Tom had slept soundly, not realizing just how stressed he must have been prior to opening day. He woke with a start, coming out of a weird dream. He had been in a room, obviously a bedroom as he had been sprawled on his back on a bed. The weird thing was that there was a shower cubicle, maybe made from fiber-glass, in the corner of the room. The door of which opened and a naked Greg walked out of it, towel in hand, displaying all of his ample proportions, a big smile on his face.

Tom immediately dismissed the dream, quite embarrassed by its content, and tried to pretend that it had not happened.

Later, after he had again re-opened the shop, he tried to forget all about Greg, and just take the day as it came, welcoming many customers and chatting with them whilst taking their money off them, with a smile.

As it approached 12:00, midday, he began to feel hungry and realized that he had not thought about what to do about preparing and eating some lunch, working alone in his shop. In future, he thought, he must make some sandwiches upstairs at breakfast time and bring them down. Maybe he would help himself to a couple of apples to fend off the growing hunger pains.

Then in walked Greg!

As pleased as he was to see him, he said, “What are you doing here? Could you not sleep?”

“I slept like a log after all of that wine last night, but when I awoke, all I could think of was coming in here, just in case you needed something?”

“You miss me?” Tom joked.

“Actually, yes. I could not wait till six o’clock.” He replied, the usual broad smile creasing his handsome face. “Maybe you would like to go and eat some lunch while I mind the shop?”  He asked, almost plaintively, scared that Tom would tell him to go back home.

“Well, I was getting hungry, but do you really think that you could handle everything? If so, I might just go to the Greasy Greeks for a quick bite.”

Greg nodded eagerly, “I am sure that I can, and if a problem does come up you are almost next door anyway.”    

Tom decided to gladly take Greg up on his offer. The day had already become much brighter just by his unexpected presence.

He gave Greg his business card and said, “This is my mobile number; any problem just call me, and I will come back.”

With that, he left Greg in charge of his pride and joy, and went to have a very quick lunch with George.

Twenty minutes later he returned, asking Greg, “Any problems?”

“It was simple, I think 6 customers, no problems. Three of them came at the same time but they all got served.” He proudly said all matter-of-fact like. “And they all paid, of course, 5 with cash and one with a credit card, tapping again like that guy did last night.” He added.

“Now it is your turn,” Tom said to a mystified Greg. “You must be hungry too. I have already paid for your lunch and a milkshake at George’s. Go now, he is expecting you.”

Greg was embarrassed by the ever-thoughtful Tom, yes he was very hungry, but he had forgotten all about that with the excitement of working in the shop, all alone.

“Ok, fantastic! You are so kind; you are always doing things for me. I don’t know what to say.”

“Say nothing, just go and enjoy. Come back when you are finished but take your time and relax.”

Greg just nodded his head, again mumbling his thanks, and went for lunch, his first-ever, at the ‘Greasy Greeks’.

After Greg returned, raving about his great Mixed Grill and strawberry milkshake, the day wore on and quite quickly now that there were the two of them chatting and joking in the gaps between customers. Tom thought how much he was going to miss this bright addition to his life when Greg disappears to college the following week, it will make the days seem long, but then there will always be the evenings to look forward to.

The day followed the same pattern as the previous one, again finishing with dinner at Jimmy Choo’s. Once more Tom refrained from inviting Greg up to his apartment for a final drink but shocked even his own self when they were parting by asking, “If you enjoyed tonight then maybe you had better come with me on Saturday night? On weekends I close the shop at 6:00 instead of 8:00, so I can go out and relax away from the area.

“For sure, anytime, anywhere,” Greg replied quickly as if he had to in case Tom changed his mind. “So where do you go on Saturday?” he inquired.

“Just to a little restaurant I love, up at The Cross.”

“Do you mean King’s Cross? That is one place that was high on my must-do list but I was a bit scared to go there alone. My parents would die if they knew I was going there the first weekend in big, bad Sydney”

“Is it really full of druggies, criminals, and prostitutes?” he added.

“I am afraid so but you just ignore them. It also has great cafes and restaurants, bars, clubs and expensive apartments as well as all the trash!”

“Wow!” was all Greg could get out.

To be continued...