In the Beat of a Wing {boyxboy}

Chapter Twenty-Eight

~Friday 22nd March 2013~

"I can make you something to eat, y'know, if you want, Edee," Ryan offered, watching as Eden picked at some of the desserts they were due to throw out later that day. Eden was well aware that they were still fresh, they simply weren't allowed to keep them on display for more than three days. Nevertheless, many of the staff either ate them at work or took them home, there wasn't often much waste in that place.

"It's fine, I don't want to bug you," Eden flashed Ryan a warm smile, perched on one of the counters whilst he was taking his break, scrolling through his social media.

"You don't bug me, Edee, I don't want you going hungry. Would you like me to make you something?" Eden hesitated, looking from the slice of lemon meringue pie next to him, contemplating whether or not to just finish that and ignore his increasing hunger, "yes or no, Edee?" well, he did miss breakfast that morning...

"OK," Eden caved, pushing the plate away from him, "I suppose I should eat healthily, I'm getting pretty fat with Mal driving me everywhere," Ryan scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief, not even bothering to respond to Eden.

"How is everything going with him anyway? He's treating you well?" Eden smiled subtly, running his fingers over the deep bruise on his wrist that he had covered with some concealer, a shiver rolling down his spine with the movement. The bruise brought good memories, he simply didn't want the constant bombardment of questions that he got whenever he turned up with any patch of discoloured skin.

"Yeah, he's great," Eden said in a soft voice, trying not to dwell on the images of the other day flooding into his mind. He could spend hours flicking through them when he was alone, picking apart every aspect and searching for his favourites, but not at work. He couldn't afford getting aroused there, he had too much contact with other customers.

"You don't sound very enthusiastic," whereas Ryan was beginning to sound concerned. Eden hadn't meant for his voice to be so quiet, he was simply lost within his own mind, the darker worries beginning to seep in through the flow.

"No, he really is great, honestly-" Eden paused for a second, debating whether to entirely divulge what was bothering him to Ryan, "he's just been distant lately," Eden admitted, his bottom lip catching between his teeth.

"What do you mean?"

"Ever since Sunday it's like, I don't know, it's like he doesn't want to see me. We talk every day, sometimes for hours before I go to sleep, but I just feel like he keeps making excuses to postpone seeing me face to face. I'm probably overthinking everything though."

"No, I doubt it. I mean, our instincts pick up on the tiniest changes, if you're feeling like he's distancing himself then he probably is," not exactly the answer Eden had been hoping for, "it isn't always a bad thing though, you've had such a quick relationship, he might just need a little time to catch up. Or the excuses might actually be genuine, he is a lawyer, after all, he's likely to be a busy guy," Eden nodded solemnly, having tried to grip onto that viewpoint for days, "have you talked to him about it?" Ryan passed Eden a bowl of caesar salad made just how he liked it, making the boy smile and thank him.

"No, I don't want him to think I'm being really clingy. I know us keeping this relationship quiet is difficult on him, maybe even more than me, I don't want to fuck up everything we've worked for."

"Staying quiet about this might actually be counterproductive, Mal might not even realise that he's distancing himself, everything might continue like this because you haven't mentioned anything," Eden nodded, eating a few mouthfuls of his salad, actually taking in what Ryan was saying.

"Edee?" the boy looked up when Hailee entered the kitchen, "there's a guy out at the counter, he's been sat there for like twenty minutes just drinking coffee. He's already asked me and Pria if you're working and when you get off. Can you either call one of your bodyguards to throw him out or go talk to him and put him out of his misery?" Eden frowned, sliding off the counter and exiting the kitchen, peeking around the corner to get a good look at the counter.