boag_patience-5

PATIENCE by Boag <<< part 4

PART 5

Richey was last on the bus; he threw his things down at the back and sat by himself turning his walkman on and curling up under a blanket. It wasn’t long before they could hear light snores and deep breathing, the tell tale signs of sleep. Nicky kept everyone quiet and went to get some food when they pulled into a service station. Nicky went to rouse Richey as James hijacked the stash of food Nicky had returned with.
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” James said through a full mouth.
“He hasn’t eaten anything since yesterday James”
“Richey…Richey…wakey wakey time to eat”
Richey’s slowly woke and he looked into Nicky’s bright blue eyes.
“Eat?”
“Yeah eat! We’ve got Wimpy!”
“Maybe I’ll eat”

He stretched and sat up still lolling sleepily from side to side. James unwrapped a burger for him and passed it over.
“I can eat by myself James; I don’t need your bloody help!”
He snatched the burger and started to munch hungrily.
“Richey! What the fuck was that in aid of?”
“I’m not an invalid Nicky! Sometimes you treat me like one! And besides, it’s his fault “I’m like this anyway! Him and his poxy groupie!”
James lost his temper.
“She’s not a poxy groupie. Her name is…
“I don’t care what her bloody name is!”
“Her name is Emma and you better get used to her because she’s going to be around quite a bit if I have my way”
“What?”
“She’s not my groupie, she’s my girlfriend!”
“You met last night!”
“So what? She’s coming tonight and you will be nice to her!”
“I’ll do no such thing! I’ll decide who I’m nice to and who I’m not”
“WAIT...what he hell is going on here? Richey why are you so upset about this girl and James why are you being so spiteful?”

They both went silent and looked at the floor, Sean never raised his voice. Richey was first to break the silence.
“James, you only met her yesterday, and after how much Sam hurt you, I just can’t understand why you’re so willing to plough head first into a new relationship so soon”
“It’s not soon Richey, it’s been months!” Nicky said but was quieted by James glare which said very plainly to keep out of it.
“I know it’s sudden but when you click with someone and you know its right, then why wait…and besides we’re only seeing each other, we’re not getting married!”

Richey seemed to calm.
“Gimmie some chips and ketchup”
“Will you just give her chance Richey…please…for me?” James played on Richey’s desire to please him.
“Fine…I’ll be on my best behaviour…but if you keep me awake again tomorrow night then I’ll bloody murder you both”
“Ok we will be quiet, promise”

The rest of the tour was consumed by James’ and Emma’s whirlwind romance. They were a flawless couple, ideally suited; they complemented each other in every way. James couldn’t hide his pleasure in his woman and he insisted she was with them as often as possible.
Richey, much to his displeasure, found Emma to be exceptionally friendly and kind. In theory he despised everything about her because James had placed her firmly between them but in practice it was impossible. The theory of hate within him repulsed him so he directed it from Emma onto James. They scarcely talked and when they did five minute rarely passed without abuse being exchanged. Nicky and Sean were confused, they spent hours talking trying to get to the root of the problem but neither James nor Richey would tell them anything other than obvious lies.

“Richey please will you tell me what is going on between you and him?”
“I already have a million times!”
“No you’ve told me lies…you’ve never lied to me before, what could be so terrible that you have to cover it up?”
Richey exhaled and pursed his lips, he had never lied to Nicky about anything else and right now all he wanted to do was share his pain with his friend but that would only make things worse in the long run. If James were to discover that Richey had confided in Nicky he would go ballistic, he dreaded their relationship being unearthed and if anything was certain to put an impenetrable barrier between them it would be that.

“Do you think perhaps there’ a reason why I’ve lied to you?”
“You won’t tell me”
“I can’t tell you, it’s between me and James…and don’t go hassling him to tell you either!”
“I’m sorry but I can’t understand why my best friends won’t tell me why they can’t stand each other anymore!”
“Look I’ll tell you this and that’s it…stuff has happened between me and James that no-one else knows about, that is what this is about, now just leave it, we’ll work it out…we always do…we have to”

Richey’s determination to mend his friendship with James soothed Nicky enough to break off the interrogation but Richey’s thought dwelled incessantly on James. Occasionally cruel ideas occurred to him like informing Emma just how close he and James had been but she was disgustingly understanding and would probably stay with him especially since James had not played around on her with him. Another scheme was to tell Nicky and Sean purely out of spite but how James would react was a mystery and with such a temper on him it probably wasn’t worth it. There was the possibility of seducing Emma, having James’ woman excited Richey more than he’d care to admit, he didn’t find her particularly attractive but possessing her carnally would be supreme revenge. Each and every scheme had the same flaw, whatever the outcome he was almost certain to lose James in the process and the band too, those two things were all he had. It was this trail of thought that gave him the first inkling of his next step. It would be terribly easy to devastate James’ life and thus his own but tearing down everything he himself had was more his style. But no, how could he, what would he do, the band was everything, it wasn’t possible, not even worth thinking about so why couldn’t he stop?

Another town, another gig, another aftershow party, another hotel, another shed load of booze, another groupie and more fights with James but the tour was winding down and the last gigs were approaching.
Coming back to London for the last few nights threw Nicky into a fit of excitement; it was time to get some shopping in.
Nicky and Richey went shopping braving many strange looks as the flounced arm in arm through the huge Topshop.
“This is heaven!” Nicky screeched.
“Ohhhh I love this, what do you think?”
“C’mon you can try that on and we’ll see how good I’ll look in this stunning little number”

They shared a changing room as usual. Richey removed his top and tried on the skinny hot pink ladies t-shirt.
“Suits you Edwards, buy it!”
“Yeah I think I will it needs a few rips though”
Richey took the t-shirt off as Nicky started trying his shirt on. As he was changing he caught Richey looking longingly at him.
“What?” Nicky said softly.
“Oh…nothing, just you, you are such a pretty thing, sometimes you’re tempting”

Richey leaned up and brushed his lips against Nicky’s. Nicky had never been uncomfortable with showing or receiving affection from Richey before but this kiss had a quality to it that he never felt from Richey before, it was laced with lust. Richey lightly ran his fingertips across Nicky’s pale and hairless chest gently holding his light pink nipples for a moment before running his hands down through the downy hair on Nicky’s abdomen. Nicky stared into Richey trying to make sense of what he was doing but Richey was lost to him. Richey found the top of Nicky’s jeans and started to unbutton them, he slipped a hand down the front and went to kneel but Nicky stopped him. Gently he removed Richey’s hand from the front of his boxers and pulled Richey to his feet, Richey parted his lips to speak but Nicky shook his head at him.

They got dressed in silence and left the clothes they had been so interested in five minutes previously without a second thought. Nicky linked his arm through Richey’s and lead him out of the shop and down the street to a nearby café. He found a deserted booth at the back the shop and left Richey there whilst he went to get them both some hot chocolate. When he returned Richey still had the same expression on his face as he had when they left Topshop. His eyes had a thin film of water that blurred his vision and threatened to spill over into tears, he mouth was open and his bottom lip trembled slightly, all the colour had drained from his skin and he was almost transparent to look at. Nicky took hold of Richey’s hand.

“So…what was that all about then?”
“Nicky I’m so sorry; I don’t know what came over me”
“You must never do that again, I am married and happily so, I can’t ever do anything to jeopardise that…and you are tempting”
Nicky smiled at his friend, he had always found his friend attractive but he had never even contemplated it going any further than that, still he wanted to try and reduce Richey’s embarrassment.
“I don’t know why I did that, it won’t happen again I promise you, I’d never do anything to ruin what you and Rachel have…it was like I fell out of reality, I just wanted to feel a mans touch again”
“A mans touch…again?”
Richey realised he had said too much but it he couldn’t take it back.
“What does that mean?”
“Oh…errr….”
“Does this mean that…?”
“No Nicky don’t say it, don’t even think about it, and please don’t pursue this”
“Rich what’s going on?!”
“You will find out one day because it can’t stay secret forever but for now you can’t know”
After that Richey refused to say anything else.

“You are joking! He came onto you?!”
“Yes, in the dressing room in Topshop!”
“What did you do?”
“I just pulled his hands off me and took him to a café, got him a hot chocolate and tried to find out what he hell is going on…he said he’d just wanted to feel a mans touch again, and when I asked him what that mean he begged me no to pursue it!”
“You remember what he said last time don’t you?”
“That jumped into my head straight away, do you think this has something to do with whatever has gone on between them”
“But it couldn’t be…not James and Richey?!”
“I never would have believed it but now having had his hands on me like that I really don’t know what’s what”
“This is going to get worse before it gets better isn’t it”
“Yeah, it has to come to a head, I wonder when?”
Nicky and Sean sat together in Sean’s room puzzling over the recent events.

Richey couldn’t believe he had been so stupid, how could he have allowed himself to say those things to Nicky? He might as well have told him everything since it wasn’tgoing to take Nicky and Sean long to piece he clues together. Unbeknown to Richey it was only so obvious to him because he knew, although Nicky and Sean had made a shaky connection disbelief had prevented them from truly seeing what was gradually becoming apparent.

Thankfully, the tour had ended and Richey was grateful for the breathing space, hopefully the absence would help Nicky and Sean forget what was being constantly reinforced during the tour. Richey had a short break of a few weeks ahead of him before they planned to start working on the next album and was looking forward to spending some time alone. He would be going back to Wales, as were the rest of the band, but he intended to be by himself for a majority of the time just to see how would deal with the solitude. He wasn’t eagerly anticipating starting the next album, it would involve working closely with all of them and he just didn’t think he could face the process not with James and Emma being shoved down his throat and Nicky and Sean watching everything he said and did to find the deeper meaning.

part 6 >>>

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