Price Family Book Store (ON HOLD)

Chapter 29- Exhausting Effort

Many months of hard work passed, sweeping by, dragging with it the manual labour that the two young men and their families had to partake in, and eventually, it was winter again. An unexpected sun had risen above the sleepy town one Sunday morning, casting its long arms through the open window of a newly-rented apartment, its heat burning the backs of the young men inside, drawing the sweat from their hairlines at an almost impressive rate. Still, with the collection of boxes and furniture surrounding them, to both Connor and Jonah, the labour wasn't moving at anything resembling a fast pace and the end was most certainly out of sight.

Having placed carpets and rugs where they saw it necessary, painted the walls that were outstandingly dull, and began shifting around the heavier of the furniture that their hard-earned funds paid for, the two simply collapsed onto the sofa that they had just moved into place, falling almost on top of one another in tired heaps on the cushions. Of the two young men, it was Jonah who gave the first audible indication that he'd already had enough of moving their stuff around so much.

"Dammit," he sighed, an obvious groan tied into his tone as he let out a whine-like sound, "why can't we have just rented a furnished apartment from the start? Why did we do this now?" he continued to complain, eventually finding himself going quite off-topic, "and the sun's really hot, too. Why's it so hot today, it's December! And why do we only have a week before college breaks up and we go for the Christmas holiday? Why when it's nearly Christmas? We're probably just going to go and see our own families for a few days then, so what the hell are we doing renting a place out, setting it up, only to leave it for almost a week?"

"Jonah!" Connor eventually silenced him, raising his voice just a little, leaning to one side until his cheek was against his strong shoulder, "you know why we rented this place now; we did it because we finally had the money to keep us going for a while, and you kept saying that the sooner we do it, the better for both of us." The curly-haired male had been Jonah's source of optimism throughout the process, even if he wasn't aware of it or didn't want to encourage him to do what he was doing. Whenever Jonah found himself too exhausted at the job that he finally found for himself, the thought of finally whisking away the boy he loved and finding them somewhere private where they could live together and where he could be certain that he was okay was what pushed him forward. Although, at the back of his mind, Jonah also knew that Connor hated the idea of this-hated the thought that it was him who was pushing his lover to work so hard.
Now that he had finally done it, they finally had a place, Connor was still Jonah's positivity.

Jonah nodded, looking back down at his lap as he listened to his words, leaning his head to the side to rest on Connor's. He felt the warmth against his cheek as it made contact with the mass of hair that the sun had been shining on for hours already. "You're right, I'm sorry," he sighed again, "it's just painful having to work so hard-" he suddenly fell silent, another unrelated thought striking him "-and I still need to get Christmas shopping done and over with too? Are you kidding me? What the hell am I gonna buy my grandparents that could possibly impress them after they paid for my accommodation for the next few months?" As he spoke, he didn't notice Connor sighing, or feel him shifting around, the dread and exhaustion blinding him as he let out his elongated rant. "I mean, they're already really difficult to shop for, but if I show up to see them at Christmas with something totally mundane, they'll give me the look of soul-crushing disappointment that they'd certainly been practising for the day that they get to say 'oh, well we bought you an apartment,' or whatever they'll want to be upset about this time!"
By now, having not yet met Jonah's grandparents, even throughout the moving process, Connor was totally lost, partially thinking that he was simply exaggerating, but also wondering if they were truly as harsh as he was making them out to be. Either way, he wasn't willing to hear his boyfriend complaining about it for too long. Jonah didn't notice Connor's movements until he saw him moving one leg over him, allowing himself to perch comfortably on Jonah's lap.