Love Hurts (boyxboy)

Chapter 30: Morning after

"Jojo! I fucked up!'

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Josh awoke with a start. He looks up to the ceiling, feeling a sudden coldness upon his skin. This wasn't his apartment. Where is he? He then realises he is lying on a rug, almost naked. He sits up trying to adjust to the brightness. His head is pounding, he feels something around his now flaccid penis. He knows without looking what it is and swallows hard as he removes it and discards it, not even wanting to look. It was confirmation enough that once again in his excuse for a life, that he had crossed the line. Not like before when he had fallen for a married man, but now he was that man himself. The cheater. The adulterer and it made him feel sick.

He looks across the floor to see his clothes in a pile and quickly gets up and gathers his belongings. As he picks up his trousers he feels his phone vibrating. 'Peterpan' reads across the screen. He just couldn't pick up right now. What would he say? He didn't even know where he was, though in the pit of his stomach he had an idea. Josh hurriedly gets dressed and goes into the kitchen to get water. On the counter he sees a note. He picks it up. His eyes widen as he tries to take in what he is reading through his oversore eyes...he had gone and slept in his contacts adding extra pain to his already sore head.

"Thanks for an amazing night. I'm glad we finished what we started...see you at work"...Stewart.

Josh drops the note back on the counter, banging the sides of his aching head with his palms, trying to remember. "Fuuuck!"

The phone keeps vibrating in his pocket. He takes a deep breath and answers...

"Pete...I can explain?"

"Josh, where are you? I've been calling.''

Josh had to make a decision now as to what to say. Should he lie or should he just tell the truth? But his mind was tired, too tired to lie or make up a tale. "I'm sorry. I slept over at someone's house."

Peter could tell in Josh's voice that he had been drinking. He tries to remain calm before asking. "Who's house Josh?" There is a long silence. Josh's mind just couldn't react to the situation fast enough, as he was only learning about the events of the previous night himself. "Josh...I asked you who's house?"

"Stewart's " he says in a low, quiet tone.

"What?"

"Stewart's... it's Stewart ok! I stayed at Stewart's house. He is not here. I can't remember... but I think...Josh's voice turns into upset at the realisation of what he was saying and what this meant for him and Peter.

"Fuck Josh. Fuck it, FUCK! Why Josh. WHY?"

Josh sobs down the phone "Please, I don't remember any of it."

"Yeah right." Peter says with a sarcastic laugh.

"Please Peter. I'll come straight home, I need to see you."

"I don't want to see you. Don't come home." Peter replies, with a coldness

"Pete..." but the line goes dead.

Josh gets straight on the phone to call Peter back, but it rings and rings. He gets up off the floor and leaves the apartment. Not knowing what to do with himself, or where to go. He finally ends up at the only place he can think of, banging on the heavy wooden door. "Jojo! Jojo let me in!"

After the persistent banging, and a few disgruntled mutters from behind the door, Josh can hear the heavy bolts being pulled back. The door eventually creaks its way open. "What's this all about?" She says, her floral silky bathrobe being pulled tight around her pot belly. Her natural short grey hair, slicked back.

"Jojo! I fucked up." Josh says, as his tears flow down his cheeks, with Jojo pulling him into her big comforting arms for a hug.

Josh nestles into the warmth of the bathrobes as he clings onto the material. "Shhh... you stupid idiot. You're causing a scene at my door."

She pulls Josh in through the doorway, still in the tight embrace, kicking the door shut with her foot, before letting go and smacking him around the head. "Ow!" Josh whines instantly, holding his hands to his head, where she had just attacked him.

"You've gone and cheated haven't you." She says, her hands resting on her hips in displeasure.

"Jojo. Please....my head!"...

"Deserved." She replies. "What was wrong with it just being a fantasy hmmm? Now you've made this shit a reality."

"It wasn't him Jojo...it was someone else." Josh insists, like it would make this mess any more acceptable.

"Ahh it's too early for this. I need a cuppa tea." Jojo turns her back on Josh and makes her way up the stairs to her living quarters. She stops halfway, looking down at Josh expectantly. "Well...are you coming or not?"

Josh follows her up the stairs to a small kitchen area, where he finds a stool by a tiny table and sits down. He watches in silence as she makes tea for the pair. The thought of it making him feel sick with his dislike for it. But he didn't have the heart to tell her as she handed him a mug with a string hanging out of it.

"So..." She begins, pulling up a stool next to him. "Who was it?"

"A guy called Stewart." Josh says, looking down on himself with shame.

He can hear Jojo sigh. "And was he worth it?"

"I don't know Jojo. I can't remember." Josh replies.

" 'No' hun. The answer is 'no'. Look at you. Here in my kitchen, invading Jojo time." Jojo sips her tea, looking at Josh acting like a sad lost puppy. "Hun, I see kids like you all the time. You don't know what you have when you have it, you want what you don't have, and you miss it when it's gone. Even this week, I had to be a bloody crutch to a guy whose marriage had hit the fan. Do you wanna end up like me?"

Josh now looks up at Jojo. She looked old, tired. He knew she was mature, but without her face on, she looked like he had never seen her before. A tired, lonely old man.

"Don't worry hun. I know what you're thinking." She pats his arm with comfort. "Drink your tea, I'll run you a bath."

"Thanks Jojo." Josh says, forcing a smile. She pats his back as she heads out of the kitchen, leaving him to drink his tea. Josh looks down at the stewed tea bag in the mug. He thinks he's going to be sick.