Chapter Thirteen
Milo
“And that, my friends, is that,” I said, setting down my scoop for the final time this season. It felt oddly ceremonial, like there should be a fanfare and trumpets, not just the four of us stood around the counter in quiet contemplation. “Darcy, would you like to do the honours?”
“Sure,” he said. There was a slightly melancholy smile on his lips, contemplation weighing heavily on his shoulders as he walked towards the front door and flicked the sign to closed, turning the key in the lock and slotting the bolts into place.
“It doesn’t feel real,” Alfie said solemnly. He was leaning against the back counter beside me, arms folded across his chest, like he wasn’t quite sure what to do with them. “I keep thinking I’ll be back here next week, same as usual.”
“I mean, you can come in. There just won’t be anyone here,” Darcy said with a small chuckle.
“Either way, it means I’ll be able to do my accounting in peace,” Alfie said.
“Hey! I’d like it known that I’ve never disturbed you while you’re working. Unlike some people,” I said, raising my hand in defence. I didn’t want anyone thinking I was more annoying than I was.
“True,” Alfie said. “You just disturb me in other ways.”
“Yeah, but they’re all good ones.”
“That’s definitely not true, but I’m not going to argue with you.”
“No arguments,” Darcy said as he crossed back over to us and leant against Owen, who’d been surprisingly quiet so far. I wondered if it was all sinking in for him too.
At one point, not too long ago, Owen had only been contracted to stay with us until the end of September.
Then he’d planned to get back to his life of travelling the world and picking up jobs as he went.
But he and Darcy had fallen for each other over the summer and now—after Alfie and I had helped them resolve their severe lack of communication—he was staying.
It had to be strange knowing that, even after his and Darcy’s planned trip to Australia over Christmas, he was coming back here. That he’d decided to fix his heart, and his home, to a single person, whose lifelong dream revolved around a single place.
In a way, I understood how he felt. I’d always liked having roots in a place, it made me feel safe, but I was also impulsive, happy to chase my dreams and interests of the moment wherever they took me.
The idea of travelling appealed deeply to me, but I’d never managed to get trips off the ground without external input.
If that was my life, I could imagine how strange it would be to pivot to something very settled, even if it was what I wanted.
Although, the idea of knowing exactly what I wanted from life was also a strange one. I’d never had that big feeling of “this is what I want to do with my life.” I’d always just done whatever made me happy and trusted it would all work out in the end.
My thoughts drifted across to Rupert and the sweet shop. The dream he’d inherited from someone else.
Was it really something he loved or simply something he put up with because he had no other choice?
There were plenty of people who got trapped in other people’s plans for their lives or stuck in mediocre jobs simply because life hadn’t worked out the way they wanted.
Jobs weren’t everything. There was so much more to life than work.
But, at the same time, the idea of Rupert being held hostage in a life he didn’t want made me uncomfortable.
I wanted him to be happy, the same as I wanted for everyone else I liked.
“Milo.” Alfie’s hand on my shoulder made me jump and I turned to see him smiling softly at me. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. We were all saying that, after we’ve cleaned up, we should go to the pub. Celebrate a bit. Since we survived our first summer.”
“We did more than survive,” Owen said. He had his arms around Darcy and was grinning. “We smashed it! It was awesome!”
“It was awesome,” I agreed. “And slightly traumatic. But what’s life without a little trauma?”
“What trauma?” Darcy asked, although he looked like he regretted it as soon as the words left his mouth.
I grinned as I held up my hand, ready to start recounting things on my fingers. “Where would you like me to start, Mister ‘faked a UTI to avoid telling us about his soaring blood pressure’?”
Alfie chuckled and I turned to him with a smirk. “You also go on the list, Mister ‘refuses to ask for help when drowning in feelings and stress and nearly throws away the best thing that’s ever happened to him’.”
“Er, in which case, you go on the list for letting me be kidnapped,” Alfie said, poking me in the ribs.
“No, it was for your own good. You pissed off the bunny mafia and I was not getting involved. I value my life, thank you very much.”
Alfie sighed but didn’t argue, because he knew I was right.
Unfortunately, I let my smugness distract me for a second too long and I missed the tiny teasing lilt to his smile before he said, “You can at least go on the list for everything that happened with Rupert. Like it or not, your behaviour definitely traumatised us.”
“Seconded,” Darcy said. “I had nightmares about waking up to police complaints about you.”
“You did not,” I scoffed.
“Did too.”
“I thought you said no arguing,” I said pointedly, hoping to pivot away from my faults.
I knew I’d been a dickhead to Rupert, and by extension my friends, but they didn’t need to keep bringing it up.
Every time they did, an uncomfortable knot tightened in my stomach, reminding me how difficult and horrible I’d made things for everyone with my impulsiveness.
I was surprised they still wanted to be friends with me.
“It’s all water under the bridge now,” Owen said, kissing the side of Darcy’s head.
“Water off a duck’s back. Whatever happened, you made it through and you fucking smashed all your expectations.
You made your dreams come true, and that’s something you all need to be proud of.
So, yeah, we’re not arguing. We’re celebrating!
Then, if you want to debrief, you can do it next week or the week after.
Give yourself some time to decompress first.”
It felt like the last part of that was specifically aimed at Darcy, who we all knew would want to launch straight into reviewing the last few months in detail without even catching a breath.
“That sounds good. Waiting a few weeks, I mean. I need some time to do the numbers anyway, and I get the feeling my brain is going to turn into soup once it realises it can relax,” Alfie said.
I nodded. “Agreed. We all need at least a week to relax and process the last few months. My reactions are always delayed anyway, so it probably won’t hit me until, like, Wednesday, and then I’ll sleep for three days.”
There was a good chance I’d cry too, but that didn’t bother me. It was simply how my body processed big feelings, so I’d curl up with some tea, snacks, and some comfort movies and ride out the emotions until I felt better.
Maybe I’d see if Rupert was up for a couple of rounds of sex too. Orgasms always helped, no matter the situation.
“Okay, we can do that,” Darcy said, pushing his blond hair out of his face. I wondered if he’d get it cut short now the summer was over, even though the length really suited him. “I can message you all with a date and we can meet up to discuss. Maybe come to mine? Or we can go to Novel Tea?”
“We can talk about it later,” Owen said gently, nudging Darcy away from his spiralling thoughts before he got sucked into them. “First things first, let’s clean down and then go to the pub.”
“Is it even open?” I asked, a frown creasing my forehead. “It’s a Sunday, right? What time do they close?”
“Depends on the pub. But the Sleeping Goose is open until ten, so we can go there,” Owen said.
“Awesome. Let’s go then!” I grabbed the pot of ice cream scoops and carried them through to the kitchen to put them in the dishwasher. “Chop chop, people. Stop standing around! I need a drink.”
About an hour later, we found ourselves tucked around a corner table at the Sleeping Goose, one of Heather Bay’s many pubs and the closest thing it had to a queer bar. I didn’t know exactly how it had become the town’s unofficial queer pub, but it was, and I loved it.
The inside was warm and cosy, with worn furnishings and a random selection of decorations scattered across the walls, including multiple paintings and illustrations of geese in various forms. There was even a fat goose doorstop holding open one of the internal doors.
It was so stinking cute I wanted to kidnap it for my flat.
For a Sunday afternoon, the bar was surprisingly busy.
There was a rugby match on a TV in the corner, a small group crowded around it, including the recognisable figures of Theo and Laurie.
I’d never pegged either of them to be sports fans, but in the back of my mind, I had a vague memory of Jonathan mentioning that Theo’s brother played professional rugby.
Jonathan had joined us at the pub after Darcy insisted Alfie invite him, because Jonathan had spent several weekends helping out at the start of the summer when the shop had taken off and we’d been close to drowning.
He’d been our little gothic angel and saved our arses from exhaustion while we hunted down summer staff, aka Owen and Ellie.
Plus, as Alfie’s boyfriend, he knew exactly what we’d been through in the last few months. He deserved to celebrate the chaos coming to an end as much as we did.
“Okay, first of all, I want to say a massive thank you to all of you,” Darcy said, lifting his glass of wine into the air, the first hints of a truly relaxed smile sliding onto his face.
“I know the last few months have been difficult, but they’ve also been incredible.
When you agreed to come on this ridiculous adventure with me, I had no idea whether it was even going to work or what was going to happen, but it has and it’s all because of you.
Lick It! might have been my dream, but it would be nothing without you and I’m so fucking grateful for all of you. ”
He took a deep breath, his eyes shining wetly under the soft lights. My own eyes were prickling too. “Fuck, Darcy, you’re going to make me cry,” I muttered, wiping my eyes with my knuckles.
“Sorry, I’m… I want you to know how much you mean to me. You and Alfie gave up your lives to do this with me, and I… fuck, that’s… yeah. I still can’t believe it.”
“I’m glad I did,” Alfie said, shooting Jonathan an adoring look as he took the other man’s hand under the table.
“The last six months might have been hard, but I don’t regret any of it.
Well, maybe a few things, but coming back here, opening Lick It!
, it’s been the best thing I’ve ever done. It changed my life.”
“Oh fuck, now I’m really going to cry,” Darcy said. He blinked heavily and let out a deep, steadying breath, although I wasn’t sure how much good either thing did. “Okay, shit, I’m going to stop talking now. But thank you, I love you all. Cheers!”
“Cheers!” we all echoed, clinking our glasses together. Owen started asking about our favourite moments from the season and we immediately started swapping stories—from the sublime to the ridiculous, little things which had made us smile to silly things customers had said.
And of course, Darcy mentioned the time I passed out in front of Austin Carter.
It was fun to reminisce and remember, to celebrate everything we’d been through and treasure all the good things that’d happened, despite the difficulties. We’d achieved so much this summer and I was glad we’d decided to recognise that before we forgot or decided it wasn’t a big deal.
Sure, there were things we’d have done differently and things we’d change for next year, but that was for another day.
I was so proud of everyone at our table, and looking around at them, I felt nothing but love and adoration for each of them.
It did make me feel really fucking single, though.
There was nothing like hanging out with two couples to make you feel like a fifth wheel. It wasn’t their fault, but it still made me feel like the singlest pringle on planet Earth.
And it made me wish Rupert was here.
I knew we weren’t doing anything official, and I definitely wasn’t ready to introduce him to my nosy-as-fuck best friends, but I still kind of wanted him here.
He was so interesting and sweet, every time we hung out I found something new to be fascinated by. I’d already learned a lot about shipwrecks and keeping ball pythons, and it felt like I’d only scratched the surface of his interests.
There was so much more I wanted to learn.
Including all the ways I could make him moan.
When we finished our drinks, I offered to get the next round and used my time waiting at the bar to pull my phone out of my pocket.
Milo
What are you doing this evening?
Milo
We’re currently celebrating at the pub, but I don’t think I’ll stay late.
Milo
I wondered if you’d like some company afterwards?
There was no response for a minute, but that didn’t bother me. I didn’t expect Rupert to be glued to his phone.
But I did set mine to vibrate so I’d know if he responded.
He did eventually, when I was halfway through my next pint and talking to Jonathan about Sword )
I shuffled awkwardly in my seat, wondering how much longer I’d have to stay before it would be okay for me to leave. Because I couldn’t leave Rupert waiting too long. It would be rude. And my patience wouldn’t last long either.
Maybe I really did need to learn some manners.
I was sure Rupert would be happy to teach me.