Road to Anywhere (boyxboy)

Chapter 13: Fine line

"You are my friend. Not a friend with benefits."

☆

He didn't know when Morton had made his return, but when Oliver had woken up that following morning, his friend was found lying beside him in a deep sleep. The moment of forgetting the kiss ever happened, is gone in an instance, once again replaced with the thoughts of that encounter and what it now meant for them. Oliver had waited for Morton to come back, it felt like hours. Too scared to go looking. Frightened of what he may hear and not even sure what to say. But now it was morning. Surely things would be better in the light of day. He sits up and rubs his tired eyes, not too sure of the time. Oliver pulls some shorts over his lower half and heads out of the van.

The sound of the door closing brings Morton around. He sees he is alone, he rolls onto his back and stares at the ceiling. That kiss. It was just a silly prank, but he had come away feeling something else. Oliver was not his type. Oliver was just his friend... a friend who managed to turn him on.

With a heavy sigh, Morton heads for the door and opens it. He gets out and heads around the camper, seeing Oliver standing, looking out over the lake. He inhales and exhales deeply, before venturing towards him, stopping when he is by his side. "Seriously? Cake for breakfast?" He says, trying to make the conversation light, as he sees Oliver push the remains of cupcake into his mouth.

"Washed down with elderflower pressè." Oliver raises his other hand, which was holding a glass bottle. "They were in Chef's box." He offers over the bottle for Morton to take a drink, which he does, with the moment once again being graced with silence. Oliver glances at Morton, he nervously swallows. "Last night..."

"I'm sorry." Morton interrupts. "I didn't mean to kiss you that way. I crossed the line."

"Then why did you?" Oliver now turns to look at Morton, whose stare was still looking out onto the horizon.

"Can we just put it down to another one of my stupid ideas? I got carried away..." Morton now turns to look at Oliver. "You are my friend. Not a friend with benefits. I don't do that kind of stuff."

Oliver feels speechless. Not knowing how to respond, but at least he got some kind of answer to his curiosity. "So you do see me as just a friend?"

"You're my best friend Olly. I probably reacted that way because I've not been physical for a while. I don't want to confuse things." Morton looks down at his feet at the stoney ground. "Can we just forget it?"

Oliver sighs heavily at the response. "Sure. Ok Morton." He walked away, heading back to the campervan, but he was far from Ok. He felt a little crushed. But at least now he knew where he stood. Morton didn't see him as more than a friend and he wasn't prepared to lose a friend over this.

Morton finishes off the drink, he turns to look back at Oliver. How could he tell him how much he enjoyed that moment? How he had to disappear, far away from the van, out of sight to quench his sudden desires? Oliver was too precious a friend for Morton to be selfish. He didn't want to abuse their friendship.

As he approaches the van he again questions. "Hey, are we good?"

Oliver looks at Morton, who was pulling a sorry face. He hated that face. It made him weak. "Sure, we're good, but you're driving." He says as he heads back into the van. "And you can buy me a proper breakfast." He adds.

"Sure thing." Morton says with relief that the awkwardness had been smoothed over so quickly. He gets the van ready for departure and once again, they are back on the road.

***

"Just watch the road!" Oliver grabs tightly to either side of his seat as for the umpteenth time, Morton gets distracted. This time with the van's poor excuse for a radio, which only seemed to be playing static.

"I need some music. I knew I should have packed my speaker." Morton complains as he continues to twiddle with the dial.

Oliver smacks Morton's hand, making it retract at speed. "Put both hands on the wheel. The radio won't work, it has no aerial."

"I thought you said Jojo was road worthy?" Morton frowns as finally two hands are on the wheel, with his eyes looking out at the road ahead.

"Roadworthy doesn't include a working radio Morton." Oliver chuckles.

"Well it should." Morton sighs heavily. "I can't live without my music and the engine is so loud, I need my speaker to hear my playlist on my phone."

"Turn off at the next exit." Oliver points ahead at a sign for roadside services, now focussing more on his hunger and the need to visit the bathroom.

"Yes boss." Morton replies sarcastically. But does as he's told. Soon they are pulling into a carpark and getting out.

"These places always make me feel like we are going on holiday." Oliver says with fondness as they begin to walk up to the glass fronted entrance, where behind, the overpriced shops seemed to cater for a traveller's every whim.

"We are on holiday." Morton says, shaking his head.

"I know that." Oliver snaps back, but it's just a nice memory y'know."

"Yeah I guess." Morton shrugs, pulling his wallet from his shorts. "So for these new memories we are making, what do you want to eat?"

"Surprise me." Oliver says with an excitable grin.

"Surprise you?"

"Yeah. You pick me a good breakfast." Oliver repeats.

Morton smiles. It seemed his friend still had some faith in him that he for once could make a good decision.