Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot!
I paused as was about to enter the break room. I could see Sara and Greg inside, and the latter did not look happy at all. He looked like he was about to have a mini freak out session. Neither of them could see me, they were too focused on each other. Greg was sitting across from me, but sideways facing Sara, who sat facing him from the other side of the room. Sara was leaning on to the table and her face had an intense look. Greg had leaned his chair on to the two back legs, dropping his head against the wall, and covering his face with his hands. I was just about to step through the doorway and ask what was going on when Sara's voice reached me and I couldn't stop myself from pausing in curiosity.
"Come on Greg, just try!" she was saying. Greg groaned as if exasperated, the sound muffled by his hands, and shook his head.
"It doesn't matter which way I say it," he complained through his fingers, "he's still going to punch me in the teeth. I spent so many years fixing those teeth, I refuse to give him a reason to take them out!" This kicked my curiosity up a notch. Who would want to punch Greg? I saw Sara sigh and roll her eyes.
"Well you have to find some way to do it," she insisted. "Why don't just try…you know…the date thing again?" I wondered what the hell she could possibly mean by that. The date thing. Greg dropped his hands in his lap and eyed her as if she were the dumbest thing on the planet, not dropping his chair to four legs. They competed in a hard staring contest for what seemed like forever and I began to give some thought to making my presence known. But then I probably wouldn't find out what this was about, and I'm a nosy guy.
Ok so eavesdropping isn't the nicest habit in the world. But it's found me out some pretty good stuff in the past. Stuff like which sister was the one to replace all my dinosaur toys with Barbie dolls the day I had my very first sleepover. So instead of saying anything I leaned comfortably in to the doorframe to see which one of them would break the stare first. Greg suddenly emitted a frustrated noise and I started. The blonde shook his hands above his head wildly.
"What the hell do you want me to do Sara, just walk up and say I love you?!" he half yelled at her. Suddenly he leapt from his seat and assumed a very prissy pose, fluttering his eyelashes gaudily and folding his hands under his chin, speaking again in a false soprano. "Yes excuse me Mr. Stokes. I just thought I'd tell you that I'm gay. Oh and by the way I have the biggest crush on you!" The empty coffee cup in my suddenly loose fingers fell through air, smashing on the tiles at my feet and scaring a year of life out of the two people I had been listening to.
Sara and Greg both looked up at the same moment and when they saw me standing there the color drained away from both of them. Greg looked almost physically sick. I could do no more than stand there and gape at him ridiculously, my mouth wide open and my hand still more or less in the shape of holding a cup. My friends stared back at me with ashen goldfish faces. The shattered cup at my feet remained unnoticed by all three of us. We stood there for what seemed like forever, and it was Greg who managed to recover first. He looked suddenly deflated; his shoulders slumped and his hands disappeared in to his jean pockets.
"See what you're so called help gets for me Sara? It looses me friends." With that he pushed past me and hurried away down the hall. I still couldn't move. It took a few more minutes for me to process these new words, and I suddenly snapped to attention. I met Sara's gaze with shock but didn't say anything. I turned tail and ran off after him, not entirely sure where he had gone. I checked each evidence room and layout room as I passed them but there was no sign of him. The glass walls of the labs revealed to me all the techs, but no Greg. I got a few funny looks, but ignored them all as I continued my search.
When I finally found him, he had his back to me and apparently didn't hear me coming. He was muttering to himself about killing Sara and making it look like an accident. In between bursts of angry chitter he was also mourning my reaction. His whole frame as he sat on the curve of the sidewalk outside oozed rejection, with low shoulders, hunched back, and head dropped in to hands. His feet were splayed haphazardly and he had placed himself on the empty corner that we all avoided. It was shadowy and low trafficked, a perfect place to get jumped.
I walked up slowly and lowered myself next to him without a word. He jumped when he first caught sight of me, but by the time he could tell who it was I was already seated beside him on the cold concrete and he had nowhere to go. For a moment I ignored him, staring ahead of myself and collecting the words in my mind. He seemed to think I was preparing some words of anger, since he looked down at the ground again and huddled closer in to himself.
"The biggest crush, huh?" I asked without looking at him. I could see out of the corner of my eye that he turned his head towards me and tilted it cautiously, afraid.
"Yeah," he admitted. "I'm sorry." He definitely did not need to be sorry. I told him so and he asked me why I wasn't freaking out more. Finally I turned to look him in the eye and let him see that I was smiling bigger than the cat that finally got the cream. I was smiling like the Nick who finally got the Greg.
"Oh only because I happen to be gay myself," I declared as casually as possible. "Oh and by the way I happen to have the biggest crush on you too. Might call it love actually." I managed to not break eye contact as I waited nervously for his answer. Perhaps I had heard him wrong and it wasn't actually me he had been crushing on. Then his smile grew to match mine and my nerves were calmed. I had heard right. We sat there and stared at each other for quite some time before I worked up the courage to lean over. Our lips pressed together and it was warm and wonderful. When we pulled apart he was smiling just as big as I was. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sara standing there smiling as well. See? Sometimes it's not a bad thing to eavesdrop.