Life's a Dreamboat - 9. Chapter 9

Thomas places the pot on the side of the stove, watching the bubbles go down.

Grabbing at him, Zack spins him around. Zack goes to say something and stops, he looks as if he is biting back words.

He looks down to the ground, ‘I’m causing you pain, aren’t I?’

Thomas shakes his head as Zack continues to stare at the ground.

‘I don’t want to cause you that,’ he murmurs, his voice low. He takes his hands off Thomas and sighs, looking up, his face appears tired from his own internal conflict. ‘You’re right. You’re right, I’m your boss, yeah, um.’

Thomas turns slightly away from Zack to stir the pot.

‘I don’t want you to do all this,’ Zack says over Thomas’s shoulder. ‘I don’t want you to think you have to come round all the time and do all this extra work that I can’t pay for you.’

‘I don’t come here for the money, Zack,’ Thomas replies, softly. ‘I’ll always come round no matter because I care about you.’

Zack pulls Thomas around and hugs him hard. Really hard.

It feels so good, Zack feels so good to hold on to, his body isn’t as weak as it was, it feels so strong and gentle at the same time.

They pull away and Thomas gives a sheepish shrug, ‘Well, now you know everything.’

‘Yeah,’ Zack titters, he gives a sweet smile at Thomas. ‘I really appreciate you telling me how you feel, Thomas, I really mean it.’

Thomas gives a small smile back.

Rubbing the back of his head, Zack continues, ‘Because I’m your boss, the company is strict and we just couldn’t….’

‘I know, I know,’ Thomas replies, feeling that awful sad defeated feeling in his chest. ‘It was probably not worth me even saying anything.’

‘Your feelings matter, Thomas,’ argues Zack. ‘You matter, Thomas, okay.’

‘Okay,’ Thomas replies, feeling a little awkward. ‘So, I’m not sure where we go from here.’

Zack nods over his shoulder, ‘How about just eating for now?’

Thomas agrees and pours the soup into bowls. They sit next to each other watching the TV. At first, it’s bit awkward, the sounds of spoons hitting bowls and the TV fill the room heavily.

‘Are we okay?’ blurts out Thomas

Zack looks at him puzzled, ‘I think we are?’

‘Oh,’ Thomas looks down at his bowl.

Zack nudges him, ‘I’m sorry I ruined your date with Sharon.’

That comment makes Thomas burst out laughing, ‘I’m just the biggest douche in the world.’

‘I feel bad that I can’t give you what you want but I can hope we can still be friends?’ smiles Zack.

Thomas looks at him and smirks, ‘HR says we can.’

‘Oh, shush you,’ Zack laughs.

They laugh a little more before Zack beams, ‘I’m glad we’re okay, Thomas.’

‘Me too,’ Thomas agrees softly, trying to ignore the sadness in his stomach.

It’s been an hour and things are almost back to normal as if Thomas never said anything at all about how he felt. Zack is the same as before, still his cheerful self.

Thomas is on his way out now. He grabs his jacket and keys.

‘I really just don’t want to go in tomorrow,’ he jokes to Zack.

‘Life’s tough, kid,’ laughs Zack.

‘I’m only a few years younger than you,’ Thomas rolls his eyes.

Thomas stands at the front door, ready to hold the handle to go. He pauses. He looks back.

Something random comes into his head. A loud brave side suddenly comes out.

He looks at Zack’s face as Zack talks away at him. He has already told him how he feels and they are okay.

So. So, why not?

Thomas doesn’t think before he reaches over and plants a little kiss on Zack’s cheek.

Zack stops talking and his smile is still frozen on.

‘See you next week,’ Thomas says as he goes back to the door. He looks back over his shoulder and Zack has gone bright red.

***

‘How come Zack isn’t in today?’ asks Barry, leaning over the desks, his coffee cup almost tittering on the edge.

‘Move your cup, dude,’ orders Andy.

‘He’s working from home, anyway, Barry,’ Sharon rolls her eyes as Barry steps back with his cup.

Thomas remains silent, typing up on his work computer, frowning hard.

‘I thought he was supposed to come into the meeting,’ Barry trails off.

‘He said he rescheduled it for Thursday,’ Sharon says. ‘It’s not a big deal.’

‘Wonder why he changed his days around,’ Andy adds, looking at Barry and Sharon.

‘Probably had a dentist appointment or something,’ Sharon shrugs. ‘He is the boss. He can do what he likes.’

Thomas types harder. He thinks about yesterday. He shouldn’t have kissed Zack on the cheek. He is definitely not in the office because of him.

Then Thomas stops typing. This is the part where he usually berates himself, feels bad, that everything is his fault.

Instead, very irritated thoughts snap at him.

Zack never responded back about how he felt. He just said they couldn’t date, he never said how he felt about Thomas. Now he is avoiding him altogether. Zack never chased him out the door once he said bye, he never messaged him after.

Zack is hiding behind company’s rules, he hasn’t said how he really feels about it and Thomas wants an answer. Zack is supposed to be in the office today and Thomas had rushed to work this morning too, and had to park his car at the back end of the car park.

Thomas goes back to typing. He is finishing late tonight. He will call Zack later and be blunt with him.

Thomas is the last one out of the building. He is walking to the back of the car; his car is the only one left in the huge parking lot. Juggling his work bag in one hand, he calls Zack on his phone.

As it rings, Thomas can hear the sounds of car tyres screeching in a far distance but shrugs it off. It’s late on a Friday, kids will be kids.

‘Hello? Zack answers in his ear.

‘Hi Zack,’ Thomas opens his car. ‘Hope you are good today.’

‘ Oh, yeah,’ Zack mumbles, clearing his throat. ‘I’ll be fine, yeah, just bit lethargic today, so, yeah.’

‘Treatments still going, okay?’ Thomas asks, pulling open his trunk.

‘Well, I am not throwing up every day now, so I’m getting better,’ Zack responds his voice a little weak than usual. ‘How are you?’

Thomas throws his bag into the trunk, ‘I was thinking about last night actually.’

‘Yeah?’

‘I noticed how you didn’t respond back.’

‘I did respond?’ Zack replies, confused.

‘You just said you couldn’t date me because of policy. Is the real reason you can’t date me simply because you don’t want to?’

‘Thomas, please, you don’t understand.’

‘No, I mean I get it, I understand that we can’t date because of the work situation, but if we weren’t working together at all, would you want to go out with me? Do you even like me at all?’

‘Thomas, I,’ Zack is struggling. ‘Of course I like you.’

‘As more than a friend?’

‘Thomas.’

‘Why can’t you just give me a yes or no answer? If it’s no, I would rather hear it right now, just be honest, Zack.’

Suddenly a car pulls up behind Thomas and the doors slam open.

Someone runs up behind Thomas and grabs at him, clawing a hand over his face.

In his ear, Thomas can’t hear Zack talking, as his phone is pulled off his hand and chucked into the open trunk.

‘Time to sort you out,’ Adam’s voice snarls in Zack’s ear. 'Piece of paper won't stop family, Sophie.'

‘Thomas? Thomas?’ Thomas can Zack’s voice shouting in the background, his phone lying in his car.

Thomas tries to grab Adam hands but his arms are yanked back by someone else. His face is muffled by another hand.

They drag him backward. Kicking out, Thomas tries to pull away, he bites hard on the hand trying to muffle him.

There seems to be more people with his brother and he kicks hard out against all of them. He manages to catch one person in the chest but that makes them drag him back even harder and rougher.

A guy wallops him in the stomach before throwing him into the trunk of their car.

Thomas can see his own car is still widen open when the trunk door slams shut on him. He is in complete darkness and has no idea where his brother and his deranged friends are taking him.