I promised you. | Austin Butler

Part 13

Despite the secret I was keeping and the lie I was about to tell, the Sunday following the previous night was one of the most enjoyable and relaxed Sundays I had had in a very long time. We started with an early rise, a nice hot shower, comfy clothes and a walk to our favourite coffee shop. It was a pretty dull day and there was a slight breeze in the air, for edging the end of August we were clearly starting to see the warm summer days become less frequent and it made me happy. 

The coffee shop was situated just a few blocks away from my apartment, and was where me and Andrew had our first date that didn't include a cross trainer or a squat rack. We had come most weekends since apart from the last few and the faces of the familiar baristas behind the tills made me smile as we walked in, the welcoming smell of coffee and bagels hitting me instantly. 

I'd ordered a latte, Andrew ordering an americano, and I knew it was there or never to announce my weekend plans. It had been playing on my mind for the most part of the morning and if I didn't tell him soon it would eat me up alive. Our short conversation we were having about something his work colleague had said during the week died down and I took a deep breath. 

"I forgot to tell you, I'm working away this weekend"

My heart was beating slightly and my hands were shaking but I gripped tightly onto my coffee mug and take a gentle sip, hoping it would come across as natural. He screws his face up slightly but a laugh escapes him and I smile. 

"Since when?"

I laugh.

"My boss told me on Friday. It completely slipped my mind until this morning. What with yesterday and all, I just didn't think" 

He takes a sip of his coffee now, like his mind is ticking over, but I remain relaxed and with a straight face. 

"From Friday? Or will you be going on Saturday?"

My heart stops, because I didn't know. Sometimes I work away Friday and come back Sunday. Sometimes I would work away Saturday and come back Monday. Sometimes it would just be the one day. It was all dependant on how far away we were working and what the job entailed. I smile anyway and think on the spot. 

"Friday, I think. Just out of town so should probably be home Sunday"

He nods and smiles.  

"Cool. I might see if Brad wants to do something"

"Are you not working?" 

He laughs as he takes a sip of his coffee again. "No, I don't think so. Not for now anyway."

That numbness of guilt washes over me in an instant and I give him a sorry smile. "I'm sorry, babe. If I'd have known-"

He bats me of instantly. "Don't be silly. If you're needed you're needed."

He gives me a smile and then the conversation is over and I feel like I can breathe. He never questioned anything, ever. Everything was always so simple and easy with him and that scared me. It scared me because I know what I was doing was so wrong. So wrong on so many levels but it also felt so right. So unbelievably right. 

The rest of the day flies by before our eyes. We go for a walk around the city, his hand in mine the entire time, and we dip in and out of shops as we pass them, neither of us buying anything but just more so enjoying browsing and being in each others company, and we end up having lunch in a cute old pub that neither of us had ever seen before. Its was homely and inviting and I left feeling content and happy, getting into bed that night and feeling refreshed for another week of work, hating myself for the excitement that boiled in my stomach for the weekend to arrive regardless of it feeling so far away.