More work. More deflection. Bruce was once again aware of who he was talking to. It never used to be like this.
They relocated the sets to the back of the theatre. There were more to build but the one he’d helped with was almost done, which meant the crew could start painting. Bruce had made everything work well so far, and Gabriel could see it all fitting together on stage, how it would rotate and enhance the feeling of time and space altering, of lives being changed on stage.
And hopefully in the audience too.
They packed up the rest of the tools in silence. Bruce positioned the ghost light at centre stage and turned it on while switching off the other stage lights. They walked out the back door into thick night. Bruce shut and locked the door behind him, the security light shining on them like a spotlight. They walked to their cars, and Bruce placed his toolbox into the back of the ute.
‘Well, guess I’ll see you around.’ Bruce took out his keys and unlocked his car door.
Gabriel shivered. How quickly Bruce put that distance back between them. Yes, he’d come to help, but he was hoping for more. At least an explanation. He wouldn’t get that if he didn’t ask.
‘Bruce, before you go.’ He took a step forward. ‘What did you mean when you said I’d know all about taking advantage of you?’
‘I told you to forget it. It’s not important.’
‘It obviously is, otherwise you wouldn’t have said it. Things aren’t right between us but I don’t know why. I want that old friendship back.’
‘What friendship?’
Bruce’s response punched his gut. Hard.
Gabriel struggled to find any words to answer, and Bruce took advantage of his delay. ‘You and Jason had the friendship, that was it. I realised that when Jason told me you two had been sleeping together behind my back.’
Gabriel’s ribs locked, stopping his lungs from taking a full breath, like the air had been poisoned. But it was too late. He’d already inhaled some of Bruce’s noxious accusation.
‘You think we were cheating on you?’
A shadow cut across half of Bruce’s face but the disgust curling his lip and wrinkling his nose shone bright. ‘I’m not interested in your denial. After all this time, you could just be honest.’
He might have a lot of secrets but he wasn’t going to take the fall for a blatant lie.
‘Bruce, it isn’t true. I’d never do that to you. Where did you get this from?’
‘Jason told me. You left Brachen and he told me he was going to follow you. He said you’d left because you gave him an ultimatum, either he dump me or you were going.’
‘That lying, manipulative, two-faced—’ White heat flashed through his brain and he struggled to speak. ‘You’ve got to believe me, Bruce, nothing was going on between us.’
‘Then why did you leave?’
Because I couldn’t go on being nothing more than friends.
‘I had to go to university. I had to get a job and earn some money.’ That was the truth. Near enough. He had wanted to earn enough so he could one day take care of Sofia, and Sydney was far enough away to still be close.
‘Convenient. Then why did Jason follow you? He was going to stay in Brachen and work for the family business.’
‘How should I know? I didn’t want him there. The first I knew about his plans was him showing up on my doorstep begging for a place to sleep.’
‘I bet he didn’t have to beg for long.’
Should he tell Bruce that they did, in the end, sleep together? They’d been drunk, it had been weeks later, and Jason and Bruce had already broken up. It shouldn’t have mattered but telling Bruce that would only make him look guilty. He left that secret tucked away with the others.
‘He stayed for a couple of months and then he found someone else’s life to make hell and became their problem. I haven’t seen him since. I can’t believe you’d take the word of a viper like that over mine.’
‘Oh, come on, what was I meant to believe? You left town and he said he was cheating on me and going to follow you. It didn’t look good.’
‘You could have talked to me, then or any time since, like I tried to. You didn’t answer any of my calls, you wouldn’t even see me, you just locked me out. You were meant to be the mature responsible one.’
He sneered. ‘Jason brought out the worst in me. And I thought you were just like him, but better at it. I can’t stand secrets and if I find out someone’s keeping one from me, I can’t think straight.’
Then you’re not going to like any of the real secrets I’ve got hidden away either.
‘I wasn’t keeping anything a secret,’ Gabriel said. ‘There was no relationship between Jason and me. And if you hadn’t been going out with him, I’d have stopped being friends with him long ago.’
‘What do you mean?’
Gabriel chewed his lip. Was it better to reveal it all? When secrets got out, they ruined things. Maybe a half-truth would be better. ‘I liked spending time with you more than him. With him I always had to feel guarded, but with you I could just be myself.’
Bruce sighed. ‘Me too.’ He scraped his fingers through his hair. ‘God, I can’t believe I ruined our friendship over the words of that liar. I’ve held on to this anger at you for so long because you mattered more to me than Jason ever did.’
Gabriel’s heart fibrillated with the possibilities of what Bruce’s words meant, but before he could think of what to say, Bruce hurried on.
‘I’m sorry I’ve been a jerk to you while you’ve been here, especially with your mum being sick. I should have spoken to you about this years ago but we don’t always do the right thing. Even at
