Aaron and Jackson had been on a 'break' for a week now. The younger man often woken up and stretched out his hand to the other side of the bed, in search for the builder, but instead of soft warm skin he was given cold sheets in replacement. He missed being held by the older man. If he couldn't sleep then Jackson would be there at night to hold him, comfort him, even if he did put on a show that he didn't like anything like that. Deep down he really did and right now he was realising that more than ever. As the days quickly ticked by nearing closer and closer to the court date Aaron found himself in more need for Jackson. He needed him, especially as he found himself more often than not staring up at the dark ceiling when really he should be sleeping.
"You look awful." Paddy commented one morning when Aaron scuffled into the kitchen, dark shadows beneath his eyes.
"Thanks." Aaron grunted sarcastically. He could do without Paddy's unhelpful comments.
"I know you don't want reminding but Court is in a few days. . ." Paddy said as he filled his cup with more coffee. "I was wondering if you were going to speak to Jackson before then."
Aaron turned to serve Paddy a look to show that he wasn't impressed with his interference.
"Don't give me that look." Paddy sighed rolling his eyes. "You two need to sort it out. Jackson's been moping around the village worse than you have been." He told him. "Besides, you'll need each other in a few days."
"He knows where I am." Aaron snapped, regretting what he said instantly. It was selfish and harsh. He'd had a lot of time to think about what had happened, what he hadn't done or should have said. One of those things was to be honest to Jackson, screw his loyalty to Holly. Jackson was his boyfriend; he should be able to trust him more than anybody. But like always, trust was another one of Aaron's broken issues. His trust had been broken and destroyed too many times in the past eighteen years it wasn't surprising he found it hard. But he need to work on it, for Jackson's sake more than anybody else's.
Paddy had thought it was harsh as well, by the look he gave the teen. He was disappointed. "Just be honest with him Aaron." Paddy said before ditching his cup in the sink and heading through to the surgery. He hoped Aaron would make the right decision.
He'd spent the rest of the morning and a good majority of the afternoon thinking about what Paddy had said and what he should do. Eventually he'd agreed with the older man, he did need to talk to Jackson. They both needed to know where they stood and the first step towards that was him being completely honest with Jackson. He deserved it. He needed to find Jackson first so they could talk. He wouldn't send him a text, he needed to find him face to face. He managed to hook Clyde's lead round his wrist as he hobbled outside on his crutches and hoped that the huge Alsatian wouldn't tug on his lead. He was thankful to reach Ryan's and Andy's in one piece. He knocked once on the door and waited for an answer.
"You alright mate?" Ryan greeted as he opened the door.
"Yeah, is Jackson in? I need to talk to him." Aaron asked as he tried to shift his weight from his arms to his left leg.
"Yeah he's in the living room, come through." Ryan said holding the door open for Aaron to pass through with Clyde and head into the lounge while Ryan called over his shoulder. "Jackson! Aaron's here."
He found the older man lounging on the sofa, a bottle of beer in one hand as a movie played out on the screen. He new it wasn't one of Jacksons. It could have been, he never had good taste in Movies. He looked up when Aaron approached him and hovered awkwardly by the chair.
"Alright." Jackson greeted rather hostile.
"I need to talk to you." Aaron told him.
"Go on then." Jackson said. He wasn't exactly making things easy.
"In private. . ." Aaron muttered a little. He didn't want to talk, knowing Andy or Ryan could hear whatever they said.
Jackson made a show of rolling his eyes. "Fine." He said, reaching for his jacket on the back of the sofa and ditching his beer bottle on the coffee table.
He followed Jackson out of Dale view and through the village towards the cricket pavilion a few steps behind. He took a seat next to him on the steps, thankful for a seat. He didn't know where to start. He'd spent the most of the day wondering whether or not he should speak to Jackson. But now he was he hadn't given much consideration to what he would say. There was so much. He'd tackle the most obvious now, the most recent. Drugs.
"About those drugs that you found. . ." Aaron started, running his fingers through Clyde's fur as he spoke.
"What about them?" Jackson pushed. All he had wanted was for Aaron to be honest to him about them. However he had hoped and prayed that they weren't Aarons.
"They're not mine-." Aaron told him. He'd heard that earlier. Who's were they? "I took them off a mate, who getting themselves in too deep."
"A mate?" Jackson scoffed raising a disbelieving eyebrow. It was so cliché.
"No, seriously Jackson they are a mates. I'm really worried for her." Aaron admitted when he knew Jackson wasn't believing a little of it.
"And who is this mate?" Jackson asked. Aaron still didn't think he believed him.
". . . I can't say." Aaron hesitated. He'd been all for telling Jackson it was Holly that owned those drugs. But he couldn't do that to her.
"I thought as much." Jackson said getting up to walk away.
"-No! Jackson, stop." Aaron said quickly, when he knew he was close to losing him.
"Well then tell me whose they are Aaron? Because at the moment all I can see is a drug taking dishonest chav and that's not who I want to be with." Jackson rounded on him.
Aaron inhaled, buying himself sometime. "Fine." He said. "It's Holly." He quickly told him. His head down as he rushed the words.
"Holly?" Jackson exclaimed, shocked. "You're winding me up aren't you?"
Aaron shook his head as Jackson thought about it for a while. It all made sense. He'd found Aaron and Holly arguing a lot lately. They'd been quite a few occasions when he'd interrupted a heated argument between them and when asked what it had all been about they'd both come up with some obvious lie. It hurt to know Aaron had lied to him. Even though he'd been honest with him, he'd still not felt like he could trust him and he was his boyfriend. He should feel as though he could trust him. Jackson had given him no reason not to.
"Does John and Moira know?" Jackson asked. Holly's parents would want to know.
"No!" Aaron quickly told him. "And you can't tell them. Promise me Jackson you won't tell them." Aaron begged him. "Adam doesn't even know."
"Aaron you can't ask me to lie for you two!" Jackson exclaimed. "The Barton's have a right to know that their daughter is taking drugs. I'm sure Paddy would want to know if you were!"
"Please Jackson. . ." Aaron pleaded. It wouldn't help if they found out. They would only make things worse, even though their hearts would be in the right place.
Jackson shook his head. "Aaron, they need to know." Jackson told him. "What are you going to do about it? Make her stop all by yourself?"
"I just need to speak to her mate Roz, she's been the one dealing her drugs." Aaron explained to Jackson, like he had it all sorted.
"No Aaron, you can't take this on all by yourself." Jackson told him straight. "You've got the court case coming up to think about. All this with Holly has got to stop."
"Jackson, she's a mate-" Aaron started.
"And that's exactly why you need to tell the Barton's about it. They can help her." Jackson said. "You're only eighteen, you can't take this on all by yourself."
"That's exactly what Paddy done to me!" Aaron snapped at Jackson. "He went an' told Chas and just made things a whole lot worse." Paddy had gone behind his back and told his mum about his sexuality. "If you do that to Holly, it will only get worse."
Jackson shook his head. It was completely different. "The Barton's need to know. If you don't tell them I will."
"You wouldn't dare." Aaron challenged.
"Oh, believe me, I would." Jackson promised him. He was only looking out for the young mechanic. He couldn't cope with the court case plus getting Holly to stop taking drugs. It was all going to break him if he wasn't careful.
"Can't believe I was stupid enough to tell you." Aaron spat as he stood up from the steps.
"Aaron, I'm only looking out for you. Just like you were for Holly." Jackson tried to justify he didn't want Aaron to think he couldn't tell him anything. But it was stupid for Aaron to think that he could handle Holly on his own.
"Save it." Aaron sneered before storming off.
A/N – Another quick update. Thought I'd quickly update this before I went out today. Thank you for all the great feedback I've recieved. Grateful to see that you think I should keep this all going on this fanfic instead breaking into parts when I hit a certain amount of updates. So much easier this way, I just don't want this fanfic to go on and on and on, if you know what I mean? Anyways, looking forward to seeing what you think when I get back later.