Chapter 6 Flynn
FLYNN
Saturday is one of my two days off, but as I’m already on the farm and awake, I help Tony milk the cows first thing. Afterwards, I shower, change into non-farm clothes, and make breakfast for everyone. Angus walks into the kitchen while I’m plating up the scrambled eggs and toast.
“That smells great, thanks.” He pours himself a fresh orange juice, takes a plate, and sits at the table.
“You’re welcome.”
“Bet you don’t know what you did without Flynn, right, Dad?”
Tony grunts. I take that as a compliment.
“I don’t,” Angus says. “What are you doing on your day off?”
His question is a pointed reminder not to spend all day on the farm. If I do, I’m likely to get roped into doing odd jobs here and there. Not that I mind, but I should have a proper break.
I shrug. “I might explore Leeds a bit.”
“You could go with him. Show him around,” Tony says.
“Trying to get rid of me?” Angus asks.
Tony grunts again.
Angus laughs and shakes his head. “I would, but I need to revise. I’ve got two more exams next week, and then I’m done. Then I’ll show you around, okay?”
“That would be great, thanks,” I reply.
How is Jimmy getting on with his revision?
Still struggling? Still looking for stress relief?
No. Don’t go there. How many exams does he have left?
I scroll through social media apps on my phone while I eat.
Each time I switch between apps, my gaze lingers on the hookup app.
I haven’t opened it since I hooked up with Jimmy. I haven’t deleted it, either.
Once we’ve finished eating, Angus collects the plates and washes up. His dad mutters something about having too many jobs to do and heads into the yard.
“Don’t let him guilt you into doing anything today,” Angus says. “He’s good at that.”
Angus and his dad have a strained relationship, at best. As much as I want to make a good impression on my boss, I don’t want to be the reason their relationship gets worse.
From what I can gather, Tony wants Angus to take over the farm, but Angus isn’t the least bit interested in doing so.
He’s at the end of his Accountancy degree and intends to enter that field after graduation.
He’s also planning on moving out as soon as he can afford to.
“I won’t,” I assure him.
I close the app I’m currently using and scroll to my favourite news app.
My thumb catches the hook-up app, opening it.
At least, I tell myself it was an accident.
I’m sure Jimmy would laugh and call it a Freudian slip.
Doesn’t that only apply to saying something you didn’t mean to?
Who knows? I know farms, not psychology.
My inbox still contains only the brief exchange between Jimmy and me.
I forgot to get his number, so this is the only way we can connect if we want to.
Do we? Do I? We left things on better terms the other night, but that doesn’t mean we’re back to the way things were between us before Billy and I got together.
Can we ever return to that innocent friendship?
No, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.
And one way to kindle a friendship is with an olive branch.
Before I can second-guess myself, I type out a message: At a loose end. Do you want help with revision? I press send and slide my phone into my pocket.
“I’m sorry I can’t show you around today, but I could write a list of places you might want to check out,” Angus says.
“That would be great, thanks.”
He rinses the soap suds off his hands, grabs a pen and a pad of paper from a drawer, and sits beside me. “Do you like history? Want to know all the best night spots? Where makes the best coffee and cheese toasties?”
“You’ve tried out lots of cheese toasties?”
He grins. “Yup.”
“All of that sounds good.”
“Okay.” He starts scribbling a list, pausing after writing down half a dozen places. “Gay bars?”
“Yes.” Not that I’d go alone.
He taps the end of his pen on the table. “So… you and Jimmy… what’s the story there?”
“Hasn’t he told you?”
Angus shuffles in his chair. “All I know is, you were with his twin.” Something in his voice suggests he knows a bit more than that. “You seem kind of young.”
“I’m twenty-two.”
“The same age as me. I can’t imagine being married and—” His voice dies in his throat.
“And divorced by twenty-two?”
“Yeah. Sorry.”
“It’s fine. We married young.”
He raises his eyebrows.
“We applied for a marriage license the moment I turned eighteen. I’m a few months younger than Billy and Jimmy. Got married in a registry office as soon as we could.”
“So you were childhood sweethearts?”
“Yeah.”
“And your parents were okay with you marrying so young?”
I stare at the table. “I haven’t spoken to my parents since I was fourteen.”
He sucks in a breath. “Shit. I’m sorry.”
I shrug. “I’m better off without them in my life. Anyway, we were eighteen. It’s not like anyone could stop us from…” I press my lips together and shake my head. “Long story short, it didn’t work out. We got divorced, and now I’m here.”
“Do you like working for Dad?”
I smile, glad for the change of subject. “Yes.”
“He can be a bit surly.”
“Yeah, but I don’t mind. Besides, hard work and fresh air are good for the soul.”
“True, but early mornings are a killer.”
I chuckle. “I don’t mind those. I like seeing the dawn.”
Angus continues writing his list of things I have to see and do in Leeds. My phone vibrates against my leg. Why the heck has my pulse increased? I check the message from Jimmy on the hook-up app: ‘Help with revision would be great, but you must have better things to do.’
No. No, I don’t.
I reply with, ‘When and where?’ and stare at my phone, as if I’m expecting an instant reply, which won’t happen.
He’ll have better things to do. Maybe he’s having breakfast. Or perhaps he messaged me, then stepped into the shower.
I shut down the thought. I do not need a mental image of Jimmy’s six-pack abs underneath running water.
“How did you meet Jimmy?” I ask.
“Through Barbell Soc. Weightlifting,” Angus adds, when I give him a blank look.
Figures. Angus is even more built than Jimmy is now.
“I met him when I was a fresher, and he was in his second year and therefore all knowing. Now, he’s one of my best friends.” Was there a hint of warning in his voice, or did I imagine it?
“That’s great.” I’m glad Jimmy has good friends.
He and Billy used to be so close. We were all close. Until I fucked everything up by falling for Billy. I don’t blame Jimmy for being jealous of me. It had once been the three of us, and then he became a third wheel.
My phone buzzes again, this time with a coffee shop and a time to meet. I cross-reference the coffee shop with Angus’s list. It’s on there.
“That’s all I’ve got for now.” Angus pushes the list towards me.
“It’ll take me a month to visit all these places.”
“It’ll keep you busy on your days off, won’t it?” Angus flashes me a smile. “I need to bury my nose in revision now. Have a great day. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
I fold the list, put it in my pocket, and reply to Jimmy’s message, so he knows I’ve seen it and that I’m going to meet him. To help him revise.
Jimmy is already at the coffee shop when I arrive.
It’s a small, independently run shop, tucked away down a quiet street at the edge of the city centre.
A rucksack is propped against the armchair he’s sitting in, and a large deck of record cards are on the table.
I assume they’re the flash cards I’ll be using to help him revise.
He was the flash card king during our GCSEs and A-Levels, too.
He swore by them as a revision method. I did, too.
They were cheap and helped me consolidate my notes for each subject.
Billy preferred revision books, which his parents were only too happy to buy for him.
He stands. “Drink?”
“I’ll get them.”
“No, let me. You’re only here to help me; it’s only fair that I keep you hydrated while you do.”
It doesn’t seem fair at all, as I have a job and he doesn’t. He’s graduating a year later than Billy and me, because he spent a year travelling. I decide not to argue, though. I’ll get the next round.
“Do you still take your coffee with more milk than coffee?”
I laugh and nod.
“Coming up.” He heads to the counter to order, while I make myself comfortable in the chair opposite.
I pick up the pile of flash cards and flip through them.
Sport and Exercise Sciences isn’t my subject, but the cards are well organised, with questions and answers, some of which are multiple choice.
Jimmy’s writing is pretty messy—one of many things he and Billy have in common—but I’ve always been able to read it.
“Here you go.” He puts my drink on the table and sits, nursing his own.
I bet he ordered a hot chocolate or a mocha. He’s never been a huge coffee drinker, unlike Billy, who likes his with the tiniest hint of milk. He used to joke that I added the milk he didn’t want to mine.
“How many exams have you got left?”
“Just one, but I’m nervous as hell about it.”
I swap the flash cards for my milky coffee. “Why?”
He shrugs. “Because I haven’t put enough effort in.”
“To revision?”
“Yeah. I kept putting it off. I always had something better to do. You must think I’m an idiot.”
“No.” I nod towards the flash cards. “You put a lot of effort into making those.”
“But not a lot into going through them.”
“Let’s change that, starting now.” I put the coffee down and grab the flash cards again.
I go through them one by one, creating three piles of discards.
The first is for cards he answers without hesitation.
The second is for questions he's more hesitant on, but gets right in the end. The third is for ones where he’s stumped.
I give him the correct answer before adding the card to the pile.
Sometimes, light sparks in his eyes, and he groans.
“I should have known that one.”
“Next time, you will.”