Christian looked at his watch and broke into a run. He had been stuffing down chocolate cake, pausing between mouthfuls to mumble a sympathetic 'oh' and 'mm' as he listened to his sister's woes, and now it lay heavy in his stomach.
He sprinted up the stairs to the flat, calling out Syed's name, knowing there was little hope of him being in.
'And even if he is, I've only got two minutes until the next client.' He mused sadly.
Sure enough, the room was empty and silent. Christian hastily grabbed the list from beside the bowl of neatly piled oranges, turned on his heel and raced back out into the square.
It had started to rain, a fine drizzle making the leaves of the laurel bushes gleam.
He could see someone lurking at the back of the gardens and noticed with dismay that they didn't seem to be properly dressed for a session of physical activity. He wasn't in the mood for starting someone off from scratch.
Dragging the now screwed up piece of paper from his pocket, he glanced at the first name and his mouth curved into a smile.
'Stop it.' He chided himself. 'It's unprofessional to laugh at your customer's name.'
He tried to stem the rising giggle and prayed that she wouldn't hear the laughter he was desperately trying to suppress.
'Grow up Christian.'
He gave a cheery wave and called out;
"Miss Mycock!"
The slight figure turned and emerged from behind the cover of greenery.
"Yes I do," said Syed "I really do…."
He melted into Christian's embrace and the two of them stood together, drenched in the rain. Both oblivious to the passers by who nudged each other and pointed at them, unaware of the traffic nosie, the sound of car tyres splashing through puddles, not hearing the harsh cries of the market traders.
When they eventually came up for air, Christian waved the list at Syed and laughed.
"Genius!"
"I needed your help really, I bet you could have come up with some corkers."
"Mine would have been far more crass. I would only have managed those old favourites, Ben Doon and Phil McCavity."
"There's more.." Syed pointed shyly to the list. "It isn't only your cock I miss, that's just a small part.."
Syed noticed Christian opening his mouth to protest and added quickly;
"...though obviously not, it being huge, oh you know what I mean.."
Christian chuckled proudly.
"I know what you mean." He began to read the other names aloud.
"Gray Tarse, Hugh Darling, S. Uperman …"
"I'd started to struggle a bit…" confessed Syed "Read the last one."
"Olive Yew."
"So much,so very, very much."
" Olive Yew too, Sy. More than anything. So we're free the rest of the afternoon?"
Syed smiled up into his eyes.
"Oh yes.."
"Well what the hell are we doing standing out here then? Come on Gray Tarse, I'm taking you home."
Christian waited for his heart to slow down, feeling each nerve ending fizzle with energy.
"I think you may have killed me."
Syed slumped panting beside him, nestling under his arm.
"Same here. What a way to go…"
Christian tried to untangle his feet from the rumple of sheets.
"Let's never have another week like this one Sy."
Syed kissed his throat.
"It's ended pretty well."
"I know. But I've missed talking to you about the day, cooking together, having a laugh. It's been miserable."
"Back to normal after this weekend, I promise. We'd better get up if we're going to Sam's party."
Christian turned to look at him in surprise.
"I thought you were baby sitting for Zahida?"
"I only half promised, I got the distinct impression she didn't want to go round the in laws, if she could get out of it, so she'll be grateful for the excuse. Anyway, she'd understand."
Christian pulled him a little closer.
"Sam might understand too."
Syed sniggered.
"No he won't. I'm quite looking forward to a night out with you. We can sicken everyone with our public displays of affection."
"Really? You have come a long way Syed Masood. More likely they'll be green with envy that I'm with the hottest man in the room. We can sneak off and snog on top of the coats"
"I should hope so."
Christian hit his forehead with his palm.
"Shit, I didn't get him a present!"
Syed grinned triumphantly and wriggled across Christian's body. He began to rummage around beside the bed.
"Ah ha!" he crowed, his voice muffled by the cast aside duvet.
Christian stroked Syed's bottom as it lay over his groin until his head re-emerged.
"While I was out this morning I sent flowers and champagne, and I bought this!"
He brandished a hat, the price tag bobbing around.
Christian took it from him and let out a low whistle.
"Good work. That's the gayest hat I've ever seen."
He put it on and Syed giggled, pushing himself back onto the bed.
"You think he'll like it then?"
Christian placed the hat on the shelf beside him and checked the price.
"He'll bloody love it. Let slip how much it cost and he'll love it even more."
Syed sat astride Christian, running his hands up through his chest hair.
"And as I'm away this weekend, I thought we should make the next one special. So we've got tickets for a show, a table booked at a restaurant and a room at a hotel in the West End."
Christian pushed Syed's hair back and studied his face intently, eye's glittering with delight.
"You're a star. Did you know that?"
Syed looked momentarily guilty.
"Our credit card's gone a bit limp now…"
"I haven't," Christian announced "and I can feel that you haven't either.."
Syed laughed with joy as Christian flipped him over onto his back.
"Looks like we're going to be fashionably late to the party..."
"We'll tell him we were busy…."