Love Hurts (boyxboy)

Chapter 2: Swoon

"I used to have a crush on you."

☆

"Shit." Josh finds himself saying the word out loud as he sees a familiar man exit the vehicle. 

Neil Rose... Josh's secret school crush. He hadn't seen him since he'd left school. Neil was only two years older, and Josh had it so bad for him. The only person he had told was his then best friend Peter, and that was only probably because he knew Peter was leaving and probably wouldn't see him again. 

Those same feelings came flooding back as if it were yesterday. As if Josh was staring at him again from the window of the science block, as if time stood still and nothing else mattered. Josh's eyes just wanted to stare. Stare at his black mid length hair, his hint of needing just a small shave. He looked tall and slim, not too different from Josh, but still with a hint of bulk. His dark grey trousers fit perfectly over his shapely behind. 

Josh continues to watch, almost holding his breath as the unsuspecting male makes his way to the boot of the car to retrieve a briefcase and a laptop before locking his car and heading into the building. 

Josh exhales a long breath. He was now able to breathe a little more normally. He slumps back into his seat. He thought he'd left this kind of thing back at school. He really didn't want it threatening his new life.  Josh just hoped Neil Rose wasn't in his department. 

He glances at his watch. He should go inside. He checks his hair one last time before exiting the car. He has just about managed to compose a hard exterior, a complete opposite to his swirling tummy as he makes his way to the general reception desk.

After the formalities that new employees  had to go through, Josh had been left waiting in a room with a giant water dispenser for company. The organisation was huge, so the chances of bumping into Neil Rose again would probably be small.

"Joshua Barratt? Please come with me." He gets up, gathering his belongings and follows a lady down a corridor.  "How are you feeling?" She asks him. 

"I'm ready to work hard." He says, knowing how silly it sounded now he had said it. 

She lets out a small chuckle. "Your supervisor will he pleased to hear that." She replies as she pushes open a door to their left.

"You're not my supervisor?" He questions as his heart begins to race and the uncertainty.

"No, not me. You will be working here." They now enter a small room with around 6 desks, in two rows of three facing each other. Towards the end of the room is a closed off office space with windows surrounding it and blinds hanging inside. Josh can see someone in there, but the blinds obscured the full view.

The woman takes Josh to his desk opposite a young woman who has a headset on over her head and is focussing on her computer screen.  "So this is you. I'll let him know you are here." The lady heads to the enclosed office while Josh settles himself at the desk.

The young woman opposite looks over to him, giving a friendly smile. Mouthing a 'hello' before she is again drawn to whoever was on the other end of her headset. 

"Joshua Barrett." Josh is distracted by a man's voice fast approaching. He stands up so fast that he bangs his knee on the edge of the desk. He tries to hide the fact that he has hit his reflex as he turns to see...

"I'm Neil, Neil Rose." A hand is held out for Josh to take. His eyes meet those eyes, those big brown eyes of that man. The one who made Josh turn into a crumbling wreck when he was 14 at just the sight of him. 

He flexes his hand into a tight ball, trying hia best to compose himself as he tries not to blurt out something stupid from his mouth such as, 'I used to have a crush on you'.  He holds out his now sweaty hand and makes contact. "J..Joshua Barratt." 

"Yes, I know that already." Neil says, smiling.

"Hahaha, just making sure you remember my name." He tries to salvage his first official meeting with this man.

Neil smiles back, now looking down at the connected hands, which Josh was still erratically shaking up and down. Josh follows his gaze and instantly drops his hand to his side.

Mr Rose or 'Neil' as he's just told Josh he prefers to be called, is now telling him about what he expects of him.  Josh finds his eyes honing in on his lips, watching as he mouths every word. He takes in his nice set of teeth, his top lip slightly thicker than the lower, the black designer stubble covering his face, his....

"....And remember, it's important to take your time with the customer." Josh snaps back to reality, realising he had not heard one word Neil had been saying. 

He nods and replies with an "understood." And hope Neil doesn't ask him to repeat back anything he's just told him, which thankfully he doesn't. 

"I'm going to leave you in the capable hands of Maria for the rest of today. Maria?" Neil gestures towards the woman sat opposite, who nods and removes her head set. He then turns and walks back in the direction of his office, and Josh can finally breathe, calming his senses by watching Neil's backside, moving up and down like a lava lamp as he walks away. 

He feels a tapping on his shoulder and turns to see that Maria has moved and is now standing next to him. Josh finds himself looking down at her short stature and very smiley face. "Let's get the most important thing out of the way first… How do you have your coffee?"

Josh follows Maria into a small kitchen area in the corner off the main office space. The area is tight, and Josh already feels claustrophobic with just the two of them. "So it's best to bring your own mug in." Maria advises as she takes down a mug, saying 'My Mug' with a patchwork teddy on it, and starts to put a spoon of coffee in the mug with two sugars. "I take it you drink coffee?" 

"Yeah I do." He nods, and Maria proceeds to pull out a tea stained nasty mug with a horse on it. Yep he's definitely bringing in his own mug.

Now, with two mugs of coffee in their hands, Maria turns to him. Josh can tell she is looking him up and down, making him feel a little self-conscious. "So...I.T..." she begins. 

"Yep." He answers with a grin. He didn't really know how he was meant to answer that statement but suddenly felt a bit awkward, deciding to instead look down at the painted horse, staring back at him. He was beginning to wonder how he was going to get out of this situation. 

Josh's prayers are answered when a third head pops into the kitchen. "Maria...why don't you make me coffee anymore?" Josh looks up to see a shaggy haired blonde guy with a plaid shirt and black jeans. He then turns his attention to Josh "Joshua yeah? I'm Rich."

"You can call me Josh." He smiles.

"Well Josh, watch Maria doesn't eat you alive." The other male smirks. 

"Get lost, Rich." Comes the reply.  Josh felt like he was in the middle of a domestic. He finds now is a good time to make his way back to his desk. 

"I'm gonna go get settled....excuse me." He managed to get past Rich, allowing them to finish whatever they had started. He sits down at his new desk and takes a sip of coffee. At least from here, he could get a better view of Neil in his office. Josh can see him on his phone. He watches for a time as Neil runs his hand through his hair and rubs the back of his neck. Josh knew he had it bad and this was only day one.