The Unexpected

“Can I go now?” Ed whined, throwing a dishcloth at the back of his bosses’ head.

He turned round, moving part of his scruffy fringe out of his face.

“I don’t see why you’re asking me Ed, I’m not exactly your boss.”

“Alex you’re the senior guy here tonight,” Ed sighed, undoing the back of his apron, “so you’re the guy I have to ask.”

“Fine,” Alex sighed, picking Ed’s abandoned dishcloth up, “Just don’t leave your god damn apron out this time. Hang it up like civilised people.”

“Civilised people?” Ed laughed, hanging his apron on one of the hooks near the door, “You can hardly talk Al.”

“Oi! Shut it or I might change my mind about letting you leave early,” Alex said, weighing up the possible outcomes of throwing the dishcloth at his friend’s head, “I know you’re going to see Tezzy. In fact I know too much about you.”

“Don’t even start on the blackmailing crap,” Ed shouted from the locker rooms, “I wanna get out of here a.s.a.p.”

Without another word from either of them, the door to the kitchens opened and slammed.

***

“Stop it,” Tezzy giggled, throwing the cushion next to her at the blonde man who was insisting on tickling her, “Please, I don’t think I can take anymore.”

“Come on,” The blonde persisted, “Stop being such a spoilsport.”

“Dan, stop it,” She replied, deciding now was the time to use her feet as some form of defence.

“Nope,” he laughed, sitting on her legs and continuing, “It’s fun.”

“What? Watching me squirm?”

“Now that you say that,” Dan said, cocking an eyebrow, “Yes it is fun watching you squirm.”

“Do you ever stop?” Tezzy sighed, taking advantage of her distraction and pushing him off her.

“Do I ever stop?” He laughed, “When did I start?”

“I give up with you. You’re a hopeless flirt and you can’t even admit it.”

Just when Tezzy thought Dan had stopped with the tickling, he pounced on her and began all over again.

“Dan,” Tezzy screamed, “Stop it please. Stop!”

“Fine,” Dan said, giving up and taking a seat on the sofa next to Tezzy, “Don’t tell me, Ed’s gonna be home soon and he doesn’t like me hanging around.”

“No Dan. You know perfectly well I don’t care what Ed thinks.”

“Yeah well,” Dan sighed, “I should go get my stuff and leave anyway.”

Without a word Tezzy grabbed Dan’s shoulders, stood up on tiptoes and placed a small kiss on his lips. Within seconds Dan’s hand had found their way to her head, deepening the kiss.

Then they heard a key turn in the lock.

“Shit,” Tezzy yelped, stepping away from Dan and frantically looking for some way to get out of this.

Dan stood still, looking towards the door and waiting. He knew there was nowhere to hide. Especially with his 6”1 frame.

The door to the living room opened and Ed walked in. Tezzy turned to face her boyfriend, a look of complete guilt on her face.

“Ed,” she began, “I can explain everything.”

“Can you?” Ed said, raising an eyebrow, “Everything?”

Before Tezzy could say another word, Ed had taken her hand and led her towards the sofa. He indicated that Dan take a seat on the other side of her.

“I’ve decided to make a truce,” he began, “with Dan.”

“Ed, are you feeling alright?” Tezzy said in shock.

“I’m feeling fine,” he smiled, “I’ve decided I’m going to put things that happened in the past, in the past and I’m gonna leave them there.”

“What kind of things?” Dan smirked, making eye contact behind Tezzy’s back.

“You bloody well know what I mean.”

“I don’t,” Tezzy said, hoping for some kind of answer.

“Do you really want to know?” Dan laughed, laying back on the sofa but keeping eye contact with Ed.

“Yeah I do,” Tezzy said, trying to block the eye contact between the two men, “So if you don’t mind, tell me.”

Ed sat up slightly, thinking of the least obvious way to get his point across. He still wasn’t too sure of this.

“Remember that story I told you a while ago?” He began, silently begging to God that she still did.

“Yeah,” She said, going over the memory slowly in her head, “You had a relationship with someone who was male.”

“You were completely fine with it?” Ed asked.

Tezzy nodded.

“You’re still completely fine with it?”

Before Tezzy could nod the meaning dawned on her.

“You mean you and Dan?” Tezzy said, looking at them both for confirmation.

Dan and Ed nodded.

“Ok,” Tezzy said, sitting up, “I’m fine with it. Why have you suddenly brought it up now? Why decided to settle things?”

Ed blushed.

“We’ve been plotting,” Dan laughed, “And hopefully it’ll pay off.”

“What?” She said, sitting up further.

After a quick wink at one another, both men placed a small kiss on Tezzy’s cheeks.

“I get it now,” Tezzy smiled, “Why didn’t you just say so in the first place?”

“Cause we thought you wouldn’t want to,” Ed said, his face going redder than ever.

“Do you see me resisting?”