Full Circle – Chapter 2
DISCLAIMER: I am not connected to Emmerdale and its characters, which belong to ITV
-O-
Aaron gulped down his breakfast as quickly as he could; he knew that Cain would be in a foul mood all day if he was late for work. Chas entered the back room of the Woolpack and saw her son sitting at the table.
"Shouldn't you be at work, like, five minutes ago?" she asked sarcastically.
"Don't you start!" Aaron scowled, "It'll be bad enough having Cain on my case when I get there."
"Well, maybe you should get up a bit earlier, instead of dreaming about this Marco!"
"Don't talk daft!" Aaron rose from his chair and headed for the door, "He's just a mate!"
"Yeah, right!" Chas did not look convinced.
Aaron managed to avoid Cain for most of the day and buried his head in his work. He was hoping to get a call or a text from Marco, but his phone stayed silent all day. He was not unduly worried by this; as he knew that Marco would be driving round in his van all the time, which gave him little opportunity to make contact.
However, when he tried to ring Marco after work, his phone went to voicemail, so he decided to text instead. A short while later; his phone rang and Marco was on the other end of the line.
"Hi sexy," Marco sounded bright and cheerful, "Sorry I couldn't answer you before. I was on the phone to that Dane, you know, Jackson's fella. He's coming round to give me a quote for that painting I want done."
"Oh right," Aaron flinched slightly at the mention of Dane's name, although he did not understand why, "So you're busy tonight then?"
"Yeah, sorry! I can drive over to the village later if you like. We can have a drink in your pub for a change."
"That's cool! What time will you be here?"
"Probably about eight, if that's OK?"
Aaron looked at the clock; it was now six, which meant that he would have two hours to kill, "That's OK, I'll be here waiting; unless I get a better offer in the meantime!"
"No-one else would put up with ya!" Marco chuckled, "See ya later!"
Later, Aaron sat with Adam, sipping his beer.
"Looks like you've been stood up mate!" Adam said.
Aaron looked at the clock; sure enough, it was ten minutes past eight and still no sign of Marco.
"He'll be here," Aaron said, confidently, "He did say about eight o'clock; not to the nearest second!"
As if on cue, Marco rushed through the door, looking flushed. He said his hello's to Aaron and Adam and bought a round.
Once he had settled down with the others at the table, Aaron spoke, "So, did Dane make you an offer you couldn't refuse?"
Marco looked a little uneasy, but he answered with another question, "How do you mean?"
"You said that he was going to quote for that job. Did he give you a good deal?"
"Yes, he's going to do it next week. He said he'd need to do it in the evenings, but that's OK as I'm out working during the day anyway."
Aaron sensed that Marco was a little tense, "You OK? You seem a bit jittery!"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Marco smiled, "It was just the traffic in town; I thought I was going to be late getting here."
"Well, you're here now. Fancy a game of darts?" Aaron asked.
"Yeah," Adam chipped in, "It's about time I thrashed you again!"
"In your dreams, farm boy!" Aaron replied, cheekily. Then, looking at his boyfriend, he said, "Marco?"
"You're OK," Marco nursed his drink, "I'll just chill and enjoy this, you and Adam have a game."
Aaron and Adam played darts for a while and teased each other about their skills, like best mates the world over. Marco made the occasional comment, but seemed a bit distant. Aaron was sure something was amiss, but tried to concentrate on his game.
After a couple of hours, Adam called it a night as he needed to be up early the next morning. After he left, Aaron sat with Marco and they chatted for a while, then he said, "So, do you want to stay at mine tonight? It will save you driving back to Hotten."
"It's OK," Marco replied, "I've not been drinking alcohol, so I'm alright to drive; I'd better get back."
Aaron and Marco walked to the car. "I'll call ya, yeah!" Marco said.
"OK!" Aaron replied. Marco gave him a quick kiss and climbed into his car. Aaron had the feeling that he was getting the brush off, but told himself that he was being stupid. It was not like him to come over all sensitive!
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A few days passed. Aaron received the occasional text from Marco and always replied immediately, but he had an uneasy feeling that Marco was ignoring him or worse: hiding something. It all came to a head the next Friday night. Aaron had decided to pay Marco a visit at his flat; unannounced. He arrived at the door and was about to knock but, on trying the door handle, he found that the door opened. He smiled to himself; he was always telling Marco to remember to lock the door! Hoping to surprise his boyfriend, he crept quietly into the flat. However, he was not prepared for the sight that greeted him in the bedroom area off the lounge. There, both stark naked in the bed, were Marco and Dane!
"What the hell is going on!" shouted Aaron in shock.
Marco and Dane both pulled the sheet over themselves, as if doing so would cover up their activities. Both of them looked at Aaron like rabbits caught in the headlights of an oncoming car.
"Aaron!" Marco stuttered, "I didn't know you were coming round!"
"Obviously!" Aaron had a face like thunder, "How long has this been going on?"
"Look, Aaron, I can explain!" Marco looked crestfallen.
"Yeah, I'd like to hear this one! What, Dane offers a 'free shag' with every tin of paint does he?"
"I'd better go!" Dane stammered, jumping out of bed and retrieving his clothes from the floor.
"Yeah!" Aaron sneered, "Do one!" He clenched his fists and felt like punching Dane's lights out; but he was more upset than angry.
Dane dressed hurriedly as he bolted out of the door without saying another word.
"Well," Aaron said, crossing his arms, "I'm still waiting for this clever explanation of yours!"
"I'm sorry you had to find out like this," Marco continued to keep the sheet pulled firmly over himself; "I was going to tell you. When Dane came round to give me a quote for the job, we sort of hit it off and one thing led to another. We've been seeing each other ever since."
"How touching!" Aaron was close to tears.
"It's not just sex! What I mean is; we have feelings for each other."
"I thought you had feelings for me!"
"I do! I really like you Aaron. I'm so sorry!"
Aaron could feel the tears welling up, but he was determined not to cry in front of Marco. He did not want to give him the satisfaction of letting him know how much he was hurting. "I'm sure Jackson will be very interested to hear about your little 'arrangement'! Dane is supposed to be his boyfriend after all!"
"Are you going to tell him?" Marco looked worried.
"Well, I don't see much of him these days. But if I do see him, I don't see why I should keep my trap shut!"
"Look, let me get dressed and I'll run you home!"
"I don't want anything from you...you lyin', cheatin' SCUMBAG!" Aaron turned and ran out of the flat, his eyes stinging from the tears that he was holding back.
"Aaron, please...wait!" Marco called after him. But it was too late, Aaron was already half way down the stairs; his tears becoming a flood.
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Aaron stared at the ceiling in his bedroom. He had passed the crying stage and was now becoming angry. He hated Marco for betraying him but, also, he hated Dane for betraying Jackson. He finally admitted to himself that he still had feelings for his ex-boyfriend and he did not want to see him get hurt. But, he had a dilemma: should he tell Jackson that Dane was cheating on him? Part of him wanted Jackson to know the truth; but another part of him was afraid that Jackson would not believe him and think that he was trying to stir up trouble. He thought about it, long and hard and eventually decided to text Jackson and find out what reaction he would get by making contact. He knew that Jackson's number was still stored in his phone and hoped that it had not changed.
He took out his mobile phone and, fingers shaking slightly, he typed the words, "Can we meet up? I want to talk." He selected Jackson's name from his list of contacts and hit 'send'.
Sure enough, a little later, a message came back, "Hi, did not expect to hear from you. What's up?"
Aaron allowed himself a little smile; Jackson was willing to talk.
"Meet me in the Woolie tomorrow, just you and me, 7pm?" Aaron typed and sent again.
"Sounds ominous! OK!" Jackson replied.
Aaron sat waiting patiently in the Woolpack the next evening. He had a dreadful sense of foreboding; was he doing the right thing? He almost felt that all this was none of his business; but he could not let Jackson carry on thinking that his partner was being faithful to him.
Punctual as ever, Jackson arrived at the agreed time and Aaron bought them both a drink. He suggested they go through to the back room and they sat on the settee together.
"So, why all this 'cloak and dagger' stuff?" enquired Jackson, "Couldn't we have just chatted in the pub?"
"Sorry!" replied Aaron, "But I didn't want to say this with that lot out there ear-wigging!"
"Say what, exactly?" Jackson was now intrigued.
Aaron could see no point in beating about the bush, so he came straight to the point, "It's about Dane," he said, but then hesitated.
Jackson looked at Aaron with a quizzical expression on his face, "What about him?"
"I found out that Marco was cheating on me; and guess who he was cheating with?"
"Dane?" Jackson looked shocked.
"Yeah, sorry, I just thought you should know."
"Why are you telling me this? How do you know?"
"Look, I'm not trying to cause trouble. I called round Marco's flat unexpectedly and caught them at it; they were in bed together."
Jackson looked sad and on the verge of tears. Aaron wanted to hug him; but he felt that physical contact at this point would be inappropriate.
"I knew something was up!" Jackson said, "I've had the feeling for a couple of weeks now that Dane was being a bit off with me. But I never expected this..."
"I'm so sorry Jackson! Part of me was hoping that you already knew. I didn't want to be the one to break it to you."
"It's not your fault! Thanks for telling me; it must have been hard for you. I'm sorry to hear about you and Marco!"
Aaron thought how typical that was of Jackson; always thinking of other people's feelings before his own.
"So, you don't hate me for telling you all this?" Aaron looked pensive.
"Hate you? Why should I hate you? You're being a good mate. It's nice that you care enough about me to be so honest with me."
"Of course I do!" Aaron blurted out, "I'll always care about you! I know you couldn't put up with me, the way I used to mess with your head, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten what we once had!"
"Oh, Aaron, where did it all go wrong, eh? We moved on; found other people; and look where it's got us!"
Jackson stood up to leave and Aaron rose to his feet too.
"So, what are you going to do now?" asked Aaron.
"Well, naturally I'm going to have it out with Dane, the little shit!" Jackson paused and grimaced, "No, that's not fair; I don't blame him really. He was right; I did used to bang on about you a lot; it used to drive him mad! He would joke about it, but I'm not surprised he got fed up with it and went looking elsewhere."
"So, you still think about me then?"
"Look, Aaron, I've got to go," Jackson was being non-committal, "I've got a lot of thinking to do. I'll call you later, yeah?"
"Yeah, any time!" Aaron smiled.