Chapter 5
“I swear to you, this will be the best hamburger you’ve ever tasted,” Jeremy said as he led Harrison through an open doorway a few minutes’ walk fromFandom.
The placed looked like little more than a hole in the wall, with its old wooden counter and cracked linoleum floor. “I’ll take your word for it,” Harrison replied, trying not to sound sceptical.
After placing their orders, they headed down a narrow hallway on the right side of the counter that led past the restaurant kitchen to a generous dining area at the back of the building.
Harrison stopped at the entrance to the room. A sense of unease tightened his gut as he took in the lack of doors and windows. Scanning the dimly lit room, he spotted an exit sign in a wall to the left. The dull green glow hovered over a door that was almost invisible due to the covering of retro-posters, old cartoons, and photographs that made it blend in with the surrounding walls. With a sigh of relief, he followed Jeremy through the hodgepodge collection of low couches and scarred wooden tables, thankful the other man hadn’t noticed his reaction.
They sat together on a small couch in a corner of the room. Chill-out music was audible below the hum of conversation from the dozen or so other diners. It wasn’t long before a waitress arrived with their meals. Harrison’s eyes widened at the monstrous size of the burger she placed before him, a generous pile of hot chips at its side. “Whoa.” He leaned closer to Jeremy’s ear. “That thing’s not going to try to eat me first, is it?”
“I’ve never had one snap at me yet,” Jeremy told him with a grin. “But you can’t be too careful.”
“Good to know.”
They leaned forward over the low table in front of them and took their first bites. Harrison could barely fit his mouth around the burger, but the effort was worth it. “You’re right,” he said with a nod after he managed to swallow. “That’s good.”
“Good?” Jeremy repeated a moment later, lifting his eyebrows. “Damn, man, don’t let your enthusiasm overcome you. This is heaven in a bun.”
Taking a sip of water, Harrison replied, “I don’t need enthusiasm. I have you. You’re enthusiastic enough for the whole street.”
Jeremy proved the point by groaning in pleasure as he took another bite. “My mother calls it a zest for living,” he said after washing his bite down with a mouthful of beer. “My father calls it my inability to sit the fuck down.”
Harrison curved his lips upward at Jeremy’s joke. It seemed like an appropriate response. “Your parents, what are they like?” he asked before biting the end off a hot chip.
“They’re like most people’s parents, I suppose. Mum works as a nurse at an aged care home. She likes taking care of people. Dad was a salesman, but he’s retired now. They live about an hour north of the city.” He popped a chip in his mouth and chewed. “What about you? Are your parents here in Melbourne or are they in England?”
Picking up his burger, Harrison took a bite, chewing slowly so he’d have time to think about how to answer. He refused to lie, that was one rule he’d never break, but he didn’t want to tell too much of the truth—at least not yet. He liked Jeremy. His personality was a shot of sunlight through the cobwebs of Harrison’s mind. The brightness blinded him, but he was drawn to it anyway. He didn’t want to lose access too soon.
“Both of my parents passed away a long time ago,” he said, keeping his tone casual. “I moved to Australia when I was thirteen to live with my mum’s sister and her husband. My youngest cousin had moved out of home the year before, so they had room for me. I’ve been here fourteen years now.”
Jeremy frowned. “That must have sucked. Moving to a whole different country after losing your folks.”
“No, not at all.” Harrison shook his head. “My aunty and uncle are the best kind of people. They took me in when they didn’t have to. I wasn’t the easiest kid to deal with at the time.” An understatement of grand proportions, but not a lie. “I got the better end of that deal.”
“Was it just you, or do you have siblings as well?”
“Just me.” His parents had only gotten married because of him, and he would forever be grateful they’d never had any more children. The doctors had said if he’d been even a couple of kilograms lighter, the drugs would have killed him. A younger sibling never would have survived. Having to live with that kind of loss may have driven him insane—more insane, anyway. Reaching for his glass, Harrison chugged some water to try and clear the bile that had risen at the unwanted memories. “What about you?” He kept his gaze on the table in front of them. “Do you have siblings?”
Jeremy nodded. “I have a sister, Anna. She’s two years younger than me, but you’d swear she was the older one with the way she takes care of me.”
“How so?” he asked, grateful the conversation had steered away from him.
“I’ve stayed with her a couple of times in the past year.” Jeremy’s shrug implied it was no big deal, but the stiffness of the movement said otherwise. “Every time I show up on her doorstep looking like a fucked up mess she lets me in, offers me her couch and makes me a cup of tea.” A softness crept into Jeremy’s voice as he talked about his sister, affection clear in the crinkling around his eyes. “But thankfully that will not be happening again.”
“Why?” Harrison asked with a teasing lilt. “Did she run out of tea?”
Jeremy did a double-take, then gave a rough laugh. “I mean the part where I show up on her doorstep needing a place to stay. I’m damn near thirty, it’s about time I got my shit together. That’s why I’m now living alone. I can’t end up in a situation where I have to pack my bags and show up on Anna’s doorstep if I’m living by myself.”
Harrison tilted his head. “You make it sound like you were homeless every other weekend.”
“I wasn’t quite that bad,” he said, shaking his head with a rueful grin. “But it happened twice in less than six months so…”
Having finished his burger, Harrison turned sideways and drew one bent leg up onto the overstuffed cushion as he stretched his right arm out along the back of the couch behind Jeremy. “I’m curious now. What happened?”
Jeremy pushed his own plate away and sat back, settling deeper into the cushions. “Those stories aren’t…”
“First date material?” He watched as Jeremy bit down on that bottom lip, as if he wanted to say something but wasn’t sure if he should. “Except this isn’t a date,” he guessed.
