Drew the Curtain

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When Keith woke, Rona was bent over his shoulder cleaning the tea leaves out of the wound.

'Where's Lance?' he asked.

'Went in search of a bathroom and food,' said Rona. 'He shouldn't be long. How's the pain?'

'Fine,' Keith said.

'You have a very interesting medical record, Keith,' she said.

'If you say so,' Keith said.

She smiled. 'That's a very nondescript answer.'

'I'm a nondescript person,' Keith said.

'Hardly,' she said. 'Do you do adventure sports? You certainly have the physique of someone sporty, and it would tally with your medical records of bruises and broken bones.'

'Nope, sport is definitely not my thing,' said Keith. 'I'm an art student.'

She raised her eyebrows. 'You're pulling my leg.'

Keith shook his head. 'Sorry to disappoint you. I'm what you would describe as a nerd.'

'Now you're just making fun of me,' said Rona, chuckling. 'Okay, that looks to be clean now.' She stood up straight and left him alone and saw Philip coming down the corridor and waited for him. 'Your son is trying to convince me that he's an artist and a nerd.'

'He is both of those things,' Philip said.

She chuckled. 'Aha, come on be straight with me. What sort of sports does he do to get all the bruises and broken bones.'

Philip frowned. 'Oh, I'm sure you've heard of it, it's the one where the person who raises you beats the crap out of you, and rapes you.'

Her head snapped around and she gaped at Philip. 'Not everyone is a sports junkie like you, Rona. Some people have really shitty lives.'

With that he walked away from her and down to where Keith was. When he walked in, he could see that Keith was getting agitated.

'Hey, what's wrong?' asked Philip.

Keith shook his head and tried to see out past the curtain.

Just then Lance walked in. 'Oh my god, the line at the cafe was so slow.' He looked up and saw the look in Keith's eyes. He dumped his stuff on the chair and went to him. 'What's the matter?'

'You were gone for so long,' Keith murmured.

'Oh, babe, I'm sorry,' said Lance. He cupped Keith's cheek. 'You don't have to worry, I'm always coming back, I'm not leaving you.' Lance leant down and kissed him. 'I'm not Shiro. You don't ever have to worry about me disappearing.' He reached into his pocket and took out Keith's ring and slipped it back on Keith's finger.

'When did that happen?' asked Philip, staring at the ring.

'Keith asked me last Wednesday,' Lance said.

'You didn't say at dinner,' Philip said.

'You didn't really give us a chance to say anything,' said Lance. 'You were too busy telling Keith how he would never make any money with his art.'

Philip had the good sense to look ashamed for what he did that evening.

'You're right, I was stupid and acted like a prick, and I'm sorry for that. This isn't an excuse, but maybe an explanation, you see, I was brought up in a broken home because my father walked out on us when I was 8. Mum had never been anything but a housewife and was suddenly thrust into finding work. Money was always tight, and I swore that my family was never going to know what it was like to struggle, so money became important to me, especially after Mary and I married, then even more so after the kids were born. Somewhere in all that I lost what having a family was really about. Look, maybe we can just start over again now that I've been told in no uncertain terms, to get my head out of my arse.'

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