Burchester Tales 2: Breakfast at Stan's

Meet Gus - and Stan - in the second instalment of my new series of free fiction, Burchester Tales. And don't forget to check out the other great stories at Free Fiction Friday.

Burchester Tales: Episode 2

Breakfast at Stan's by H. Lewis-Foster

Gus peered over his tea-spattered menu at Lee, who scrutinised the limited breakfast choice as if he were in a Michelin-starred restaurant. Smiling to himself, Gus recalled how terrified he’d been in his first weeks at Burchester. All those older students had seemed impossibly grown up and confident, and it was strange to think that was how Lee now saw him.

His stomach growled impatiently, and Gus placed his menu on the gingham-clad table. “So what do you fancy?”

Lowering his own menu, Lee looked as perplexed as if he’d been asked to recite the Iliad in Greek. After a moment’s further contemplation, Lee announced his momentous decision.

“I think I’ll have tea and toast.”

“Are you sure?” Gus also remembered how paranoid he’d been about money as a fresher, afraid he’d spend his entire student loan before September was out. “Have whatever you like. It’s my treat.”

Lee smiled in that utterly endearing way, which had caught Gus’s eye last night. “Toast is fine, thanks. I never have much for breakfast.”

“Fair enough.” Gus scraped back his chair on the black and white floor tiles and headed for the counter, where Stan stood waiting to take their order. While he looked exactly the type to run a greasy spoon caff, with his closely shaved head, tattooed arms and aroma of bacon and cigarettes, Stan was also the best source of gossip in Burchester. This made him a fascinating, if also slightly dangerous man. As he wrote down Gus’s order for scrambled egg and beans, Stan glanced across at Lee.

“You’re a quick worker, Gus. Term hasn’t even started yet.” Stan raised his eyebrows suggestively. “First year, is he?”

“Behave yourself, Stan. He had a bit too much to drink last night, and I looked after him.”

“I bet you did.” Stan’s deadpan delivery loaded his words with an extra serving of innuendo.

Gus shook his head and looked over at Lee, who was gazing contentedly out of the window. It was easy to see why Stan would assume Gus had made a move on Lee last night. He wasn’t conventionally handsome; his nose was a little crooked and his dark brown hair was seemingly uncontrollable. But there was something unbearably cute about Lee, which made Gus want to give him a cuddle, and maybe a lot more, especially after Gus saw him in all his slender, naked glory.

Gus knew it was a bad idea to get involved with a fresher. He was in his second year, and should be taking his studies more seriously, while Lee should be making friends, getting pissed and having as much fun as possible. Gus handed Stan a ten pound note, then along with his change, Stan gave Gus yet another reason why he should steer clear of Lee.

“And when’s Davy coming back?”

Gus replied irritably. “He’s back on Monday, if you must know.”

Stan passed Gus’s order through the hatch to the kitchen, where it was snatched away by Jeremy, his partner in business, the bedroom and every other aspect of their lives. Without missing a beat, Stan enquired of Gus, “Looking forward to seeing Mr Maynard again?”

Gus gave Stan a withering smile, grabbed some knives and forks from the counter, and headed back to the table. As far as Stan and everyone else was concerned, Gus and Davy Maynard were an item. They’d been seeing each other for nine months, but as Davy had spent the whole summer in the States, they’d technically only been together for six.

Davy was the man Gus had been dreaming of since the first moment he realised he was gay. He was funny, intelligent, ridiculously good-looking, and Gus had been amazed and thrilled that Davy was interested in him. Their relationship was pretty intense for a while, as they made the discoveries all students make, including sex, of course. Gus still shivered with pleasure at the thought of Davy’s agile body wrapping around him, slipping his tongue into Gus’s mouth and other more stimulating places.

And yet, he and Davy had begun to drift apart long before the summer vacation. They came from totally different worlds, and no amount of fabulous sex could bridge that canyon-wide gap. While Gus’s folks were respectable, middle class people, Davy travelled in far more exclusive circles. His family owned several large houses, including an ancestral Scottish castle, which Gus had been lucky enough to visit. Davy’s parents were terribly polite, but Gus had the distinct feeling that while they tolerated Davy’s sexuality, they would not allow him to waste his life on the son of a mere office manager.

Gus had pointedly not been invited to accompany Davy to his uncle’s vineyard in California, where Davy would learn one of the family’s many businesses. They had exchanged occasional emails over the past months, but neither had professed profound regret that they were so many miles apart. In Gus’s eyes, they were no longer a couple, and for all he knew Davy might have met someone else, but they hadn’t actually said the words which meant they’d officially split.

As Gus sat down, he determined not to get involved with Lee, at least until he’d spoken to Davy. It would be unfair and ungentlemanly; and besides, Gus had no wish to be a fresh source of scandal for Stan. Then Lee smiled in that adorable way of his, and Gus began to tell him again everything Lee had forgotten last night. He told Lee about his family in Kent and their Golden Retriever named Monty. Gus told him about his football team and his surfing lessons in Cornwall that summer. And he was honestly about to tell Lee about Davy, when Stan arrived with their breakfast.

While Lee spread butter and strawberry jam on his toast, Gus tucked into his egg and beans, and the conversation diverted down more entertaining paths. By the time they’d finished eating, they’d covered music, films and books, and apart from Lee’s penchant for corny rom-coms and Gus’s weakness for trashy crime thrillers, they had an awful lot in common. In fact, Gus enjoyed himself so much, he completely forgot about Davy; but when Stan took their plates with a knowing wink, Gus’s conscience gave him a swift kick up the backside.

“Lee, there’s someone I need to tell you about.”

© H. Lewis-Foster 2014. All rights reserved.