Butcher & the baker

10: Moving day- part 1

Waking up on moving day felt weird, you didn't want to face James and say goodbye but also you have to say goodbye to James.
You grabbed your car keys off the counter as you turned to him
"Well uh I'm gonna go grab my friend to help move all this stuff- I didn't imagine you'd wanna help"
You shot him a finger gun for reassurance but he didn't acknowledge your presence let alone look your way which has been happening for the last three weeks so you're not entirely surprised.
As you pulled into the driveway you saw Tommy nervously fidgeting with his hands Before you honked the honk- it never failed to make you giggle whenever you managed to startle him
"Little on edge today Tomcat?"
He settled in next to you and gave a sheepish nod, that took you off guard
"Wait what really?"
You turned down "Lonesome town" as he shrugged
"Listen James isn't gonna do anything, he has hardly said a word to me since that...incident"
As soon as you started saying incident Tommy put his face in his hands and made what sounded like a groan
"Hey hey hey stop it"
You tried to pry his fingers away from his face but it was useless
"I told you already I'm not afraid of you Tommy, also everyone in town was already afraid of you if anything they've been nicer since right?"
He still had his face in his hands, you know he's been beating himself up for doing such a public display of his strength. You realized you had to pull out the big guns
"Well I don't think it was the worst thing to happen you showing off these big old guns"
You dove to attack his side tickling him, which immediately got his hands away from his face and grabbing both of your wrists with one hand as he brought his other hand to your face and wiggled his finger no
"Okay okay act as you hate it but I see that smiiilllleee"
You sang that last word as you got your hands free and put your jeep into drive and turned up the music and immediately sang along, Tommy doing drums and occasionally miming a trumpet- driving around with Tommy has been the highlight of your day since you started, a lot of times after works you two will just drive around on dirt roads- it's weird you've never felt such a connection with someone it was especially confusing seeing as he didn't talk but you just understood him perfectly fine, as you were starting to get lost in your thoughts Tommy patted your head and that means "please do not zone out while you are driving" which is fair, you laughed out an apology as you backed into the driveway of your now-former house, you turn to Tommy and you clap your hands together and he immediately Mirrors your pose
"Okay game plan"
You both nod your head
"We get in there and grab the few belongings I have, we drop them off at my new place"
Another nod
"Then we go pick up my furniture from that second-hand shop- OH! Remind me to get Momma something for getting me such a good deal on everything"
Mutual finger guns
"All right let's get this show on the road, if you don't break any of my stuff I'll buy ice cream cones after"
Tommy's eyebrows shot up and you could feel his excitement as you left your Jeep chuckling to yourself. He followed closely behind you as you entered the front door and you decided to ignore James as you headed up the stairs to your small room at the end of the hall.
"Wow, six bags are kinda sad eh?"
You turned to look at Tommy but found him waiting at your door looking unsure
"What am I supposed to carry all this myself?"
He still didn't move except for uncomfortable shuffling
"Wait is this because you've never been in a girls room before"
He immediately lowered his head in embarrassment and you couldn't help but laugh at him
"Oh my god, Tommy are you a vampire and never told me? Do you need a formal invitation"
He straightened up and you were now getting his signature to stop your shit look, you had to pull the big guns again
"Okay I'll just carry all of these, hurt myself and tell Momm-"
Your sentence was cut off by Tommy storming into the room and grabbing the single bag out of your hand and picking up the other 5
"Wow such a gentleman I'm swooning"
You rolled your eyes as he high tailed it out of your room like it was made of lava
You followed quickly behind him as he made his way out of your house and began loading your bags as gently as possible into the truck and turned around to go back to the house
"Where are you going?"
Tommy looked at you and did a head tilt as he pointed at your bags in the truck and then pointed at the house but you just shrugged and slammed the trunk close
"Oh no that's it, I only came here with clothes and my Jeep- everything in that house belongs to James or his company so"
You shared a rare awkward silence before James' voice interrupted it while he was making his way towards you
"Hey I want to talk before you go"
Tommy immediately squared his shoulders and stepped in front of you
"Hey call your guard dog off, I'm behaving"
Tommy looked at you for an answer, you just slightly smiled and nodded before stepping from behind Tommy and looked at James
"So this is goodbye?"
You sighed out
"I don't know what else you'd call it"
A few moments of silence passed before you felt Tommy's hand rest on your shoulder for some comfort- it didn't go unnoticed by James
"It's nice you didn't have a hard time moving on"
You could hear the venom in his voice
"It's not like that and it's none of your business either way"
You say almost whispering, he just rolled his eyes
"Yeah well people in this town talk, but I don't care so don't worry about me - my contract here will end in a few months so you can live happily ever after and have some deformed babies but for what it's worth I'm sorry this isn't ever how I thought we would end"
He seemed genuinely upset so you reached your hand out to comfort him
"It would be kinda fucked up if you planned this"
You said with your best shot at humour before you felt Tommy's hand on your shoulder tighten slightly, you knew he was uncomfortable with this whole thing
"Well we're gonna go James, I'll see you around"
He squeezed your hand before letting go and walking into your now old home.