Chapter Three
Luckily for Aaron, he woke up late again, probably because he was awake until the early hours lost in his thoughts. Now, he was able to get out of bed and use being late for work as an excuse to go straight to work without having to answer Paddy's continuous questioning about the previous night. As far as Aaron was concerned, he just wanted to forget about it.
He rushed out the door, escaping Paddy's "There you are sleepyhead". Paddy wasn't surprised tough, Aaron wasn't a morning person, especially if he was out last night and probably had a hangover. Aaron got to work at ten on the dot, meaning he wasn't late, especially because his shift didn't start for another three hours as a result of him switching shifts with Ryan yesterday, but amidst the whole Bar West ordeal and his thoughts and insecurities conflicting in his head, he had forgotten about that. With no other choice, he decided to head back home. Paddy should be in the surgeory by now anyway.
Aaron walked up the road, hand in pockets and head facing the ground. He kicked a stone all the way from the garage up the road, but stopped when he was taken aback by what he saw. A blue van was parked outside Smithy. Aaron didn't recognise the van but he did recognise the owner. He saw the man he had met in Bar West standing at his front door talking to Paddy. How the hell did he know where Aaron lived? Why was he there? And what was he saying to Paddy? Surely the cat is out of the bag now, Paddy knows everything, and soon everyone will, there is no other explanation. With Aaron's heart throbbing in his chest and his brains throbbing in his head, he punched the wall of Viv's shop in anger and fear, which cut his knuckles. Once he shook off the pain, he ran as far away from Smithy as he could, which was actually only just a bit down the road.
"Thanks very much" Paddy said, gesturing Jackson a thumbs up and taking the phone off him, "Aaron's always losing this. Muppet. It was very kind of you to come by and drop this off."
"Well to be honest I'm really in the village because I have a meeting with an employer which was meant to be yesterday but got moved to this morning. Guess Aaron was just lucky that everything fell into place then."
"You're right. Thanks so much. I'll make sure he gets this"
"No problem, would you mind giving him my number too?" Jackson took out a torn corner of a piece of paper from his pocket with his number on it and 'Jackson' written at the top.
"Yeah sure thing. I thought he already knew you?"
"Nope. Just met him last night in town and that was it. Seemed like a nice bloke though. Anyway I best be off. Take care." Jackson said, waving Paddy off as he returned to his van.
"Yeah, yeah, see ya" Paddy waved, as he stared at the paper in front of him. Jackson - he seemed nice. The kind of friend Aaron could use. Paddy would be sure to make Aaron call him and thank him. People like Jackson are hard to come across and he would be a great influence on Aaron.
As Aaron leaned on the gate, which marked the start of a wide open field, he could see the infamous blue van driving by on the road way ahead of him. So he was gone. But did it matter? Paddy obviously knew, which means he couldn't go back to Smithy now. Not ever. Paddy had probably already told Pearl which means the whole village knew. So what, was he just to run away? He didn't see why not. Aaron is always known for making rash decisions. The only problem is he'd have to sneak back into Smithy to get his things.
The door let out a creeking noise as Aaron slowly slid the door open. His face cringed the whole way through as he failed at not making noise. He made it in anyway, and was about to rush up the stairs, when Paddy came through the kitchen door.
"Ah, there you are. Something you wanna tell me?", he said, with a wink. Aaron's face dropped. That was it, he did know. His head was screaming at him telling him just to run, but he was frozen in place at the thought of Paddy knowing.
"Well," Paddy pushed, "Why didn't you tell me. Was it so I wouldn't think any worse of you?" Aaron began to mumble nonsense now. He could feel tears building up in his eyes and he was about to break out into a plea for Paddy to stay quiet, but Paddy got the first words.
"Well don't worry. I already know you're an irresponsible git", Paddy laughed, chucking Aaron his phone, "There, you left it in town last night you plonker. You should have told me you lost it, I could have been ringing you." Relief flooded Aaron's face. But it wasn't over yet. Aaron still didn't know for certain if Paddy knew or not.
"Good thing for that mate of yours you made last night, he returned it in one piece. That was nice of him."
"Yeah, well he's just a mate. Its what people do." Aaron retorted, ever so defensively.
"And here, told me to give you his number. I want you to call him say thanks"
"No chance". Aaron had already taken the paper but now he scrunched it up.
"Aaron, that bloke did a nice thing. The least you can do is send him a text."
"I'm not texting him!" Aaron demanded.
"Yes you are and I don't care what you say. Now make yourself scarce. I wanna do this place up for Marlon and Rhona coming over tonight."
"Again, so you guys will be hogging this place again?"
"Well there are plenty of other places to go Aaron", Paddy chuckled, and walked back out into the sitting room to set the place up. Aaron repeated Paddy's last words in a mocking voice, then stared at the scrunched ball of paper in his hand momentarily, before deciding to chuck in the bin.
"What is with you and your phone. You've been checking it every few minutes", Jackson's flatmate pointed out to a now blushing Jackson.
"No I amn't" he responded, going even redder in the cheecks. His flatmate made a huge grin and then looked at him for a few seconds with a teasing grin before saying: "It's a boy".
"No its not", Jackson said shyly.
"Ah it is. Whats his name. What age is he. What does he look like".
"Forget it" Jackson said, getting up off the couch and grabbing his coat, "I'm going out".
"To meet your booooyfrieend", his flatmate teased, making Jackson blush even more. He winked back at his flatmate and said "Hope so", and closed the door behind him.
Aaron stomped down the stairs and sighed at the sound of Paddy, Marlon and Rhona laughing their heads off in the other room. He walked in with a sulky face.
"Ooh don't you look smart" a slightly tipsy Paddy commented. "Look at you with your white shirt and jeans. You meeting a girl?" That line made Aaron cringe in his head.
"Well he's not gonna pull a girl with a face like a smacked bottom" Marlon added, to which he and Paddy laughed.
"Oh no no, don't mind them Aaron, you look smart," Rhona smiled. Aaron ignored all of their comments.
"Right, anyway I'm off to the pub to meet Adam, don't wait up." As he walked back out he got a text from Adam.
From: Adam, 21:27;
Alri m8, Scarletts bringin a m8. She's well fit and Scarlett can set ya up. Dress nice man!
Aaron looked disappointed. He just wanted a night out with a mate. Now Adam was going to try and set him up with a girl. The thought of that made Aaron's heart beat faster in panic. He looked beside him and noticed the practically empty bin, with the scrunched paper in it. Aaron pulled it out and opened it up, revealing the number. He stared at the paper for a while, pondering what to do, until suddenly he decided to save the number to his phone.
Once again he walked fast from the bus stop. Who cares if no one he knew was around, he didn't want people seeing him going into the gay bar. He kept his head down too, but raised it when he bumped into a taller man at the door, a familiar man.
"Well well, wasn't expecting to see you here", Jackson lied.
"I'm not heading in here, I'm going to a different club." Aaron also lied.
"Oh yeah, what one?", Jackson smiled and Aaron failed to think of a club name so accepted defeat with a facial expression.
"Its okay you know. People in here are friendly. Some are even nice looking", he winked.
"You don't get it. I'm not like you. I'm not like that."
"What, you mean gay?" Aaron looked around as if someone had heard Jackson say that. He didn't respond.
"Right well eh, you have fun out here then, and I'll be inside. If you pick up the courage to come inside I'll even buy you a pint. If not, you have my number."
"No I don't, binned it", Aaron retored quickly.
"Oh, right. Well here", Jackson pulled a card out of his pocket, it was a work card labelled jacksonwalshconstructions, with his number underneath. "Feel free to call me or text me. I wouldn't mind", Jackson said, winking at him and then going inside.
Aaron stared at the card then threw it in the bin. He already had his number anyway. He couldn't go inside now. Not after that. Not after he made a fool of himself in front of Jackson. He was insecure enough as it was, he didn't need that, so he willingly went back to the bus stop and got the bus home. He had to admit though, the whole way home all he could think about was his encounter with Jackson. Jackson was so calm, and so manly. How can he do that? Shouldn't he be insecure like Aaron is? He wish he knew Jackson's secret and finding out was only a text away. A text he so badly wanted to send, because it was someone to talk to, someone with experience and who is decent enough to just talk and be friendly, but he couldn't manage to press the buttons. His mind wouldn't let them.
Stropping through the Smithy doors, he was greeted by Paddy who was getting a beer out of the fridge. The first thing he noticed was Aaron's scratched nuckles from when he punched the wall earlier.
"What happened to you!" he said, his voice filled with worry.
"What? Oh, eh, nothing, just grazed it off a wall."
"You're lying to me. You got in a fight didn't you?"
"No! Why do you always think the worst in me?"
"Because I know ya! Aaron you have to stop the fighting. You're not going to have any mates."
"I didn't hit anyone!" Aaron exclaimed, desperately trying to make Paddy believe the truth, but he wouldn't. Aaron ignored him and went up to his room to strop some more. Typical Paddy. He didn't understand. He wouldn't. No one would. Well, not neccissarilly.
He took out his phone, went to send message and added Jackson's name. His heart was already racing and he hadn't even done anything. He didn't know what to do. Would this be a stupid idea? Would it be stupid to text a guy who could help Aaron, who could guide him and could just talk to him? Someone who would understand Aaron and someone who Aaron so obviously had feelings for that even he could admit it to himself silently. Well, I guess that answered his question. He looked down at his phone and started typing.
"Hi. Its Aaron. Just wanted to say thanks for returning my phone. Really appreciate it and sorry about earlier. Hope I haven't scared you off."