Trying for Love

Chapter 5

The morning light streamed in through the window, unhindered by the curtains which Manny had forgotten to draw the night before. He slowly opened his eyes, he had been enjoying the warm, soft glow against his eyelids. The house was quiet, his mum had already left for her next shift and so he stretched, arching his back and pushing his arms out behind him. He could stretch his arms behind him. He could stretch his arms behind himself, thought Manny, his headboard wasn't there. He sat up and almost hit his face into a foot. The memory of the day before flooded into his mind as he realised he was on the floor. Henry was here; Henry was still here; and Henry was in his bed.

Sure enough, the tall boy lay almost completely sideways across the bed, he had pulled the quilt up closer to his face and so his feet now poked out. Manny had no idea what to do. He pulled a pair of jeans and a t-shirt out of his wardrobe, and then opened his door with as much care as possible so as not to make a sound.

Washed and dressed, he headed downstairs and into the kitchen. He put the kettle on, got out two mugs from the cupboard above the kitchen table and noticed a note from his mum.

Morning Manu, I'm sorry we didn't get to see each other last night but I'm glad you got an early night. I'm sorry there's not much in, I'll do some shopping later. I should finish around lunch time today so we can have dinner together.

P.S. Nice car outside, I didn't realise you were having a friend round ...

Manny's stomach sank, he hadn't even thought about Henry's car. He went and looked out the living room window. It's not even like you could miss it - a bright shiny red thing parked on their drive. His mum would definitely grill him tonight about the mystery friend, he could hear her saying that, with her eyebrows raised. How would he begin to explain that the boy he was tutoring bought dinner and slept over? Dinner, Manny looked at the pizza box which poked out of the bin, despite folding it as best as he could, it just hadn't quite fit. His mum would have something to say about that too.

Before his mind could spin further, the kettle whistled. He returned to the kitchen, dropped the teabags into the mugs and poured the boiling water over. He might like a coffee, thought Manny, so he brought down another mug from the cupboard and mixed instant coffee and milk together before adding the water. After he'd finished making the tea, he put all three mugs on a tray and carried it up the stairs.

He walked in his room and kicked his door so it slammed shut, but not even Henry's soft snores were disturbed. Manny put the tray down on his desk before opening and slamming the door again, still Henry didn't stir. Letting out an exasperated sigh, Manny walked over to his speaker and turned the volume up on a rock song, nothing. He leaned against the desk with his cup of tea in hand, it was ridiculous how good that boy looked sleeping. Henry's long eyelashes rested on his freckle-flecked cheeks, his lips were slightly parted, and a light shading of stubble marked out his jaw. Manny let out a yelp, jumping to his feet; he'd missed his mouth when taking a sip and so had poured the hot tea right down himself.

Henry sat up, rubbing his eyes open, "Everything alright? What's with the music?"

"Now? You wake up now?" Manny said more to himself as he pulled the shirt that was quickly soaking up the hot liquid away from his skin. Henry continued to stare at him, so with a dismissive hand Manny said, "It's nothing, I just spilled my cup of tea down me. I made one for you by the way."

Henry stood up and stretched, his rugby team hoodie lifting as his arms almost touched the ceiling, revealing a strip of his toned torso. He looked at the two remaining mugs, "Which one's mine?"

"Whichever, I wasn't sure if you preferred tea or coffee," Manny had been patting himself down with a towel, but instead just pulled a jumper over the soiled t-shirt.

"You can have the tea if you like, seeing as yours ended up mostly on you than in you," Henry laughed.

"Thanks," Manny finished soaking up the tea on the floor with some tissues from his desk and turned the music off. He noticed Henry checking his phone, "Are your parents wondering where you are?"

"Well, I text my mum last night that I was having dinner with a friend, so she's just asking me when I'll be home," Henry shrugged. "Do you have a charger I can borrow? It's on nine percent."

Manny couldn't imagine his mum being that relaxed, his phone would have rung non-stop from her incessant calls. As Manny plugged Henry's phone into the charger, he noticed four unread messages from Ewan and a couple more from Jamie.

"I'm starving," said Henry, "you?"

Manny thought of the empty fridge downstairs.

"Do you know of anywhere good 'round here?" Henry had finished his coffee.

Manny relaxed somewhat, "There's a café around the corner that does a full English for a fiver."

"Ah great, shall we go?" Henry saw Manny hesitate, "I'll just use the bathroom first, do you have any mouthwash I can use?"

Manny sat on the bottom of the stairs waiting for Henry to finish in the bathroom and puzzled over how this was his weekend. Henry didn't seem bothered about staying the night at Manny's and appeared to be in no rush to get home and Manny couldn't fathom why. As long as he left before his mother got home, Manny didn't mind Henry's presence, it was surprisingly easy between them.

He heard Henry coming down the stairs so got up and unlocked the door while the boy put his trainers on. Manny rolled his eyes back at his own stupidity, his mum would have seen the trainers too.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I don't what I was thinking, you have stuff to do. I'll get going," Henry blushed with embarrassment.

Manny realised Henry's confusion, "No, no, no, I wasn't – I didn't make the face at you. I was just, it was something else. Honestly, let's go to the café." He gave Henry his best smile.

"No, you don't need to be nice to me, I've kind of taken over your whole weekend," Henry turned to get his things from upstairs.

Manny grabbed his arm, "Henry, honestly, I don't mind you being here. Let's go get some breakfast. I'm starving."

"Okay, only if you're sure," Henry smiled, then looked down at Manny's hand. As though his arm was all of a sudden hot, Manny let go and opened the front door.

The café was fairly busy, mostly with elderly couples who'd ordered toasted tea cakes and pots of tea. Each table was dressed with a square of blue gingham and a vase of plastic flowers. They sat down at a table in the window, a family with young children occupied the only table in the back.

"So the full English comes with a pot of tea, if you want coffee, it's more," said Manny as they looked at the laminated menus.

Henry read what was included with the breakfast, "I'll get mine without mushrooms."

"I'm getting mine without black pudding," Manny said, standing his menu back in the middle of the table.

"That's the best bit!" Henry exclaimed in mock horror. "Wait, do you like mushrooms?"

Manny nodded.

"What can I get you boys?" asked a woman, pulling a notepad from the pocket in her apron.

"Two full English specials please," Henry gave her one of his winning smiles.

When their breakfasts arrived, Henry pushed his plate to Manny's and swapped over the mushrooms and black pudding.

"Sorted," said Henry, "want my fried bread too?"

"Definitely," Manny plucked it from Henry's plate.

"See, this way we get more of what we like," Henry grinned.