A/N- Oops... I haven't updated this in a long time, but I've been busy with uni. Also, I named Eli's mum Jo, so her name would be Jo King. I kinda wish I'd thought of this when I was naming Shea's husband but too late now.
Chapter Three
Toby's pov
I perch awkwardly on a low wall as I wait for Mylo and Elijah to return with the drinks. Looking around, I notice that there are a lot of people here and a large group of kids playing in a corner. Hopefully, I won't embarrass myself in front of my new neighbours. I'd spent a long time deciding which outfit to wear, eventually deciding on a casual short sleeved flannel shirt with red skinny jeans and converse. This was to make a good impression on the people here, not to impress Elijah as Mylo seems to think.
Gosh, Milo and Elijah have been a few minutes now; surely it can't take this long to get two drinks? I hope Mylo isn't saying anything about me, because I really don't need him to try and get me a boyfriend right now.
I look towards the door to see Mylo emerging with two bottles of cider.
"You took your time." I say to him, raising an eyebrow suspiciously as I take my drink. "Thanks."
"Elijah and I were just chatting, he seems like a really nice guy you know." Mylo tells me, making me sigh.
"I'm sure he's great but that's not the issue." I take a long swig of my drink just as a short woman who looked to be in her fifties or sixties appeared.
"You must be Toby and Mylo, I'm Joanne but you can call me Jo. I'm Shea and Eli's Mother." She tells us with a warm smile that reminds me a little of my own mother.
"N-Nice to meet you." I tell her, smiling back politely. "Thank you f-f-for inviting us."
"You don't have to thank me dear. Come and get some food, we have plenty of it." She says as she leads us towards the barbeque. "We have sausages or burgers or chicken."
"C-can I please have some s-sausage please." I ask, blushing when Mylo smirks at my comment and winks at me.
Mylo asks for chicken and Jo puts it on a plate for us. "Sides and buns are just on the table over there, help yourself to as much as you want."
We both thanks her and go to fill our plates up. I grab some ketchup and some crisps before sitting down on an empty bench in the corner, and Mylo sits next to me soon after.
"Cam is going to be so mad he missed out on free food." Mylo tells me with a giggle. Cam is his boyfriend of three years and they might just be the cutest couple ever. I went through a bad time a few years ago and Cam was really supportive, both of them were. They let me move into their spare room for a couple of months while I got back on my feet, although by the time I got my own place I'd walked in on one too many shirtless make out session in the living room to miss them too much. Cam would have come this weekend, but he sadly had to work.
"I mean, just you not being home is like free food for him. He's always complaining that you eat all the snacks he buys." I respond making Mylo pout jokingly.
"He shouldn't buy the snacks I like then. My tummy can't help itself."
I roll my eyes fondly at him before looking around, just as I see a tall man approaching. He appears to be in his mid 30s, his head is bald, but it really suits him.
"Toby?" He asks, holding out a hand and it takes me a second to remember how I recognise this man. I stand up quickly and shake his hand.
"Y-yes. Jason. Sorry, y-you look different in person. Nice to m-meet you in person finally." I blush. Jason is my new boss; we met over video chat when I was being interviewed for the position.
"No worries." He says with a chuckle. "I would have struggled myself if Elijah hadn't pointed you out to me. I'm glad to see you settling in, it's a nice community. I'm sure you'll be happy here."
"Th-thank you, sir." I tell him. He's giving me friendly and relaxed vibes which is reassuring.
"Enough with the sir, we don't bother with that in our office. Jason is fine, I may be the boss but I believe productivity is much higher when we treat each other like equals. I can stand managers who act like they're better than their employees. I'm no better than anyone who works for me, I've just been in the business longer and worked my way up as I'm sure you will one day too." He tells me, making me smile. Being anyone's boss is not something I want to do, I prefer being told what to do than telling, but it still feels nice that, after meeting each other for only seconds, Jason believes in me.
"Th-thank you s- Jason. And thank you for g-giving me this job. It really means a lot." Before getting the job here, I must have had a dozen interviews at companies closer to where Mylo lives. On paper, I look like an ideal candidate with my degree and experience, but in interviews I always panic and stutter. Employers usually want someone confident and clearly spoken, I don't even know why since my job mostly involves just sitting at a computer. I'm just glad Jason was able to see around my anxiety and tell I was good at graphic design.
"Well you were the best candidate for the job." He says with a smile, before a man a couple of inches shorter than him with wavy brown hair comes over, placing an around his waist. "This is my husband Luc. Babe, this is Toby, my new employee who just moved here."
"Nice to meet you!" Luc almost screams before giving me a tight hug, making me squeak in surprise. "Are you gay? I'm getting gay vibes. Yay! We can start an lgbtq book club!" This guy was super excitable, it reminded me a lot of Mylo.
"Erm..." But Jason steps in before I respond, not that I'm in the closet or anything but I'm not used to being put on the spot like this.
"Calm down baby. Don't scare away my employee before they've even started." Jason says.
Looking around, I see Mylo coming over with another plate of food. I introduce him to Jason and Luc, and I think I may have been demoted to second best friend as he and Luc click instantly and fall into excitable conversation that I struggle to keep up with.
Jason wanders off to talk to some other people and I sit back down on the bench, finishing my food and taking sips of my cider.
"Having fun?" I voice speaks in my ear, making me look up in surprise as I see Elijah sitting beside me. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." He chuckles softly.
"It's ok. The food is really good." I tell him with a blush.
"Yeah mum is pretty great at cooking. I always thought she should open her own restaurant but, alas, it wasn't something she wanted to do." He tells me. "What about your parents, do you see them much?"
"My m-mum moved to Spain after she retired a few years ago. But we still speak on the phone every day. And I don't really know my dad, he left when I was young." I tell him. "Does your dad live in the village too?"
"Yeah, he's here somewhere. I'm sorry about your dad." He says sympathetically.
"It's ok, I've had a l-long time to get over it." I admit, though it does still hurt a bit even if I am used to it. "My mum was amazing anyway. It was hard for her, but she did a good job raising me on her own." I don't know why I add the last bit, but something about Eli just makes him easy to talk to.
"Well she clearly did a good job. Jason seems pretty pleased he hired someone with your talent." He tells me with a smile, making me go even redder. I hope I don't look like a tomato.
"He said that?" I ask modestly. I know I can do my job well but it's still rare to get such good feedback already, it makes me much less nervous about starting on Monday.
"Course he did. He built his company up himself, he wouldn't hire someone he had doubts with. Well not under usual circumstances anyway. Would you like another drink? Max, a friend of mine, is making cocktails." He suggests, making me nod.
"That would be great." I smile as we head inside the house where a curly haired man is showing off with a cocktail shaker.
"Drink for our new neighbour?" Eli calls out to his friend who turns to look at us.
"Of course!" Max says, watching me with a big grin. He turns back and pours whatever was in his shaker into a glass and hands it to a girl before turning back to me and holding out a hand. "Maxon Lux, pleasure to meet you. And you must be Toby! So, have you got a cocktail preference, or would you like me to make you something personalised?"
I've never had a personalised cocktail made before which is kind of exciting, as long as it doesn't get me pissed. I don't need to accidentally embarrass myself in front of everyone in this village. "A p-personalised would be nice." I tell him and lets out a loud cheer, clearly enjoying deciding drinks for people.
"That's what I'm talking about! So I'll use some of this, and a tiny bit of this..." He begins mumbling to himself as he adds liquids from various different bottles to his concoction, before shaking it all up with some ice.
"And voila!" He says excitedly, as he places a bright pink drink in a gin glass in front of me. "You're sweet and adorable but will be the life of the party after you've drank this. I'm going to name it... Toby's Sweet Surprise!"
I giggle at his excitement and take my first sip, it's exactly the type of taste I love. "Th-thank you so much! It t-tastes amazing."
Eli smiles at the side of me, while opening a beer for himself. "Max used to use cocktails to flirt with all the girls back in high school. He has made a few dreadful ones over the years, but he's pretty good now."
"I never made bad cocktails, you just had bad taste." Max argues back at Eli playfully.
"Anyone would agree that you shouldn't mix beer with baileys." He smirks, and I nod in agreement, feeling a little ill at the thought.
"Don't forget last new years when he made a giant fishbowl using every drink we had in the house and four people were sick." I hear a voice behind us say, as a curly haired girl wraps her arms around Max's waist.
"Toby, allow me to introduce my wife Jade. Babe, this is Toby he just moved here." Max tells me.
"Pleasure." Jade says with a friendly smile.
"Nice to meet you. How long have you been married?" I ask politely, the strong drink making me feel more relaxed.
"Only four months, but we've been together for three years all together." Jade tells me, smiling at her husband with love.
"Congratulations." I tell them genuinely.
"I had to propose three times before she said yes." Max tells me, a teasing tone in his voice.
"Yes, because the first time I'd known you for less than a month and the second time was to try and end an argument. But I had to give in eventually." She smirked.
"Well I knew you couldn't risk my charm and sexiness forever. I am irresistible."
"Yeah, modest too. Anyway, Toby, have you got anyone special in your life?" She asks me kindly, making me shake my head no straight away.
"Relationships aren't really for me. I... I'm not so good with people." I admit. It's a good enough answer, I hope it's enough to not get asked too many questions.
"Well I bet you'll meet the right person someday and completely change your mind." Jade says.
"Yeah," Elijah jumps in. "You're sweet, any man would be lucky to have you. Or woman. Not that I'm assuming anything..." I blush bright red and glancing over I can see that he's blushing too, it feels strange to see such a tall, strong man blushing. But I don't know what any of this means, was he trying to flirt or just be a nice person?
"Man." I confirm with a small smile.
"Same." He grins at me, making me stare at my feet. I can't start liking Elijah, it would make things difficult. And besides, he's just being friendly. He's just happy that he has a friend who can relate to him, nothing more.
Before my nonresponse can get too awkward, a little boy runs fast into Elijah's legs. He must be about two or three with blonde hair and his mouth covered in a thick layer of chocolate icing.
"Watch where you're going tiger." Eli says with a chuckle, picking the boy up. "You having fun?"
"Yeah! We got cake!" He announces excitedly.
"So I see. You're wearing half of it. Let's get you cleaned up." Elijah grabs a baby wipe from the kitchen counter and starts wiping the boy's mouth clean. "Tristan, this is Toby. He just moved here. What do you say?"
"'Ow do you do?" Tristan says in the most adorable voice ever. I'm assuming that this isn't Elijah's son but I could be wrong. I hope I'm not wrong... not that it matters because nothing will ever happy between us.
"I'm very well thank you for asking." I says with a chuckle. Noticing the print on his t shirt, I ask. "You like Toy Story? Who's your favourite?"
Tristan gives the biggest grin a toddler can before exclaiming "Buzz Lightyear! To infinity and beyond!"
"Buzz is my favourite too. Do you want to be a space ranger when you grow up like him?"
But before he can respond another man walks into the room, he's quite short compared to Elijah and Max but still taller than me. "I was wandering where you got to munchkin." He says to Tristan.
"Dada!" Tristan calls out and wriggles in Elijah's arms, making Eli hand the boy to his father.
Elijah introduces the man as Dexter, the husband of his sister Shea who we met yesterday.
Before everyone has to head home, I'm introduced to a lot more people too. Everyone's super friendly, I just hope I don't forget their names as there were a lot.
As Mylo and I go to leave, Elijah runs back over to us. "What are you doing tomorrow?" He asks.
"Well Mylo has to go home in the morning so we were going to grab breakfast early, but nothing after that." I tell him, my anxiety still temporarily eased until it crosses my mind that I may be getting asked out and my panic begins again.
"Will you let me give you a tour of the village? It's tradition, I always give newbies the tour."
I relax a little, knowing this isn't anything personal, before nodding. "Yeah, sure. That would be nice. Thank you."
A huge grin makes its way onto Elijah's face. "Great! I'll come by yours at around 12?"
"Yeah ok, see you then."
"It was nice meeting you Elijah." Mylo says.
"You too. Bye." Elijah waves us out.
We walk off home, Mylo elbowing me playfully and grinning at me, making me role my eyes. It definitely was /not/ a date.