Page 16 of The Weight Of It All

He bent each leg at the knee again, which was apparently the Reed gauge of denim flexibility. “Mmm.”

“You like the first pair best,” I stated.

“What do you think?”

“I think the first pair were better too.”

He smiled again and disappeared back into the change room. When he was done, he paid for his jeans, and the sales guy had lost a little of his sparkle. Well, he was still smarmy and desperate, and he was giving Reed serious bedroom eyes, but Reed just thanked him and we left.

When we started walking back up the mall, Reed gave me a sad smile. “Thank you for playing along with the whole ‘babe’ thing. I thought if he knew we were together, he’d back off.”

“Oh, that’s fine. No problem. He was keen, that’s for sure. Did you see how he was looking at you when he was serving you just now?”

Reed visibly shuddered. “This might sound conceited, but it happens more than I’d like to admit, and I hate it.

At first it was flattering, now it’s just awkward.

And some guys don’t get the message. I guess they assume most gay guys are up for a quickie or whatever.

” He blushed a little. “But that’s not my style. ”

“Mine either,” I admitted. “Not that guys hit on me like that. I don’t exactly have that problem.”

“Ah, that’s because you haven’t made them your citrus tart.”

I snorted. “Oh yeah, it brings all the boys to the yard.”

Reed laughed, and then right there in the middle of the Pitt Street Mall, a Hellmouth opened. “Henry?”

Oh no. I knew that voice…

Reed turned to the sound of my name being called, but I froze. I wasn’t ready for this.

“Henry? ”

I turned this time to find Colin and James, Graham’s best friends. They were good friends of mine too, up until three weeks ago.

“Colin, James,” I said in greeting.

They each gave me an awkward hug. “How are you?” Colin asked.

“Good. And you?” I couldn’t keep the chill from my tone.

“We’re good,” Colin replied.

James nodded but couldn’t take his eyes off Reed. “Hi,” James said, looking from Reed to me, expecting an introduction.

“Hi,” Reed answered shortly. He clearly picked up on my discomfort.

“We better get going,” I said quickly. I wasn’t giving them anything. “Or we’ll be late.”

Colin seemed to get it. “Okay. It’s good to see you, Henry. You look great.” He gave me a sad smile. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry about what happened. Graham’s―”

I put my hand up. “Don’t. I don’t want to know.”

“Fair enough,” Colin said. “Sorry.”

I looked up at Reed. “You ready?”

He gave a nod, and we turned to head back up toward Martin Place. We’d only walked a few metres when Reed asked, “You okay?”

I nodded. “They were good friends but chose Graham in the split. Well, they were his friends first.”

“Collateral damage, huh?”

I nodded, and he quickly looked over his shoulder back to where Colin and James were. “They’re still watching,” Reed said and put his arm around my shoulder as we walked. “This okay?”

The weight of his arm, the warmth, the contact, felt really good. “Yeah. ”

“You pretended to be my boyfriend in the store to help me,” Reed said. “Just returning the favour.”

“Are they still watching?” I asked.

He looked back again and smiled. “Yep.”

“James is probably calling Graham right now.”

Reed was quiet for a few steps. “Do you want him to?”

“Call Graham?” I repeated. “I don’t care.”

Reed stopped walking, and with his arm still around my shoulders, he turned me so we stood facing each other.

His hand now rested gently near my neck.

“You do care. And that’s what makes you a better person than him.

Because he can’t even return a text message.

So let him not care, because he’s an arsehole.

But you’re not. It’s okay to care, Henry. I like that you still care.”

“Of course I care,” I admitted. “I always will. But not like that. Not anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know what I feel for him. I’m not hurt and angry anymore. I should be, but I’m not. And I have to wonder what that means.”

Just then, a far off, very familiar voice yelled out. “Henry?”

Oh dear God. You’ve got to be kidding me.

“Henry?”

I slowly closed my eyes and wondered if clicking my heels together three times and saying, “There’s no place like home,” would actually work. I opened my eyes to find I wasn’t Dorothy, and I was in fact still in Pitt Street. I put my hand on Reed’s arm. “Run for your life,” I whispered.

He stared at me with wide eyes. “Why?”

“Henry! Yoohoo!”

My shoulders sagged, and I could feel my soul being sucked out of my body. There was no escaping it. I sighed, resigned, and turned to face my accuser. “Mum!”

I should’ve realised. It was Sunday; we were out the front of the Nespresso shop. My mother was dressed to the nines. My sister was with her. I kissed them both on the cheek. “George Clooney a no-show again?”

My mother sighed dramatically. “It’s false advertising. He’s there on the ads.” She looked up at Reed and smiled deliriously. “Now Henry, where are your manners? And who is this nice boy with his hand on you?”

Reed dropped his hand, and I withheld a sigh. “Yes, mum this is Reed. Reed, this is my mother, Rosemary, and my sister, Eadie.”

Both women stared up at him and smiled. Reed nodded politely. “Hello. Nice to meet you.” I gave him my best “I’m so sorry” eyes, but he just smiled like it was all the most natural thing in the world.

“Reed and I were just leaving,” I blurted out.

“Oh, that’s a shame,” my mother said. Then she gave me a once over. “Henry, you look great!”

“Well, you can thank Reed for that,” I said.

“I bet we can,” Eadie said with a sly smile.

I glared at her. “Not like that. He’s been helping me with my fitness.”

“I bet he has,” Eadie said, still smiling up at Reed. “Never really liked Graham much.”

“Eadie,” I warned. “Don’t you have another wedding to plan or something?”

“Oh, cut it out you two,” Mum said. Then she frowned at me and put her hand on my arm. “I’m sorry about how things went with Graham. But you do look really good, Henry. You haven’t come over for dinner since you broke up with him. I haven’t seen you in weeks.”

“I’ve been busy,” I lied.

“That’s no excuse, Henry,” Mum chastised. Then she looked at Reed. “He should’ve at least called me. I’ve been so worried. ”

“Yes, Henry,” Reed agreed with a smirk. “You should have.”

I shot him a quick glare then smiled perfectly at my mother. “We really do have to get going. I’ll call you, I promise.”

I kissed them both on the cheek again and pretty much dragged Reed away by the arm. “It was nice to meet you,” he called out, and they stood there smiling at him and waving like schoolgirls with crushes.

“God, I’m so sorry,” I said as we hurried away.

“Why?” He looked amused by the whole thing. “Is there anyone else you’d like to run into today?”

“No thanks. I’m done for the year.”

“Not even George Clooney?” Reed asked. “Does your mum honestly think he’ll be at the Nespresso store because he’s on the ads on TV?”

I laughed at that. “She does. She’s even written letters to complain that it’s false advertising. Which is horribly embarrassing. But according to her, he’ll only be there on Sundays. God knows why. Actually, I think it’s a religious thing.”

“I can see that,” Reed said. He clearly thought the whole thing was funny. “The Church of George. Makes perfect sense to me.”

“Ah, so George’s your type?”

He glanced sidelong at me.

I quickly clarified, “Well, the guy at the gym wasn’t your type. The sales clerk in the jeans store wasn’t your type…”

We turned into Martin Place, and Reed still hadn’t answered. He smiled kind of awkwardly and said, “Your mum and sister seem really nice.”

Okay then. Types were off the discussion list. “You know, I’ll never hear the end of her seeing me with your hand on my shoulder. My mother will now ask about you until the day I die. ”

Reed just laughed. “I’m sure it won’t be that bad.”

“Oh, it will be. She’ll have us married by dinner time.”

He chuckled at that. “She was concerned about you.”

“Yeah, I know.” I shrugged one shoulder. “When Graham left I let her know, and she wanted me to come around for dinner. But I didn’t want to relive the whole thing over again, and the sympathy and pity… you know how that is.”

“Yeah, I get that.”

“But I will. I’ll call her this week and arrange something. Though now I’ll get to play Three Dozen Questions about you.”

“Just do what I do,” he said. “Tell them all the sex details, and believe me, they stop asking.”

I cracked up laughing. “Did you really?”

He nodded proudly. “Yep. I got sick of the nosey questions, so I didn’t hold back. And we’re a pretty open family, but after explaining the mechanics of gay sex just once no one has asked me anything since."

By the time I stopped laughing, we were almost back to the elevator to the underground parking. “Hey,” I said. I turned around and looked back down Martin Place. “I’ve just walked half the CBD, and I’m not even out of breath! And not even that, I feel like I could do it ten times over!”

Reed’s smile was genuine. “That’s great, Henry. Soon you’ll be doing the Bay Run!”

“Pfft. Not likely.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’ve seen the people who do the Bay Run. They’re all super fit, crazy people.”

“Hey, I do the Bay Run.”

“No offence.”

He smiled. “None taken. But you could totally manage it. You don’t have to run the whole way. Most people walk some, jog some. ”

“I almost die doing a three kilometre walk on a treadmill.”

“The Bay Run’s only seven K,” he countered. He looked ominously cheerful and nodded like he’d decided something. “I’m going to work your training schedule around getting you ready for a Bay Run.”

“Against my consent. Isn’t that against the Geneva Convention or something?”

“I’ll double check the human rights handbook when I get home, but I’m pretty sure you signed a waiver.”

“I signed a waiver in case I died.”

“Then if you die on the Bay Run, I’ll be covered.”