Ned and Conor

Chapter 6

The air of the morning was crisp, chilled with many bodies pushing past on the loud streets. Ned was held in Conor's arms, peering at all the people as they passed. Conor hummed an unnamed tune, pushing past and on the way to the college. "Think we'll bump into Daddy?"

"Probably not. He never enjoyed rugby." Ned nodded in understanding, fiddling in Conor's arms with a keychain they'd bought a couple of minutes prior. Ned had wanted something to remind him of his other parent, so they bought a keychain sporting the college's logo. When they came closer to the crowded stands, Conor put the boy down and told him to follow closely. Within seconds, a uncaring student accidentally pushed Ned over and once he'd gotten up he couldn't find his father in the crowd of people. He ran and searched around, until a familiar voice asked him, "Where's Conor?" Little Ned looked up to see the comforting presence, but even so, his eyes welled up with tears.

I.T had taken Conor a minute to realize that his child wasn't by his side because he had been fiddling with his wallet to get to some money to buy drinks, but by that point I.T was too late. Immediately, he felt his hands become clammy and his throat become dry like the Saharan desert. He pushed around the college kids, looking for any sign of Ned.

Little Ned stared up, eyes filled with blurring tears, and out of fear grasped onto Ned's leg. Ned almost toppled over out of not expecting the force, but then quickly recouped. "Hey, it's okay. We'll find him." Ned said, looking around the crowd for any signs of the tall boy. Ned picked his, unbeknownst to him, son up and carried him through the crowds as they peered around. Finally, they saw Conor frantically searching around and yelled to get his attention.

At the two squeaky voices screaming his name, he turned and felt his heart beat again like I.T had stopped. Running over, he stole his son from Ned and held him close. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, buddy. I.T won't happen again. I.T hasn't before and I.T won't again, this was a fluke."

"It's never happened?" Ned interjected, "Really? I used to get lost all the time in stores." Ned laughed, then looked at the boy's small wrist and remembered why he couldn't be left alone. "Oh."

"Yeah, and severe asthma." Conor chuckled, then looked more into the prospect of what was occurring. "What're you doing here?"

"I go to school here. I'm pretty sure you knew that."

"No, at a rugby game?"

"Oh," Ned nervously shifted, "My boyfriend is on the rugby team." Even after such a long time of denying any feelings for Ned or even of seeing Ned, Conor felt a small crack from deep within his heart. Maybe, if he'd listened closer he could've heard the noise of shattering, as the tiny crack that had been left from Ned disappearing, then from him forgetting about their relations grew. "He's number twenty six. Watch out for him."

"Right." Conor turned to continue on to the stands.

"Hey, why don't we sit together. We probably have plenty to catch up on."

Conor moves awkward back towards Ned, "Yeah. Probably."

***

There was plenty of awkward silence, more on Conor's part, but they had continuously chatted on topics they'd cared about long ago. "Basically, now I can play every chord on a guitar. Not just D." Conor smiled at Ned's cheekiness, and Little Ned looked in awe at his father. Reaching into his pocket, Ned pulled out his wallet and fumbled through the mess to get to his cash. "I'm going to buy a drink at the concession. If you guys want anything I'll bring I.T here for you...but I'd buy yours with your money. I'm a broke college student."He laughed, then a crumpled of paper was heard and Conor looked down at Ned's feet to see that a picture had dropped onto the ground.