Page 75 of Sorry, We're Closed

I never knew that love could ruin someone.

I lock the front door, spinning the keyring around my finger so I have something else, anything else to focus on as I take each step slowly. My steps echo in the now empty shop, all the wooden furniture piled and tucked away in the back corners. In between the stacks of tables and chairs stands the door which leads to the room which made me realise that I adore Sawyer.

In, hold, out.

He taught me that.

In, hold, out.

I force my eyes to leave the door behind me as I drag my heavy body out of the front door, locking the shop door one last time. I don’t want Marcus to see me like this because he’ll know what’s wrong, and then he’ll ask what’s wrong, and if his name passes my lips, I know I won’t be able to control the tightness which is grasping at my chest.

That’s if I’m even controlling it now.

I exhale as I slowly turn myself around, and Marcus leans against the van with a soft smile on his face, and I believe that I have no chance at escaping his comfort right now.

“We don’t have to talk about it right now, or ever, Avory. Okay? Just know, I’m here for you.”

I curl one side of my mouth, but that’s all I can manage. His hand meets my back as he walks me to my side of the van, opening the door for me and letting me climb in. As much as I don’t need the passenger treatment, I know it comes from the place where Marcus’ great, loving heart resides.

Marcus clambers into the car, slamming his door hard enough to shake the entire van and the stock thrown in the back. With sombre silence lingering between us, Marcus starts the van and begins to slowly drive away and towards the coast, and all I can do is hide myself behind my hood and sleeves and watch Tetherton slowly disappear behind us.

That is until Marcus’ gasp fills the front seats, and the screeching of the van’s tyres follow. Both of our builds are thrown forward and luckily, only into the dashboard as our palms catch us both. As I turn to Marcus to figure out what the hell his driving has become and why it has taken me so long to learn to drive, my eyes are drawn to the burnt red van which has abruptly parked itself in front of us, in the middle of the high street.

As Marcus begins to curse to the driver in front, he cuts himself off as we both notice the gold cursive writing painted over the side of the van, sparkling in the morning sun –The Sweet Bakery.

I pull myself up in my seat, the seatbelt pulling me back, but Marcus beats me to it and unclips me. I turn to him and feel the most genuine smile grow on my face that I have felt since Sawyer. The slam of a van door in front of us snaps my head to face the red van finally pulling away and into a parking spot nearby, and the one thing I see, left standing in the road, is something I had solemnly accepted I would never see again.

Sawyer Sombre.

In his own plush chocolate shorts, with a tucked in ivy coloured shirt and knitted cream jumper, Sawyer stands there with his arms outstretched and his eyes wide. My entire being freezes to this damn seat as my eyes touch every part of him.

“Avory! Avory! Marcus, hey!”

His voice is faint from the inside the van, but Marcus shocks me from my seat solely from the volume of his excitement.

“Avory! Get out of the car and go to him, then!”

I nod as I throw the door open and my legs land on the tarmacked floor. I sprint the short distance between us because I need to feel him, feel his soft clothing and his even softer skin to know that he is really here. That this is really my Sawyer.

“Avory, my love, I’m sorry, I can explain—”

I don’t care. I cut off his incessant rambling, followed by his tearful eyes with my lips meeting his with full force. His arms wind around me tightly as he begins to dip towards the floor, our lips growing needier by the second. His tongue briefly finds mine, and I forget that we’re standing in the middle of the road, in front of anyone and everyone who could be strolling past. He’s doing all of this in front of a world which he was taught to believe would hate him for this, and that just makes me love him that much more.

As I feel his leg bending and rubbing against mine, my hand hooking under his knee, his entire body jumps as a squealing “woo” begins from the pavements aside.

Gwen.

“Sawyer! You look so good gay!”

I pull my Sawyer back to his feet as he sheepishly straightens up his jumper and glasses, and I’ll never get over how adorable he can be. We turn together to face Gwen excitedly clapping her hands together and jumping while Xander holds his head in his hands, but Gwen soon grabs Xander’s hands and pulls him along to meet us, still in the middle of the road. We really should be glad that no other cars have tried to come down here. Gwen’s figure, even smaller than Sawyer’s, instantly wraps around me with her feet leaving the floor and her squealing filling my ears, as Xander gently pulls Sawyer in and holds him for a short moment.

“As much as I am unbelievably happy that you are here—”

I take Sawyer’s hand in mine, and he accepts, also winding an arm around my bicep and hugging close to my side.

“—Care to explain, any of this? Because until you came tumbling out of that van, I thought I had lost you. I thought we were done.”

His eyes meet mine and his eyelashes begin to glisten once again. He throws his arms around me and buries his head into my hoodie, his voice muffled.

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