The Boy In The Corner - 1. Chapter 1

The Boy In The Corner

‘Hi there Matthew and how are you today?’ Mr Clark the barista asked as I stepped in to the coffee shop and let my eyes wander.

‘I’m good, but just had a massive slog at school. I’ve got stacks of homework and I’m nearly falling asleep,’ I said pulling my eyes back and looking at him.

‘You should’ve gone to bed earlier then instead of staying up all night gaming. I have two teenage sons myself I know these things,’ Mr Clark said smiling at me.

‘No, it’s not that. It’s just lately I’ve been feel…’ my words trailed off as I spotted a nice looking boy sitting in the corner of the shop tapping away on an iPad as he occasionally looked out of the window.

Lost in the moment I didn’t notice Mr Clark finish preparing my coffee and when he had to shout to get my attention back, the boy in the corner spun around and when his eyes connected with mine. A smile grew on his face as my knees felt weak and I had to take a stool next to the coffee counter before I face planted the floor.

I sighed in relief, took the coffee and started drinking it, when Mr Clark held out his hand and cleared his throat.

I took my wallet out of my pocket, pulled out a five pound note and handed it to Mr Clark as my eyes wandered back towards the boy who had resumed his tapping and staring.

Mr Clark moved on to serve another customer, but quickly returned to my side and spoke again, ‘So you like him then.’

I was shocked at the sudden comment and my instincts took over and I stuttered a reply, ‘No I...I thought I noticed him from school.., he has the same uniform on as me.’

‘Matthew come off it. I’ve known you for the best part of fourteen years and I know love when I see it. I do have two sons about the same age as you which you clearly tend to forget and I wasn’t born yesterday.’

I relaxed a little before speaking, ‘I’ve always had to hide the fact that I like boys more than girls. You know people nowadays and you sort of caught on straight away I thought I was doing a good job at acting straight,’ I replied.

A throaty chuckle escaped Mr Clark’s mouth before he continued speaking, ‘You’re exactly the same as my sons you. They were watching a TV program the other day and I overheard one say ‘he’s doing a good job at acting straight he is so gay’ I was unsure what he meant at first and a after I confronted him he told me and I finally understood.’

I listened intently and I keep stealing glances at the boy in the corner.

When Mr Clark had my attention again, he walked around the other side of the counter sat down on a stool next to me leant towards me and spoke quietly to me, ‘Listen Matthew, I’m not a young man as you probably know, but I do have common sense. Why cover up the one thing that makes you unique? Everyone has the right to love, and everyone has the right to love whoever they want.’

‘I understand what you’re saying Mr Clark, but if I came out that I was gay at school I wouldn’t hear the end of it,’ I said as quietly as Mr Clark did.

‘But why stop yourself from being happy? If you like that boy in the corner go and speak to him don’t let bigoted, immature teenagers hold you back from achieving happiness.’

At that moment more customers entered the shop and Mr Clark returned to the coffee machine as I thought about what he had said.

After Mr Clark had served the customer, I had made my mind up and was going to speak to the boy in the corner.

I stood up and was about to walk over to the boy in the corner when Mr Clark pulled me back and said, ‘Take this with you he usually has two I reckon it will be a good conversation starter.’

I took the fresh Coffee off Mr Clark and proceeded.

*

As I approached the boy in the corner he didn’t notice me he was preoccupied with his iPad and I was able to make myself comfortable in a Stool next to him before he noticed me.

As he turned to look at me I smiled and said, ‘Hey there I’m Matthew I brought you a fresh coffee.’

He smiled and took the coffee of me before speaking, ‘Thanks I was just about to get another one I’m Sean by the way,’ he said whilst he held out his hand.

I took his hand in mine and held it a little longer than usual indulging myself in the smooth uncalloused skin before letting go.

After the introduction had concluded conversation began to flow smoothly, ‘You must be new to the area I noticed your uniform, you go to the same school as me.’

‘No I’m not new to the area, I’m just at a new school after I left my last one due to bullying,’ Sean replied with.

‘Oh that’s a shame. I’m sorry I don’t understand why people can be so horrible sometimes. I doubt that will occur at our school they have a zero tolerance policy to any form of bullying,’ I said.

‘I haven’t had any problems yet, and I’ve been there for a good part of four weeks,’ came Sean’s reply.

‘I’ve not seen you before and four weeks I would think we would of maybe crossed path.’

‘We probably have, but I’ve not been in regular classes yet I start them tomorrow due to the bullying at my old school I missed a good part of my first two years at secondary school. So when I transferred the head and the special need department wanted to get a clear prospective of where I’m up to so they kept me out of classes and worked on a one to one basis for a while. Luckily my mum is passionate about education and due to the bullying, which she knew about, if I was unable to go to school she would give me classes at home so my learning and education wouldn’t slip below what she called acceptable.’

‘Well it looks like you have parents that care a great deal about you then.’

‘It’s not to benefit me, it’s to benefit her. If the neighbours see a smartly dressed young lad who does well in school then they think that their parents are doing the right thing. She just does that to cover up the fact that she has a gay son.’

I nearly chocked on my coffee when he said that, but managed to recover.

I was a bit taken back from what had been said but the conversation soon began to flow easily again. By the end of the conversation I had also come out to Sean, but the thing that shocked me the most was when Sean got up to leave.

After he had drained the last of his second coffee, he stood up looked at his watch and was slightly startled. Conversation had flowed easily and we had both lost track of time. We had noticed we had been talking for a good hour and a half.

Sean got up, smoothed out his blazer and after he hooked his bag on his shoulder and put away his iPad he walked up to the side of me, kissed me on the lips and walked out if the coffee shop smiling as he went.

After the kiss it took me a few seconds to compose myself, but I finally managed to stand up and retrieved my bag from the front counter and as I left the coffee shop I waved to Mr Clark and exited.