Mistakes Made ✅

Chapter 8: Act of Reconciliation

"Good to see you dropping by,"

"Oh, you know, just checking to see if that Asian kid is still bothering my little boy,"

Errol cocked an eyebrow at the statement. Not that he was any more surprised to hear that. After all, April wasn't a huge fan of Jordie - never liked him. He couldn't blame her; the first time she'd lain her eyes on the boy, Jordie had been verbally harrassing Errol. He deduced it was part of her disposition to be protective and solicitous, thus casting aversion to whoever had made someone - anyone, really - fall victim.

"I'm your little boy now?" he said, an amused smile playing on his lips as he stacked some brochures together on the counter.

Across from him, April huffed. "Remember when I had no choice but to drag your drunk arse to my house?" she said, crossing her arms across her chest.

Errol gritted his teeth. Of course he remembered - vaguely so. It happened months previously; having bickered with Jordie the evening before, he had downed who knew how many pints later on at a random bar in the town just to boost his head, and had woken up in someone else's posh living room. "Yeah, that ..." he said, inadvertently scratching the nape of his neck. "Wasn't very sophisticated, was it? Not a good first impression for your parents, huh?"

"Nope. Said you were gonna kill Jordie,"

"I said that?"

"You did,"

"So where's your handsome friend," Errol asked just to change the subject, tilting his head aside as he struggled to remember the name, "Percy?"

"Are you ever gonna learn his name or am I gonna have to teach you the syllables?"

"Paul ...?"

"Pelham," April enunciated, "is still at school."

"And you're not?"

"I'm gonna apply for uni when I'm spurred by motivation. I have satisfactory A-Level results, see," she shrugged indifferently. "What about you?"

That quietened Errol.

"Why don't I start ordering?" April proceeded, sensing that Errol wasn't in the mood to chew over his academic life.

"That's a good idea."

Admittedly enough, regardless of Errol's current living states for the past couple of days, coming across a familiar amicable face seemed to do the trick. He felt tranquilised, at least. Sure, he was just as serene with Abeela - and probably with a few other staff members around too - but the girl wasn't on a daily shift, and often he would miss Abeela's snide remarks. Her absence didn't normally bother him, of course, but it eventually grew dull to be waking up on the kitchen floor at every crack of dawn for the past few days now.

He just needed a close company.

With September rolling around - almost October now - everyone was bound to be busy, constantly moving around, schedules to follow. And there were days where Errol realised just how lonely - how forlorn - he was, despite the swarmed town with its unfamiliar dwellers. By now, he should be habituated with the milieu already, where he could just go in swinging. He had, really. Be that as it may, he found that he still needed to orient himself around the conurbation, placing wary steps wherever he went.

Perhaps he was still in the need of an adjustment; to orient himself around himself.

On the contrary, he hated to admit to the flicker of hope inside him that he wanted - was looking forwards - to seeing Jordie. He couldn't completely comprehend it, as much as he'd racked his brain to find the rational reasons behind it. For someone who had been shunning out his past, he could feel his subconscious beckoning for the boy as though there was an invisible counter force operating inside him.