Don't Look Back – Chapter 3
-O-
DISCLAIMER: I am not connected to Emmerdale and its characters, which belong to ITV
-O-
Aaron entered the back room of the Woolpack with so many mixed emotions. He was usually confident in most situations, but meeting a brother that he had never met before was totally out of his comfort zone! At least he had Jackson with him to lend him moral support.
Eden and Chas rose from the settee as the couple entered.
"Let's do this properly this time!" Chas grinned, "Eden, meet Aaron, your brother...and his boyfriend Jackson."
"Nice to meet you!" Eden smiled at the two of them, shaking hands with them in turn.
"I'll leave you to get acquainted," Chas decided to use her discretion, "I'll be in the bar if anyone wants me!" So saying, she exited the room, although she would have loved to have stayed and been a 'fly on the wall'!
Eden sat back down on the settee and Aaron sat next to him. Jackson perched on a chair at the table. He looked at the two brothers sizing each other up and felt as if he was about to referee a fight! However, he hoped that the meeting would remain convivial!
"Have you..." Eden said, just as Aaron said "So..." at exactly the same moment.
They looked at each other and Eden smiled, "Sorry!" he apologised, "You go first!"
Aaron cleared his throat, still unsure of what to say, then he spoke, "Do you live in Hotten?"
"Yeah, always have done," Eden was keen to strike up a conversation, so he continued, "My mum...that is my foster mum, had a house in Hotten Road. She died a few months back."
"I'm sorry!" Aaron said.
"She had cancer...heavy smoker! I was always telling her to quit but she wouldn't listen!" Eden looked sad; and Aaron was genuinely upset for his brother.
Eden looked at Jackson, "So how long have you two been going out together?"
"Just over two years," Jackson answered with a smile.
"Wow!" Eden exclaimed, "A long-term relationship! I wish I had a serious boyfriend!"
Aaron thought about stating the obvious; that Eden was gay too, but he decided against it, "So, you haven't met anyone special then?"
"No; not yet!"
There was an awkward silence; all three of them were searching for something else to say! Eden looked at the clock and Aaron noticed his glance at the time, "Have you got to be somewhere?" he asked, almost sounding sarcastic.
"No!" Eden answered, "I just want to know the time as I will need to get a bus back to Hotten."
"Don't worry about that," Jackson interjected, "we'll run you home later!"
"I don't want to put you to any trouble!" Eden said.
"No worries!" Jackson tried to put Eden at his ease and Aaron smiled; knowing that Jackson was doing it for his sake and he loved him for it.
Once the ice had been broken, they began to talk more freely and Aaron and Jackson spoke about their jobs. Eden was being evasive about his line of work, only admitting that he was involved in the 'entertainment industry'.
At the end of the evening, as promised, Aaron and Jackson gave Eden a lift home in Jackson's van. On the drive back, Jackson spoke, "Entertainment industry, that's a good one!"
"How do you mean?" Aaron did not understand what Jackson was referring to.
"Didn't you recognise him? That club we went to with Sol and Joey...he was the stripper we saw when we went in!"
"No way!" Aaron was genuinely shocked, "He couldn't have been!"
"Why couldn't he? He seems a bit coy about what he does for a living and I don't suppose it's something that he would readily admit to!"
"I can't believe it!" Aaron was deep in thought.
"I wonder if he's told your mum?" Jackson said.
"Well, if he wouldn't tell us, I don't suppose he'd tell her either!"
"Well, maybe the next time you meet, you could ask him."
"Oh yeah!" Aaron rolled his eyes, "I can see it now; 'Eden, do you strip off in a gay club by any chance?' That's gonna go down well, isn't it!"
"It was your first meeting," Jackson continued, "Maybe he'll open up a bit more when you meet again. Anyway, if it turned out he was that stripper; how would you feel about it?"
"I'm not sure, if I'm honest," Aaron said, thoughtfully, "I'm not keen on the idea!"
"Well, if it is him, he must have his reasons for doing it!"
"Maybe you're mistaken," Aaron was still not convinced that his brother and the stripper were the same person, "I can't see it somehow...Eden seems too, I dunno...nice!"
"You like him then?" Jackson hoped that Aaron would open up to him.
"Yeah! As he's my brother...I suppose I should like him!"
"It doesn't always follow! The world is full of siblings that don't get on together!"
Aaron mulled it over for a moment, "I expect you're right; but, he seems OK. Anyway, you know our family, at the end of the day, we all stick together."
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The next morning, Chas was bursting to find out how Aaron and Eden's meeting went. However, when Aaron came down the stairs and into the back room, she did not ask him straight out as she knew that Aaron would be likely to clam up under direct questioning. However, Aaron was no fool and he knew his mother well, so he decided to tease her a little.
"Aren't you going to ask me how it went?" Aaron said, a wry smile playing around his lips.
"No!" Chas tried to deny that she was interested, "It's none of my business...I didn't think you'd want to talk about it, anyway!"
"Come off it, I can see you're dying to poke your nose in!" Aaron was as cheeky as ever, "I was surprised you even left the room; you're not normally that discreet!"
Chas ignored Aaron's remark and decided to come clean, "OK! I'm desperate to find out!"
"I knew it! If you must know; yeah, we got on OK." Aaron wondered how much information his mother had collected about Eden, "Has he spoken to you about his job?"
"He said that he's a dancer; is that what he told you?"
"Not exactly!" Aaron was beginning to piece things together, "He said that he's in entertainment; so I s'pose that fits. Did he say what sort of dancing he does?"
"No, not really, I didn't think to ask!" Chas said, "Anyway, I thought I was supposed to be asking about your meeting, not the other way around! Are you going to meet up again?"
"Well, as he's my brother, I expect our paths will cross again!" Aaron replied, sarcastically.
Just then, Jackson appeared from upstairs.
"Oh, morning love," Chas smiled at her son's partner, "You're usually off out at the crack of dawn!"
"Good morning!" Jackson's smile lit up the room, "Not this morning; there's a hold up with a delivery of supplies so I'm going in a bit later. Hopefully, the materials I need will arrive at lunchtime."
"Aaron was telling me about your meeting with Eden last night," Chas said.
"Really?" Jackson raised his eyebrows in disbelief, "That doesn't sound like our Aaron!"
"Ha ha, very funny!" Aaron tutted.
"Has he told you about Eden's illustrious career?" Jackson said; but when he saw the quizzical look on Chas' face, he wished he had kept his mouth shut.
"What do you mean? He said he was a dancer," Chas replied.
Aaron looked at Jackson with an expression which indicated to him that he should not go any further with this subject.
"That's right, that's what I was talking about!" Jackson tried to backtrack, "What I meant was, he might be famous one day!"
"Yeah, I suppose he might if he's good at it!" Chas beamed with pride.
Aaron breathed a sigh of relief; his boyfriend had made a good recovery!
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The next day, Chas was serving behind the bar when Eden walked in.
"Hi, love, how are you?" Chas grinned at her youngest son.
"I'm fine, thanks!" Eden smiled back.
"I think Aaron's out the back, if you want to go through and say 'hello'."
"Yeah, OK."
"Did you two hit it off the other night?" Chas could not help herself; she was really hoping that her two boys were going to get along. She knew that Eden was gay, so she reasoned that they did at least have one thing in common! At first, she had been a little shocked that she had two gay sons, but she had quickly embraced it; just as she had readily accepted Aaron's sexuality when he first came out.
"I think so!" Eden said, "I like Aaron...and Jackson. I hope we can be buddies!"
Chas smiled as Eden walked through to the back of the pub; maybe things would pan out OK.
Aaron was sitting at the table, eating his tea.
"Hi Aaron!" Eden said, chirpily.
"Alright!" Aaron replied.
Without invitation, Eden perched on the sofa, "Busy day?" he asked.
"Nah. Not really," Aaron answered, "Things are a bit quiet, as it happens."
"Where's Jackson?"
"He's still at work! It might be quiet in the garage, but he's really busy with his building jobs," Aaron finished his meal just as Chas appeared with two glasses of beer.
"There you go," Chas said, setting the drinks down on the coffee table, "Can I get you anything else? Crisps? Nuts?"
"Not for me, I've just eaten!" replied Aaron.
"I'm OK, thanks!" Eden added.
Chas left them to it and Aaron and Eden sat side by side on the sofa. They could so easily have been just two lads meeting as friends, but, although they were not identical, there was a striking similarity. They had matching blue eyes and hair colour, plus similar physiques and mannerisms. A casual observer would have no difficulty in spotting that they were brothers. They sat in silence for a few moments, both still unsure of each other; there was still awkwardness between them.
Jackson's comments about Eden were still rattling around in Aaron's head. He did not feel comfortable in asking him straight out if he was a stripper, so he decided to make a joke of it to test Eden's reaction, "You'll never guess what Jackson said."
"What?"
"We went to a private club a couple of weeks back; two of Jackson's mates are members. Anyway, when we went in; there was a young lad pole-dancing in there; and, when Jackson met you, he said that you looked just like him!"
Eden blushed and looked at the floor; he looked very sheepish and Aaron knew then that Jackson's hunch was correct!
"It WAS you, wasn't it?" Aaron still did not quite believe it, even though the evidence was staring him in the face!
Eden continued to look down; not meeting Aaron's gaze, "Yeah! There's no point in denying it! I hope you don't think badly of me, Aaron. It's not something I wanted to do, but I needed the money!"
"I can't imagine anyone needing money enough to do that!" Aaron was trying to get his head around Eden's confession.
Eden plucked up the courage to look Aaron in the eye and he decided to explain, "I had to leave home and needed the money to rent a bed-sit. After my mum died, I couldn't live with my step-dad anymore; he moved in with my mum two years ago. He was a lot younger than her and sponged off her; mainly to buy drink. He was a bastard! He used to get drunk and lash out at me! He called me names when he knew I was gay, but, when he was tanked up on booze, that didn't stop him trying it on..." Eden hesitated, this was the first time that he had opened up to anyone about his private life.
Aaron started to piece things together. It dawned on him what Eden was referring to, "You don't mean he...?"
"I had to put a lock on my bedroom door!"
"Blimey!" Aaron looked shocked, "Did he ever..."
"Yeah," tears formed in Eden's blue eyes, "He raped me!"
"Oh my God!" Aaron gasped, "The dirty scumbag...why didn't your mum stop him?"
"I didn't tell her; she was too ill by this stage; I think that's partly why he did it! He wasn't able to get what he wanted from her and I was a substitute," Eden's tears were flowing freely now, "Sorry, you must think I'm a right soft git!"
Aaron looked totally stunned and he suddenly felt empathy for his younger brother; his own upbringing had not been without its problems, but it was a breeze compared with this! He felt privileged that Eden was unburdening himself to him and assumed that it was what brothers do; so he put a hand on Eden's shoulder, "It's OK!" he said, quietly.
Eden embraced Aaron and sobbed on his shoulder, all the hurt from his past came flooding out. At first, Aaron flinched at the close physical contact, but he realised that Eden needed comfort and he hugged him back, waiting for Eden's sobs to subside. In that moment, they became close; almost soul-mates. Aaron knew that he needed to be strong for Eden's sake and he also knew that it was something that he would do willingly; he wanted to protect his little brother and take his hurt away. After all that he had been through himself in the past, he understood Eden's pain perfectly.
