Better Sorry than Safe

13.

"Sem?"

Connor's eyebrows were up and curved in surprise, and all Sem wanted to do was grab him, and kiss him right there and then. There was, however, the small issue of Connor's coworkers. They were very much present, and very much staring. 

It most likely had something to do with the way he'd just marched into their busy workplace... Why were there so many people today? Damn it, now he was feeling self-conscious. Maybe barging into Jack's auto fix unannounced wasn't the best idea. 

"I didn't know you were back yet." 

Connor smiled warmly at him, and Sem's heart swelled as he smiled back. On second thought, maybe barging in was the best idea. 

"Yeah, I messaged you just now," Sem patted his back pocket, where his phone was, "but I guess you didn't see it yet." 

He had pretty much only dumped his travel stuff at home, messaged Connor, and told his parents to not count on him with dinner. They hadn't even pushed him to greet Daniel before leaving, because his brother was also out with a friend. Who knew he had any?

"Well, welcome back," Connor said. "How was London?" 

Sem's smile fell. 

'I may or may not have outed myself to the school's token gay guy, and then proceeded to threaten him.'

'My friends probably don't like me very much.' 

'A girl does like me, and I've been giving her false hope by hanging out with her, due to said friends.' 

All truthful answers, and all answers he wasn't going to use. Not in the last place because of eavesdropping colleagues. 

Instead, Sem shrugged, and shoved his hands in his pockets. "You know. I'm a culture barbarian, but otherwise, good." 

"Good that it was good."

"Yeah." 

The silence that followed was a bit uncomfortable. Sem didn't really want to talk in front of Connor's coworkers, and Connor probably had the same problem. 

They just kind of stood there for a few seconds. Then, a gigantic tattooed man, who Sem could easily picture owning a Harley, and bashing in people's heads if they didn't pay his money back, came up to them. 

The man gave Connor a pat on his shoulder, and his eyes crinkled as he smiled. "Go on Connor, you can leave a bit earlier today, catch up with your friend. You've been working enough overtime already." 

Connor gave the man a nod. "Appreciate it, thanks Jack." 

So, Connor's boss was Jack, the friendly Hell's Angel. Huh. 

Connor turned to Sem. "We can hang out in the lounge for a sec. It's the door at the far left. I need to wrap things up, but I'll be right there." 

"Got it." Sem saluted.

He was grateful that Connor spared him the having to stand there and awkwardly check his phone while waited. The lounge sounded a lot better. 

On first glance, Sem immediately decided that the employee lounge was a total guy area. A playboy centerfold was winking seductively at him from the corner, a mountain of unwashed dishes filled the sink, and one of the couches had stuffing sticking out from a hole. 

But the thing that grabbed Sem's attention the most, was the large picture on the wall. As he'd expected, it was a picture of all employees working at Jack's. Sem scanned the faces of the men, and surprisingly two women, looking for Connor. He found him in somewhere in the centre, and a chuckle immediately escaped his lips.