By slavebladeboi
Nate gave a final wave as the car carrying Alex and Greg disappeared around the corner of the street. He walked quickly back into the house and placed the addresses they would be at, together with their phone numbers to call in case he might wanted to join them after all, under a fridge magnet where he couldn’t miss seeing them. He stood in the kitchen and took two or three deep breaths to calm his nerves, knowing now was the time to take Mike up on his invitation to have a serious chat.
Mike met him on his doorstep and invited him in. “Go through to the kitchen, Nate, take a seat and I’ll fix us one of my special brews.” He said the last words as if they were in capital letters. He opened the fridge and poured the cloudy liquid into two tall glasses. Then, sitting down opposite Nate, he looked him straight in the eye. “I think we are both wondering what’s next, aren’t we?”
Nate almost did his usual “look down at his feet” move but stopped himself halfway and looked back at Mike. Mike continued to look at him, but, in the end, as Nate didn’t volunteer anything, he said quite quietly, “Be open, Nate. There’s not a lot left to be embarrassed about. I’ve seen you sobbing with regrets, you’ve told me things you probably haven’t ever put into words before. You know things about me not many other people in this world know, plus you’ve seen more of me than most other people have, so let’s just both open up and say what we need to.”
