"I guess I should drive home."
☆

Milo removes his shoes as he enters the house. It had been a long time since he had last set foot in this place he classed as his second home, but just being here now, made him feel like he was here only yesterday. The decor the same, the same photographs of Hester adorning the walls. But how could the photographs have changed? Hester had been frozen to that point in his life. There was no graduation pictures, no cheesy family portraits of the latter years. 

"I suppose you would like a drink." Mrs Jenkins offers as she walks rather solemnly to the kitchen countertop, which housed an already made pot of coffee. She pulls two mugs from the drainer and begins to pour Milo and herself some drinks.

"Sit." She says, gesturing with her eyes for the male to sit down at the kitchen table, after he had nervously been hovering around the seats, waiting for the invitation. She places the mugs down on the table and they both take a seat. "Okay..." Mrs Jenkins says, lacing her fingers together as they rest on the table. "Tell me. What do you want to say?"

Milo looks at the lady staring at him. Her expression almost unreadable, apart from the glassy sheen over her eyes, where she was holding back tears. "Sorry." Milo says. That one word. The sorry which could mean so little or so much, depending on the intention behind it.

"Sorry for what Milo? I need to hear exactly what you're sorry for." Mrs Jenkins replies, maintaining her composure.

Milo on the other hand feels restless, he grabs his coffee, taking a sip to give him time to think about what to say next. He hadn't thought this through at all! "That morning"...he begins with. "The morning he crashed, we had an arguement." He looks at Mrs Jenkins, expecting her to respond in some way with words, but she just calmly takes her drink, taking a sip and places it back on the table. 

"Go on." She says, still managing to maintain her composure. 

Milo again clears his throat. "We had an argument about...us."

"Us?" She frowns in question. 

"Him and I." Milo again stalls, not knowing whether to fill her in with every single detail. "Mrs Jenkins, Hester confessed that he had feelings for me and... I rejected him." Milo now feels the guilt rise within him again. Then he panics. Did she even know her son liked other boys? He tries to back track, standing up from his seat. "I'm sorry, this is a bad idea..."

"Sit down!" Mrs Jenkins says, not in a shouting way, but firm enough to get Milo to stop in his tracks. She then unlaces her hands and puts a hand on his own. "Milo. Please....just sit down." 

Milo slowly rests back on the seat, not knowing what to say or do next. But this time, it's Hester's mother's turn to speak. "Do you think I didn't know Milo? Do you think I hadn't noticed how my own son was around you? He idolised you, worshiped you, I'm sure he did half of the crazy things he did, just to impress you!" She now rests both her hands on Milo's. 

Milo now breaks down again in tears. "I sent him away and he crashed his car. If I had said something different..."

"You said and did what your mind and body could deal with Milo, you'd just turned 18! You know Hester. He was always spontaneous. Act now, think later. People the world over suffer from rejection, but they don't all choose to get in a car and drive recklessly at a ridiculous speed." 

"But Mrs Jenkins, the thing is, is that I did love him too, but I was scared, if I hadn't have been a coward..."

"...And if Hester would have walked away and given both of you time, instead of doing what he did, yes, things would be different, but they're not. We are here now, living this life as it is." 

Mrs Jenkins then smiles a little. I see you came to your realisation eventually. Who is the guy?" 

Milo looks at her with surprise. "J...Jude." 

"Well he looks nice." She says, now moving her hands to grab her drink. 

Milo does the same. He looks at the lady across the table from him. "I am really sorry, for not coming to Hester's funeral." Milo says solemnly. 

She sighs as she looks at him. "That is what upset me the most Milo. That you didn't come to say goodbye to him." 

"I know. And I'll carry that with me." Milo says with a heavy heart. 

"Well you can say goodbye now." She replies, as she gets up from her seat and heads for the kitchen sink. In it, rested a bunch of orange and yellow flowers, wrapped in cellophane, sitting in some shallow water. She pulls the bunch from the water, shaking the stems slightly, before heading back to the table with them and handing them back to Milo.

"Here, take these." She says as Milo takes them from her grasp. "I was going to put them on his grave this morning, but maybe it's more fitting on this occasion if you do it." 

Milo is almost rendered speechless as he now holds the precious bouquet in his hands. "Y...yes. I really want to do that. Thankyou." 

***

The air is chilling as Jude and Milo stand in front of Hester's final resting place. 

Milo steps forward and kneels down to rest the flowers before his stone. "I love you." Milo whispers, taking a few minutes to himself before once again getting up to join Jude who was inconsolable. He puts his arms around his lover and kisses his head. "I guess I should drive home." He says as they slowly walk away...

...From by the gravestone, he watches them, arm in arm as they head towards the car.

"Hey Milo my friend! Be happy!" 

So we are nearly at the end but not quite...