Will got up out of his bed and stumbled to the shower to try and wash away the memories and smell of his scent. Even though it had been two years, Will still remembered everything about him on this date. He tried not to because it hurt too badly for him. He'd really thought that Sonny was going to be the one for him, but one day while at work, he overheard Brian and Neil talking about them and he found out that he was just some fun time for a rich boy.
After packing his bags and saying goodbye to his Auntie and Uncle, he picked up his shattered heart and headed back to his parents. He told them of course that he was gay and that they couldn't change him, so they would just have to learn to live with it. He really didn't care how they felt about it, he was going to live his life the way he wanted. He started drinking and even ended up in the hospital a few times due to bar fights, and one time he ended up in the hospital with a sliced wrist due his using a broken bottle to try and take away the pain of the memories. After that last visit to the hospital, his family realized how low he'd fallen and they slowly helped Will get back on his feet. He gradually started once again being around people, and started to hang out with his pals again, but he really felt like like he was the third wheel, as both Chad and Tad had girlfriends. Will didn't want to be a tag-a-long on their dates, and he started making excuses to stay home.
On the night of the first anniversary of his time with Sonny, Will ended up on the front door of his grand mother in tears, and he told her all about how he had given his heart and soul to Sonny and how he found out that he was just a bit of fun for a rich boy.
Over time Will started to really live again and truthfully he didn't think about those brown eyes much. He had picked up some shifts at the pub, and he was spending more time with the gang. He had even become good friends with one of Chad's friends. He had moved to Salem after his boyfriend got a job at Salem General Hospital as an ambulance driver, only to die in a hit and run two days after moving there. The boys had become close, but neither was ready to be anything more than good friends.
Weeks had passed, and Will was was starting to have fun again when chad got a phone call from his older brother, who told him that the Famous Kiriakis family was moving back to Salem in a months time so that Adrienne could be near her sick baby brother.
"Chad, who is moving back from the Kiriakis family?" Will asked.
"I think it's Justin, Adrienne and Jackson. Abigail mentioned that he had been traveling, and wanted to catch up with his parents so he's going to come for a visit."
"I think I'm going to head off, guys. I've got an early shift at the pub." And with that, Will was out the door.
Days had passed and everyone could see that Will was crawling back into his inner shell just as he was when he first come home two years ago. The day had finally come that the person who had ripped his heart out was going to be living in the same town.
It was beach day for the gang so everyone was going to be at the beach for most of the day and then all meeting for burgers at the pub around 5pm.
"Abigail just texted me to let us know that they will be at the pub for burgers. He has just landed, but they want to rest up and go to visit Adrienne's brother.
Toby could see that Will was thinking about something. He was there on his beach towel, drying off after his swim in the water. Toby walked over to his pal and sat down near him.
"I never got to say thank you for helping me that night when I ended up at your front door. If you ever need a shoulder or a punching bag, let me be that for you. I know something is wrong because you haven't been the same since Chad told us about the Kiriakis family moving back."
"Toby, I know him! To me he was Sonny, and I thought he was the one for me. I really thought I had found my soul mate with Sonny, but in the end I was just a bit of fun for a rich kid. I gave my heart to him and he ripped it to pieces. He was my first for everything."
Will! I know that I will always love Alex with all my heart, and some day if and when I meet the right guy I might feel ready to move on. But I know that if I could ever have a second chance at a life with Alex, I would take it in a heartbeat. You are so young and some guy would be so lucky to have you in his life. When the time is right for you he will walk into your life and your heart will be ready to love again."
"Thanks, Toby. I think that I might head off and see if I can get a swap for my shift tonight. I just can't see him now. I know that it will happen one day since he has moved here with his family, but I need for the first time I see him after two years to be at a distance and not in a place like the Pub."
Toby just sat there and watched his mate grab his towel and leave, suddenly realizing just how hurt and heartbroken his friend was 2 years ago. And now the person who had hurt him was moving here to his home town. Will was finally starting to heal and move on slowly and the mention of Jackson's name and the thought of seeing him was unraveling all the hard work that Will's family had done over the years to get Will back to something close to normal.
Will went by the pub and had a look of the roster, and it wasn't looking that good for him. Tammy and Craig were away camping, Nikki had called in sick, and Ally was working tonight. Will knew it was a long shot, but he grabbed her phone number and called anyway. After a few rings, Ally answered.
"Hello"
"Hi, Ally, it's Will Horton from work."
"Oh, Hi Will. What's up? Do I need to come in early for the shift?"
"Um no, but I was wondering if I could ask you for a huge favor. Would it be alright with you if we swapped table sections tonight, please? I just don't want the hassle of my rowdy friends tonight. I will slip you an extra twenty."
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"I will do it for you if you can work a shift for me on July 19th, Will."
"Thank you, Ally. I am at the pub now. I'll go ahead and put my name on your shift for the 19th."
"It's cool, Will. I'll come in at 4pm instead of 5 so that I'm ready for your rowdy group."
"Ok, I'll see you then. Thanks for doing this for me."
Toby had gone for a swim after Will left. He had been swimming some laps, and decided that he was done, so he started to swim back to the beach. As he got closer he noticed that there was two people near their group on the sand. It was Abigail and Sonny, he guessed. As he was getting closer, he could see that the guy was looking his way with a friendly smile on his face.
"Hey, Toby, this is my cousin, Sonny."
"Hello, Toby. Nice to meet you."
"Yeah, thanks." They shook hands, but Sonny sensed something was off.
"Hey, Chad, where is will? I thought he would be with you guys."
"No, he got a call from his mum and left about 30 minutes ago."
"What a shame. You missed meeting my other cool cousin."
"Blue eyed sweetheart with a six pack to die for in my book." a voice said from a nearby beach towel.
"Sonny, that's my pal, Melanie."
"Well, I will meet up with you guys at the pub later on. I've got things to do. It was nice to meet you, Sonny." And with that, Toby walked away from his pals.
Will didn't even notice that he was standing at the front door of his grandmother's home/office until John opened the door to walk out.
"Hey Will!"
"Oh hi. Is she here?"
"You had better get in here."
Will moved out of the way for John to walk out, and then he walked in shutting the door behind him. He walked over and sat down without even saying hi to her, but after a few minutes he started to cry and shake.
"I don't know if I can do this. He's coming hereto visit with his family. They arrived today and it's a small town. I know that I will see him. I thought I would be safe here. I'm not ready for this."
Suddenly she realized that it was Sonny that was coming home with Adrienne and Justin.
"Oh, my dear boy. You still love him, don't you, Will?"
"I don't want to and I did try to forget him and to learn to hate him for hurting me, but I guess my heart won't let me. Maybe he has moved on. Chad did say that he is just passing through town."
Will noticed the time. It was going on 4pm, and he started work at 5pm.
"Shit! I have to go to work. Can I change here? I should still have some old clothes from when I was living here."
"Of course. You go take a shower and I'll put your clothes on the bed for you."
"Will ran straight for the bathroom and turned the water on full blast as he started to stip off his clothes. Marlena sorted through his old clothes and soon had a black pair of jeans and a grey t-shirt on the bed for him.
Twenty minutes later, Will was leaving her flat with a quick kiss and a promise to be back later to get the clothes he'd left on the bathroom floor.
Will made it to work with seconds to spare. He got started on his section for the night. His tables were already starting to fill up, so he knew that he was going to have a busy night which he was happy about. He got the first three orders written out and went for the kitchen to put then in, and was on the next table when he heard Chad talking about how busy the place was tonight. Chad noticed that Will was working the busy section. He tried to get Will's attention, but he was too busy and focused on his job, so Chad decided to leave it be for now. There weren't any tables available in Will's section so they couldn't move. He decided to catch up when Will took a break.
Will was really busy bringing out the meals for his tables, so he never saw Sonny sit down at the booth, and Toby had made sure that Sonny had his back turned to Will to make it easier for him to focus on his job.
"Hey, why is he working that section tonight?"
"He was asked by his grandmother to cover it since the pub was fully booked tonight, and Ally is still learning the menu so she didn't want to throw her in the deep end. That's why he left early from the beach."
"Well, it does help when your family owns the pub and you can pick your shifts."
"Come on, Chad. You know that no one ever says no to that wonderful lady. Especially Will."
Hearing that name, Sonny looked up and turned around just as Will walked back through into the kitchen .
Ally walked over to their table and started to take their orders. Everyone got their usual burger and fries, but Sonny got a steak sandwich with his fries.
Will was coming out of the kitchen with two of his order for table 6 when he heard Sonny's voice. He froze just for a second, and to anyone else it would look like he was double checking his order before going to the customer's table, but Toby could see and tell that Will had just heard and realized that Sonny was in the room.
Everything was going so well, but that was about to change when Ally's last table decided to ask to see the head waiter about their meals. She went over to Will and whispered that she needed him a moment when he was free.
"Hello, my name is Will. What seems to be the problem?"
"Well, our meat was undercooked and my wife didn't order chips with her steak."
"Well, if you could just give me a moment, I'll go get the head chef. He likes to talk to our customers about any problems they have with their meals."
As Will started to turned around to head for the cook, the gentlemen stopped him.
"Oh, please don't do that. Everything was just lovely. Thank you."
They got up quickly, putting down some money, and left. Will couldn't couldn't help but laugh at their attempt to get a free meal as he started to clean up the plates.
Sonny had been to the toilet and was walking back to the table when Will turned slightly and Sonny caught a glimpse of the face he hadn't seen in so long. He waited until the people had walked away from their table, then walked up and stood behind him.
"Hello, Will. So this is where you came from and the pub was real."
Will slowly turned around to come face to face with the person who ripped his heart out. He struggled to stay calm, determined not to let Sonny see how much his presence effected him.
"Yes, Sonny. I have never lied to you! But hey, it was just some fun for you in the end, right? Goodbye Sonny Jackson Kiriakis."
Will walked away and as he passed Toby he tried to smile but it didn't happen.
Sonny couldn't breathe. He had to get out now, so he quickly ran for the door and was gone without a backward glance. The tears started rolling down his face as he remembered the words he had spoken two years before in Aspen.
"Can someone please tell me what just happened? How do they know one another?"
"Well, Abigail, they met while Will was staying with his aunt and uncle, and they dated for some time. Will fell very hard for your cousin and even considered Sonny to be the one for him, only to find out that Sonny was just using him to have some rich boy fun. Will overheard Sonny saying those very words to some of his pals from work. After hearing how Sonny felt, Will came home to heal his shattered heart, only to come face to face with the source of his pain two years later. Look, I know that he is your cousin and that he's got money, but it's not right that he used Will like he was a source of amusement."
Abigail had heard enough and left the pub to go looking for her cousin. She had to find out why he had acted like that.
As sonny stumbled through town, his mind flashed back to that day in the office. He was scared to admit to his friends and family that just maybe he had finally found his soul mate. He had planned a weekend away to the family cabin, up in the mountains, and he was going to ask Will move in with him and stay for good with him. But when Brian and Neil started joking that he was getting boring and he was acting like a married man and not a rich single guy, Sonny freaked out and joked that Will was just some fun for him.
When Sonny got home to the flat and noticed that Will was missing, he just thought that he was staying over at his aunt's house for the night, but when he didn't show for the morning shift, Sonny drove over to the house, only been told that Will had flown home on the early flight back to America, and he left no forwarding address for him. When he asked why, the door was closed in his face.
Days went by and Sonny started to realize that Will was just having some fun with him, and that what he had said so many times was just a cruel joke. He had never felt so dirty and used by someone. He had planned to ask Will to be his forever, but instead he got his heart ripped out by the guy.
Will came back out with the last two meals, and then he started to clean up the tables for the morning shift while he waited for Ally to come back from her break. He had noticed that both Sonny and Abigail were missing from the booth.
Abigail found Sonny in the park. He was sitting on the bench, and as she got closer she could see that he was crying and seemed upset. She wasn't sure what to do or how to help him, so she just sat down near him and hoped that he would talk.
"He walked away because of me! I did this, not him! I loved him so much. He was my future and I had planned to ask him to stay and move in with me for good. My pals were teasing me about being boring and acting like I was married, and I freaked. I wasn't ready to tell them the truth – that yes, I was thinking that way with Will – instead I said that he was just some fun for me. But I never meant for Will to hear it, and I never meant a word of it! Shit, my own family blamed him for this happening to me, when all this time it was me that fucked up the best and only good thing that walked into my life. Me! Not him! I don't blame him for hating me now, because I would if I heard my boyfriend saying that."
Sonny leaned over and kissed her cheek and got up and left the park to head back to his uncle's house.