Face to Face

Part 6

He'd had a pig of a morning and all he wanted to do now was sink into a chair with a coffee, and have five minutes to himself. But as Paddy turned his car engine off and stepped out into the warmth of the midday sun, Chas stepped out through the surgery door. He had an idea what was coming and wanted to delay it for as long as possible. So deliberately avoiding eye contact he walked around to the back of the car where he unlocked the boot and retrieved his practice bag.

"Oi!"

The familiar screech echoed through the stillness of the day and Paddy cringed. "Oh hi Chas, I didn't see you there."

"Course you didn't!" Chas snapped, "So, what happened? You said you'd get back to me."

"I couldn't, Aaron was never out of earshot."

"Well he's not here now so?"

Determined not to go into any great detail, Paddy replied, "It went well, they're seeing each other tonight."

"Right!" The brunette said as a frown settled on her face

"You don't look or sound too pleased about that." Paddy couldn't keep the irritation out of his voice; didn't she want to see her son happy?

"I am and I'm not. I'm happy he's you know, seeing someone but not so happy its Jackson."

"Why?"

"You know why."

"Look Chas, you can't hold that against him for ever. Let it go. I think he'll be good for Aaron."

"Well that's easy for you to say, you've met him, talked to him, Aaron's not likely to bring him round to my place for tea now is he?"

Paddy was certain the odds of that happening were a zillion to one but didn't want to rub Chas' nose in the fact, "Give them a little time and who knows! And anyway you're bound to bump into him at some point.

"You'll keep an eye on them won't you? He's so very vulnerable right now and..."

"I can't believe you just said that?" Paddy snapped, sometimes Chas seemed to forget how important her son was in his life, and that Aaron actual cared about him. Well he wouldn't be made to feel so inconsequential, not by her. "I don't need telling to watch out for him, I've been doing exactly that for a long time now." With that he stalked around the now dumbstruck Chas and into the surgery, slamming the door behind him.

"What's going on?"

Chas turned to see her son walking towards her.

"Oh nothing..."

"It didn't look like nothing to me. What you been saying?"

"You know me, something thoughtless."

"Yeah, that would right!"

"You home for your lunch?" Chas decided to change the subject.

"Yeah, but he's not going to be much company now is he."

"He'll be fine with you. It's me he's mad at. But we'll be fine; I just need to give him a bit more credit."

eeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeee

He'd started to get ready early and was showered, dressed and making his way downstairs by half seven. He'd wanted to be ready when Jackson pulled up outside, eager to make a quick getaway. But as he reached the bottom step he heard voices and realised Jackson was already there, sitting talking to Paddy by the table.

He was suddenly flustered, now he and Jackson would have to walk outside together! But that was no different to being seen with Paddy or Adam was it? He tried to reassure himself with that thought but realised how cowardly he was being. Of course it was different, and Jackson deserved better than that from him.

"He scrubs up well doesn't he?" Paddy gestured towards Aaron as the young man stepped into the room, the teasing earned him a black look but it was like water off a ducks back to Paddy and he continued to grin.

"Not bad." Jackson joined in the teasing, all the time thinking just how fit the younger man looked.

"Are we going or what?" Aaron asked impatiently, "I'm starving."

As the two men rose from their seats Aaron glared over at Paddy, hoping against hope that he wasn't planning to walk them to the door then wave them off like someone's granny!

He breathed a sigh of relief when the older man moved towards the living room, but was soon cringing again when Paddy said with a wicked glint in his eye, "Don't you go having the madras, you know it always gives you the trots!"

After that Aaron found it was actually a relief to be outside and openly walking down the path alongside Jackson even if he was laughing at him.

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Jackson had heard that a new curry house had opened in town; he'd suggested they try it out then finish Monday night off in Bar West.

With that planned Aaron hadn't eaten anything since lunch time and was quickly scanning the menu for his favourite dish.

"No madras for you." Jackson grinned.

"What's he like?" Aaron laughed good naturedly, although he had every intention of getting Paddy back for his comment, as true as it was.

The Indian restaurant was fairly busy for a Monday night, most of the tables were in use and right at the back of the room in the corner were a group of men. They were in high spirits, obviously celebrating something or other.

At one point some raucous laughter was heard, it instantly caught Aaron's attention and he craned his neck around to see if he recognised anyone in the party. He couldn't see all the faces and tried to forget what had troubled him.

By the end of their meal they were both starting to feel more comfortable with each other and when the bill arrived Jackson snatched it up.

"We'll go halves." Aaron said as he reached for the piece of paper.

"No, I'll pay this time; you can pay the next time we come."

Suddenly certain there would be a next time Aaron readily agreed. "Ok, I'll just nip to the bog then."

The mens room was situated at the back of the restaurant and as Aaron reached its door he glanced warily over at the men making all the noise. It was a relief to have confirmation that he'd been wrong about the earlier laughter.

Stepping through the door he found himself in a small hallway, several doors led off it. Pushing the appropriate door open he came face to face with another man.

Stricken by a sudden rush of emotion he could only watch as first surprise and then revulsion appeared on the familiar face.

He wanted to turn around and run but his feet were rooted to the spot. But it seemed his father couldn't stand to look at him a second longer because the next thing Aaron knew, the bigger man was barging past him, violently shouldering him out of his way. Aaron stumbled, his back impacting with the wall. But he was glad the wall was there, because he was trembling so much he wasn't sure his legs would hold him upright. But it wasn't fear that was making him shake it was anger and he knew he had to get out of there before he lost his head.

TBC