothering you?” he asked. “I know it’s late. Well, I think I made a huge mistake.”

TBC