Chapter 24

Misunderstanding

William barely slept, he silently yelled at himself until Mathew fell asleep, then just listened to the soft sound of his breathing.

The birds had started chirping, when William jolted awake from his light sleep, his hands defensively in front of his face, breathing hard.

Turning over he saw the cute peaceful face of Mathew sleeping deeply.

Seeing there was only 40 minutes till the alarm, William got out of bed and went to the loo. Stood in the bathroom under the bright light, he couldn’t believe with everything going on he was still bloody aroused.

Feeling like a pervert he thought of the sound of Mathew climaxing and the all too brief feel of his body wrapped round him.

Lost in the depths of these happy memories, reaching his finale, William let out a deep sighing moan which echoed back to him in the hard tiled room. His half closed eyes shot open, terrified he had just woken Mathew with the sound of him orgasming. But he could hear nothing from the other room so got in the shower.

Clean and dry, William got back in his clothes to get a suit from his closet.

When he opened the door he was met by Mathew hopping around,

with the briefest, “morning,” Mathew sprinted past him into the bathroom.

Selecting a fitted black suit, William put it on the bed and looked at ties, he was feeling indecisive this morning, he usually chose his clothes in a way that was the least eye catching, not wanting to stand out more than he already did.

However he felt like a peacock who had finally met a mate they wanted to impress, but he had no beautiful tail feathers.

Hidden at the back of his draw was a rich purple tie that Luke had brought him, he had always thought it was a little flashy, but he wondered, ‘would I of thought it was too flashy before?’

The long forgotten feel of walking around in the sun with out his shirt on, came to William’s mind. The sensation of swimming in the sea in his swimmers, of playing sports in a light T-shirt and shorts. He remembered he used to enjoy leaving his top three shirt buttons open, he only started wearing ties after.

William let out a high pitch shriek as Mathew said from his elbow, “that’s a... sorry didn’t mean to startle you.”

His heart beating wildly and feeling like an idiot, William said, “it’s ok I was just lost in a world of my own.”

“What had you day dreaming so hard?”

Smiling William said with out thinking, “I was thinking of walking around with out clothes on.”

Mathew’s eye brows rose and William’s eyes went wide, he hastily said, “no no not like that! I mean like with my shirt buttons undone and in shorts.”

Sighing, William thought, ‘I’m really a fool in front of Mathew.’

Putting his hand comfortingly on William’s shoulder, Mathew said teasingly, “you can walk round naked any time you like.”

William went crimson, he had no idea what to say.

Looking at the tie Mathew said, “well for now you definitely need to get dressed, I like the tie but maybe a little flashy for work, how about this one?”

William took the grey satin tie Mathew offered and grabbing a white shirt, smiled awkwardly and dashed into the bathroom to get changed.

‘Why can’t I be cool round Mathew, or even just normal!?’ Thought William miserably.

In his suit, William came out into the bedroom and all his blood rushed to his face, Mathew was stood in his boxers picking up his trousers from the bed.

Turning round William said, “I’m sorry I should have knocked.”

Sadness in his voice Mathew said, “Sorry I forgot you don’t like me being undressed, I should have waited till you left.”

William’s heart squeezed, what was this? In a small voice he asked, “when did I say that?”

His voice hardening Mathew replied, “it was clear by your actions last night.”

How had this misunderstanding got this out of control? William had no idea how to fix it, “no that’s not... I don’t dislike you being undressed... wait that sounds wrong... I... I’m sorry I’ve made you feel uncomfortable.”

Totally depressed William walked out of his room with his head down.

Sitting and drinking coffee he tried to figure out how to make it better, but when Mathew walked into the kitchen he couldn’t even meet his eyes.

The car ride to Leoni’s was long in the uncomfortable silence.

One look at William’s dark mood, and the men at the entrance vaguely patted the pair then waved them on through.

By mid day the silence had become suffocating, William said in a forced cheery way, “would you like some lunch? I looked it up and there is a nice cafe that delivers.”

To William’s surprise Mathew smiled warmly, “that would be lovely. What do they serve?”

Feeling a bit encouraged, William moved his chair closer to Mathew and showed him the menu on his phone.

Not sure if it was his imagination or not, William felt like Mathew was keeping his distance, leaning naturally away from him, moving his hands to his face to keep them away and turning his chair ever so slightly to block them being too close.

Sadness enveloped William’s heart, trying to stay positive he said, “they have very good reviews for their coffee too.”

Mathew’s smile didn’t seem to reach his eyes, “oh well then a cappuccino would be great too please.”

30 minutes later they were collecting their food, the delivery driver was visibly shaking as he took the money from William, who was trying his best to smile encouragingly.

Sat back in the office, they ate in silence until William blurted out, “I’m really sorry I know I wronged you, please tell me how I can make it up to you.”

Mathew’s brows raised then knitted, “you did nothing wrong, I’m the one who should be apologising, I should never have joked around with you like that, I’m sorry.”

It felt like a pit had opened below William’s heart, and he again blurted out, “no you can joke with me like that, but I might just take it a little seriously.”

Turning his head away Mathew replied, “I don’t want you to take it seriously and hate me.”

Knowing he was making it worse but not being able to stop himself William tried again, “I don’t hate you, it’s just a joke, right?”

Mathew’s voice was even colder as he replied, “yes it’s just a joke. I would never act like that with you for real.”

William’s heart cracked, Mathew would never like him in the same way he like Mathew, he had fully been rejected.

Silence descended onto the room again, William had no idea what work he did. He followed Mathew to get tea and to go to the toilet, but he was in a daze of sadness all day.