Long Away

Chapter 17

Three days later Ben and Roger were working together on both shifts. Freddie needed the day off for an exam. It was the week before Christmas, which meant a lot of extra work both at university and Kensington Market. All of the stores were overflowing with people shopping for presents. It was stressful enough for two people to handle the customers that were coming in today, but to make matters worse, Ben was occupied with a different task. The Christmas lights Freddie had put up on the outside of the building earlier this week were starting to give out one by one. Ben positioned a ladder against the wall and climbed it to take a closer look and evaluate the damage. Up close, he found that some of the light bulbs were burnt out. He sighed, his breath a small white cloud in the freezing air. For a moment he thought about taking the whole thing down, but it was probably better to console Roger first. He climbed back down and entered the store. Roger, who was waiting for a woman to pay, looked up when he walked towards him.
"How's it look?", he asked.
"Not good I'm afraid," Ben reported.
"Some of the lights are broken. I think we'll need new ones." Roger made a sour face.
"Great." He quickly counted the money the woman handed him and put on a polite smile for her.
"Thank you very much, have a nice day," he said to her.
"You too." She grabbed her stuff and walked out the door. As she did, Roger turned back to Ben.
"Do you think you can take over for a few minutes? I'll go and buy new fairy lights across the street."
"Of course," Ben said.
"You're the best." Roger shot him a wink before throwing on his coat and hurrying off. Ben smiled to himself. This wink was something Roger had started doing whenever they were at work or in public together and he couldn't say everything he wanted to. It was his way of letting Ben know that, if they were alone right now, he would make a flirtatious remark.

A woman with a dark pair of jeans in her hands approached him.
"Excuse me sir, do you have these in any more sizes?"
"I'm afraid not, but we do have some similar ones over there." He showed her to a display of dark blue and black trousers. Her skeptical eyes scanned the articles in front of her.
"They aren't that similar, if you ask me." To Ben they all looked pretty much the same. He had a feeling this would get difficult.
"Well, what is it exactly that you are looking for?", he asked patiently. The woman held up the pair she had picked out before.
"Something like this."
"Like I said, I am sorry, but we do not have any more sizes than the ones that are displayed here. If you tell me what exactly you like about this pair, maybe I can help you find a different one-"
"Don't you think you should offer a wider variety of sizes for all of the articles?", she interrupted him. Ben started to get annoyed with her.
"I'm sorry miss, but my job is just to sell what we have, I am not in charge of picking out our wares."
"Well, whoever is in charge should do a better job," she scoffed. A man at the checkout counter raised his voice.
"Is this going to take much longer? I'm in a hurry!"
"One second, sir!" Ben turned back to his displeased customer.
"If you would excuse me miss, I have to get back to work."
"I was under the impression that customer service was your work field," she snarkily replied. Ben drew in a breath.
"Miss, as you can see my coworker is not here right now and I have to-"
"How is it my fault your coworker isn't doing their job? You should not be making that my problem. I am the customer, and the customer is-"
"In a hurry!", the man at the counter shouted.
"Listen, if you think our service is so bad, why don't you do yourself a favor and shop somewhere else?", Ben said calmly. The woman let out an offended gasp, but before she could say anything, Ben went to tend to the man in a hurry.

Twenty minutes and a mother with a very crumpy child later, Roger finally returned. Ben immediately took the box with the new fairy lights out of his hands.
"I'll put them up right now," he said. Roger raised an eyebrow at him.
"Was it that bad while I was gone?"
"Worse." Roger's face went soft with sympathy.
"I'm sorry. I didn't think I'd be gone that long, but the first shop didn't have them anymore."
"Don't worry about it, but I really need a break now," Ben said.
"What do you say we close up early today?", Roger suggested.
"Is that a good idea?", Ben asked hesitantly, "I don't think Freddie would be too happy about that."
"He will be when he has an excuse to do the same on his next shift," Roger assured him.
"Alright, you convinced me, I'll take two shorter shifts." Roger chuckled.
"Okay, you go put up those lights and I'll close the shop."

~~~~

A little over an hour later the two came home, shopping bags in their hands. They had taken a detour to get baking ingredients and a few Christmas decorations for the apartment. Freddie was already home and lounging in front of the tv.
"You two are early," he remarked. His gaze fell on the bags they were carrying.
"Whatcha got there?" Roger smiled proudly as he put them down on the dining table.
"The time has finally come for me to poison you," he announced.
"Didn't you say you were gonna try not to do that?" Freddie asked. Roger gestured dismissively with his hand.
"I say a lot of things."
"That is certainly true," Freddie admitted.
Ben let himself sink into an armchair.
"Honestly, being poisoned will be less of an inconvenience than having to deal with customers like I had them today." Freddie raised an eyebrow at him.
"That bad?"
"Worse," Ben and Roger said in unison. They broke out in laughter.
"Okay, things are starting to get a little creepy with you two," Freddie joked.
"Anyway, how did your exam go?", Roger asked while he started to unpack the groceries.
"I think it went fine. Oh but I have exciting news!"
"What is it?", Ben asked. Freddie paused to build the suspense.
"We, my darlings, have another auditioner tomorrow."

***
Hey guys! I hope you're all excited for Deaky to finally show up in the story. It has been long enough, hasn't it? See you all next time!

Tay