Rose Tinted (boyxboy)

Chapter 6: Beneath the surface

"You...you gotta help me.
Please...He's so smart, so sexy, so..."

☆

As Max reaches the end of his shift, he hauls the full bag of rubbish towards the fire exit. At least that door was clearly marked.

He passes the manager's office, when the door opens. Max looks up to see Jojo's head poking around it. "Can I have a quick word please?"

"Sure." Max replies, laying the black bin bag to rest by the door as he enters Jojo's office and closes the door behind him.

Jojo makes his way round to the back of the desk to his seat. "So...he says, rubbing his hands together. "How are you finding things?"

Max looks at Jojo, his aura a little jittery, nervous even. "Fine, everyone is nice." He says....was this a trick question?

"Good, good." Jojo responds, laughing nervously. There is now the moment of awkward silence, where they seemed to be grinning at eachother.

Max decides to break the tension. "So...is that all?"

"Y...yes! Thankyou Max." Jojo says smiling. Max nods and is about to head out of the door when Jojo calls out. "Wait...just wait a minute!" Max turns back around to see Jojo fiddling nervously with a biro. "How's Donny?"

Max inwardly smiles. This match make might be easier than he anticipated. "He's well, in fact, he asked about you last night."

"He did? What did he say?" The grip on the biro getting tighter.

Max felt it wasn't his place to say exactly what Donny said, those words would have to come from him, but he decides to give Jojo a little teaser. "He says hi, he said about catching up."

"Catching up." These words seem to panic Jojo as he stands up from his swivel chair and leans across the desk to Max. "You...you gotta help me! Please...He's so smart, so sexy, so..."

"Ok yeah I get it!" Max says chuckling lightly as he tries to calm Jojo down with his hands. "Are you free Friday night?"

"Uumm. I'm working until 10pm." Jojo says, his mind suddenly going empty.

"Ok...leave it with me." Max says. Seriously, this pair! It looks like they need a good shove.

Max eventually gets to leave the office and scoops up the bag of rubbish still waiting for him.

As he approaches the exit, he sees the door open and can hear the faint sound of a one sided conversation being had. He stops momentarily, just shy of the door, wondering whether to head out or just leave the bag and pop it out in a moment, but there was something in that voice, something in the words which were being said, which made him compelled to listen.

"...Look, please don't get angry.
I just want to know where you were?"

"...Of course I trust you, you know I do."

"...then why can't you tell me?"

"...I...I'm sorry."

"...Ok...I won't I promise."

"...I'll make it up to you!"

"...F..Frank?.."

Max now knows who he is listening to and can guess who he was on the phone to. He suddenly felt awkward, not knowing where to go.

He finally decides to just take the bin out and aim to head inside, but as he steps foot over the threshold, he hears the sobs. Max looks to the left of the doorway, seeing Tayce squwatting down, hunched in a ball, crying into his knees.

The rustle of the bin bag makes his presence known and Tayce looks up, hurriedly getting to standing and quickly rubs his eyes with the back of his hands. "Sorry." Tayce says, as if it's a habit.

"You don't need to say sorry." Max replies. He heads to the large bin and hurls the bag inside.

Tayce tries to control his breathing, blowing air through his mouth. "Did you hear my conversation?" Tayce asks, glancing up at Max, who now had his hands in his pockets.

"A bit." He replies. "Frank's your boyfriend right?"

"Yeah." Tayce says with a half laugh. "He uh... he went out to a work meeting last night and didn't come back until early this morning. I just asked him about it...I know I'm being silly."

"Why?" Max asks, furrowing his brow. "Why is it silly to ask? I'd do the same."

"He explained it all. Just now, it was all me. He says I get a little jealous sometimes. I know I have a problem with that." Tayce tries to laugh it off, but Max doesn't find it funny. He knew of people like Frank. People who played mind games, who would twist reality and turn it into something else.

"What do you really think?" Max questions.

"Well Frank said..."

"No, I didn't ask what Frank said, I asked what do you think?" Max's tone was direct and caught Tayce a little off guard.

"I...I'm scared to say it." Tayce says, he can feel the tears wanting to burst once again.

"Say it." Max says, now placing a hand on Tayce's shoulder.

Tayce looks at Max and Max is taken aback at the sorrow in his eyes. "I think he cheated." He says, hearing the words leaving his lips just making it all the more real.

Max squeezes a little on Tayce's shoulder, pulling his lips into his mouth. He felt it. He felt exactly what Tayce was feeling. "Listen to me..." he begins. "You do not need to be sorry and you are not imagining things...you have every right to question."

Tayce nods, tears now rolling down his cheeks. "Don't tell anyone about this...I have a reputation you know." He tries to laugh through the tears.

Max now retracts his hand. "I won't, but promise me something."

"What?"

"Don't be alone with this ok?"

"I promise...thanks." Tayce once again wipes away the tears. "It seems we both have hidden sides." He chuckles.

"Yeah...I guess we do." Max smiles.

***

Later that evening, Max is in his room, finalising some chapters on his latest novel on his laptop before sleep. He thinks about what happened between him and Tayce earlier that day. Who was this Frank and why did he have such a hold over Tayce?

Max's curiosity gets the better of him as he finds himself gravitating towards social media, seeing that Tayce has an account. After a few clicks he is looking through images of Tayce. Some clownish selfies, some with family, a few with Jerry and people from work and some with a well dressed older looking guy.

Max zooms in on one particular image, one with Tayce back hugging the other male. A caption underneath says 'me and my man♡'

"So...you're Frank." Max finds himself saying out loud. He then looks at how happy Tayce seems in the picture. He's obviously smitten with the guy.

His gaze returns to the object of Tayce's affections. Max finds himself staring intently at Frank in the image. "I'm watching you." He mutters under his breath.