Stockroom Secrets Chapter 17 by Mark Peters
Stockroom Secrets
by
Mark 'Ponyboy' Peters
Chapter Seventeen
I wasn't too sure exactly what would be waiting for me when I made it home, so it was with some trepidation that I pulled my car in beside the carport at our house a couple of hours later then quietly entered via the back door.
The first thing I heard was canned laughter coming from the lounge room, where my family was watching some American comedy show. The next thing I heard was, 'Is that you, Gray?'
'Yes, mum,' I answered. Seconds later, even before I had finished closing the back door, she appeared at the entrance to the kitchen. I glanced at her, seeing her leaning against the door frame, arms folded across her chest.
When I turned to face her I heard a distinct gasp, then she was coming for me.
'What happened?' she asked, sounding obviously quite shocked, when she saw the state of my face and the tear in my shirt.
'I had a hell of a day,' I replied.
'Don't be a wise ass!'
'I had an accident, okay,' I replied.
'Accident? What do you take me for Grayson?'
'It's no big deal mum, really. It's all been sorted.'
'Sorted? And just what is that supposed to mean exactly?' she replied, in a forceful, yet quiet voice. Obviously she was trying to keep her voice down so that dad and Olly wouldn't hear us.
I didn't answer her. I could barely even look at her.
'Exactly what has been sorted, Gray?' mum asked again, firmly.
'A guy at work confronted me, okay.'
'And what? He hit you? You hit him? You had a fight or something? Since when do you get into fights, Gray?'
'It . . . it wasn't like that. I didn't hit anyone. Tom Goodwin had a go at me in the baler room. He wanted something from me that I wasn't going to give to him, so he knocked me down, being the bully that he's always been. My face hit the brick wall. My shirt caught on the edge of the baler machine.'
'And was that all?'
'Not entirely . . . he got the sack this afternoon. The company has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to bullying, and when this happened, even after everyone has been reminded of it lately, Mr Webster, the manager, took action . . . at least that was what Raffa told me had happened when we met up after work.'
Mum pulled out a chair at the kitchen table and sat down, then pointed to the chair opposite. Somewhat reluctantly, I pulled the chair out, the feet of it screeching slightly on the tile floor, then I sat down also.
'Why Raffa? Why didn't you find out first?'
'Because I wasn't there. Mr Webster told me to leave early, so I went down to Riverside Park and walked around for a while, trying to clear my head. I was waiting for Raffa, as we'd arranged to meet after he'd finished work.'
We could hear the TV going in the other room. I found that canned laughter so fake and it annoyed the crap out of me, though I could hear Olly happily laughing along.
'So, just what did this Goodwin guy want?' I was asked.
'You don't want to know.'
'Try me,' mum replied.
'He wanted sex, mum. The bastard wanted sex. And I sure as hell wasn't going to give it to him, okay!'
Angrily I pushed back the chair and stood up. After the day that I'd had, I really couldn't handle this inquisition.
'I'm going to bed. Goodnight,' I said, then I left her sitting there.
* * * * *
It really had been a roller-coaster of a day, starting with my confrontation with Troy and Dan, then getting man handled by Tom Goodwin, before finally finishing off with my connecting with Raffa in a way I had only previously dreamed of. Were we really boyfriends now? Did that really happen?
We hadn’t had sex or anything like that, but we did have a great make-out session and spent a lot of time just talking and holding each other. I figured I needed to send him a text, just to confirm that I wasn't dreaming.
< Plz tell me what just happened was real n I wasn't dreaming it all? >
For the next minute I sat staring at my phone, willing that a reply would come back straight away. It didn't, so I began to undress to get ready for bed, only to hear my phone beep before I'd even managed to take my shirt off.
< babe, it was real alright. ur stuck with me now. sweet dreams xxx >
I chuckled to myself as I read his reply, then finished undressing, as memories of his lips, and his touch and his gentleness came back to me.
I couldn't ever remember feeling like this about someone. It wasn't the usual horniness or pure lust that I know I have experienced so many times before when being physically attracted to someone. This was different. Deeper, somehow. And it was both exciting and scary at the same time. I was pretty sure it was too early to start throwing around the "L" word, but was this what love was all about?
As I climbed into bed I sent him a reply.
< Of course they'll be sweet. You'll be in them! >
What can I say? I can be just as romantic as the next guy.
Eventually I did manage to fall asleep, with my night being filled with dreams of Raffa and me. There was plenty of hot sex, but there was also a lot of togetherness, doing everyday things, just like ordinary couples. We walked on beaches and frolicked in waves, splashing each other as if we were kids, we rode on his motorbike with my arms wrapped tightly around him and my cheek firmly against his shoulder as we sped along a bush road, we held hands while watching a movie at the cinema. All these things were ordinary enough, but after doing them together in my dreams it only made me yearn for us to be doing them together in our real lives.
Of course all these thoughts had me excited, and in more ways than one, and at one point I awoke, only to find a hot, sticky mess covering my abdomen.
Oh geez, it had been a while since that had happened. I reached out for some tissues on my bedside table and cleaned myself up, then promptly fell back to sleep again. Tomorrow would be another day, and I was excited to see what it was going to bring the two of us.
* * * * *
Mum and Olly were already in the kitchen when I surfaced the following morning, after having showered and dressed for work. My face wasn't any better than it had been last night, so I was expecting some sort of reaction from my family in the cold light of the early morning.
'Hey, where were you last night?' Olly demanded, briefly picking his head up from the plate of cereal he was eating, and holding his loaded and dripping spoon in mid-air as he asked his question. No sooner than asking that he dropped his attention back down to his Fruit Loops. Obviously he hadn't looked at me very carefully.
'I was just talking with a friend,' I replied.
'A boyfriend?' he whispered, obviously not wanting to put it out there for just anyone to hear. I glanced at mum as he said this and she smiled.
'What did I say about that, Olly?'
'I know, I know, but dad's not here, is he?'
'It doesn't matter,' mum stressed.
By now, Olly certainly was looking at me, his expression one of curiosity as he studied my face.
'Well, you missed out on The Simpsons,' he said, before adding, 'What happened to your face? Did you get in a fight or something?'
'No, mate. Just had a bit of an accident at work yesterday, that's all. I'm okay.'
‘Oh. So, who is your friend?'
'Nunyabusiness!'
'Boyfriend . . . boyfriend . . . boyfriend . . .' he teased.
'That'll do, Olly,' mum scolded him. At that he dived back into his sugary breakfast as mum and I exchanged smiles.
I set about making myself a cup of coffee and adding some bread to the toaster as mum watched on. Olly finished his breakfast and muscled in on the space around the sink, dropping his plate and cup into it, then heading down the hallway.
'Clean your teeth, young man,' mum called after him.
'Yeah, yeah, yeah,' came the reply.
'So, how are you this morning? Sleep well?' mum asked as I poured hot water into my favourite mug.
'I'm fine, thanks. Better for having had a good night's sleep.'
'And what is going to happen at work today?'
'Who knows? I guess I'll find out all about what went down when I get there. And I suppose there'll be those who will blame me for it, but they can go to hell. He's a bully and he got what he deserved.'
'Obviously.'
'I'm not going to run and hide from anyone, mum. If I have to use the workplace rules to stay safe then I will do that.'
'It’s what happens outside your workplace that I worry about, son. But at least now you have some friends to support you as well,' she added.
'Yeah, I do,' I replied. 'I'm sure everything will be okay now.'
'I certainly hope so.'
After finishing my breakfast I headed straight to work. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, but I figured there was bound to be some kind of reaction from my workmates, whether good, bad or indifferent. Only time would tell as to which way the cards would fall.
When I pulled into a parking space I found both Raffa and Chris Hopwood were already there, waiting for me near the stairs which led down to the arcade and the entrance to our store.
'What's this? A welcome back party?' I asked, as I gave a fist bump to each of their offered hands.
I studied Raffa, who was studying me and sucking on his bottom lip. I wanted to kiss him so bad, and I suspected he was thinking exactly the same thing.
'Just making sure our boy gets a bit of support if it's needed,' Hoppy replied.
'But we know it won't be needed,' Raffa quickly added. 'You've got this.'
'I wish I shared your confidence,' I replied, as the three of us started down the stairs.
Raffa draped an arm over my shoulders as we went and quietly said to me, 'Lunch time, we'll go to the clinic, okay?'
'Thanks. That'd be good.'
Just after that I heard a giggle from somewhere behind us, which was quickly followed by stern female voice saying, 'Give it a rest, Karen!'
We both looked back to see a group of girls descending the stairs behind us. I was fairly certain that they wouldn't have heard what Raffa had said to me, so it seemed obvious that it was the fact that he had his arm around my shoulders that had sparked the response. One of these girls, Karen Pearce, who worked on the checkouts, was looking decidedly sheepish after having just been scolded by one of her companions.
'Don't worry, lads,' Simone Drew said to us. 'We've got your back! And we'll straighten this one out while we're going!'
Another girl laughed and Karen turned bright red.
To me, this was the first sign that things might actually turn out okay, as others were now standing up to those who thought it okay to put down people like us.
When we reached the bottom of the stairs I wanted to make a point of thanking Simone, so I stopped and turned to face the group, with both Raffa and Hoppy stopping beside me.
When she reached the bottom of the stairs I said, 'Thank you, Simone. I really appreciate what you just said.'
'You're welcome, Grayson. Just wanted you to know that we're not all still living in the dark ages.'
'That's good to know. Thanks.'
She gave me a nod and they continued on their way toward the staff entrance with the three of us now following them.
'Why is it that all the cute ones are always gay?' I heard one of the girls say as they walked away.
Her friends all laughed, and even I had to have a chuckle at that one.
'Who do you think the cute one is?' I heard Hoppy ask Raffa.
'Sorry, it's not you, Hoppy,' one of the girls called back over her shoulder, which cracked us all up.
After we entered the store and made for the offices at the rear, where we would all sign on for the day, I noticed that I was receiving a few stares, a few embarrassed looks, and at least one openly hostile glare from Dan Thompson. One of the guys from the sporting goods section fell in beside me and gave me a pat on the back, then quietly said, 'Good on you, mate. Sorry that happened to you, but by standing up for yourself yesterday you did us all a favour.'
It seems I was once again the topic of workplace gossip, but I hadn't really expected it to be any different. It was going to be another interesting day ahead.
After swiping our staff cards and signing on we were all about to go our separate ways, but I found Mrs Mack waiting near the entrance to the offices.
'Can we have a chat please, Grayson?'
Raffa quickly said, 'I'll talk to you later.'
I nodded and then turned back to Mrs Mack and said, 'Yeah, of course.'
To be continued . . .
Authors Note:
Hi there. It has been a while since I have posted anything new on Nifty. I guess life gets in the way sometimes.
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