Page 30 of Hard Tail
It wasn’t thegaything, honest. I just knew they’d need some specialist advice, that’s all. Matt came out wiping his hands on a greasy rag and gave the Odd Couple a friendly smile. “Oh, hi, Luke. You all right?”
“Better than you are, by the looks of things,” Luke said with a pointed glance at Matt’s lip.
“Oh, that—hit a low branch out in the forest, that’s all,” Matt told his trainers with one of his sudden bouts of shyness.
Luke didn’t say anything, but he gave Matt a sharp look before flicking his gaze to me. Not having a bloody clue what he was after, I gave him a weak smile.
It wasn’t returned. Apparently, whatever Luke had wanted, I’d failed to provide it.
“You know, you never mentioned this mountain biking was dangerous,” Russell said with what was probably meant to be a mock frown, but which unfortunately got lost in the beard.
“Nah, it’s just me—I’m a total klutz,” Matt said. “So you managed to talk him into it, did you?” he asked, turning to Luke.
Luke waggled an eyebrow as he flashed Matt a brief but blinding smile. “You know me. I’ve got my methods.”
Matt blushed, just in case any straight people in the vicinity hadn’t caught on to exactly what sort of methods he was referring to. Blondie was probably thoroughly enjoying making a heterosexual feel like a minority, I thought. Not that there were, actually, any heterosexuals in the vicinity, but his gaydar obviously wasn’t as finely honed as Pit-bull Pritchard’s.
It was probably still streets ahead of mine, though.
I retreated behind the counter and watched grumpily as Matt pulled out one bike after another for Russell to look at, sit on and listen to Luke and Matt arguing technical details about. Around halfway through, Russell turned to catch my eye with an expression that said clear as day he didn’t have a bloody clue what they were on about either, which made me feel a bit better.
“Have you, er, been together long?” I asked Russell when he was finally allowed up to the counter with his credit card, Luke and Matt still debating the merits of full suspension bikes versus hard tails. (Luke was a full susser fan. I wasn’t surprised.) Russell smiled, his beard creasing up at the corners of his mouth. I thought I’d probably like Russell, if we met socially. “Nearly a year now,” he said happily. “Amazing, isn’t it? Don’t know what he sees in me.”
There are times when honesty is the only way to go. And this was quite clearly not one of them. On the other hand, there was no way I was about to start complimenting men on their appearance, whether I meant it or not. “I’m sure he’s in no doubt,” I hedged in the end.
Russell put his card away while I bagged up the helmet, lights and other bits and pieces Matt had managed to flog him. Luke and Matt were still deep in conversation down the front of the shop, although at a lower volume now so I couldn’t hear what they were talking about anymore. “Is it difficult?” I blurted out.
“Having a good-looking boyfriend, you mean?” Russell asked.
“Having a boyfriend,” I clarified quietly, one eye still on the other two. Luke seemed to be giving Matt a hard time about something.
Russell looked thoughtful. “I suppose I’ve always been lucky, really,” he said. “I never had any trouble with my family—think they were just glad I’d finally found someone.” His beard twitched as he smiled. “Luke’s had a bit of a hard time of it, though. He’s a journalist—it’s a bit of a macho culture. Sometimes he gets…comments. But his dad’s speaking to him again now.”
“But it’s worth it?” I persisted.
“Oh, yeah. Definitely.” Russell’s gaze rested on Luke as he spoke, and there was so much affection in his tone I felt faintly embarrassed, like I’d walked in on them snogging on the sofa. “You’re, um, not out, then?”
I flushed. I hadn’t realised I’d been quite that obvious. “No.” I cleared my throat. “I’m not.”
“Maybe you should give it a go,” he suggested gently. “While you’re down here, I mean. Do a sort of trial run before you have to go back to London.”
His words sent a thrill of excitement—and trepidation—right through me. I hadn’t even considered the possibility of coming out of the closet on a temporary basis and going straight (hah!) back in if I found the big, wide, gay world didn’t suit. But Russell was right. As long as I was careful, I could try things out here, and no one from my old life in London would ever know. No big coming-out drama; no shame if it all went tits-up. “Is there, er, much of a scene here?” I whispered, my gaze darting in all directions as if I thought there might be customers hiding in every nook and cranny, ready to stand up and denounce me as a closet queer.
Russell looked a bit like my eyes were making him dizzy. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far, and you’re asking the wrong bloke, anyway, but there are a few places—”
“Are we done, then?” Luke interrupted, striding up to clap a proprietary hand on Russell’s shoulder.
I spoke up quickly in case Russell hadn’t twigged I really didn’t want to carry on our conversation in front of the other two. “Yes, I think that’s everything.”
Russell got the message. He made a little “let your fingers do the walking” gesture where Luke couldn’t see it before they grabbed his stuff and said good-bye. I decided I liked Russell a lot—in a totally platonic way. “They seem like a nice couple,” I said casually to Matt after the door had finally shut behind them. I thought it might be a good moment to establish my not-a-homophobe credentials.
“Oh—yeah, they are.” Matt seemed a bit distracted, staring out the window as the couple in question disappeared from view.
“What was Luke giving you a hard time about?”
He jumped—just a little, but he definitely jumped. “Nothing! No, it was just…it was nothing. I’d better get back out back. Repairs.” He was definitely avoiding looking me in the eye as he sidled past the bikes and into the back room.
What the hell?
