Couldn’t I?”
For a moment,
they stared at each other, aghast at the sound if their sharp voices echoing in
the quiet room.
Fuck
“Lee,” Patrick
said. His voice came out on a whisper. He reached out a hand, but Lee drew
back. “What’s going on?”
“I thought
things would be different.” Lee sounded more bemused now than distressed. “When
I came back from Mum and Dad’s, after the explosion… you see, I was determined
to make things different.”
“What things?”
“Between us.”
Patrick’s head
hurt even more now. “But between us is good, isn’t it?” Or it was until
right now.
Lee shut his
eyes briefly. “I thought so. You started… we started… but I think I’ve just
been a fool.”
“What?” No!
“You haven’t
told anyone, have you?”
“Told them
what?”
“Don’t make me
feel even more stupid, Patrick. About us.”
Us. It. That. “I thought you wouldn’t
want me to,” Patrick said wretchedly. “It’s early days.”